Rambo 5 and Joker

[number six]

Rambo: Last Blood

Unlike previous entries this is a straight-up genre/exploitation style film. Think Death Wish but with Rambo and you get the idea. It's fine because it does a good job of it. It's a nice throwback piece if nothing else. The plot is enough to setup the action and give you some investment.. and the violent pay off is nice. It's not quite as violent as the amazingly graphic previous entry but there's still some horror-movie levels of gore here. I'm really surprised these get by censors.

If you like Stallone and revenge movies this is worth seeing.

Joker

The DC universe is in such a state that they've thrown up their hands and just said make whatever as long as it sounds good. This gives us the Jaquiuiouin Phoenix Joker. It's another throwback movie.. set in a gritty 1981 'Gotham' (ie New York City) it follows a mentally ill Joker on his slide into delusional psychosis.

First it's really not a comic book movie in the traditional sense. It only has a passing association with the Batman mythos mainly just using names and the titular Joker identity to create something a lot closer to Taxi Driver than a traditional Batman movie. There's no superhero antics, no over the top action sequences.. everything is realistic. It's really more of an Arthouse style character study than anything else.

The film itself is shot well and Jaucuqjim does an amazing job as always. He's one of those actors that really gets into the role and makes it something special. Deniro has a supporting role as well.. no accident most likely given the aforementioned Taxi Driver influence. It's a slow burn and only really picks up the action in the last act which is really good. As long as you temper your expectations as to what the film is (and isn't) it's definitely recommended.

Maybe the collapse of the standard DC movie process will work out after all? Hopefully they continue to take chances and make more offbeat films like this versus the schlock they were doing previous (ie the Superman films et al)

[RussG]

Rambo: Last Blood

Unlike previous entries this is a straight-up genre/exploitation style film. Think Death Wish but with Rambo and you get the idea. It's fine because it does a good job of it. It's a nice throwback piece if nothing else. The plot is enough to setup the action and give you some investment.. and the violent pay off is nice. It's not quite as violent as the amazingly graphic previous entry but there's still some horror-movie levels of gore here. I'm really surprised these get by censors.

If you like Stallone and revenge movies this is worth seeing.

Joker

The DC universe is in such a state that they've thrown up their hands and just said make whatever as long as it sounds good. This gives us the Jaquiuiouin Phoenix Joker. It's another throwback movie.. set in a gritty 1981 'Gotham' (ie New York City) it follows a mentally ill Joker on his slide into delusional psychosis.

First it's really not a comic book movie in the traditional sense. It only has a passing association with the Batman mythos mainly just using names and the titular Joker identity to create something a lot closer to Taxi Driver than a traditional Batman movie. There's no superhero antics, no over the top action sequences.. everything is realistic. It's really more of an Arthouse style character study than anything else.

The film itself is shot well and Jaucuqjim does an amazing job as always. He's one of those actors that really gets into the role and makes it something special. Deniro has a supporting role as well.. no accident most likely given the aforementioned Taxi Driver influence. It's a slow burn and only really picks up the action in the last act which is really good. As long as you temper your expectations as to what the film is (and isn't) it's definitely recommended.

Maybe the collapse of the standard DC movie process will work out after all? Hopefully they continue to take chances and make more offbeat films like this versus the schlock they were doing previous (ie the Superman films et al)

+1 on Joker.  Saw it last night and loved it.  Gritty but realistic and dark.
Phoenix did great in it as I expected.  The guy can act and takes risks most won't which makes him a gem today.

Haven't seen Rambo: Last Blood yet but want to.

[ibis]

THANK GOD its not a super hero movie.  Cant wait to see it!!  I stopped watching the super hero vein of flicks about three years ago, total burnout, especially when one is released every three weeks.

[RussG]

THANK GOD its not a super hero movie.  Cant wait to see it!!  I stopped watching the super hero vein of flicks about three years ago, total burnout, especially when one is released every three weeks.

Yes I know.
I gave up on all superhero TV too.

I will finish season 2 of Punisher and then unless something else REALLY good comes out I am done.

With total vomit like the new Batwoman we are all doomed in my opinion.

[PinPup]

Yeah, I  get the superhero burn out thing. The acting in Joker was great, but I was bored until the end of this movie. To me was very slow and took too long to get to the payoff. Nice ending, but not really a DC universe movie, looks like a one and done with no where to go at all for sequels. The Birds of Prey looks like it will be so much more fun and will probably fit in the DC line up better. I know, apples and oranges....

[number six]

I'm still OK with comic book movies if they are good.

That said Joker certainly isn't a traditional Comic Book movie.. which has been causing some confusion. Have seen more than one post on Facebook where people went in expecting normal Batman fare and were mighty disappointed lol.

[Niloc]

Yeah, I understand the superhero burnout too - though I've noticed that whenever I'm sick of something (zombies, etc.) the trend probably has another 5 years to go.

Disney is going to lose so much money at some point, with so much crap in the pipeline, so much in development, they'll be several billion in the hole when the trend dies. Of course they've already made billions on superhero movies so that does kind of balance it out, and they're not going anywhere since they're still Disney and they can always just crank out another version of the Lion King or whatever.

I strongly suspect we've already seen the peak of the superhero movies, both in quality and popularity with the whole Thanos saga. None of the upcoming stuff sounds as interesting as that. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other big comic sagas, like Secret Wars and other big story-lines, but it's going to take them forever to get to those and I'm not so interested in the build-up and filler movies anymore.

[ibis]

I think that 'peak' has not only been hit but demolished.  How many Spiderman franchises are there now, like 3??  The Hulk had 2 different movies before being re-introduced into the newest franchise, so theres 3 right there.  The fact is, there are only so many characters that were created to begin with and only so many stories that can be told.  When you start seeing the Wasp and Ant-man, it seems they are scraping the bottom of the superhero bucket......the bubble has officially burst.

[Niloc]

the bubble has officially burst.

No, that happens when they stop making money.

Disney was VERY shaken by "Solo" (and I don't even think that lost money, just didn't make as much as they expected) and cut way back on Star Wars; hasn't happened with Marvel yet, though inevitably that is coming.

[k7]

at least they're getting better with the punisher franchise. the Dolf Londgren version still makes me wake up in a cold sweat some nights.

i wait for movies to hit netflix or antenna. much easier to turn the channel than walk out of a theater after spending 40 bucks...

[ibis]

Saw Joker, no question he gets an award for this one.  Very dark flick, sad, and unfortunately has very real elements of mental sickness, the lack of help for it, and the lack of empathy from others about it.  Very well done, kudos for the people who made this.

[RussG]

Saw Joker, no question he gets an award for this one.  Very dark flick, sad, and unfortunately has very real elements of mental sickness, the lack of help for it, and the lack of empathy from others about it.  Very well done, kudos for the people who made this.

+1!