Review: Joker, or Exploring the Untapped Potential of Superhero Movies

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Somebody please give this guy an ashtray.

Much has been said about Joker, even before it was released in the cinemas. Mostly, they've been negative.

Most of the negative reviews for Joker are predicated on the same thing: That Joaquin Phoenix can never surpass Heath Ledger's Joker, and any actor who tries will surely fall flat on his face, as shown by Jared Leto's performance as Suicide Squad's Joker. First, that is a pathetic premise; second, that would be underestimating Joaquin Phoenix's acting prowess.

In order to understand superhero franchises and their penchant for casting new actors, we must go back to Elizabethan times, particularly the plays of William Shakespeare. More specifically, Hamlet. The very first actor to play Hamlet was Richard Burbage, yet there have been countless actors after him who have played the part, both on stage and on film, including Mel Gibson, Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Christopher Walken... the list goes on. But do we cling to Daniel Day-Lewis's 1989 performance in London's National Theatre as the best Hamlet performance ever, the way we cling to Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight as the best Joker performance ever? Of course we don't. And that's why it's useless to rank Joker performances, because there really is no one true Joker. Even the comic books had different Joker iterations.

YouTube

"I'm a clown in a clown mask. LOL"

What makes Joker great is that it doesn't feel like a superhero movie. It has the grounding of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, and it also has the character instrospection that brings this film out of the realm of superhero fantasy and into serious human drama. It tackles the issue of mental illness like no other superhero film before it, and it does so in a dark, sombre tone, without any explosive action sequences and high-speed chases. It's just pure, gritty human drama.

Director Todd Phillips, known for directing comedies such as Old School and The Hangover franchise, brings his comedy chops to work hand-in-hand with the drama. The result is masterful storytelling, striking just the right balance of drama and comedy that would probably not work were this film handled by another director. After all, the Joker has always had that element of absurdity to him, which is part of what makes him a lovable character.

To answer the question "Will this film have a sequel?", well, that's kind of a grey area. I hope they don't make one, to preserve the artistic integrity of this film. Joker is perfect as it is, a stand-alone film that doesn't quite fit well with the other movies in the DC cinematic canon, and I think that's a good thing.

YouTube

"Already got the Globe. I'm waiting for that Oscar now."

Joker. USA/Canada. 2019.



Original rating: 8/10
Joaquin Phoenix's fingernails: -0.1
Robert De Niro: +0.1
Zazie Beetz: +0.1
Visual homages to the comic books: +0.1
Final rating: 8.2/10

Movie Review: War Dogs, or Jonah Hill Is Fat But Brilliant

Bollywood Reads

"What do you think, Miles? Should I aim for 'Best Actor'?"

For two guys in a buddy flick, Jonah Hill and Miles Teller exhibit great chemistry, which I assume extends offscreen.

In War Dogs, the new drama from Todd Philips brings us back to the mid-2000s, back when the war in the Middle East was on the minds of most Americans. We follow David Packouz (Teller) and Efraim Deveroli (Hill), two childhood friends from Miami, as they become professional arms dealers under Deveroli's company AEY. Take note, this is a profession very uncommon among 25-year pot smokers, but through a mixture of determination, talent, and sheer luck, they win a multi-million dollar Pentagon contract to supply arms to armed forces in Afghanistan. This isn't a shady black market deal gone wrong, but it could just as well be, because a few snitches and glitches and double-crosses later, AEY is taken down by the FBI.

Films based on a true story tend to be either serious or boring, which should not be the case, because a lot of times fact trumps fiction in terms of interesting stories. War Dogs is neither serious nor boring; in fact, it's a wild romp. The end credits of the movie says it was based on the Rolling Stone article "Arms and the Dudes", but that is apparently inaccurate. The actual Rolling Stone article is titled "The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders", written by Guy Lawson back in 2011. He then turned this into a book in 2015, and its Amazon page lists it as Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners From Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History. The question then is: Three? I read the Rolling Stone article, and Alex Podrizki, the third gunrunner, was only mentioned towards the end.

Wenner Media

See? No Podrizki. Just two war dogs.

War Dogs is proof that Todd Phillips is a good director. Ordinary, mediocre directors tend to excel in a certain genre only, but shift them to another genre and they flounder. Phillips is known for his weird and offbeat comedies, most famous of which is The Hangover trilogy, yet he transitions to drama seamlessly, and hopeully we can expect more serious flicks with him at the helm. Granted, this film also has some comedic elements going for it, but that's more than welcome if only to diffuse the tension that the really serious topic of gun smuggling brings.

Although Miles Teller is a good actor (remember his fatigue- and angst-ridden drummer in Whiplash?), this film belongs to Jonah Hill. If you can, even for an instant, put his annoying laugh out of your mind, and if you can get past his onscreen obesity, you'd see that Hill has come a long way since his early comedy films such as Superbad. In fact, Jonah Hill is so method in this movie that he gained an unhealthy amount of weight for this role in order to tip the scales, presumably to make his character more despicable. He is, after all, a two-time Oscar nominee.

Bocamag.com

"Seriously, bro... Am I that fat?"

War Dogs. USA. 2016.



Original rating: 7.5/10
No Ana de Armas nudity: -0.1
Bradley Cooper with facial hair: -0.1
Based on a true story: +0.1
Jonah Hill's laugh: -0.1
Drug use: +0.1
Final rating:7.4/10

Due Date

From the title itself, you know this is about a pregnancy. But from the poster, you know that this stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. So who's giving birth?

Certainly not the alpha male of this flick.

It's actually Robert Downey, Jr.'s wife who's pregnant. And she's played by Michelle Monaghan. Who I don't really fancy. Not my type. But she sure is Jamie Foxx's type. Wait, so how does this play again? RDJ and Jamie Foxx have been friends for like twenty years. Foxx and Monaghan used to date. And Monaghan is now married to RDJ. Yet Foxx and Monaghan still keep in touch. The situation is so absurd that everyone was half-expecting Monaghan's baby to be black.

Not really his baby. Got you there.

Wait, so how does Zach Galifianakis come into the picture? As an unwanted asshole, that's how. Funny how Galifianakis's roles are always assholes. It's not because of the beard, is it? I mean, beards don't make assholes, right?

Does that not look like an asshole to you?

Finally, speaking of beards, I don't think Galifianakis can do proper comedy without his beard. I'll bet that if you shave his beard off, he loses his comedic powers. Kind of like Samson. That's why in The Hangover Part II, he shaved his head, but not his beard. So I'm betting that in his next flick, he still has the beard.

Speaking of which, the director Todd Phillips also directed both Hangover films. Which is probably why Galifianakis gets to be just as annoying in this film.


Due Date. USA. 2010.


Rating: Six and a half out of ten.
Danny McBride's cameo: Plus point three.
Final rating: Six point eight out of ten.



*some info from IMDb
pics from VLC