Cinematic Disasters - Plan 9 from Outer Space

Okay, original I wasn't going to schedule a review but come on, when will I ever get the chance to review something that's actually on Halloween?



Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 independent science fiction horror movie. The movie was produced by Reynolds Pictures Inc. and distributed by Valiant Pictures. Plan 9 from Outer Space was written and directed by Ed Wood.





The story is aliens have resurrected the dead in order to take over the world. The aliens are hoping this crisis while have mankind listen to them and if they don't the aliens will use their army of the living dead to destroy humanity.

My Thoughts




So I'll just say this is the opening to the movie.

"Future events such as these will affect you in the future". Well that's not redundant. Also take a shot everytime Criswell refers to the viewers as "my friends". But watching just this opening alone you can tell you're in for a ride.

Then we're introduced to the oh so glorious cockpit set. I mean just look at this. This is clearly the greatest set ever.

This set is just hilarious. I mean the actors are clearly sitting on just plain ordainary chairs, they have no steering wheels, the background is just a blank wall, the curtain looks like it came from a shower, and of course whenever I light flashes we can see the mic. It's quite possibly the cheapest set I've ever seen from a movie.

We later go to Vampria (who was a popular show host of the 1950s. Funny thing she only agreed to be in this movie if she didn't have any lines) who I guess killed two grave diggers? I say guess because she walks towards them but the moment they scream the scene fades to black.

Then we cut to Bela Lugosi's characters funeral (his character name is just Old Man so I might as well say it was Bela's funeral) and we get another cheap set! Ladies and gentlemen I introduce you to the graveyard and crypt set.

Look at that crypt! It looks like something from a school play than a movie. What made it even better is we see four maybe five people walk out of it. There is no way a crypt that small can hold a dead body (or multiple dead bodies) and then four or five guests. And the graveyard isn't any better. It looks like Halloween props. What's even funnier is the crosses and tombstones fall over when the actors and actresses brush up against them. Yeah not bump into them but brush.

We also have a scene with the pilot earlier named Jeff Trent and his wife. During this conversation he talks about the flying saucer he saw at the beginning of the movie and he describes it and I can't believe it was said but he describes it as a huge cigar. People look at the flying saucers in the movie...do they look anything like cigars! Also during this scene I couldn't help but look at their fence. Seriously it's all warped and misshaped. It's very distracting.

So after that bit of hilarity we get Inspector Dan Clay's (played by Tor Johnson) death. But before he dies we get some awkward dialogue. I mean Clay says and this is an actual line "I'll get flashlight from patrol car". Then we get the infamous "Fake Bela Lugosi". Now the story of Fake Bela Lugosi is after the real Bela Lugosi sadly passed away while the movie was still being made Ed Wood decided his replacement should be played by his chiropractor, Tom Mason. Mason was clearly NOT the right guy to replace Bela. He is notably taller and LOOKS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE BELA! But let's move on from that, so Dan Clay sees both Vampria and Fake Bela Lugosi and shoots them. Then he's killed by them and just like the two grave diggers it's scream then cut to black. I kept asking why do they always do that? Were the original kills just to graphic? Or maybe they just didn't have the budget either way it's just an odd thing that kept happening.

After Inspector Dan Clay is killed, three other police officers (named Lt. Harper, Larry, and Kelton) see his dead body and throughout this whole Lt. Harper is just waving his revolver around. He waves it around, uses it to scratch his neck, push his hat up, and then points it at both Kelton and Larry while instructing them on what to do. Dude, that's not what you're suppose to do with a firearm and what's even better is he does it throughout the movie. He just waves that thing around like it's a toy. Also during this Clay is dead scene, Lt. Harper delivers some amazing dialogue and the line goes exactly just like this, "Inspector Clay is dead...murdered...and someone's responsible!" Yes Harper. That's kind of how murder works. This movie is amazing.

Then we have our saucers flying over cities and stuff. And not only are the flying saucers terrible special effects but we also have a very confusing part during this. At one point we see a newspaper with the headline "Saucers Over Hollywood", what makes the scene confusing is how is it in newspapers when this event is still happening. And you know what also comes with this scene...ARMY STOCK FOOTAGE! Yeah using stock footage was an Ed Wood trait...whether it worked or not. What's even funnier is while the stock footage is in a field Colonel Tom Edwards is standing in what looks like a plain looking sheet. Yeah just a plain sheet...there's no trees, dirt, or anything...it's just a sheet. So after the saucers fly away Colonel Edwards talks to a random soldier about how they've been trying to communicate with saucers for years. Um...that sounds like something that should be kept a secret, but nope Edwards just tells this soldier everything.

Later on we see the alien's space station and just look at it.

Let's see...curtains to cover up the low-budget, random desk they probably borrowed from around the studio, and whatever those random items are...yep this set looks just a cheap as the rest of them. Good to know something was consistent in this movie. During this scene the aliens (named Tanna and Eros) say that their plan is to resurrect the dead one corpse at a time (wouldn't it just be easier just to resurrect an entire army?) and the zombies are either suppose to scary us, kill us, or make us submit to them, I don't know it's never really explained. But they only manage to resurrect three zombies, this is a terrible conquer the Earth plan. I mean they had eight other plans and you mean to tell me this was the best and quickest one? Jeez, I hate to know that the others were. Now apparently this is a stealth mission so maybe that's why things are going to slowly but if that's the case why did they fly their saucers in the middle of the day, in public, and around three major networks (those being NBC, CBS, and ABC)? This plan is making less sense as time goes on. And just make things even MORE confusing not only did Edwards and other humans try to communicate with the aliens but the aliens tried to contact us but also failed. Now the aliens want to remain hidden (even though they suck at it) but yet at the same time they want us to acknowledge them. So then what's the point of trying to be stealthy if you guys are trying to get our attention?!

After a conversation between Jeff and his wife, she's later attacked and much like everything else in this flick it's awesome. For so many reasons

1. We get both real and fake Bela Lugosi spliced together. Which still shows us why Tom Mason was a terrible choice as a stand-in for Lugosi.

2. She runs away from her house and in a snap she's at the graveyard! We don't know how far her house is from the cemetery but I refuse to believe she got there in less than a minute. Especially on foot of all things.

3. We cut to both her and Bela Lugosi but she's running during the night and he's chasing her in the daytime. This is a frequent thing in the movie. Despite the characters suppose to be in the same scene the lighting in the background says otherwise.

4. We are giving Tor Johnson's EPIC scene as zombie Dan Clay. The reason why it's great is because as he's rising from the grave at one point Tor loses his balance and it's so bad he has to grab hold of the dirt around him just to get his balance back.

So then things kind of go at a snail's pace. There's a conversation with the aliens and then there's a conversation between two army guys who's names a couple forgot. Yeah, despite how entertaining the movie can be things can get a bit slow in some places.

Later after all of the more boring stuff happens we get the zombies attacking the main characters and the way the zombies attack is so funny. Their main form of fighting is to lightly chop or touch on the shoulders. Yeah, no strangling, snapping necks, or anything just lightly touch the shoulders.

So now our human characters have had enough of this alien bullsh*t! It's time for them to take a stand put an end to this madness. Now before I tell you the alien's motivation for doing all of this, get a load of this

"Your Stupid Minds! Stupid! Stupid!" OH MY GOD! I love how over the top he sounds! It's so great! Now Eros explains we (the human characters) have found a way to make the sun's rays or something to that extent into a powerful weapon and somehow that'll lead us to destroying ourselves so that's why they attacked us. To warn us of this threat. What?!?! Dude if you wanted to warn us about this then why use zombies? YOU'RE ALIENS! That alone would have made us listen to you! In matter of fact 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still had a for the most part a similar concept but the alien in that movie didn't need to resurrect the dead to get his message out to humanity. Sure he had a giant robot but it was mainly him.

So that's Plan 9 from Outer Space AND IT IS AMAZING! Everything about this movie is wrong. The acting is wrong, the overall writing is wrong, the directing is wrong, and of course the set pieces are wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG! But that's what makes it so entertaining. It truly is one of the granddaddy's of movies that are so bad they're good.

My final rating is So Bad It's Good

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Nov 2nd for my review of Terminator: Dark Fate. Until then enjoy celebrating Halloween. Oh by the way if you truly want to watch this movie just look it up on YouTube both a black and white and colored version of the film are available.

Classic Film Night - The Shining

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror drama film based on the Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name. The movie was produced by The Producer Circle Company, Peregrine Productions, and Hawk Films and distributed by Warner Bros. The Shining was written and directed by Stanley Kubrick.





The story is a writer named Jack Torrance takes his family to Colorado and spent their time at an isolated hotel called Overlook Hotel. Jack's hoping that this will cure his writer's block however the more he finds out about the hotel's dark secrets the more and more he begins to unravel and fall deeper into madness, which puts his wife and son in grave danger.

My Thoughts




Let's just get this out of the way right now, the performances are amazing. Jack Nicholson is definitely the main attraction for this movie. His acting for this movie is just amazing, he can really play a crazed man. Although I also feel like the performances from Shelly Duvall and Danny Lloyd are highly underrated. Shelly's character (Wendy Torrance) is a mother who gets completely devastated and scared that her family is being terrorized and torn apart from this supernatural force and Shelly knocks it out of the park. You'll really feel for her. Then we Danny Lloyd playing Danny Torrance and he had great acting for a six year old.



One of the many great things about the movie is there are legitimately scary moments. There aren't any set up for jump scares but actually set up. Which is what's great about the more scary moments. Stanley Kubrick wanted us to be scared by the atmosphere and the overall story. And I think other than Jack finally going mad and trying to kill his family my favorite scare might just be the Lady in the Bath Tub. That scene both terrified and grossed me out.



What also makes The Shining great is the writing. I already talked about how the story has great scares but there are also many quotable lines. I'm not just talking about "Here's Johnny!" but also lines like "I didn't. I wouldn't touch one hair on his god-damned little head. I love the little son of a bitch. I'd do anything for him." Other lines like that.



Then we have the score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind-Tourre. What's so interesting about is other than the opening theme there's really not music here. It's mainly just sounds. Which I find quite interesting.



The other thing that made The Shining a classic film is well Stanley Kubrick's directing. There are so many shots that you'll instantly keep on remembering. Even if you haven't watched the movie in months some of those shots will still be in your head.



The final thing I'll give the movie credit for is how there's so many things to analyze. I have never seen a horror movie of all things have so many fan theories (one in which apparently Kubrick faked the moon landing and is admitting it. Don't know how that works but okay), people having different interpretations of the ending, or anything else.








The Shining is definitely one of the best of many horror classics. All of the performances are great, brilliantly made scary moments, spectacular writing, a great score, Kubrick's amazing directing, and just so much to dissect.








My final rating is A Must Watch








Alright guys, that's all for me. Come back on Thursday, October 31st the exact day of Halloween. On this day I'll review the greatest Ed Wood film ever! That movie being Plan 9 from Outer Space. I can't wait to watch, then write, and then upload it. I'm really excited why more excited for this movie than I was for Reefer Madness and Troll 2.

Raiders of The Lost Media - Event Horizon - The Lost 130 Minutes

WARNING!: GRAPHIC IMAGES INCLUDED! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE I RECOMMEND LEAVING NOW!

Hello everyone and welcome to the third Raiders of The Lost Media of 2019. This time around I tell you all about the lost 130 minutes to the 1997 science fiction horror Event Horizon. Now if any of you read my Top 8 Director's Cuts I Want To See then you probably saw me bring this up before but in more a short abridged version. Well today I give you the full story of this movie's lost footage. Let's begin.

Part One - What is Event Horizon?



Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction horror movie directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner. It tells the story of how a crew of astronauts were sent on a rescue mission to a ship called the Event Horizon. They soon discover the ship was an experiment engine that opened a riff in the space time continuum and let in a hostile entity that possess the ship.





Part Two - Early Development



After making 1995's Mortal Kombat a commercial success in the States, Paul W.S. Anderson (known for the Resident Evil films) was giving lots of screenplay opportunities. Two of those included the Mortal Kombat sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) and the upcoming X-Men (2000) but Anderson turned down those offers because he wanted to make a R-rated horror movie as suppose to making another PG-13 flick (honestly he dodged a bullet by not accepting to do Mortal Kombat: Annihilation). Paramount Pictures then sent Philip Eisner's script for Event Horizon, a film they've been trying to make along with producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin. Eisner said when he first pitched the concept to Gordon he described it as a "haunted house story in space", both the producers thought the story had potential to become a motion picture. Eisner would later go on to say that Gordon liked the idea enough to trust him to do it. Anderson's initial reaction to the script was that it bore a striking resemblance to 1979's Alien, while producer Jeremy Bolt felt like it was a "terrific concept" but also felt like it was "very dense" in terms of length and the storyline was a "bit lost". Anderson also disliked the fact he was basically going to direct a copy of Alien so he decided to give the script a major rewrite. Anderson had in his mind a "classic haunted house movie" that would incorporate influences from classic horror films like 1963's The Haunting and 1980's The Shining because those films enforce a suspense from the unknown. Also around this time Anderson was interested in the concept of Hell as well as the idea of the ship itself being possessed as suppose to it being an alien consciousness that is doing it.





Part Three - What Ever Happened to The Deleted Footage?



Paul W.S. Anderson explained that because of the Directors Guild of America directors are usually given a 10-week editing period to produce a final cut of their movie, however this wasn't the case for this film. Paramount Pictures really wanted a big hit on their hands before they released James Cameron's Titanic. But with a short production schedule, an approaching release date, and principal photography not being completed it was clear to Paramount that they had to cut the editing period to six weeks instead of the usual ten weeks and Anderson agreed with this decision with Paramount that way the film could be released in August. The main unit wrapped but this was the time that Anderson had to start editing the movie but he still had two weeks with the second unit because of this time was shortened of what could have been spent in post-production. So Anderson had no choice but to make a rough cut of the film. During test screenings the cut was very poorly received, the main complaint being the extreme amounts of gore. In fact it was so gory that according to Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt some test audience members fainted. Paramount was also with the test audience when viewing this cut and also were shocked about the amounts of violence and they demanded a shorter length time with a decrease of the more gruesome scenes. While Anderson believed that the movie was considered too long he also felt like Paramount had him edit a movie that was too short, and thought the movie would have benefited with restoring 10 minutes of missing footage, including the deleted gore scenes. Due to a successful DVD release the studio was very interested in making a director's cut of Event Horizon something even Paul W.S. Anderson was excited about doing. However there was a huge problem, the footage was not handled properly and much of it was gone. The deleted scenes were soon discovered in a salt mine in Transylvania (yes footage of a horror movie was located in Transylvania. What are the odds?) and had sadly rotted away due to how they were stored. So with the footage pretty much destroyed a director's cut was cancelled and instead a special edition two-DVD set was released, the special edition featured one deleted scene, two extended scenes, and a few shots of deleted material in the making-of feature.





Part Four - Known Deleted Scenes



Known deleted scenes included a meeting with Weir and people in charged in which they discuss Event Horizon, more backstory for Cooper and Justin, a stronger explanation for Justin entering the black hole, a deleted backstory on the relationship between Starck and Miller, additional explaining the gateway to hell/what the black hole is, Miller finding a tooth floating in Event Horizon, a longer version of Peters hallucinating her son's mangled legs being covered in maggots, a scene where Weir hallucinates that Justin turns into his wife Claire, a more bloodier version of Claire's suicide, a longer version of the scene where Miller finds D.J.'s dead body with his guts on the table, and a longer version of the "Vision From Hell" scene during Miller's final fight with Weir with more shots of the Event Horizon crew being tortured. The "blood orgy" scene was also notable longer. Because Anderson was sometimes too busy filming other scenes, second-unit director Vadim Jean had to film some parts of those scenes. The film's ending was also different from it's theatrical cut. In fact the original ending was a combination of two unused alternate endings that were filmed. One didn't have a jump scare when the two survivors are found by another rescue crew and Starck hallucinates that she sees Weir, although there is a similar version that included Starck hearing the screams of the Event Horizon crew and screams in fear before Cooper wakes her up. The other ending had Miller fighting with the burned man from his visions at the core instead of Weir, but was changed because of the negative feedback from the test screening.





Part Five - The Remaining Footage



Now people have been able to dig up some of the footage and/or photos of the deleted scenes but the videos are in poor quality. You can watch/view them here but like I said at the top they're pretty gruesome so if you're not interested it in just turn back now.

And last but not least someone on Imgur uploaded a lot of photos. But yet again If you're very sensitive to graphic violence DO NOT LOOK AT THESE. Hell even I got a little woozy looking at them. So here they are, just click right here.

Part Six - Is There Still a Possibility?

Now in my Top 8 Director's Cuts I Want To See post I said the chances of seeing this were unlikely. However I failed to do more research of the subject, because during an Event Horizon Q&A in 2011 when asked about the footage Paul W.S. Anderson did say it would "never" be available because the footage is gone forever. But then in 2012 during an interview at that year's San Diego Comic-Con he announced that producer Lloyd Levin had found a VHS copy of his original cut. Anderson would later go on to say that after his done with Resident Evil: Retribution he planned to watch it for the first time since making the film. Then in January 2017 Anderson would later retract what he said, saying a director's cut will never be released because the footage doesn't exist anymore. When asked about he VHS tape, he said neither him nor Lloyd have watched the VHS copy because Levin moved to Spain however he said that he is still excited to watch it at some point.

Now sure that does sound like a bummer what with Anderson saying the footage doesn't exist and going on to say he hasn't seen the VHS tape. But really think about it, if Lloyd Levin does in deed have a copy of the deleted footage of the original cut of Event Horizon like he's claiming that would put this movie close to the Snyder cut of Justice League. What I mean by that is it's close to having a director's cut what with there being existing footage of the original cut. So I say if you've been waiting for this film to have it's original scenes intact I say don't give up hope quite yet.

So guys, that's all for me. Come back on Thursday, October 24th for my review of the Stanley Kubrick classic, The Shining. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Underrated Films - Trick 'r Treat Review

Trick 'r Treat is a 2007 anthology horror film. The movie was produced by Legendary Pictures and Bad Hat Harry Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Trick 'r Treat was written and directed by Michael Dougherty.





The story is we see four interwoven stories throughout the night of Halloween in the town of Warren Valley, Ohio. During these stories we seen one peculiar trick-or-treater dressed in orange pajamas and a sack over his head. His name is Sam and he's here to enforce the rules of Halloween.

Why It's Underrated



The main reason why Trick 'r Treat is so underrated is because it mostly goes under people's radar. I mean the film's been around for over ten years and I've only seen once on television. I don't know if there are more showings like it appears on HBO or something but the main thing is it's not shown on TV enough and often times nobody really talks about it.








My Thoughts



One of the aspects that makes Trick 'r Treat great is the character Sam. We don't know much about other than if you don't follow the rules of Halloween Sam's gonna pay you a visit. So he's definitely got a mysterious factor going for him. What also makes him great is what he looks like underneath the mask. I won't give it any but it was definitely a surprise. Seriously his face is nothing I've seen before in a horror movie.



Now since this takes place on Halloween does it give off a Halloween feeling? Simply put yes. The movie has everything related to Halloween. From the jack-o-lanterns to the costumes to even the origins of why Halloween was even made and how it transitioned to the holiday we know and love. Hell the movie is so into Halloween we have a clever easter egg to 1978's Halloween in the story "Surprise Party" and 1998's Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island can be briefly scene in the story "Meet Sam". Which is awesome.



With the movie being anthology this means we get quite a few stories and each one of them are done great. If I had to pick one I would say "The School Bus Massacre Revisited" is my favorite. It has great child actors, a great backstory, and there's just this claustrophobic feel about it that creeped me out and I'm not even claustrophobic. However while "Surprise Party" is good it's build up to it's ending (which takes a turn nobody saw coming) does leave more to be desired. Overall all of the stories are well done and you'll have a blast watching them.



Another thing I found enjoyable about Trick 'r Treat is the performances. Like I said about "The School Bus Massacre Revisited" the child actors of Britt McKillip (played Macy), Isabelle Deluce (played Sara), Alberto Ghisi (played Chip), and Jean-Luc Bilodeau (played Schrader), and Samm Todd (played Rhonda) we're all great in their roles. Which is also a shocking thing to say because usually child actors aren't that great but these kids were. The other great performances were Dylan Baker as the crazed principal Steve Wilkins. He really brought out this characters crazed obsession with Halloween. Then we have Brian Cox as Mr. Kreeg. He essential plays the Scrooge of Halloween and he plays the part to perfection.



The final thing I'll give Trick 'r Treat credit for is Michael Dougherty's directing. The guy brought so many great and wonderful made shots. Each frame from the cinematography is so beautiful when it needs to be and creepy when it needs to be.








My final rating is Great








Accomplishments



Trick 'r Treat won not one but two awards those being



Screamfest Horror Film Festival (2008)



Audience Choice Award





Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2009)



Silver Audience Award






Now I'm willing to bet those awards are great accomplishments in their own right but I feel the movie's biggest win was gaining a cult following. Without that cult following and that one time the movie was played on AMC, I would have never known about this movie. But thanks to both of those factors I found a great horror flick to enjoy whenever the Halloween season rolls in.








Alright everyone that's all for me. Come back next time on Monday, October 21st when I tell you the story of lost footage from the 1997 sci-fi horror movie Event Horizon. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines Review

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is a animated direct-to-video comic book film as well as the 14th film of the DC Animated Movie Universe, and 36th overall movie in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. The movie is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment and distributed by Warner Home Video. Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is written by Mairghread Scott and directed by Sam Liu and Justin Copeland.





The story is Diana is chosen to take fighter pilot Steve Trevor back to Man's World. After that has happened along with a couple of other adventures with the Justice League, she now has to stop a group of devious women who known as Villainy Inc.

Initial Reaction



Since Wonder Woman 1984 got moved to 2020 I like many other people had to wait for this movie to come out because we certainly wasn't going to get Wonder Woman 1984 anytime soon. What also made me interested in seeing this was 1) we haven't gotten a Wonder Woman animated movie since 2009 so a new one was definitely welcomed and 2) once again it was a DC animated movie and I'm always willing to watch one of those.








Cons



One bad thing about the movie is a character dies and it really didn't have an effect on me. I mean we only knew this character for I don't know two minutes and the story wants us to care but you won't because again we haven't been with her long enough to give a damn. And no her being one of the villain's mom doesn't help. The other issue I had with the movie was the twist. It's a not good "oh this is who the big bad was along" moment because you saw it a mile away. I mean the moment you're introduced to the character and pay attention to certain things you know exactly who it is.








Middle Ground



I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.








Pros



One thing I liked about the movie was the different art style. Now I've got no issue Phil Bourassa being the character design for all of the DC Animated Movie Universe's films but I care understand people wanting to see a different style. Especially since he's been doing it since 2014's Justice League: War all the way to the more recent film in the franchise Batman: Hush. So yes I think people much like myself will take a liking to the new art style. The other aspect I liked was the action. It was like many animated DC films fun to watch. Hell it even got pretty intense sometimes, especially this one brutal thing Diana does to her eyes during the final act. Now onto the animation and I gotta say once again DC has some nicely done animation for something that was made direct-to-video. Now if any of who are a fan of the 2017 film what with it's balance between Wonder Woman's amazon warrior side and her more caring side I think you'll definitely enjoy it when this movie does it too. The final thing I'll give the movie credit for is the voice work. The cast does a good job giving these character's personalities and all of the voices they gave to said characters was done nicely.








Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is a pretty good movie. It has a good and very welcomed different art style compared to previous films in the DC Animated Movie Universe, the action was awesome, the animation was good, Diana having a balance of her caring side and fighting spirit gave the movie a lot of heart, and the voice work was good. The only down sides was a pretty forgettable and not really emotional character death and that predictable twist with one of the villains.








My final rating is Good








Alright guys that's all fun me. Now it's the October which means it's the Halloween season which also means it time for me to review some horror movies or horror movie related topics. Either way come back on Thursday, October 10th for my Underrated Films review of 2007's Trick 'r Treat. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Joker Review

Joker is a psychological thriller film based on the DC Comics' villain the Joker. It's also the first film in the DC Black Label. The movie is produced by DC Films, Village Roadshow Pictures, Bron Creative, and Joint Effort and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Joker is written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver and directed by Todd Phillips.

The story is it's 1981 and all Arthur Fleck wanted to be was stand-up comedian, that way he could bring smiles to everyone. However after been made fun of, beating down, and treated horribly Arthur Fleck turns to a life of crime and becomes Gotham City's most feared criminal...Joker.

Initial Reaction



When I first heard about this movie I was quite curious. I mean it was going to be low budget, rated R, set in 1981, no Batman and just to top it all off it's going to be directed by Todd Phillips, yes the same guy who gave us the Hangover movies. Then I saw that teaser trailer...and I was hooked. This was clearly going to be something vastly different compared to other comic book movies and I didn't mind that at all (seriously variety is good for the comic book genre not everything has to be quote "fun" in order for it to be good). Although I do admit waiting for this movie to come out did feel like a drag what with all of the "controversies" it kept getting from "wokes" of Twitter, bloggers, and journalist who you could have sworn wanted something bad to happen at film theaters because everytime it was "Oh man. I sure hope nobody causes a massacre when Joker arrives in theaters." But other than that bullsh*t I was still looking forward to the movie.








Cons



I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.








Middle Ground



I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.








Pros



The first thing that makes this movie great is Joaquin Phoenix's performance. OH MY GOD! If this man doesn't win an Oscar for this performance then the Oscars really need to rethink what a great performance is because Phoenix is just amazing. I mean the what he did to his body for this movie and the laugh that laugh was one of the many many MANY highlights of the movie. In matter fact I actually though Joaquin was actually getting hurt from that laugh. Because it's treated as a medical condition in this film and throughout the film you can see Joaquin try to hold it in, coughing, and saliva coming down from his mouth. Like I said an amazing performance from Joaquin Phoenix and he definitely deserves an award for Best Actor. Now during all of the "controversies" for this movie, one of them was that audience would sympathies with Arthur Fleck even though he's clearly a maniac in this movie (which is funny in itself cause I don't remember such a controversy whenever a horror movie comes out). Now yes at first you do sympathies for him...AT FIRST! But the moment he crosses the line and descents into madness you see him for what he is and that's a complete and utter psychopath. Which is what made the movie great, when you see from start to finish what exactly sent Arthur over the edge to the point where he WAS an innocent man you felt bad for but then you just want to see him get sent to Arkham Asylum (or Arkham State Hospital as it's called in the movie). Another amazing part of the film is the score. Hildur Guonadottir composed such a brilliant and yet at the same time haunting score. There was even a time when I was tapping along with the music. It's that good. The other part of the movie that's great is it's tone, the tone for this movie dark, creepy, unnerving, and everything that should describe the character of Joker. From start to finish the tone for this movie is everything I said it was and with that it really helps the movie stand out from other comic book movies (not that it already didn't before). The final thing I want to give this movie credit for is Todd Phillips' directing. I mean I never would have thought in a million years that the guy who brought us the Hangover trilogy would bring us such a beautifully shot psychological thriller. I mean yes the Hangover movies were shot well but when you compare them to Joker it feels like despite the name it seems like someone else shot this. I mean there at frames in this movie that might as well be it's own piece of art.








Joker is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of 2019. Joaquin Phoenix gives a 10/10 performance, Arthur Fleck's journey to becoming the Joker made him become a great villain, the score is amazing, the tone is great, and Todd Phillips' directing has awe inspiring.








My final rating is A Must Watch








Guys I definitely recommend checking out this movie it was truly great. Hell even my buddies said this is their favorite movie of the year and they can't wait to get this in their film collection. Anyhow that's all for me. Come back on Monday, October 7th for my review of Wonder Woman: Bloodlines. Until then enjoy the rest of your day and once again go see this movie.