Tag: Warner Bros Pictures

Cinema Dispatch: Mortal Kombat II

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Mortal Kombat II and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Simon McQuoid

These days, we’re used to faithful adaptations of geeky properties, but that wasn’t always the case. Movies based on video games, comic books, and other non-traditional media would often struggle to make the leap to the big screen as the filmmakers were too shy to put anything to weird or niche into a movie meant for general audiences. If these films were successful, however, it would give the greenlight for the follow-up to hew closer to the source material and would often lead to a better film. That’s what I kept thinking about as I saw the trailers for this movie which was making a conscious effort to give us something closer in tone and aesthetics to the games; an admirable enough goal as far as I’m concerned, but this is from the same team that gave us the borefest that was the last Mortal Kombat movie, so I’m still rather skeptical. Can they find a way to get in touch with what fans love about the game series, or are we stuck with yet another attempt to take the material far too seriously? Let’s find out!!

 Following the events of the last Mortal Kombat, where the warriors of Earthrealm successfully fended off Outworld, we follow the aging and washed up B-Movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) who is stuck in a fate worse than death; working the convention circuit with nothing more than a folding table and a stack of old DVDs. Of course, he’s not stuck with this gig for much longer as Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) summons him to be the newest member of Team Earthrealm in the upcoming tournament. Things are different this time around, however, as Shang Tsung (Chin Han) is no longer running the show, rather, the true emperor of Outworld Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) is leading the charge himself along with his adopted daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) and her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle) as well as other fighters that fans of the game will recognize. With Outworld bringing their A-Game and Earthrealm stuck with Johnny Cage to buff up their ranks, does Earth stand a chance against a renewed and very ticked off enemy? What other tricks does the duplicitous Outworlders have in store, and are they all fighting on the same team? Seriously, Johnny Cage is the best we could do? We couldn’t get Jason Statham or that guy from Kung Fu Hustle?

“I mean, I could do another season of The Boys, right? Heck, maybe they’ll let me play Dr. McCoy again…”

It’s clear from the marketing that Warner Bros wanted us to think this is a fun go-for-broke sequel to the very dull and gun-shy adaptation from a few years ago, but sadly, that is not the case here. There are improvements to be sure, but where the first one at least had a competent structure to it, this one is neigh incomprehensible as the plot keep shifting around , rules keep being established, and characters never get a chance to do anything other than react to the current situation. It’s a mess, and all the story elements being mashed together ultimately overwhelmed whatever improvements were made this time around.

As I said, the movie gets several things right this time around, though the improvements are mostly in isolated pockets. The fight scenes are the major improvement over the last one and there’s an absolute banger of a match early on with Liu Kang that I would put up there with some of the best the genre has to offer. We also have a strong cast of new challengers with Kitana and Jade both having plenty to do and interesting arcs to explore, and while most of the villains are disappointing this time around with an astonishingly dull Quan Chi on hand for no reason, our big-bad is absolutely fantasticc. I don’t know who this Martyn Ford guy is that they got to be Shao Khan, but the dude deserves a freaking medal for giving us such an iconic villain performance. He exudes a terrifying presence that genuinely sends chills down your spine, yet he’s not a mindless brute and carries himself with a certain amount of dignity and respect that makes you forget that he’s wearing a goofy Halloween mask the whole time; complete with LEDs in the eye sockets.

Everything else, however, is a complete wash. Johnny Cage is horribly miscast, but it’s not like the script is doing him any favors. This is the first time we get to see Johnny Cage in this film series and I have no idea why they decided that he’s a washed up star from the outset, other than to give us a reason for the over fifty Karl Urban to be cast. Perhaps if the movie cared to make him the central figure of the movie, then we could have worked something out with this premise, but he’s sharing screen time with Lui Kang, Kitana, Sonya, Raiden, and all the other mooks filling out the cast, so he’s just another tag along in the story that has way too many characters. What this ends up feeling like is an eight episode Netflix series that was mercilessly vivisected and stapled back together to fit a two hour run time which would explain the abundance of characters with hastily wrapped up arcs and no strong central idea to carry the whole story. It’s a testament to how poorly paced and structured this movie is that I’m somehow pining for the dull as dishwater plotting of the first one which may have been clichéd and boring, but it at least held together as a series of events that had a beginning, middle, and end. Here, we can barely get started with one idea before we’re switching gears; following up on a completely different thread, pointlessly referencing something from the games, or giving one of the characters five minutes to wrap up their arc. It culminates in a finale that is fairly well executed in terms of choreography and spectacle, but feels utterly hollow as we check off plot points one after the other with little fan-fare or a sense of consequence; especially with resurrection being introduced as an all-purpose plot-fixer. A movie with so much violence and death shouldn’t lack tension, and yet the breakneck pace and contrived circumstances leave us with nothing to grab onto. Characters come and go with little more than a sad sigh from the rest of the cast before we jump to the next fight scene or unfunny witticism, and while a certain amount of campiness would have been appreciated, it’s clear that the movie doesn’t want to be that. What it wants to be, though, seems to be nothing, given how it never commits to a signature style or tone, and that’s what I felt watching most of this; nothing, mixed with boredom and frustration.

Is there such a thing as a Bored-ality, or is that just another name for Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe?

Where the first film felt like a misguided attempt to take the lore seriously, this one comes off like a misguided attempt at pandering to the fanboys. True, it has more of what the first film was lacking, but in shoving all this fan service in, they pushed out anything resembling a story, and it only highlights the craft with which something like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie pulled off its paper thin storyline in service of its spectacle. Still, I can’t deny that what works about this movie and how much it does improve upon its lackluster predecessor in fits and spurts, but ultimately it’s a toss-up for me which one is better. Maybe the individual clips that will eventually show up on YouTube will be enough to carry this for some, but they would probably be better off watching those fatality compilations instead. At least there, you’ll have a more authentic Johnny Cage, and he can even fight The Terminator!

2.5 out of 5

Cinema Dispatch: Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Lee Cronin

I feel like it’s been a minute since we’ve had a really good Mummy movie. Sure, they tried with that Tom Cruise movie from a few years back, but when was the last time we had a movie about a Mummy that was genuinely creepy? Has it really been since the Hammer film from the late fifties that a Mummy movie was trying to be a suspenseful horror film and not an action comedy? Thankfully, we’ve got good ol’ Blumhouse to bring these old monsters to life with small budgets; necessitating creativity and atmosphere over flashy effects and endless spectacle. Does this put the Mummy back in its rightful place as a horror icon, or is this yet another failed attempt to make the concept relevant without Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing, or Brendan Fraser? Let’s find out!!

Charlie (Jack Reynor) is an investigative reporter who’s been assigned to Cairo and brought his family along for the adventure. Of course, this being Egypt in a horror movie, one of their kids Katie (Emily Mitchell and Natalie Grace) is kidnapped and mummified. It’s not until eight years later that the sarcophagus is discovered and Katie is miraculously still alive, though seems to be in pretty rough shape. Unable to talk, walk, or even eat on her own, Charlie and his wife Larissa (Laia Costa) decide to take her home to the US and see if some bedrest will fix her horrifying condition. Needless to say that there’s more going on than just dehydration and sunburns, and things start to go wild as Katie awakens to whatever power the mummification had granted her. Why was Katie chosen to be mummified, and is there anything left of Katie now that she’s free from her bindings? What horrors will this family contend with in trying to save their daughter from whatever malevolent force is driving her? Is it just me, or does this sound nothing like a Mummy movie? Did an intern mix up a couple different scripts and no one even noticed?

“This plot thread has to lead somewhere! I just know it!!”
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Cinema Dispatch: Weapons

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Weapons and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by Zach Cregger

I went ahead and checked my backlog of reviews, and it turns out that I didn’t actually post a review of Barbarian when it came out. It’s strange because I remember seeing it in the theaters, and I’m pretty sure I started writing something, but clearly it fell through the cracks and I just never got around to it; a fate that will probably be shared by both Companion and Novocain this year. Sorry, Jack Quaid. In any case, I thought the movie was a very solid first outing for a budding horror filmmaker. Cregger was certainly no Jordan Peele when it comes to sketch comedians making scary movies, but there was plenty to like in that movie and, I was interested to see where he would go from there. His latest movie is generating the kind of buzz that you would expect from a Jordan Peele level filmmaker, which certainly has me excited to see what the former Whitest Kids You Know member has up his sleeve this time. Are we witnessing the evolution of another horror icon, or will Cregger’s latest outing be an also-ran in a genre that has an overabundance of talented filmmakers already? Let’s find out!!

In the small town of Maybrook, not unlike your own hometown, a mysterious thing happened one night. At 2:17am, seventeen kids mysteriously got out of their beds and did the Naruto run into the darkness of the night. What’s more peculiar is that they all came from a single classroom at the local elementary school, leaving just one kid who didn’t run away named Alex (Cary Christopher), and the teacher Justine (Julia Garner). With such a bizarre thing to happen and with no explanation to be found, the town became very suspicious of Justine even after the police and FBI cleared her of all wrongdoing. Leading the charge is Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the lost kids, but he’s only the tip of the iceberg as Justine is scrutinized at every turn and even gets put on administrative leave from the school as the principal (Benedict Wong) feels her presence would just escalate tensions further, but nothing is going to keep her or this community safe until someone figures out what’s going on. Where did these kids go, and what drove them there in the first place? Will Justine find the answers before she becomes a victim of the town’s grief and growing madness? You know, teachers are already under constant scrutiny as it is, and they certainly don’t need something like this on their shoulders!

“All I wanted was to teach the kids to finger paint, but no! I had to teach the GHOST CLASS!”
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Cinema Dispatch: Superman

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Superman and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by James Gunn

James Gunn may be a fantastic filmmaker, but no one has managed to recapture the magic of the Richard Donner films; not even Christopher Reeve who tried to make the fourth film into a passionate a poignant message for the world, though I’d still take Superman IV over Man of Steel any day. Sure, the franchise has been reliably bankable which is why Warner Bros isn’t about to give up on it yet, but for Gunn to go after this white whale is a show of supreme confidence, and possibly the kind of show-off move you’d want to make if you were also entrusted to shepherd an entire movie studio towards relevance again. I trust James Gunn to pull it off, but I’m still crossing my fingers all the same. Can James Gunn make us believe that a man can fly while also putting him in a good movie? Let’s find out!!

Whether you know him as Superman, Clark Kent, or Kal-El (Davud Cirebswet), the Big Blue Boy Scout is three years into his career and is doing what he can to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people invested in the world not being better, so he’s come under fire for stopping a war between the US ally of Boravia and the neighboring country of Jarhanpur. Until now, he was the golden boy who could do no wrong and looked good in Tik-Tok videos captured by the citizens of Metropolis, but with this foray into a politically charged conflict, he’s drawn a few side eyes from ostensible allies such as the Justice Gang composed of Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and, most distressing of all, his own girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) whose worried he hasn’t thought through the implications of such action and how it could come back to haunt him. She’s not wrong either as Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) has been gunning for him for years now and sees an opportunity to turn the public to his side, so with the help of his corporate drones and a few powered-up henchmen, he starts a smear campaign against Superman and even infiltrates his Fortress of Solitude to uncover more secrets. Are there problematic and terrifying skeletons in Kal-El’s closet that could keep him from being the hero he wants to be? What else does Lex Luthor have up his sleeve beyond the mud raking, and will it bring further chaos to international conflict that Superman tried to stop? Most importantly, who’s gonna feed Krypto if something happens to him!?

“My flesh is impervious to heat, so you’re gonna have to eat me raw. Is that gonna be a problem for you?”     “WOOF!”
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Cinema Dispatch: F1: The Movie

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

F1 the Movie and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Naming the movie after the sport it’s about is either a supreme show of confidence or a massive oversight, which, given how many moving parts there are to this thing, is not outside the realm of possibility. Maybe they only got nine out of ten teams to Race Buds, and so they had to go with the default title. Needless to say that money surrounding this movie is off the charts and with it comes a certain amount of pomp and circumstance that it hopes to draw audiences in with. Does the spectacle and grandeur of Formula One on full display create a cinematic experience unlike any other, or is it a lot of hot air for an otherwise pedestrian blockbuster? Let’s find out!!

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is the kind of guy who wears clichés on his sleeve, at least when it’s not covered in sponsors. He’s a burnout racer who could have been the best but found a way to screw it all up before dedicating his life to easy pay days and lowered expectations.  It’s not until his old friend Ruben (Javier Bardem) throws him a bone and offers him a spot on his fledgling Formula One team to try and keep them out of the red and maybe get Sonny some redemption in the process.  Of course, you can’t be a veteran returning to your roots without a cocky young prodigy to take under your wing which is a role Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) fits to a tee; at least when he’s not calling Sonny old and posing for magazine ads.  The two racers manage to find some success feeding off of their mutual disdain for the other’s racing style, but it’s a tall order to make it to the number one spot within the small number of races left in the season, and Sonny may not be as up to the task as he had once thought.  Will Sonny find a way to get past his demons and save his friend’s team in the process?  What can Joshua learn from the old-timer he’s stuck on a team with, and can Sonny be trusted to work in their mutual best interest when there’s gold on the line? Most importantly, will anyone in the theater care about any of this when the cars start going really fast!?

“SHAKE AND BAKE, BABY!”
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Cinema Dispatch: Sinners

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Sinners and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by Ryan Coogler

I may be coming to this one late, but it’s not like it’s gotten any less relevant since I saw it on opening weekend! The biggest news story in Hollywood, aside from all the depressing news about tariffs, has been the runaway success of Ryan Coogler’s action-horror period piece. It’s managed to keep audiences’ coming back for more week after week even in the face of the Marvel Movie Machine which admittedly snatch the first place spot from this, but staying at number two with strong weekly returns is an impressive feat in its own right. Still, a successful movie is not always the same thing as a good movie, and while Coogler’s record has been strong, he’s stretching a bit outside his comfort zone with a big budgeted movie outside of a recognizable franchise. Did this movie earn its impressive box office on its merits and through strong word of mouth, or did the hype surrounding this swiftly outpace the quality of the film itself? Let’s find out!!

Set in the small town of Clarksdale way back in 1932, we arrive on the scene just as two prodigal sons return; Elijah and Elias (Michael B Jordan) known by their nicknames “Smoke” and “Stack”.  They bring with them tales of the War and the bustling city of Chicago where they may or may not have done some questionable things that brought lots of beer and stacks of cash to the small town where they plan to open a juke joint for their community.  Caught up in their machinations are their cousin and the preacher’s son Sammie (Miles Caton) who, despite the protestations of his father (Saul Williams), is more than happy to play the blues for them on opening night where all their friends, as well as a few troublemakers, will be doing as the title of the movie suggests.  The raucous party is so good, in fact, that it catches the attention of a nearby vampire who sees plenty of fresh meat to sink his teeth into if he can just find a way inside.  Will this creature of the night find a way into the hearts and minds of those who have been marginalized and may be enticed by the powers that await them?  What brought the “Smoke Stack” brothers back to their home town, and are there things in this world that terrify them more than a literal vampire at their doorstep?  Whatever they did, I’m guessing it was worth it given the quality of those suits!

“Best part is, they’re both in my size!”     “Mine too!  What a coincidence!”
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Cinema Dispatch: A Minecraft Movie

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

A Minecraft Movie and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Jared Hess

I’m getting too old for this. I’m sure I’ve said that before, but it’s only getting truer with time as the generation after me starts to come into its own. I suppose Minecraft was something of my own generation, but it had never clicked with me back when it was new, and I’m certainly not about to dive back into it now; even if it would bring a bit more insight into what the heck is going on in this movie. Besides, I brought my seventeen-year-old cousin to the theater with me, so he was able to explain quite a few of the references. Now Millennials are no strangers to irreverence and inanity as we grew up with Internet 1.0 and Newgrounds, but rarely has that aspect of our pop culture been put on the big screen; especially with such an exorbitant budget and big name stars. Is there enough juice to squeeze out of this franchise to make an entertaining movie for all ages, or will I finally understand what my grandma went through when I dragged her to see The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie all those years ago? Let’s find out!!

Stuck in a rut and yearning for more in life, a Man called Steve (Jack Black) ventures into the mines to dig out his destiny, and wouldn’t you know it! He finds a cube that takes him to a land of square shaped geometry and similarly boxy creatures! Some of them are friendly like the villagers and his pet wolf (), but others have bad attitudes such as the pigs from the Netherworld who wish to take over the Overworld where Steve now resides. Seeking to protect his new home, he sends the magic cube to his world so it will stay out of rich of the pigs, and it winds up in the possession of Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa) whose entire personality revolves around a video game tournament he won in the eighties. With the help of the new kid in town Henry (Sebastian Hansen), he haplessly uses the power of the cube to go to the Overworld along with Henry’s sister Natalie (Emma Myers) and the local real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks). Now that the cube is back within the reach of the pigs and their leader Malgosha (Rachel House), these four must unite with Steven and find a way back home to keep the Overworld safe once and for all! Will this call to action turn these misfits into heroes, or will this journey simply reveal how much growing up they still have to do? What wonders does this world contain, and are there enough of them to fill a ninety-minute movie? Wouldn’t the audience for a Minecraft movie much rather see the movie recreated in Minecraft?

“You’ve got to think three steps ahead. We’ll recreate the movie in Minecraft, ONLY using sheep! THIS is how we reach the Gen Alphas!!”
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Cinema Dispatch: Mickey 17

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Mickey 17 and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Bong Joon-Ho

This has been a tough year for a lot of people, least of all me, as I’ve been severely unmotivated to keep things going around here. This ennui is not helped by the less than stellar slate of movies we’ve gotten so far, some of which I’m gonna try and knock out a few reviews for when I’m feeling up to it, but even amidst the fog of banality, there was a ray of sunshine on the horizon with this latest feature by Bong Joon-Ho starring one of my favorite actors today. With so much going wrong in the world, can this prove to be a bright spot to make things feel a little bit better? Let’s find out!!

Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) is not living his best life on Earth, and like many of us, decides to travel to try and find himself. Well, that and escape debt collectors with chainsaws, but in any case, he and his buddy Timo (Steven Yeun) queue up to get onboard the Nifilheim which is a ship intended to colonize a distant ice planet run by the overtly sinister Mr. and Mrs. Marshall (Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette) who seem to have given up on making Earth Great Again, and are looking for a do-over in their own little fiefdom in space. Timo gets a spot for being a decent pilot, but since Mickey’s only skill is his desperation to escape, he signs up to be an Expendable; basically a worker bee whose DNA is kept on file and gets printed out whenever the current version of him dies. I suppose dying of solar radiation and maintenance blunders is better than getting a chainsaw to the face, but after four years and sixteen dead copies behind him, he’s found himself in a bit of a rut; especially when the planet turns out to have a bunch of creatures on it that is hindering their colonization efforts.  Still, at least between his immortality and his new girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie), he’s managed to find some stability in his life. That is until he comes back from a particularly nasty day out in the snow and realizes that the crew already declared him dead and printed out the eighteenth Mickey. Not only is this new Mickey kind of a jerk, it’s also against protocol for more than one Expendable to exist at the same time, which could mean his Get Out of Death Free card will be revoked; probably via a bullet to the head or a tumble into the engine’s exhaust pipe. Can Mickey and Mickey work together to keep each other alive and out of sight from the ship’s wrathful captain? What is the Niflheim’s ultimate plan for this new world, and what would it mean for the native species whose home they are invading? I suppose this is the best Mickey could hope for, given who’s in charge. After all, who needs health insurance when you’ve got the ultimate 3D printer?

“The best is that we’ve already killed you so now OSHA standards don’t apply! It’s called Double Jeopardy!”     “Oh yeah, I like that movie. Hey, are my eyeballs supposed to be burning?”
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Cinema Dispatch: War of the Rohirrim & Conclave

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

The Holiday season is usually a busy time for me, but this year was a little more difficult than most to keep up with everything that was coming out. Thankfully, I got a chance to see two of the more interesting movies that made it to theaters, so we’ll take a look at those now before we inevitably get to Nosferatu and Sonic 3 to close the year out. Are these December releases worth taking time out of your busy holiday schedule to take a break and enjoy? Let’s find out!!

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama

Long before Bilbo Baggins had his fateful run-in with the Ring of Power, the world of Middle Earth was rife with conflict among its nobility. King Hammerhand of Rohan (Brian Cox) may be a strong leader, but his temper gets the best of him and he makes a powerful enemy of one of his lords; the young Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) whose father was struck down in a fight with the king. With a war seemingly inevitable as Wulf gains the favor of the Wild Men, the children of Hammerhand which includes his sons Hama and Haleth (Yazdan Qafouri and Benjamin Wainwright), as well as his daughter Héra (Gaia Wise), will have to summon their courage, their wits, and their leadership in order to prevent Wulf from taking Rohan for himself. As the army of the Wild Men grows stronger and the Rohan citizens must retreat to a nearby stronghold, is there any hope of victory for Héra and her family?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a monumental achievement in filmmaking, and while they may not be my favorite films, I have a deep respect for what Peter Jackson was able to accomplish in bringing these books to the big screen. Since then, however, no one has been able to capture that lightning again; least of all Peter Jackson himself, whose Hobbit movies are pale imitators of his earlier work. Sadly, that trend continues as this movie is an admirable, but ultimately banal effort to bring the world of Middle Earth to life once again. We can go into the dull narrative, the stagnant pacing, and the cast of forgettable characters, but what it truly lacks is an identity of its own; a sense of personality that defines it as a unique adaptation of the source material. Say what you will about the previous animated efforts from Ralph Bakshi and Rankin Bass, they were incredibly distinct and had some impressive highs as well as some genuinely entertaining lows. This never escapes being a middle of the road effort; too stiff and clean to have fun with it or be spontaneously bizarre. As much as we now think of Jackson’s vision of the books as the definitive interpretation of Tolkien’s work, the man brought his own eclectic and grungy style to the movies, and while they may not be as unhinged as Bad Taste or Meet the Feebles, the work he did on those movies were an undeniable influence. Here, I just don’t feel that sense of spirit emanating from the stock characters and trite plot. The story of revenge lacks any teeth given the simplicity of our antagonist and the surprisingly small scale of the action which tries to convince you it’s an all-out war when, at best, it feels like a minor skirmish. I suppose if the action is small scale then the intent was for this to be a more intimate and personal account, but there’s just not enough depth to any of the cast for that to be the case; least of all our protagonist Héra who has little agency of her own. There are no flaws from within for her to overcome, as she simply needs to fulfill a destiny once she’s had enough tragedy thrust upon her. It has its moments to be sure, especially when the action kicks in, and it feels free to let loose, but those are the punctuations to the narrative while the meat of it is far too lifeless to hold up its somber tone. With so much of it polished to a mirror shine, it never sinks so low as to be obnoxious or off-putting, and definitely makes for a better time than Jackson’s Hobbit movies. I appreciate the immense amount of effort that went into this, and I’m impressed that there was enough faith behind it to put it in theaters, as the big screen is where animation will shine brightest. Even so, I can only recommend it to the most dedicated of Tolkien fans who don’t mind a tedious story if it means spending a little more time in this world. For me, I’ll stick to watching the Leonard Nimoy sing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins over and over again.

2.5 out of 5
Continue reading “Cinema Dispatch: War of the Rohirrim & Conclave” →

Cinema Dispatch: Joker: Folie à Deux & Terrifier 3

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

It’s a battle of the clowns here today as we take a look at two recent in the surprisingly relevant genre of murderous clowns. Whatever you can say about their relative qualities, both the Joker and Terrifier series are there to throw a wrench into the conventional wisdom about what makes a blockbuster franchise, and both have found much more success than anyone was expecting. Still, following up a big hit is no easy task, especially for the one that somehow made a billion dollars, so do these two sequels manage to outdo the originals, and which one does the most with its killer clown setup? Let’s find out!!

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Joker: Folie à Deux

Joker: Folie à deux is owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Todd Phillips

Hapless serial killer Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is not the man he used to be.  His time in prison has sapped all the maniacal energy that he brought to his one and only TV appearance, and is simply waiting for his trial to be done with so he can sit in a corner until his execution.  That is until he happens to pass by another inmate named Harley (Lady Gaga) who awakens the clown within and the two start planning for one heck of a legal defense.  Will this be the grand finale to the revolution that he kicked off, or is there more going on in Arthur’s mind than what he paints on his face?

Like a lot of critics, I was no fan of the first film, which was a tedious slog through half-baked social commentary. I’m glad to report that the sequel is an improvement, by being a tedious slog through half-baked social commentary with a few song and dance numbers. Well, that’s a bit unfair, I suppose. The movie improves upon the original in several ways that don’t just include the singing and dancing, and it all has to do with the film’s tighter focus. Arthur Fleck in the first movie was a mere cipher as the film was more interested in trying to make a point, whatever that point ultimately was, rather than making it about Arthur himself. Gotham City wound up taking far too much space in the last one, and thankfully things have been stripped down significantly, as everything outside of Arthur’s immediate circumstances barely has a presence here; one that we can only glimpse through the bars of his cell or the gallery of the courtroom. I’d go so far as to say there’s barely more than three sets in the entire film, and while I can’t imagine how they spent two hundred million on this, I applaud them for making the sequel smaller instead of succumbing to Big Sequel Syndrome. This is all a great start and put me in a better mood than I was in the last film, but that goodwill started to fade away as the plot kicked in, and it’s just as boring and meandering this time around. It certainly tries to liven things up with the toxic relationship between Arthur and Harley as well as the more frequent flights into fantasy, and is almost enough to carry the movie; even outside the context of this being tangentially related to the DC Universe. For the most part I’m not bothered by how little this cares to be anything like the Batman characters, but I will say that it’s a little bit uncomfortable for this to essentially turn Harley, who is a victim of Joker’s abuse in all other forms of media, into the manipulative one. The last one had its issues with women and those aren’t improved here, which is a shame because Gaga remains a compelling actor even in material that isn’t up to her level, and I feel that her character is far too underwritten to have the impact that the film clearly expects it to have. The same is true about the musical numbers, which aren’t a detriment to the movie, but they add almost nothing to the movie. I think it was a good idea for the two of them to connect through music, but the numbers themselves are not interesting enough to justify stopping the plot in its tracks, and it’s just another thing that makes this feel way too drawn out. I don’t want to write off Todd Phillips as a boring filmmaker, but twice now he’s managed to fail to find the interesting story to tell about a killer clown. The big ideas and breathless monologues are for naught if you can barely keep your eyes open when you aren’t rolling them.

2 out of 5
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