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Showing posts from October, 2024

The Great Pagliacci

That Joker : Folie A Deux exists at all is a bit of an oddity given 2019 smash hit Joker was always meant to be a stand alone film. That it exists in this form; a song filled courtroom romance that can pretty much be classified as an anti sequel, is nothing short of extraordinary. I'm sure that when star Joaquin Phoenix decided he wanted another go around as troubled loner Arthur Fleck the money men at Warner Bros. were rubbing their hands but hats off to director Todd Phillips for getting reportedly close to $200 million out of them for this insane vision of a follow up. Picking up four years after the events of Joker, the Arthur we first see has been beaten down by his years of incarceration. He barely communicates and Brendan Gleeson's guard laments the fact he no longer amuses him and his colleagues with jokes. A glimmer of life returns when an encounter with fellow inmate Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) leads to a blossoming romance. Starved of affection for his entire life, Art

If You Go Down to the Woods Today

  At first glance, Never Let Go appears to be the story of Halle Berry (simply referred to as Mother) and her attempts to keep her two boys safe in a post apocalyptic world where evil stalks the woods outside their family home. It is really, however the story of the boys, their bond and the choices they must make. Said boys are twins Samuel and Nolan (played by Anthony B.Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV respectively). They live in a wooden house that they are told by Mother they can never leave unless tied to a rope that anchors them to their home, the only thing keeping them safe from a great evil that has ravaged the rest of the world. Should they fail to heed her advice, the evil will enter them and gain access to the homestead where it will kill them all. The only one allowed to roam free of a tether is their faithful dog Coda (the evil has no interest in animals) and if there is any suspicion one of the boys' faith is wavering it's into a compartment in the floor with them, wher

Vanity Unfair

  One thing The Substance is not, is subtle. It shouts it's themes loudly. It bathes the viewers eyeballs with beauty and then assaults them with grotesque body horror of the highest order. It infests the ears with horrible squelching, popping and cracking. It's quite an experience. Demi Moore plays Oscar winning actress Elizabeth Sparkle, who now hosts a daytime yoga show produced by odious TV exec Dennis Quad. Deemed over the hill on her fiftieth birthday (despite looking like Demi Moore) and let go she turns to a shady procedure that involves injecting herself with "The Substance".  This births the young and pristine Sue (Margaret Qualley) who picks up where Elizabeth thinks her life should be, becoming her own replacement on TV.  The problem is, the two halves need to share, with each being awake for seven days at a time and like feeding your Mogwai after midnight, there are extreme consequences to not respecting the balance. The Substance is a high saturation pa