I was never going to watch it, originally, but with all the Oscar buzz, I figured I'd give it a chance. I knew the story going in, and knew I didn't like the story, but was hoping the "fantastic acting" would at least win me over, like it did on The Dark Knight (Ledger wasn't "Joker" as the character is typically portrayed, but he was an interesting villain and Ledger did an excellent job - the Batman/Joker interview scene alone is better than the entire Joker movie). Phoenix's performance was really not that great. He didn't sell that his character had ANYTHING mentally wrong with him. He got the point across that he was pathetic, but there was nothing in the movie that could be seen as a turning point into "The Joker". Nothing that took him BEYOND a mental illness into genius.

I'm not "angry" with the film, more disappointed with it. In my opinion, it wasted a perfectly good character on a mediocre movie. The Killing Joke is a perfect starting point.

Have Arthur be a chemical genius working at a dead-end, invisible job as one of many engineers. He daydreams of being a comedian. He's a bit theatrical at work and causes a scene, and it gets him fired. His wife is diagnosed with a disease, he tries to get hired elsewhere, no one will take him after being blacklisted. He tries to do stand up, no one finds him funny. Without work insurance, his wife gets worse and he can no longer afford his own psyche-stabilizing medications, so things continue to get worse. He gets caught stealing from pharmacies by the mob, who offer to overlook the thefts if he helps them. He agrees. The robbery goes without a hitch, and upon leaving, the mob turns on Arthur, shoot him in the face and he falls into the vat of chemicals.

Arthur gets out of the vat, his skin bleached. He turns on his phone and gets tons of messages and voicemail. His wife passed away while he was robbing the chemical plant. Everything he's been snaps. He goes crazy. He theatrically eliminates the mobsters who double-crossed him. He goes after those who stopped him from saving his wife, and then decides the whole world needs to learn to laugh at the pathetic world, and goes on a crime spree which he theatrically films and posts on social media. Being unpredictable, Gotham PD are clueless on how to stop him.... end the film with Joker dancing, middle of the day, on the steps of the GCPD HQ, not remotely afraid.

That would have been a far better adaptation of The Joker. Something that could actually BE something. What's next for Joker? Crime wave? No, he's just a violent idiot. Chemical attacks of Joker venom? Nope. He's just a violent idiot. Creating a gang that follow him like a religious cult? MAYBE... they set seeds for it, but it was more of a flash mob rather than a cult.

Anyhoo… I'm rambling, and gave this film far more attention than I ever planned to. Thanks for the conversation! cheers!

Finally watched Frozen, which was actually my news resolution so I'm glad I accomplished that. I had put off seeing it for 7 years. I thought it was enjoyable, but nothing special. Not sure if I'll see the sequel. Might watch again someday tho. Kristen Bell is hot even in animated form.

1917 - Great movie, so-so history...but how many old war movies are utter inventions? Most of them.

I walked in a theater while waiting for another movie (the pre-trailers hadn't even started yet) and saw some fat person's naked backside on screen and was like "Nope."

Birds of Prey. It was really, really bad. In addition to butchering the character of Black Mask (and sadly not making him gay as rumored), it pushes the "men suck" version of feminism which isn't okay. There is not a single male character in the film who isn't a bad person. On top of those things, the portrayal of Zsaz was bad and forgettable, and Gotham felt nothing like Gotham. And for all the hype around Montoya being gay, I don't recall them mentioning it even once. Really lame.

Montoya's Ex was the District Attorney (played by Ali Wong), which Harley mentioned in her narration.

So, lots of thoughts on Birds of Prey. I don't think it was awful (my two friends I saw it with did), but it wasn't a good movie either. There were enough parts I found entertaining, and it was a short enough movie, that I enjoyed watching it.

Having said that, Weapon X is not wrong. Every man in the movie is bad, and most are pretty inept. The plot and character motivations were thin, and most of the characters from the comics were characters in name only (I'm looking at you Cassandra Cain). Black Mask and Zsaz were a joke, and casting Ewan Mcgregor was a total waste.

Margot Robbie did a good job though, I feel her performance as Harley was more refined than in Suicide Squad. There was some decent comedy, and a lot of the stunts were well done. Black Canary and Huntress had some cool parts in the movie, but they shined more in the action scenes than in the character/story department.

It was a fun if kind of stupid movie. I'd watch again free on HBO.

Oh, I missed that part. Oops.

I agree about Ewan being a waste. He's one of my favorite actors, so it was really sad.

I saw Birds of Prey tonight as well. It was ok. Black Canary and Huntress were the highlights of the movie. Unfortunately, they get sidelined for most of it so Harley can take center stage. I’m not sure if I’m in the minority on this but I really don’t care for Margot Robbie’s version of the character. It just doesn’t feel like Harley to me.

Birds of Prey, 8/10, really enjoyed it. Not a revelation, not the disaster fanboys are making it out to be. I particularly enjoyed the fact that while Harley is the POV character for the most part, it really is the origin story of the Birds of Prey and particularly Black Canary (who was perfect, I will not hear otherwise).

I really hope we get a Gotham Sirens style film next though.

She's definitely not the best. I liked her a lot more in Suicide Squad though. I figured for the next movie they would double down and make her more traditional in both appearance and behavior, but they sought to make her further from the source material. Particularly in appearance, she is nearly unrecognizable as Harley Quinn.

From what I've seen David Ayer is still signed on to direct that, and Margot Robbie is still attached. There doesn't seem to have been any progress on making it lately though. She said in an interview that she chose to do Birds of Prey first over Sirens.

After many many years of saying I'd get around to it, I finally watched Ghostbusters II. I tried very hard to like it, and while I like some parts (like the court scene and Rick Moranis's character evolution) I generally thought it was bad and didn't make a lot of sense (why would no one believe the Ghostbusters, there was literally a giant marshmellow man in New York in the first movie). Also.....perhaps a minor gripe, but I missed Ernie Hudson's mustache greatly.

Ive chilled out on my dislike of GB2 in recent years, just because I like seeing that cast together, interacting with each other.

Finally saw Birds of Prey HQ, it was alright, definitely not worth seeing it at theater though IMO, probably why it's a box office dud, and most people are waiting for it to either dl or stream. The fighting choreography was the only cool part that I enjoyed.

The Eurovision movie on Netflix starring Will Ferrel and Rachel McAdams is pretty good, but goddamn... the song at the end is epic.

Finished "The Hunt", movie was awesome! I highly recommend it
8/10

Birds...
It was ok..
Will they do a BOP2? In MOP; Dicey

Just binged Netflix's Dark... it has 3 seasons... it is in German though with subs... and it is like an epic time travel story. It kinda reminds me of a mix between Cloud Atlas and Stranger Things. The first 2 seasons are legit amazing... Season 1 is a slow burn until the final few eps and then it really takes off all the way until the Season 2 finale. Unfortunately Season 3 kinda sucks, but the finale ep wraps everything up pretty good IMO.

I just said exactly the same thing on another forum about Dark being a slow burn. I fell asleep a few times during the first season and just finished the last episode of season 1. Definitely picked up the last few episodes but man was it slow for about 6 or 7 episodes. I'm hoping you are right about season 2 and disappointed to hear about season 3.

For the comment above about Eurovision, it was pretty much terrible except for the voice singer for Rachel McAdams.

Project Power on Netflix was great! I mean great for a Netflix movie. I'm glad Joseph Gordon Levitt is acting again... I wish we got to see him as Batman in a film just once.

Good Boys. Hilarious and made me nostalgic for my childhood, and even made me tear up a little at a few points. First good comedy I've seen in quite some time.

Looks like Netflix cancelled Dark Crystal... I mean I always kinda felt that Age of Resistance was gonna be a one off anyway though.

EDIT: Enola Holmes on Netflix was a lot of fun... MBB will be a huge star.

Tenet, I walked out. I was so utterly bored.

New Mutants, wasn't that great but also not terrible. Just meh. More than anything not my cup of tea. Could have been something more special than it was. I actually think the reshoots might have helped the film.

^ Tenet has to be one of the biggest disappointments ever for me... I think he needs to bring his brother back to help him write the scripts. Tenet just made no sense to me... plus all the characters were just awful and uninteresting. I think Christopher Nolan is starting to get high on his own hype... the same thing happened to M. Night and then he made Lady in the Water.

Also watched the time travel murder mystery Korean drama Tunnel (2017)... it kinda reminded me of Dark, except it was better... and had a better ending too.

We just saw Tenet in the theaters. It was good, but yeah it wasn't life changing by any means.

At home I just sat through Tom Holland's "The DeVil All The Time" on Netflix. I didn't think to be so drawn in, but it was really good. There's a lot of rotten bastards in that movie.

Hocus Pocus. Never saw it before, but I walked out of the theater. Just wasn't my cup of tea.

Had zero clue who Diego Maradona was, but since he died I decided to watch the 2019 HBO Documentary called Diego Maradona and it was an amazing watch. He is arguably the best Soccer player ever... even greater than Pele or Messi... Cocaine kinda ruined him though.