Will the MCU get back on its axis with “Deadpool & Wolverine?” We have thoughts on that as well as about some indie films you need to check out, including “The Beast Within,” “Fresh Kills” and the documentary “Eno.” Here’s our roundup. “Deadpool & Wolverine”: What a bummer it’s been with the Marvel Cinematic Universe spinning out of control (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” were DOA), with even diehard fans suffering from superhero burnout.
The elixir to all the multiverse burnout arrives in the costumed form of this rude, raunchy and hard-R-rated Marvel resurrection of sorts. Director and co-screenwriter Shawn Levy’s MCU bad-boy matchup pits profane wisecracker Deadpool with brooding worrywart Wolverine, and resuscitates the gasping and splintered MCU. The reason it works that it has the right people attached – from stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and on to Levy — who tones down the nauseating overuse of CGI that’s marred recent efforts and leans heavily into an irreverent midlife/existential crisis storyline concocted by a team of five (including Reynolds), which liberally ribs almost everything attached to it (20th Century Studios, Disney, “Gossip Girl,” Blake Lively, “Furiosa,” “The Proposal,” Jackman’s divorce and so on).
The cameos — none of which should be revealed — pump things up even more so, to the approximate size of that eighth wonder of the world, Jackman’s biceps. (Impressive,.