Joker Folie À Deux

I do apologize for the halt in the Rings series, yesterday was indeed a day and I barely got any work done so accept this movie review as my burnt offering.

Madness For Two? Don't mind if I do! If there ever was a word to concisely sum up this movie it would be, ballsy. I mean a comic book musical movie, that is polarizing enough as is! But me being a bit of a theater kid and fan of musicals, my reaction when that tidbit of information was, far out. This movie is one part court drama, one part romance, with a splash of musical and is that everyone's beverage of choice? Of course not, but I'll recommend it anyway. So we pick up not long after the ending of the last movie with Arthur in Arkham getting ready for his court case when he meets musically inclined Lee and a mad romance blooms, with Arthur almost having an identity crisis during the trial that could lead to his death. How on earth do you make a sequel to Joker? The answer is, you go off the rails and do your own shit unapologetically making an already unique movie all the more a beast of it's own. We kick off the movie with a Looney Tunes style short, which is a splendid gauge cause if you don't like that the musical madness ain't gonna do much for you either. Well while we are on that topic how was the music? I didn't expect original composition per sé but the selection of songs they picked were good ones, and there is indeed many a musical moment, and the vocal performances from Joaquin and Lady Gaga worked well. Even the romance while kind of a switcheroo in the Joker/Harley dynamic I found to be interesting and just fine, not super deep but functional. I felt the movie did a very good job proposing the question of is it Arthur or is it Joker? Is there indeed a split personality or is the man also the legend? It's not super involved or has monologues of flowery dialogue, because Joaquin can do so much with his face and before he even meets Lee he's kind of in a rut very much like comatose Joker in The Dark Knight Returns. How the Joker got his groove back would be a fun subtitle. The pacing is good, it gets artsy from time to time which of course my cinema snob heart sings to see, the direction taking in terms of plot is in short bold, and I am almost waiting with baited breath how this movie will be recieved now or a year from now or even a decade from now. 3 stars from me, 8/10, and we cap off the week with the forging of the Seven.

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Well that was kind of a depressing ending.

Honestly this movie is nothing but fun for the whole family and another great adventure into this world until we reach the bloody hedge maze. But overall, how was it? I think for the longest time this was my favorite of the entire series before it even properly ended, I think with all the action-y trials of the tournament and the certain bombshell that gets dropped near the end this was my favorite. Is it now? No, Prisoner Of Azkaban is still the superior film in my eyes but in terms of story and character moments, this is still pretty good. A momentous occasion has come to Hogwarts where two other magical schools are competing in a special competition known as the TriWizard Tournament, and for mysterious reasons our dear Harry is selected as one of the participants, where he has to face dragons, sea creatures, and a hedge maze that gives The Shining a run for it's money to become the champion. I'm honestly surprised it took 4 films for confirmation of other magical schools, it seems kind of obvious since Hogwarts is a British school but it is pretty awesome seeing French and Russian(?) schools as well thrown into the mix. This movie is a lot of fun but I'm gonna be honest the whole teen drama bullshit I can live without. Thankfully it's not too much but it's there enough to aggravate the holy hell out of me. Now I get it, they're teens and these story elements were bound to happen sooner rather than later, in fact the more I think about it this film is very....high school. Not bad tropey high school (which statistically comprises 99% of all high school films), but there certainly are elements to it, there's a bit of attention given to romance, finding someone to take to a dance, the tournament itself is treated like a damn sport despite the near fatal situations, and again there's nothing wrong with that. It sets the tone until it drops a ton of bricks on you with the ending which makes it more shocking and impactful. I can respect that, but it's just something I'm not a huge fan of. But there's plenty to like, the tournament is varied and filled with excitement, our new DATDA teacher is a lot of fun and one of the more interesting characters we want to know more about, and the finale is the best yet of the series. We got to talk about it because it quite literally changed the game, Voldemort is ressurected and in a pretty grim fashion. I was kind of getting Black Cauldron vibes, but everything about it is handled perfectly and Ralph Fiennes though a teeny tiny little bit broad certainly has that menace and power to him. I'm not gonna make any Twilight jokes, Robert Pattinson does fine here and even went on record saying he'd rather play Cedric again than Edward Cullen, I have some respect for the man and actually look forward to seeing him as the Batman. But is it coincidence that this is the movie with the most Doctor Who cast members and they introduce a small space that is bigger on the inside, twice? I'll let you be the judge. But the answer is no, the producers are cheeky bastards and I love them for it. The director did fine, though even I had to check it wasn't the same guy who did Battlefield Earth cause those dutch angles. Whoo boy. Not bad by any stretch but it did make me laugh a bit. I don't think I'm missing any other major points, it's all just small moments from here. Alan Rickman proves once again why he's the best thing to happen ever, and never fails to make me smile. Gambon I do have to say is the better Dumbledore, if only because he had the majority of movies, and I will conceed he is the best but Richard Harris is still my favorite despite Gambon's wonderful performance. Another just...weird thing I noticed is, I felt utterly unclean during this movie, like everyone is just horny as shit and it bothers me. I do not need to see Moaning Myrtle get all 'hey hey' with Harry Potter. Ugh. Like I know hormones are starting to set in with these teenagers but even the adults are pushing their luck with this rating. Just. Why?? I need bleach, steel wool, and a volcano to get this smut off my skin and out of my brain. And on that uncomfortable note, it is time to end. Thank you so much for reading, goodnight. 4 stars, 8/10.