Iambaytor

It works pretty well, reminded me of Monster Trucks but with a much better lead and villain. Jim Carrey was indeed great, his dance scene and the punchline on it worked really well. Loved the Sanic reference and the throwing shade at Mario.

Someday somebody's NDA is going to be null and we're going to get a fucking drum full of tea on what the fuck happened to Valve between 2007 and 2019. If that guy who told the ending to Half-Life 2 is any indication there are a lot of sore feelings over it.

It's got some issues but most of the backlash has to do with the perceived feud between Abrams and Johnson and claims that it undercuts the emotional and thematic beats established in the last movie (it doesn't). It had to cap off not just this trilogy but the two trilogies prior and skirt around the fact that they've got all of 8 minutes of unused footage of Carrie Fisher to use to tie off her story. They throw a lot at the screen but it fleshes out the universe a lot, builds relationships and character dynamics and pays off Johnson's "anyone can be a hero" coda in a big way. It's borderline schmaltzy but Star Wars has always been a series that requires the viewer to approach without cynicism. It feels mythic and hopeful, I really liked it. Plus Abrams finally created a movie big enough to contain Ian Mcdiarmid's broad-ass performance as Emperor Palpatine. He manages not to undercut the drama of his scenes like he did in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+The+Expanse+about%3F

Yeah, Stranger Things is biting off of IT, E.T., maybe The Monster Squad and The Goonies. I don't see any Ghostbusters influence at all beyond the fact that they dressed like them in season 2.

Huh, you notice how all the people who didn't like the Ghostbusters remake because it "didn't feel like Ghostbusters" are weirdly silent about this trailer that looks or feels nothing like a Ghostbusters movie? Weird, it's almost like that wasn't their actual problem with the remake. I'm sure this movie will probably be fine but it looks like such a departure from what these movies are. Maybe that's a good thing? I honestly couldn't say and only time will tell but that trailer was just a big pile of nostalgia-bait on top of nothing.

*The monkey's paw glows a sinister green as one of its tiny fingers curls inward toward the palm.*

I'm not sure if Moore knows what a dunk is.

I think that theory has legs but there's just one problem with that: If it's just a make-up fake story within a story then why the fuck am I watching it, Todd?

In fairness she should probably have more of a Jersey accent. The comic has never been clear on if she has a Pakistani accent but she's definitely grown up in New Jersey so there should be something.

Fucked if I know, I think he just laid music over an existing trailer.

I can't wait to see how they manage to make that one blatantly racist and somehow get away with it.

I think that's mostly just lighting, her skin tone is never super dark but there's certainly artists in the comics who have rendered her paler. Mostly I just appreciate they didn't Europize her nose, it's not quite as huge as it is in the comics but they're going for more of a real human being look here and not something quite so cartoony and exaggerated. On that note, kudos to them for making her powers not look horrifying on a normal human-looking model, gives me hope for that TV show.

Wait is she voiced by a white actress or are you saying that she's whitewashed because she has an American accent?

This movie is hot fucking garbage. I won't spoil plot points but no, Todd Phillips does not handle the idea of the Joker with nuance. No, it does not reveal The Joker to be wrong, delusional perhaps but he sees through all the bullshit to like how the world really is, man. It totally glorifies Arthur Fleck's worldview and even if you're going to argue that it doesn't because some people react in horror, the movie totally blames exterior forces for Arthur being the way he is. This is two hours of excuses for why it's society's fault that someone would become this. There's not even a good counterpoint to Arthur Fleck, the closest thing to a good person in this movie is a character played by Zazie Beetz who is a massively underwritten female character even by Todd Phillips standards. But that's just the social aspect of the film, lets focus on it from a film-making standpoint. There's a lot of great set design here. Gotham City is 1970s New York, there's no modern technology, modern music, modern vehicles. This is a period piece though it exists in Stranger Thingesque year of 197*cough*. Cinematography is great, like really really good, and hey there's Shea Whigam. He's great in everything. You know who's not great? Joaquin Phoenix. I don't mean in general, I mean in this movie. This is to dramatic performances what Jim Carey is to comedic performances. He's acting so. hard. every. minute. And the movie is fucking loving it, there's several bits where he just dances like an idiot while ethereal music plays as if something profound is happening. It's like Wes Bentley and the plastic bag in American Beauty, except stupider somehow. And remember how I said Todd Phillips didn't handle the sociological element with nuance? That's partially because he handles nothing in the movie with nuance, he's playing a grand piano with two claw hammers here. This movie is shallow as shit and it's not even slightly subtle, the movie all-but stops and has Phoenix step out of character to explain what's happening. Oh but there's tons of visual tributes to 70s films, especially the films of Martin Scorsese whose Taxi Driver and King of Comedy were nakedly plagiarized to create this film. Do you remember that time they had Sting come on stage with Bruno Mars and play Locked Out of Heaven but Sting couldn't give two shits about Bruno Mars or his silly The Police soundalike song? That's Robert De Niro here, outside of interviews I have never seen this titan of acting less invested in anything. Watch Maniac, Falling Down, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Death Wish, or just pull up a list of movies from the seventies and point at a random one. Leave this turd on the sidewalk where it belongs.

Oh me too, I'm sick of the "How will people know that violence is bad LOL" and "Just wait and see it LOL" takes coming from people who are smart enough to understand that criticism isn't censorship, tone and representation matters, and the way a piece of art is presented is a very big part of how it is received. If I hear one more Joe Lieberman jibe by somebody with a brain, I swear to fuck-

Not only does he not seem to know the difference between anti-heroes and villains he maybe doesn't understand the differences between genres and tones. Considering the tightrope this movie will have to walk to not be a dogwhistling trainwreck it doesn't bode well.

Just when you thought it was safe to think Todd Phillips wasn't a dumbfuck who doesn't understand context or nuance, hoo boy he sure is! Still gonna give this a chance but if his comments were meant to calm the concern that maybe this was just some filmbro aping tropes of better movies without a proper understanding of those movies and their messaging, then he really fucked that up. If this thing ends up being everything we've dreamed I think we can file this and Green Book as exhibits A and B of why raunchy sophomoric comedy directors shouldn't make movies that have something to say.

YES

It must be time for Sandler to make his acting tribute to the movie gods so that he can have 10 more years of making millions of dollars filming him and his buddies fucking around on lavish vacations.

Reggie's terrifying visage is no longer with us, so lets try and simulate his off-putting robot personality.

Let me, as a person who follows these things, say not to put much credence in what festival crowds have to say about any given movie. Let's not forget that Hamlet 2 was a festival favorite. I think they're really trying to lean in to Oscar bait here and there's three things that kind of give the movie a gentle handicap: 1. It's a tangential superhero movie and since superhero movies are looked down on by snobs the fact that it apes a "real" movie are going to do a lot of legwork for it. 2. They're really heavily leaning towards the Heath Ledger performance, Phoenix is doing his own thing but there's definitely a conscious attempt by the film-makers/studio to draw some parallels. 3. Jared Leto/David Ayers's shitty (it actually wasn't that bad but Leto didn't bring anything to the role and his stupid ostentatious outfit was the only memorable part so it was a net shitty take) take on the character is going to make any effort look tremendous by comparison. I'm optimistic that this will turn out good but based on the bad reviews and the good reviews I'm concerned that beyond the social commentary angle this may just be a dumb fucking movie and Joaquin Phoenix may be reaching for the coveted Most Acting Award. I'm hoping not, but Pheonix does occasionally overdo it and there is no evidence that Todd Phillips can handle a project of this caliber at all.

And if they stick the landing on the tone then more power to them. But this movie is being marketed as a sad loner who gets pushed into violently reacting to society. First of all, that isn't the Joker, the Joker was always the Joker and nobody can be turned into that which is what the whole point of The Killing Joke was. Secondly, while I'm not concerned about this emboldening mass shooters or neo-Nazis into violent action, I do feel like the art shouldn't lean in to the idea that people just become these things because people aren't nice to them. Once again, maybe the movie veers out of that but by all accounts the leaked script doesn't and none of the early reviews, whether positive or negative, have refuted that that's basically the plot. I get that Travis Buckle and Tyler Durden and Tony Montana became heroes to the wrong people but at leasr you have to ignore several red flaga to get to that conclusion, Joker seens to offer that narrative in the text. And the fact that WB is leaning into that narrative with the marketing campaign is, on its own, pretty damming.

Come on dude, you're better than that comment.