Joker

(** out of five)

     I went to the premiere and posted my opinion of it on my personal Facebook.  Many of my friends agreed with me, and many people completely disagreed.  So, before agreeing with my review of this film, I ask you to read this review to its entirety so that you can make your own decision on whether or not to see this film.  Also, I'm currently watching a terrible documentary on Hulu called Jawline.  For some reason, the critics loved Jawline.  However, the critics did NOT like Joker, and I have to say that I agree with them.  Time to break it down.

     First, and foremost, Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor and I have zero complaints about him as the Joker.  He did a great job with the direction that he was given.  Phoenix did exactly what the director asked of him, so please don't try to compare him to Heath Ledger's Joker.

     The film is about Joker's descent into madness, an origin story that left out a lot of its origins.  When the movie begins, he is well into adulthood, living with his mother in poverty.  There is definitely a Norman Bates feel to their relationship, and it is explored in several different scenes.  He is constantly bullied by people because of a mental illness that causes him to laugh uncontrollably.  While his childhood is barely referenced, we assume that his inability to socialize with other adults developed at an early stage with his lack of any friendships.  The only socializing he does in the film is with his co-workers at the clown agency.

     If you like movies that are only about character, you will probably enjoy Joker.  The plot barely exists in the movie and don't expect any action scenes.  There is violence in the movie, but Joker being bullied and beat down by a bunch if kids is more violent than most of the scenes in the movie. There is one violent scene that consists of a few gunshots, and was the most shocking part of the film.  Each scene consists of Joker and his emotions, so many five-minute sequences are just him laughing in a chair, or a train, or wherever.  And even though he was bullied, I didn't feel as much sympathy for him as I expected.  Origin stories of villains usually show that they were a good person at some point who fought against the dark to redeem themselves until they finally gave into the evil.  And the director wants the audience to think to themselves, "you know, while I wouldn't go the extra step that bad guy goes to prove a point, I get it."  Scary to think about it in this time and era, but it's a story.  I'll say I felt sort of bad for Joker, but I didn't feel that his actions justified what had happened to him.  He does have a few rough stories in his past that I am not going to spoil, but I never rooted for him.  This film lacked so much emotion that I left without feeling any emotion.

     Does it make a difference if you know the comic-book Joker?  I don't think so.  While I see all of the comic-book films, Marvel and DC, my vision of Joker didn't affect what I wanted from this film.  What I wanted was something original, which it at least did that.  It's a film that stands alone.

    After several discussions with friends who liked and disliked the film, I was able to discover that if you liked Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, then you will probably like Joker.  Don't expect a phenomenal ending.  As the film picks up pace, it ends abruptly.  Let me know what you think.

Speed Reviews

     I may have gotten a little behind on posting to this blog.  Considering most of these movies are still in theaters as of today (10/07/2019), you may be able to read a quick summary and decide if you want to see them.  So, in the order that I saw them, here are my speed reviews.

The Lion King - This was the original movie but with CGI.  The graphics were amazing, but that's the only thing about this movie that impressed me.  If you are a Disney fan, you will enjoy watching it.  All of these remakes keep happening and I've lost interest in them, especially the Disney ones.

Good Boys - This was funny, yet surprisingly serious.  While it is absolutely over-the-top with the sexual humor, the underlying story about friendship will warm you heart from beginning to end.  The adult humor does push the boundaries of what is appropriate for child actors, and in some scenes, it was very uncomfortable.  Other than that, I would recommend seeing this one.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Not my type of movie.  I love Tarantino films, but this one lacked a plot and was a movie about characters.  Some of the scenes were very entertaining, but they didn't fit with the other scenes.  The highlight of this film, in my opinion, was when Brad Pitt's character went to an abandoned campground inhabited by a bunch of teenage runaways.  If the movie had been shorter, I think I would have liked it more.  If you loved Inglorious Bastards, you will probably like this film.

It Chapter 2 - Loved it.  Better than the first part.  I've had several debates with my friends about how this film borderlines horror and adventure.  I enjoyed it because it follows a journey.  There were a few scenes, including the opening scene, that will creep you out, but I don't know if it will scare you.  This film is three hours long, but the time goes by fast.  My favorite film of this summer.

Rambo: Last Blood -  When scrolling through movies, I had forgotten that I had seen this one.  That's how entertaining it was.

Hustlers - Surprisingly, I enjoyed this film.  It was fun.  As I expected, Cardi B and Lizzo are in the film for about ten seconds.  But still, it was cool to see the business side of hustling when the stock market crash happened into 2008.  Do you have to go to the theater to see this one?  No, but I think it has aspects that everyone will enjoy.  For instance, I enjoyed the score to this movie.  It was refreshing.

Crawl

(** out of five)

     I don't know how to rate this one.  Was it terrible?  Yes.  Was it what I expected?  Yes.  Why did I see it?  Because it sounded ridiculous.  And to my enjoyment, it was.  Even the Rotten Tomatoes Critics enjoyed it, scoring it at 87% so far.

     The plot of Crawl is simple.  A girl and her father are trapped under their house during a hurricane.  While surviving a hurricane in Florida seems tough enough, a giant alligator is also trapped in the crawlspace with them.  Their ultimate goal is to not only get out from under the house, but also to a safe place away from the hurricane.  As the storm intensifies, so does the alligator's hunger for human flesh.

     I did enjoy this film.  It was campy, gory, and what anyone can expect from a summer movie.  As an avid movie fan, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with the amount of emotion in films, the scattered political messages, and complicated plots.  Summers are a great time for studios to release fun films that won't be nominated for awards, but that may be able to capture an audience.  One of my favorite summer movies is The Shallows.  It's simple and entertaining.  The character is trapped on a rock with a shark swimming around, and she is trying to make it back to shore.  The simple plot of Crawl could be compared to The Shallows.

     The best aspect of Crawl is that it did not try to be anything other than what it was.  The director, actors, and screenwriters worked together amazingly.  The plot and dialogue worked together.  The dialogue is corny, but the action is, too.  It's fast-paced and short.  There are about ten minutes of character introductions, then the movie takes off quickly.  An example of a movie that I found to be not well-balanced was Aquaman.  Awesome actions sequences.  Great plot.  Horrible dialogue.  The dialogue was so horrible that it still makes me cringe.  Crawl is a harmonious blend of everything.  I laughed throughout the movie, even though there weren't any jokes in the dialogue.  The small audience in my theater also laughed at the cheesy alligator attacks.

     Crawl is rated R, but mostly for the violence and gore.  There is no nudity or sex, and not much cursing.  Sure, the alligator does get some good chomps in, but it doesn't haunt me like Jaws did.  Due to Crawl's reportedly low-budget of only $13.5-15 million, the graphics aren't that great, and the gore is nothing to write home about.  I imagine the largest expenses were the set and the actors.  On it's Thursday night release, it raked in $1 million.  According to Business Insider, this film is expected to do nicely at the box office.

     Is this a film you can skip?  Probably.  Considering box office tickets are expensive these days, you may want to save your money on this one.  But if money is not the concern, then why not see this one?  It's a summer film that's fun and entertaining without being over-the-top, and it's running time is only 87 minutes.  Let me know what you think.

The Perfection: Netflix

(**** out of 5)

     That's right.  Four out of five stars.  If you know me, that's a high score.  And you probably haven't heard much about this movie.  To be honest, I hadn't either.  I was browsing Netflix's new releases and had seen this pop up.  It was released on May 24th.  Based on the poster, I skipped over it and never anticipated watching it.  Then, as I was browsing my IMDB.com headlines, I saw one from Daily Mail that caught me off guard:

"New Netflix horror movie 'The Perfection' is making viewers physically sick with graphic scenes showing vomit and gore -"

     Since I rarely get scared or grossed out by blood and guts in movies, I decided to click the link and read about the film.  To not spoil anything, I read the first paragraph and then decided that I would be watching this film, which has earned an 84% from critics on RottenTomatoes.com.  I was very much impressed with this film.  Was it extremely bloody and violent?  Not as much as I was led to believe.  If you have a light stomach, you can probably handle this film.

     What's it about?  Without giving away too many details, the plot sounds pretty simple.  An aspiring musician, Charlotte, leaves her career to care for her sick mother.  Once the illness takes a turn for the worst, she decides to return to the life she left behind as a mentor for the girl who replaced her, Lizzie.

     Does that plot sound bloody and violent?  Not really.  And I'm glad.  The film features several twists and turns that you don't expect.  You will feel scared, disturbed, and confused several times.

     I like a good story.  I feel so many movies these days lack a good story, and instead replace it with strong characters.  Characters interacting can be entertaining, but only to an extent.  I watched Dead to Me on Netflix recently, which was all about character and not about the story.  Many viewers agree that the show did not keep them hooked.  The Perfection kept me hooked from the beginning to the end.

     The characters and dialogue developed.  At first, the lines were corny; it felt like Fifty Shades of Grey.  Once things began to spiral out of control, the dialogue flowed much more smoothly.

     Why did I not give the film five stars?  A few good reasons.  For starters, there was an odd placement of music in different scenes.  Most of the movie consists of orchestral music.  Oddly, there are a few scenes in which modern hip-hop music plays.  It actually diluted the intensity, especially near the end.  The film also staggers to fit in a genre.  This is the art of the director.  Sometimes, it felt like I was watching a made-for-tv film, while at other times, I felt like I was watching something more nostalgic.

     But don't let this deter you from watching it.  Netflix rarely puts out an impressive film, and this is one that you don't want to miss.

Wine Country: Netflix

(* out of 5)

     Wine Country is a new, Netflix Original film and also Amy Poehler's first, major directorial debut.  A group of friends embark on a wine tasting trip through Napa Valley to celebrate their friend's 50th birthday, and as you can predict, they all end up fighting with each other.

     While I can't pinpoint the particular word for this genre, it falls into your typical, dry dramedy that features a star-studded cast.  Another film I can think of to compare this to is Friends with Money.  The laughs aren't big enough and the tears aren't powerful enough.  I felt like I watched a bunch of drunk, middle-aged women bantering about their marriages for over an hour.  As usual, Maya Rudolph seems to be the only comedic relief and the highlight of the film.  Unfortunately, if this movie didn't have this cast that it did, it may have never been made.

     A stronger focus on the the wine experience and maybe more interactions with the winery employees would have developed the story better.  The few interactions the characters have with the sommeliers are intriguing, as well as the hosts of the AirBnB, played by Tina Fey and Jason Schwartzman.  Maybe it was too realistic to be entertaining?  Maybe this film would be better as a stage play?

     My verdict on this film is to go ahead and skip it; it feels like something that you've already seen.  Poehler has worked hard in the industry and I hope to see future films from her that have a few more laughs.

Rewatch: I Am Legend

(** out of five)

     I think the last time I saw this movie was when it was released in theaters: December 2007.  That means eleven years have passed with so many other post-apocalyptic movies.  Even the Hunger Games were released after this film.  This film may be a favorite to many, but I never got the spark from it that so many audiences did.  Recently, a group of my friends were talking about this film and how good it was.  I decided to revisit it on Netflix.
     To quickly summarize the plot of this film without giving away much, Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a scientist in search of a cure at ground zero of a viral apocalypse.  A cure for cancer is found, but it quickly mutates humanity into violent monsters.  The virus can be passed on by a bite, but after it becomes airborne, only a few survive.  Neville is the last human.  Accompanied by his canine pal, Sam aka Samantha, they search the city for supplies and signs of life.  Neville has a daily routine, with his watch constantly beeps when the sun is starting to set.  Once it's dark outside, the monsters can freely hunt.  Ultra-violet light can kill the monsters.  They hide in buildings and dark places during the day in almost a trance, unless disturbed.  Things turn south for Neville once he gets stuck outside while the sun is setting.
     Because I love character development so much, it's hard for me to enjoy films with one character.  The main character is only developed in the flashbacks.  The present-day protagonist is quite boring and sometimes annoying.
     There was a ton of potential for this film based on the story.  We don't know if he is going to discover a cure.  We don't know what the monsters are truly capable of, but we know that the group in the film has a leader.  Neville never focuses on what the monsters want or what they need to survive, yet we see anger in the main monster's face.  As the plot develops, the movie comes to a sudden and abrupt ending.  Now that I think about it, I Am Legend really reminds me of Birdbox.
     I don't think I will watch this one again for another eleven years. Without a thick plot and a character with a lot of depth, I didn't find it exciting.  The focal point of this movie is the creator's vision of a future world after a disaster.  One particular scene that stands out is when a herd of deer are going through the city.  Other than that, not much else stands out.

Avengers: Endgame

(**** out of 5)

     It's safe to read this review if you haven't seen the film as I will not be revealing any major spoilers.  I do have a few critiques about characters that may allude to certain plot developments, and if you haven't seen Infinity War, then I would skip this review.
     While this film brings an end to the Avengers team that we have all fallen in love with, the style of this movie highly contradicts the traditional style of all the other Marvel movies.  The running time for this movie is about three hours, making it the longest in the string of films released over the last eleven years.  My expectation was that it would follow in the footsteps of Captain America: Winter Soldier and would be an action-packed blockbuster from the beginning to the end.  Instead, the majority of the movie is a character-driven story about a team torn apart by an enemy, considering the possibility that they might be able to save the universe.  The movie begins with an assembled team, then quickly jumps five years into the future.
     The Avengers are dealing with loss after Thanos wiped out half of all living organisms in the universe.  The movie doesn't spend much time assembling the Avengers back together, which I found as a relief.  We've seen so many movies about trying to reconcile a split team, and the team is not much split as they are grieving.  Black Widow has taken over the leadership position, and new characters enter the picture, such as Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and Ant Man.  The meatiest part of the film consists of the team figuring out how to time travel in order to reverse the events that destroyed their lives.  There are constant twists and turns from the beginning to the end.
     The most surprising character in the film, in my opinion, is Captain America.  With his strength and kindness, he balances the entire team while growing into his position of command.  From the beginning of the movie until the very end, Captain America wards his suit and shield as a true representation of what hero is supposed to be.  Actor Chris Evans typically does better in comedy, but he really nailed this role and I applaud him for it.  Iron Man eventually takes an equal position, and the two put their power-struggle aside and work side by side.
     Unfortunately, not every character impressed me in Endgame.  My least favorite character was none other than Thor.  I guess this might be a little bit of a spoiler, but in this film, he has gained a lot of weight, which is highlighted by putting him in a fat suit.  Personally, I find this offensive as I believe fat-shaming only feeds bullying, and I don't like that the majority of the audiences seeing this are made of impressionable, young adults.  Thor lost his hammer in Infinity War, but gained a new weapon.  Now, he has lost his strength and his physique.  There are several jokes made by other characters in the film about his weight gain.  If you are expecting Thor to magically shed all of the weight in the film, you might want to lower your expectations.
     I was not disappointed with the story, and the three hours actually went by fast.  If you've followed all of the movies, the last twenty minutes are an epic battle which will quench your thirst for one of the best battles in movie history.  Is this a film that I want to rush back to the theaters and see?  Not necessarily.  The running time does make it hard to see this movie multiple times.
     So what could have made this movie better?  I only gave it four out of fives stars and here is my simple reason why:  It needed more suspense.  Due to the story scattered in so many directions, I didn't feel the struggle or the suspense that it's predecessors carried.  Can you see it if you haven't seen the other films?  Possibly, but I would not recommend it.
     I did enjoy this movie and I liked that the Avengers came to an end.  It was a refreshing and fun.