I've watched several things this morning since Disney Plus went live, but the most impactful was Marvel's Hero Project. The first episode about Jordan, a young girl who was born without a portion of her left arm, was inspiring. Her narrative immediately brought to mind the following nerd reference: IDIC. That's a Star Trek phrase meaning Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
If the rest of the series is as awesome as this episode, it'll be one of the best things to grace this service.
They'll be a lot of talk about The Mandalorian and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, and there should be, but if you miss out on Marvel's Hero Project, you'll be missing out on something that can lift your spirits any time you watch it.
:star::star::star::star::star: or 10/10.
Whichever scale you prefer.
While not wholly irredeemable, this movie was an incomprehensible mess. I enjoyed the cast. However, the story was ridiculous. While there are certainly elements in the story you can recognize from the "Fast & Furious" franchise, this story has little to do with the characters from it.
Vanessa Kirby is the new addition to the "family," with an appearance by Helen Mirren. Eden Estrella, who played Hobbs' daughter in Furious' 7 and 8, has been inexplicably replaced by Eliana Sua. Also, there are a couple of uncredited yet substantial cameos by Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart.
There are several mid-credits scenes and a post-credits scene, but if you haven't walked out by now, what's stopping you?
Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix team for an unconventional comic book movie about a man and a city’s descent into madness. There has been some discussion that this isn’t a comic-book movie, but it undeniably is. It is an origin story.
Arthur Fleck is a devoted son. He lives with his mother, but he is not dependent on her. Rather, he takes care of her, and he does it by working as a clown for hire. His job takes him to various places: for example, a music store going out of business and a children’s hospital. Arthur also suffers from a (real-life) condition, which causes him to laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate times. So much so that he carries a card that can explain it to people when he cannot.
The construction of the story is masterful and subversive, and it requires the audience to think and deduce some of the action going on before them. Phoenix’s performance is nuanced and skilled. It captures some of the cartoon-like nature of The Joker without it being cartoony. In some form, you respect Fleck’s struggle, and then he shocks you with his behavior. In a sense, Fleck has a code, and until the very end of the film, he never violates it.
To tell you more would spoil the experience.
Rated R by the MPAA for strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images, Joker is the best comic book film with that rating since Logan. I highly recommend it.
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z2019-12-31T23:59:59Z