Movies

Getting back into my mode of subtitled movies on weekends.

Kicked yesterday off with action comedy Mad Cats. As a huge fan of madcap action comedies like Kung Fu Hustle, I actually wasn't hooked on this one. I spent much of the runtime recalling how I've gotten more amusement out of other wacky, conceptual action movies made with a fraction of the budget (Tokyo Gore Police, The Machine Girl).



Kept things pretty mid with Wilson Yip's Paradox (aka SPL 3). The plotline is pretty similar to the 2019 Vietnamese action flick Furie, which I found more stylish and engrossing. (It's sequel The Furies is also quite stylish and entertaining, directed by the lead of the first film!)

Wrapped up the evening with Shin Kamen Rider. Super funny, endearing and gratuitously bloody. I'm here for Hideaki Anno taking legacy franchises and putting his newfangled spin on them (a la Shin Godzilla). I wasn't familiar with Kamen Rider before this, but it's such a fun amalgamation of Power Rangers, Beetleborgs, Avengers: Infinity War, video gamey boss battles, etc.

 
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ayayrawn said:
www.metacritic.com

Joker: Folie à Deux

Arthur Fleck is institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him.
www.metacritic.com www.metacritic.com

Lmaooo
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I'm failing to see what is lmao-worthy about this?

Idk, I'm just not all that swayed by what the aggregate score of something on Metacritic is. I don't necessarily have high hopes for the sequel to Joker but I'd rather see the movie myself and form my own opinion on it than take the word of 22 critics as gospel.
 
gaporter said:
I'm failing to see what is lmao-worthy about this?

Idk, I'm just not all that swayed by what the aggregate score of something on Metacritic is. I don't necessarily have high hopes for the sequel to Joker but I'd rather see the movie myself and form my own opinion on it than take the word of 22 critics as gospel.
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Imo first one is probably the most overpraised movie of the last 10 years. Todd Phillips is a bad filmmaker and it's funny to me how people were so intrigued and anticipatory of this and it ended up with worse reviews than the first one.
 
gaporter said:
I'm failing to see what is lmao-worthy about this?

Idk, I'm just not all that swayed by what the aggregate score of something on Metacritic is. I don't necessarily have high hopes for the sequel to Joker but I'd rather see the movie myself and form my own opinion on it than take the word of 22 critics as gospel.
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ayayrawn said:
Imo first one is probably the most overpraised movie of the last 10 years. Todd Phillips is a bad filmmaker and it's funny to me how people were so intrigued and anticipatory of this and it ended up with worse reviews than the first one.
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It is a little surprising to see such a harsh response from early critic reactions; usually you end up with the opposite as there's a crush of people who want to deliver a buzzy quote.

I had next to zero interest in the first Joker; I'm just sick of that guy. But the addition of Gaga and the pivot to musical, a genre that I'd imagine the first movie's audience is allergic to, both had my attention. So a mixed/negative reaction has me even more curious. A shame I'd have to sit through it to find out whether it's a fiasco, failure, or secret success.
 
Bull Shannon said:
It is a little surprising to see such a harsh response from early critic reactions; usually you end up with the opposite as there's a crush of people who want to deliver a buzzy quote.

I had next to zero interest in the first Joker; I'm just sick of that guy. But the addition of Gaga and the pivot to musical, a genre that I'd imagine the first movie's audience is allergic to, both had my attention. So a mixed/negative reaction has me even more curious. A shame I'd have to sit through it to find out whether it's a fiasco, failure, or secret success.
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The concencus seems to be that it's surprisingly boring given the context, so I don't imagine anybody will be happy this time around. The oscar race subreddit has been dropping it like from predictions like a brick today.
 
ayayrawn said:
Imo first one is probably the most overpraised movie of the last 10 years. Todd Phillips is a bad filmmaker and it's funny to me how people were so intrigued and anticipatory of this and it ended up with worse reviews than the first one.
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Eh, idk. I see a lot of people on social media nowadays be so quick to make up their minds and declare something bad before it even comes out and the constant negativity just gets so tiring. Sometimes the writing is on the wall and you can call it (the Minecraft trailer that just dropped today, for example, would be a miracle if it results in a watchable end product), but is it so unbelievable to think that something you previously wrote off can prove you wrong if you give it the time of day?

Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but as an individual, there's plenty of examples where the consensus yells in my ear that a movie sucks, but I'm having too much fun watching it to care. This new Joker movie could be awful, it could be great, I don't really know, but at the end of the day, my personal enjoyment is really the only standard of worth I measure a movie by.
 
Bull Shannon said:
It is a little surprising to see such a harsh response from early critic reactions; usually you end up with the opposite as there's a crush of people who want to deliver a buzzy quote.

I had next to zero interest in the first Joker; I'm just sick of that guy. But the addition of Gaga and the pivot to musical, a genre that I'd imagine the first movie's audience is allergic to, both had my attention. So a mixed/negative reaction has me even more curious. A shame I'd have to sit through it to find out whether it's a fiasco, failure, or secret success.
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From Ehrlich's review.

Screenshot_20240904_170512_Letterboxd.jpg
 
gaporter said:
Eh, idk. I see a lot of people on social media nowadays be so quick to make up their minds and declare something bad before it even comes out and the constant negativity just gets so tiring. Sometimes the writing is on the wall and you can call it (the Minecraft trailer that just dropped today, for example, would be a miracle if it results in a watchable end product), but is it so unbelievable to think that something you previously wrote off can prove you wrong if you give it the time of day?

Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but as an individual, there's plenty of examples where the consensus yells in my ear that a movie sucks, but I'm having too much fun watching it to care. This new Joker movie could be awful, it could be great, I don't really know, but at the end of the day, my personal enjoyment is really the only standard of worth I measure a movie by.
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You're always allowed to like what you like for sure! I've just been averse to 90% of this kind of stuff for years, including the first, so it's a safe bet I will not enjoy. Too much misplaced negativity is bad certainly, but imo this era of cynical, airless blockbuster filmmaking still doesn't get enough.
 
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