sebaweirdo

In the year 2019 we got JOKER, an amazing thriller that while it borrowed heavily from character studies made in the 70's, it did it on a character that both suited it really well and somehow didn't. It made a lot of people both fall in love and feel repulsed by it's main character and brought both a sense of realism and horror that hasn't been seen since The Dark Knight in 2008. While it's arguable if it's the best comic book related movie or even if it's a good adaptation of the character, what one can't lie is that the original left a huge impact. So much that when the Sequel was announced and that it would be a musical, lots of people thought it could be an interesting idea, specially since the first one took the rules of a Character study and noir movie into a comic character, so bringing the rules of a musical to this would be interesting, specially with the amazing voice of Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinzel.

However, Joker 2: Folie a Deux not only ended up being a disappointment for the fans, it ended up being a financial disappointment, why?

The movie is set on a very interesting point, a few years after the events of the first one, with Arthur locked up in Arkham Asylum, awaiting trial, during music therapy he meets Harley Quinzel who is rather interested not in Arthur but in the Joker. As the Date for the trial gets close Arthur starts becoming more erratic as the line between him and Joker becomes blurrier, culminating with the people of Gotham being as split as him if he should be seen as a hero.

The movie has everything to be interesting, however it fails in delivering more then the basics, specially in the story and how it deals with the after. Let us recall that in the past one, Thomas Wayne was killed, someone who was running for Mayor. I'm not asking for Batman to appear, but i'm asking for something that continues with what was a huge plot point for the original, something that could be really interesting on the point that the movie is making about the divide of the rich and the poor.

With that, comes the musical problem. In my case I wanted this to be a musical, feeling like it would be interesting for this to make it a sort of Rocky Horror and going for the cult feature ideal, or maybe even cross into camp with classic movie musicals, maybe even something more modern like the new breed of Tom Hooper musicals. But unlike the first movie where the genre of the movie informed the decisions and the scenes, Joker 2 doesn't do that and it feels more like an aesthetic decision. If this is supposed to be metatextual, like how Arthur is divided between who he is and Joker, it could have been handled a lot better. With musical numbers that really don't do much, ironically one of those is a scene that, quoting the meme, is: He said is Jokering time and he started Jokering all over the room.

Annoying Decisions, Annoying characters and a script that feels like it doesn't know what to do. But even then, there are still some really good things.

Joaquin Phoenix is still as amazing as he was in the first one, getting to play a villain a lot more and somehow still being the fragile man that we feared and pitied. Lady Gaga while being divisive does portray a rather interesting take on Harley, specially on his relation with Joker.

And as many people have said, the acting of one of the returning characters, mister Leigh Gill has a scene that is no more then probably 5 minutes of screentime, but pulls on your heartstrings and continues the threads left from the last movie, with a short scene that is as sad as is glorious.

Not only that, the cinematography (in anything except the musical moments) is amazing, going from tight and claustrophobic to grand and operatic. This being a more personal story does require moments where the audience feels as compressed by the world as Arthur is and visually it shows the power of a good camera angle and direction.

However, these very bright spots, while deserving of merit, can't hide the fact that Joker: Folie a Deux is not only not as good as the first one, it's not even a really good movie. Is too cerebral to be popcorn fluff, is too Hollywood to be seen as an Auteur film, it doesn't know what it wants to be and unlike the first one, i don't believe it's part of the Metatext of the movie.

Joker 2 could have been one of the greats, probably even as great as the original, but while the decisions in theory were brave, it ended up being the flop for both the fans, the audience and for everyone who was a fan of the character.

Let's start with the most simple part to explain, this was my introduction to the world of the comedic sci-fi saga, the amazing sarcastic tone of one of the most Beloved series of Radio Shows and Books. If you were to ask me if i liked this movie and if it's a good movie, the reply is "Of course"

Now? It's really Muddled.

I can't make heads or tails if this is a good movie or not, cause i have already read the books and radio show, and something has been lost, and i'm not talking about scenes, i'm talking about tone. A lot of the dry wit seems to be lost, a lot of the little moments of absurdity have been changed to more "American" styles of comedy.

But on the same time, there is much to love, the amazing practical effects, an amazing cast, amazing music, and when the jokes work, they are easily some of the best versions of those jokes. The intro of the movie itself is funny since it takes what is just a little segment of the book and turns it into a whole musical number.

BUT, if i had to say a veredict, it would be this.

If you wanna dip your toes to the world of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, the world were you can fly if you distract yourself and god was killed by a fish, then this is one of the easiest ways, since it contains most of the elements that would make it easier for a modern audience.

BUT, if you want to see WHY is so beloved, you should go directly to the books or the radio show, you are gonna get much more entertainment.

Jackass 3D is at the time of me writing this, the last movie made by the Jackass crew, the group of Morons who charmed the world by doing painful, gross and stupid stunts to entertain an audience. Jackass the movie is a long episode of the show, Jackass number 2 raises expectations by being a bit more wacky and toony and including the best Climax and opening of the series, but 3D is not only the funniest, but also the one that really pushes the limits of stupidity, chaos and grosseness, this is Jackass at their most Ridiculous...and i kinda liked it.

I didn't watched Jackass itself until 2 years ago, where i fell in love with how creatively and insane some of their stuff were, it's not high quality entertainment, but there is something oddly charming about this group of morons, and 3D pushes those morons into their most painful stuff yet.

The best way to describe this movie is as a live action 90's cartoon, chaotic, loud, colorful, gross and violent. The highlights for me are the more ingenious stunts that include 3 or the whole crew, like the Jet, Electric Avenue and the Ram Jam. But it does contain probably the smallest and probably one of my favorite stunts, the snake river redemption, not for the Stunt itself, but the interactions between the group and Wee Man on a leprechaun outfit.

This movie is ridicolous, gross, if you don't have a taste for those kind of movies, you are gonna hate it. But if you enjoy a good laugh, even for how gross it can be, watch it, it's a good movie! Disgusting but Good!