[Spoiler Alert] Film reviews and ratings

Had never even heard of Whiplash til tonight, but we gave it a bash. Thought it was brilliant, most I've enjoyed a film in a long time.

 

Just watched Marley and me again for the first time since We put our dog down a couple of years back and wow I cried my heart out, if you never seen it before give it a go and have the tissues handy as you will need them.

 

Watched this for the 1st time on a flight going on holiday. Half the flight watching it, the other half gabbing away...

5 mins from the end, the queues with men trying to get into the toilets and bawling their eyes out was amazing..... I just sat in my seat and cried..

 

Just out of Joker 2, * me it was dreadful.

A musical as well. Dug meat.

 

And above all of that, the most astounding thing is that they spent US$200m+ to make a movie that is essentially a prison/courtroom drama - and not a particularly good one.

 

Unbelievable mate.

I know people will praise Phoenix for his performance etc, but it really was a dog * film.

Gaga as well, her character was kinda pointless.

They shouldn't have done a sequel, if this was their plan, and not wanting to do spoilers but they can't exactly do another film.

*-show.

 

Same. Just out. I didn't sign up for a Disney sing along.

 

See, I get why a lot of people were * at that element of it, but I could deal with that IF the songs were there to actually progress the story or help reveal character development, but 95% do neither of these, so they are effectively just meaningless filler. And upto a certain point, largely the only time we see 'Joker' is in these imagined sequences anyhow.

Plus disregarding the end of the first film so that they could shoehorn in this story when the first was a perfectly adequate origin story (albeit being largely derivative of King of Comedy), turning the second half of this movie essentially into recapping the events of the first really underlines how little they had thought this through and how little it has to offer.

Take the songs out and even with the courtroom scenes left in, you're still looking at maybe an hour at most of a very thin story, with a rather unsatisfying take on 'Ley Quinnselle, that could have been done so, so much better. That is not a criticism of Lady Gaga's efforts, rather the dreadful writing of the character and what she is given to work with, which had so much more potential but instead... this.

Spoiler: As for the end... spoiler

Oh, and as for the end, that was very clearly done as a nod to Nolan, who had previously insisted that it not be related by Phillips and the studio, but as Nolan no longer has a working relationship with WB, they ended up taking a rather large dump there.

 

I feel as though you kinda had to rewatch the first Joker to really follow it as well.

It was almost like the second film treated the first film like this big Holy Grail, similar to the Halloween reboot in 2018 going back to the original 1978 movie.

It tried to be too clever for me, instead of being just a mad fantasy movie for 2 hours.

I thought he would have broken out or turned the prison into a pure riot and just went mental in the city for half an hour.

But aye, pointless songs, just overal pish.

 

Also watched * boy: crooked man 2 days ago.


What the fuckity * was that? Hopefully the director was sacked and never put on a movie again. Litterly zero story telling. I'd be shocked if that's not put the nail in hellboys coffin forever.

I need a good movie to watch to recover from the weekend of pish iv just seen.

 

thanks Taz, doesn’t sound like I’d enjoy them but appreciated

 

I hate musicals, with a passion, a genre I was hoping hollywood had outgrown

 

Same......Well with the exception of The Blues Brothers...

Very good movie.....Funny and the Tunes are fantastic

 

listened to soundtrack just the other day, but you’re right it is a musical although I usually associate musicals with fred astaire, but there’s even dancing in blues brothers so maybe I do like musicals but just not the ones usually on offer

 

Wolfs is a good new film. Brad Pitt and George Clooney

 

Never let go ... halle berry weird but good

 

The trend from Hollywood when it comes to musicals seems to be to surprise/ambush the audience, and has taken to doing this year is playing down this in the marketing of these movies, with mixed results at best. * Wonka, The Colour Purple, Mean Girls and now Joker: Follie a Duex have all similiarly been marketed to conceal/minimize the musical nature of these movies.

Some people can get on board once the movie has started and go, 'oh, this is the game we are playing, right, let's see where they go with this...' and consider myself among those, because I hate spoilers and actively avoid trailers etc. So, that is close to being literally every movie and I do catch pretty much every movie at the cinemas. Most people are not like that though and are far more selective about what they are bothered to go to see at the cinema.

When it comes to musicals however, these only work if the songs integrated push the narrative or character arcs.I don't mind musicals if they can answer those 2 criteroa or be engaging/entertaining, as it is just another type of movie. Not something I would necessarily go out of my way for, but generally speaking, it is far from being a genre that I would choose.

But for most audiences that feel like they have been misled are immediately resentful and from that moment it sets everything on the back foot and an uphill battle - to use a football analogy - and then struggles to get momentum going forward thereafter. The only way it can, is if the songs push forward the narrative or aid in character development, as perviously mentioned - something Joker 2 fails at.

The question has to be asked, how all those making these creative choices, executives that greenlight this and the marketing agencies engaged that comes up with these strategies, collectively, how are they anticipating most people to react when they go in with reasonable expectations to these movies and are suddenly presented with a musical/musical adaptation - and then seem surprised when they get negative reaction because of it?

 

The Dutch film that it is based on is a very different and sinister ending


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Seen the original. Cracking movie.

 

the huge drop off in attendance backs up your point, first weekend people flocked to the new instalment but by second weekend word had got around and people didn’t bother attending, I like the quote at the end especially



Joker: Folie à Deux has plunged from the top of the North American box office, suffering a massive 80% drop from last weekend’s chart-topping debut of $40m (£30.65m) to just $7.1m.
That is a record collapse for a comic-book film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Film critics have offered a range of views about Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, calling it "bleak and daring" but also "depressingly dull and plodding”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1k7y9w4n12o