Here comes yet another divisive comic book movie from DC.  There have been many cries of controversy with Todd Phillip’s rendition of Joker, with people saying that this is a “dangerous” movie and that this is a bad time in our nation’s history for a movie like this to be released.  There are people who are concerned about who maybe inspired by a Joker movie to do terrible travesties.

I do not subscribe to those ideas as I am not one to ever blame the art or the artist for what someone may interpret from it.  The biggest question, for me, is … Is the Joker a good movie?  I had heard a mixed bag from a many of the critics so I really had no idea where it would fall for me.  Then, before I was heading into the theater, I ran into a co-worker who told me that they hated the movie.  I took my seat without any idea about what I was going to see.

And I loved this movie.

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) was a sad and damaged individual who was trying to get by in life with his job as a rental clown, trips to his therapist while taking care of his mother Penny (Frances Conroy).  It is clear from scene one that this man has a struggle with mental illness and that he is only hanging on by a thread.

It seems that one of the things that he is inflicted with is a laugh that he cannot control and that can come at the most inopportune times, particularly times of high levels of stress.

Arthur’s great wish is to become a stand-up comedian and he does what he can to make that dream a reality.   Unfortunately,  it appears that he is simply not that funny.  So one day on a train moving through Gotham City, Arthur kills three men with a gun given to him by a co-worker and events begin to spiral out of control.

Joker is a violent movie, but it is not anywhere near as violent as I had thought it would be.  Honestly, with the uproar over the social media concerns, I imagined that Joker would be much more violent and graphic.  There have been plenty of other movies more violent than Joker but those movies did not receive the scrutiny that Joker has.

The film is an in-depth character study of a man who is declining into madness and the world around him that apparently does not care.  The mental illness theme in this film comes right out of the headlines today and is probably the main reason people are uneasy over Joker.  The film does show that Joker takes those final steps into madness when he loses the ability to go to his therapist because of budget cuts.  The idea of aid for the mentally ill is vital to the story of Arthur Fleck.

As every review states, Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant as Arthur Fleck.  He is able to show you the side of this character that deserves pity and relatability without divorcing you from the fact that this is a dangerous psychopath that should not be pitied.  And at times you feel uncomfortable and maybe even a little disgusted when you can understand and relate to him.

The movie is definitely a slow burn and difficult to watch because it makes you as an audience member uncomfortable with yourself.  It does not give you a typical protagonist to cheer for and it does not provide you with the happy ever after that most movies do.  That probably shocked some people, but what do you expect when you are going to an R rated Joker movie?  Unicorns and flowers?

Watching Phoenix descend into the darkness was fascinating and seeing him transform into the Joker was amazing.  There are plenty of perfect “Joker” moments in the movie so when audiences were being warned that this was not the Joker they were used to, I think that was over exaggerating.  This was the Joker that I knew.

There are certainly many moments or scenes that borrow from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver or King of Comedy and the feel is even more emphasized when we see Robert DeNiro playing late night TV host Murray Franklin, however, these moments felt more like an homage to those films rather than a theft of them.

Joker is disturbing, but in all the best ways.  One of the more disturbing aspects of Joker is the mother-son relationship with Arthur and Penny.  Frances Conroy is wonderfully off-kilter in this movie playing the mother of the eventual clown prince of crime.  There is an inclusion of Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullin) which I am not sure was needed.  I think this was used simply to keep the connection to Batman, despite the Caped Crusader not being in this movie.  There is a strange thing that happens at one point that makes you question the decision making process of Todd Phillips, but it pays off later in the film.  There are many moments like that so I suggest you do not get yourself into a Nerd Rage before the film ends.  Give it a chance before you hate on it.

Joker does feel like it goes maybe one scene too far at the end.  Otherwise, I feel that they conclusion of this movie is very powerful and speaks directly to the divide between the classes, as well as the fate of mentally ill people in today;s world.  The final bloody image with the Joker is perfect and puts an appropriate period on the end of the sentence.  The extra add on feels like something that could have been dropped.  It felt almost like a post credit scene that was not after the credits and tacked on at the end.

I was not sure how I was going to react to Joker.  I have always loved the character, but the negativity that I have heard made me doubt how I might react.  However, I was completely enthralled with this movie and, despite some of the smaller faults, is one of my favorite films of the year.

4.9 stars

We have had a lot of biopics about music icons recently.  From Freddie Mercury to Elton John, the music industry has been a hotbed of movie subjects.

Add one more to the list with the film based on the last year of the life of Dorothy Gale herself, Judy Garland.

In an attempt to get money to provide a more secure life for her children, Judy Garland (Renee Zellweger) accepted a tour of London despite her own struggles with alcohol and medication as well as her own tragic past.

Renee Zellweger is the absolute best thing about Judy. Her performance is transformative and powerful.  I believe she has to be considered the front runner, if not the lock, for the Academy Award for Best Actress from this performance.  She brings such an emotional depth to the character, from the lows of her addictions to the highs of her performances.

The character of Judy Garland is not shown through rose-colored glasses either.  We see the bad choices and the mistakes that she makes and the consequences of those actions.  One of the stronger aspects are the series of flashbacks back to the Dorothy-aged Judy (Darci Shaw) which detail the downright abuse heaped on Judy by the movie studio and her handlers who were more concerned with the image of Judy than the actual person.  There were some shocking instances of cruelty and potentially even abuse by those in power over the young girl that you understand why Judy grew up to be such a mess.

The film had a huge tragic feel to it for much of the run time.  The life that the young girl had to live through to the challenges facing the older version who was just looking for a way to be a mother to her children were heartbreaking.  Renee Zellweger was able to remain this woman riddled with poor choices without losing the connection to the audience.  Even when her own worst behavior was her undoing, you could relate to the pain and the challenges faced by the songstress.

One of the best scenes of the film included a gay couple who had waited after a show and met Judy.  Judy was so lonely that she invited them out to dinner and wound up spending an evening with them.  It was such a lovely, emotional scene that it truly helped to humanize Judy Garland.  It also effective when the couple returns later in the film.

Speaking of later in the film, the final part of the movie was just epic.  I loved how they ended the movie and I found myself with tears in my eyes from the power of the moment.  It was both sad and tragic, while at the same time uplifting and hopeful.  It ended with such a strong couple of scenes that any other flaws that might have been in the film were brushed away.

The film may have been a slow developing one, but I was riveted the entire time.  Renee Zellweger was special in her performance and the ending scene was one of the most emotional times of the year.  Judy is a terrific biopic.

4.75 stars

The new DreamWorks animated movie came out this weekend and it features a Yeti trying to get back to his home on Mount Everest before he is caught and dissected by some evil businessman.

Agents of SHIELD’s Chloe Bennet voices Yi, a teenager who finds the Yeti on the rooftop of her building.  Yi, sad over the death of her father, would go to the roof to play her violin and, little did she know, this Yeti was hiding out there.

The Yeti, which Yi calls Everest, bonds with the girl and, along with her friends, Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Peng (Albert Tsai). she tries to help Everest find his way home.

While I enjoyed the movie, there was just something about it that felt as if the film was trying too hard.  I’m not sure what it was, but, despite there literally being plenty of it in the actual storyline, the film felt as if it were missing some magic.

Everest was revealed to have some kind of magical mystical powers that, apparently, get stronger the closer he gets to Mount Everest.  Maybe I just did not accept that premise or maybe I had never associated magic with Yetis before, but it just seemed to be a weakness in the storytelling.

The animation was beautiful with the shots of nature and the Himalayas, but the characters were anything but original.  I did like how the characters were Chinese and were very much fully fleshed out.  This was a co-production between DreamWorks and China’s Pearl Studio and I enjoyed the change.

I also enjoyed the twist of the character reveal that caught me off-guard.  It seemed as if the villains were fairly typical and then something happens that makes you look at them in a different light.  I don’t want to spoil it, but I did like the unexpected shift.

I do think this is a decent family film that kids will love and that parents will not hate.  That is a success, because the target audience is certainly the children.

As for me, despite what I felt was something lackluster at times, there was enough here to enjoy what I saw.  The film has some nice animation, a sweet story and a twist in a character that was unexpected.  Despite the flaws, Abominable was a solid animated movie and worth the 90+ minutes.

3.5 stars 

Haunt is a low budget horror movie recently released that I found on Vudu.  I had heard online critic Chris Stuckmann praise it as a really solid haunted house movie and so I figured I would give it a try.

Produced by Eli Roth, Haunt turned out to be a decent horror film that provided some serious scares and some well earned moments of fear.

A group of friends get together on a Halloween night and they decide to go to a haunted house.  The haunted house turns out to be very extreme and, eventually, turns deadly.  As they struggle to find their way to freedom, the “actors” in the haunted house reveal their true motivation.

Katie Stevens played Harper, the main protagonist of the group of friends.  She has a back story that gets interwoven into the story that is being told with the haunted house in a very effective manner.  Stevens performs her role well, truly emoting the fear and panic that is gripping her character.  Still, I like how Harper does not become a cowering victim.  She is a kick ass female and steps up when she needed to.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods direct the movie and they do an admirable job in what is clearly a low-budget film.  They are able to create some serious tension and anxiety among the viewers with some real scares.  They do not depend on the jump scares that are prevalent in the horror genre these days.  Instead, each scare feels earned and natural.

With Halloween right around the corner, Haunt is a great addition to the haunted house genre and uses the tropes in creative and engaging manners.  It is creepiness at its finest.

3.8 stars

Ad Astra is the second movie this weekend that I saw that was receiving rave reviews but did not reach those expectations for me.  I did not like Hustlers, and Ad Astra, while I liked it more than Hustlers, was not as brilliant as I thought it would be.

Now, having said that, I will state that there were two magnificent parts of the film.  One was the special effects.  This film looked beautiful.  And the second was Brad Pitt, who delivered a special, understated and subtle performance in the movie.

Brad Pitt played Roy McBride, an astronaut who was recruited by the government to fly to Mars and attempt to contact Roy’s father H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a legend who was involved in a project searching for intelligent life in the universe.  The project was causing problems back on earth called The Surge and the government wanted Roy to try and appeal to his father, whom Roy believed was dead for years.

Brad Pitt played Roy as if he were damaged goods, with a deep seeded anger that he shoved down, preventing him from having a life worth living.  Pitt is great in this movie and his performance was nuanced and compelling.

However, the film is slow through most of the run time.  It feels long and there are distinctly dull moments that work as character points, but can really drag out.  By the time they get to Tommy Lee Jones, a lot of the steam had been let out of the plot.

However, there was an epic scene involving space monkeys that I was just not sure how it happened.  Maybe I missed something with that but the monkeys were a sudden and unexpected shock in an otherwise slow burn.  (I really did not understand why the monkeys were there.  I wonder if I missed a reference)

As I mentioned, the look of the movie is amazing.  I never once wondered about something looking CGI.  I was completely enthralled by the effects and I bought them completely.  There may have been some moments where I was not sure if what they did would work (and…monkeys of course) but it never looked wrong.  I also saw the film in IMAX which made it look all the better.

Most of the cast was pretty well wasted outside of Pitt and Jones.  Ruth Negga was just there.  Donald Sutherland seemed as if he was going to be more important than he was.  I did not even realize Liv Tyler was in the movie until I saw her on the credits afterwards.

When there were good scenes, they really hit well.  It just was mixed in with too many scenes lacking pace or intensity.  Still, I think this was the best film of the weekend for me and I would recommend it, if for nothing else, but Brad Pitt’s performance and the wonderful CGI.

3.3 stars

I missed Hustlers last week, and I heard good things about it so I wanted to make sure I saw it this week.  Unfortunately, I did not find it as entertaining as I expected.

A group of women strippers, led by Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and Destiny (Constance Wu), in order to make ends meat, start drugging high brow strip club attendees to steal money from them.

Honestly, I was bored at the first half of the movie.

I thought both Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu were really good in their roles.  Lopez, in particular, delivers probably her best performance ever.  The problem, for me, was the rest of the film was not as strong as I thought it would be.

There are some funny moments in the film, but that is countered by the rottenness of the characters being shown.  In the end, they absolutely are criminals who are stealing from these men. Yes, these men are from Wall Street and shown as cheaters, and the film does its best to dehumanize the men (for the most part, which is an interesting contradiction to typical films), but that still does not make it right.

The relationship between Lopez and Wu’s characters are definitely the drawing point for the best scenes of the movie, but there is a lot of ugliness involved as well.

Based on a true story,  Hustlers was not the movie I was expecting, and, while I did not like this movie much, I was very much impressed with Jennifer Lopez and think she legitimately has a chance at an Academy Award nomination.

2.75 stars

Of course, maybe my opinions were altered by the jerks beside me who kept going on their phones.  I hate that!

I have heard some online critics say, “What are you expecting?  It’s a Rambo movie” when they explain why there does not need to be a good movie as long as Rambo is murdering a bunch of scumbags.

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is retired and on his farm when his soon-to-be college niece (Yvette Monreal)heads off to Mexico to find her absentee father, who deserted her years ago.  Of course, she gets in trouble with all of the “hombres” in Mexico and gets tossed in a sex ring.  John has to go down to try and save her from their evil clutches.

That whole father subplot took all of five minutes to resolve.  It was resolved in the most basic and unsatisfying way imaginable.

This film is truly a mess.  What many people are claiming as its great final scene of the third act felt like a more bloody, more violent episode of The A-Team to me.  We see Rambo working on his farm to set up the traps in a montage and the villainous Mexicans stumble right into his traps.

And then the gore factor just shoots into orbit.  Some of the most brutal moments I have sen on film.  I have never been a fan of the real bloody gore, so I found myself not enjoying the final act.  And what was even worse was the bad guys were so stupid that they did not vary in the slightest from Rambo’s death traps.  They just blindly ran directly into them.  Oh, and every one of them worked perfectly.  Good job B.A and Face!

By the way, there seemed to be a political tint to some of the scenes.  Why, there was one scene where Rambo arrived at the USA/Mexico border and just drove his truck easily through the barbed wire fence.  I wonder what message that was trying to send.

I found the dialogue and much of the acting to be poor, but … what do you expect from a Rambo movie?  As long as Rambo kills people, nothing else matters.

I thought I might enjoy this one, but I was wrong.  I thought this was not a good movie and it had a bunch of things that checked off boxes of things that make me uncomfortable.  Too much gore for me, and the villains are as stupid as the victims in a slasher movie.  If you are a big Rambo fan, this will probably thrill you.  I have actually not seen any other Rambo movie so I am only approaching this as an audience member and I did not like it much.

1.8 stars