TRAILER #2 FOR LOGAN

20th Century Fox's Logan is shaping up to be one of the best superhero movies... ever? That is, if this strong trailer and the even stronger first trailer are to be trusted. Looking to capture some of the same R-rated X-Men universe magic that Deadpool conjured up at the early-year box office last year, Hugh Jackman's reported final appearance as Wolverine is out in the UK on the 2nd of March and in the US on the 3rd.

FIRST TRAILER FOR HIDDEN FIGURES

It remains to be seen whether or not 20th Century Fox decides to run Hidden Figures for awards consideration this year. Based on the above first trailer, it'd be a shame if they decided against it, since it looks rather good indeed! Releasing it early next year, mid-awards season, might help to afford it the appearance of an awards hit with general audiences, but should the film perform well from critics, it'd likely have faded come December of next year. A limited run some time late this year ought to be in order, since this appears to be one of 2016's most promising prestige projects. It hasn't appeared on any fall festival lineups either, which is a worrying sign. Director Theodore Melfi will be familiar to many from 2014's St. Vincent. And I see you, Janelle Monae: between this and Moonlight, you're coming for those awards henny! Out in the US, officially (for now), on the 13th of January and in the UK on the 24th of February.

THE WAILING - TRAILER #2

Excellent reviews for Na Hong Jin's The Wailing at Cannes have brought forth fruit for the supernatural thriller: this second trailer (the first is here) is a most professional job, no doubt after the encouraging news that 20th Century Fox has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film and is releasing it under its flagship label. It's released today, the 3rd of June, in the US. Definitely one to check out!

REVIEW - DEADPOOL (TIM MILLER)

We are slaves to the system. We have succumbed to servitude, consuming superhero films with the appetite and the attitude prescribed to us by studios. Their processed produce now provides us with a balanced diet - or, at least, one as balanced as we want - with the proper portions of dark thriller, high-octane action, and Deadpool's self-deprecating comedy. And all with a side order of supposed independent agency: see how you smirk with self-satisfaction, invited in on the joke with fourth wall breaks, an irony-laden soundtrack, and mocking self-awareness in the spoof opening credits. Never mind that this is merely 20th Century Fox forcing you to feel it - you know that you feel it, this sensation of self-ratification, excusing you for all the times you excused these superhero films for making you feel the same things time and time again. And so you may excuse Deadpool too, since its appreciation for the vapidity of these comic book tropes is activated, in part, by its own use of these tropes. Though less familiar and more fulfilling, and mostly intelligently-done, Deadpool's mocking flippancy is perhaps even more calculated than the movies it mocks, including itself. Thus, that which makes this movie so refreshing and endearing is also what makes it so irritating. Making his feature directorial debut, Tim Miller displays skill in constructing his film's buoyant action scenes, though his adequacy across the board never burgeons into anything greater. Alas, how could it? He, too, is a slave to this system, checking the required boxes on an exhaustive list of ingredients, all in service of delivering us our next meal of bloated, balanced studio slop.