Good movie scores have the ability to make a bad movie feel ok, and an ok movie feel pretty good. After revisiting the movie after over 10 years, I can tell you Babel is one of those ok-turned-good movie, thanks to the wonderful scoring by Gustavo Santaolalla. The Oscar was very well deserved.
The acting frankly was pretty standard, not only I felt that the superstars in the film didn't get their chance to shine, i was more surprised by the Moroccan casts (the shepherd family) than the oscar nominated performance of Rinko Kikuchi. The cause maybe is that now she's a well established actress and a familiar face, and the "wow factor" back in 2006 is just no longer there for me.
And honestly the Japan storyline barely had any relationship with the rest of the story, and felt more like a side story than a chapter. That was quite disappointing.
As gloomy as it was, on the plus side the movie was very sincere and provided a good opportunity for viewers to review themselves on their ethics. The distance between each and everyone of us, what's separating us? When life's on the line, how are we to coop with our indifference and survive? These ethical questions are boring for most people but they are not useless, because when the time actually comes for you to make those choices, you will thank Iñárritu for giving you Babel.
Went to the cinema to see it again, and a funny thought came to my mind:
What if we cast Joaquin Phoenix THE NEXT BATMAN?
Are the perplexes HIS Joker going through really so much different from Batman's? And now that joker actually has a well defined background, why can't there be a DC universe with Arthur Fleck as Batman and Bruce Wayne as Joker?
Anyways it's just a fantasy i couldn't get out of my head so I just wanted to share it with you.
Now back to the movie.
Yes I did compare Pheonix with Leto for the "joker experience" they gave me. I must admit it's dumb of me to have done so cause they are quite different in terms of character. But is Phoenix as good as Ledger? Now i definitely won't compare them, not for the same reason, but because i have the impression that they are portraying different "Phases" of the same character: Pheonix as the joker who's wondering, searching for his place in the maddening Gotham City; and Ledger, the joker who's found and determined, ready to give the world his final masterpiece. Note that none of joker's crimes in this movie were actually planned, they were more like subsequences of Arthur's fail attempts to kill himself. If we get to see Pheonix as joker again, that will be a better time to compare him with ledger.
I love the movie so much i watched it twice in a week. I feel satisfied watching it even the first time actually. But despite the lack of support from other characters (the movie is about joker so I'ma let it pass here), is there something more to add here? What's missing in this great Joker we saw?
I think i know the answer:
A philosophy.
Joker it's so scary and attractive at the same time we call him the best comic villain. Thats mostly because he is not just crazy, the man's got a philosophy. He's got purpose. The one thing i sadly hate in this movie is perhaps how much joker here's just a lunatic, that enjoys the spotlight and dance a lot. He surely didn't show much philosophy when he has those chance. Why did Philips made it that way? was it for cinematic? I don't know, was it just to set him apart from other jokers? I don't know either. But one thing is for certain, if thats all the depth this Joker has to offer, it's safe to say the hype for this movie is exaggerated.
Maybe I have to see it again for the third time to find out more, or Pheonix have do better and wow us again more next time. the viewers have seen joker many times now and the past jokers did set the bar high.
P.S. Winning a lion is a huge praise. I'm excited to see how well Joker will do with the Oscar. I'm guessing a best movie and best actor nomination and a best production design win.
I'm not a professional film critic or anything, and I'm not trying to comment like one, but I've got something I'm pretty sure on why some movies are so great: They simply never stop on get better as the runtime go.
I saw the movie because of its reputation. I knew its something good and i wanted to find out why everyone can't stop praising it. So when Henry Fonda pulled out that switch blade and stuck it on the table, i thought "oh thats it, that's why they say this movie is great, a huge twist". And then came the old guy with great insights about the old man downstairs and the woman across the street, they were on 2 to 10; And then there was the man who shouts his hate for people from the slumps, everyone in the room showed him how ignorant he was, they were tied on 6/6; And finally, the last man teared up his photo with his son he haven't seen in 2 years, sobbingly say "not guilty" ... Everything built up like a pile of random acts at first, but as the movie progresses everything fell into place like a luxury box of Belgium chocolates. I'm not saying you need to be keep on getting better to be a great movie, a lot of classics don't work the same way (or even the opposite), but if a movie can build up like 12 Angry Men, you just can't be bad.
Is it really just me or is it that you guys would praise any Marvel/DC movie? Aquaman was a huge disappointment for me.
please hear me out (before you Jason Momoa in my face):
1. this movie is cliché as hell, it's Superman at one point and at another its suddenly Indiana Jones, and at some point, antman? Is it so hard to just be Aquaman?
2. Not every little thing should be thrown back and mentioned! Throwbacks are for important moments that affected the character the most, serious there were so many childhood throwbacks (and absolutely forgettable), "The amazing life of Aquaman" might be the better title;
3. none of the fighting actually Meant anything... Not saying they aren't beautifully choreographed, but they really just lack an importance to them, like, some issues didn't really required the fist and they could have just talked through it? Can't really feel any of his struggles when all he does is punching, just punch em and its done, happy ending.
Of course It's not easy to stand out in this crowd of superhero movies, but trying to copy everyone is definitely not the better strategies.
Oh, and in the next one please don't have Atlatian Stormtroopers blow something up whenever someones talking (/kissing /hugging etc)...it happened like 5 times this ONE movie...jeez....
