PLOT: While on trial for his life, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets a fellow psychiatric patient named Lee (Lady Gaga), who is obsessed with the crimes he committed as Joker.
REVIEW: It’s almost comical to think now, but there was a time, shortly before Todd Phillips’s Joker opened in theaters, that critics and journalists – mostly in the online sphere – were convinced the movie was “dangerous” and that screenings of the film would incite waves of violence from the audiences whose minds would surely be warped the second they saw Joker dance down the steps to Gary Glitter’s “Rock n’Roll Part 2.” That didn’t happen, of course, with audiences getting that – yes – in the end, it’s just a movie, albeit one that grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and won an Oscar for its star.
Yet, it feels like Phillips, to some extent, might have taken some of those criticisms to heart, with Joker: Folie à Deux reframing Fleck’s tale as less a dark, psychological descent into madness and more of a tragedy about a man whose trauma made him into a monster. Granted, there was some of that in the first movie, but this makes a bold attempt to distance itself from the DC Universe, setting Arthur’s story as something distinctive from the Clown Prince of Crime we know from the rest of Batman’s lore.
As such, the audience who cosplayed Joker and Harley Quinn at the screening I attended couldn’t help but look a little dejected as the credits rolled. The film lacked the same kind of impact the original movie had despite a longer, bloated running time and a much heftier budget.
Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made, with him dipping his toe into the musical genre, perhaps paving his way for him to tackle a wholly musical project as his next film. As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.
Joaquin Phoenix once again delivers a strong turn as Fleck/ Joker, with him able to show off the fact that – as Walk the Line proved – he has a pretty good voice in the various numbers (which are covers of everything from Stevie Wonder to The Carpenters). Yet, he’s passive in the movie, without much opportunity to explode in the often terrifying way he did in the original, with this a surprisingly non-violent film save for one fairly grisly fantasy sequence.
Lady Gaga’s much anticipated Lee, a variation on Harley Quinn, also proves to be a disappointment, with her role feeling ultimately inconsequential despite all the build-up. She’s always had a dynamic presence on-screen, but she’s quite restrained as Lee, which is a shame as given that this is a musical sequel to Joker, one couldn’t help but hope the film would be operatic. Instead, Phillips seems to be making his own version of Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, with the slick musical numbers punctuated by melodrama. I expected more fireworks from this star pairing, but it didn’t really pan out that way. Neither are bad, but they’re not as iconic as one would have hoped.
The vibe of the movie also seems a bit off compared to the first one, with Brendan Gleeson’s psychiatric guard feeling like he walked off the set of a 1940s gangster movie while Steve Coogan hams it up a bit as a reporter interviewing Fleck. Of the supporting cast, the only one who really impresses is Leigh Gill as one of Arthur’s former co-workers and one of the few he spared in his original rampage. The scene where he testifies in court is quite striking and is the film’s most memorable sequence.
It’s worth noting that Joker: Folie à Deux, despite being shot for IMAX, lacks any real show-stopping moments, even though DP Lawrence Sher once again contributes some striking cinematography, while Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score is good as always.
Part of me does wonder if perhaps sequels aren’t Todd Phillips’s thing, as neither Hangover sequel ever managed to recapture the magic of the original, and the same charge could be levied at this. However, the disappointing Hangover Part III paved the way for Joker, so even if Folie à Deux feels like an anticlimax, I can’t help but think Phillips has another masterpiece up his sleeve somewhere, even if this isn’t it. He’s recently said that he’s through making movies in the DC sandbox, and having seen this, perhaps it’s for the best.
Alec Baldwin’s troubled Western Rust is getting its world premiere at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival, but its star likely won’t walk the red carpet. Rust, and by extension, Baldwin, have been hot topics in Hollywood after the fatal on-set shooting of Ukranian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. In addition to screening the film, the fest plans to hold a panel discussion with the film’s director, Joel Souza, cinematographer Bianca Cline, and Hutchins’ longtime mentor, Stephen Lighthill. Those interested in the behind-the-scenes drama for Rust should look forward to the filmmakers answering some pointed questions during the panel.
According to Deadline, the panel will feature the individuals mentioned above discussing how the film continued production after Hutchins’ tragic death. The panel also includes an in-depth discussion about the importance of women in cinematography and how other filmmakers can keep their sets safe.
“During the festival, we honored Halyna’s memory with a moment of silence and a panel of cinematographers discussed safety on set,” Camerimage festival director Marek Zydowicz said in a statement this morning. “Now, once again, together with cinematographers and film enthusiasts, we will have this special opportunity to remember her.”
It remains to be seen if Alec Baldwin will attend the Rust premiere. The 30 Rock actor hasn’t been a fan of the spotlight since Halyna’s death, regardless of being cleared of involuntary manslaughter charges. If Baldwin attends the panel, the event could quickly devolve into a grilling session for details and quotables about the unfortunate shooting.
Rust tells the story of a boy left to fend for himself and his younger brother following their parents’ deaths in the 1880s. Kansas goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather after he is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher. Baldwin plays Harland Rust in the film. Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher, Jake Busey, Josh Hopkins, and Devon Werkheiser star as primary cast members.
The disturbing events surrounding Rust have led to filmmakers shying away from using real guns on sets. The Crow director, Rupert Sanders, refused to have actual firearms on the set of his action film starring Bill Skarsgard and FKA Twigs. Speaking with Variety, Sanders doubled down on his decision, saying, “Film sets are very dangerous. There are fast moving cars with cranes stuck on the top. There are stunt guys falling on high wires down steps. Even just walking around a set at night with rain machines and lights — you’re working in an industrial environment. So it’s dangerous. You have to be safe.”
Additionally, Sanders said that safety had to be a number one priority on the set of The Crow. “So I said, categorically, ‘We will have no firing weapons on set,’ which means we didn’t have one gun that could have had a live round or a blank round anywhere near it ever, so that no projectile could go in. They’re all Airsoft guns, and some of them are just rubber or metal decoys that are functional but have no firing mechanism…You have to add a muzzle flash and smoke, but that was a price worth paying. It took a fair bit of money out of my very limited visual effects budget, but I think it was worth it.”
Are you interested in seeing Rust when it reaches screens? Let us know in the comments section below.
The next chapter in Diablo IV’s post-launch journey is almost here and it’s once again going to be turning a lot of the action-RPG on its head. A bevy of changes coming to all players as part of the Season 6 update will also be met by a ton of new content from the simultaneous Vessel of Hatred expansion. Blizzard…
The next chapter in Diablo IV’s post-launch journey is almost here and it’s once again going to be turning a lot of the action-RPG on its head. A bevy of changes coming to all players as part of the Season 6 update will also be met by a ton of new content from the simultaneous Vessel of Hatred expansion. Blizzard…
Three years ago, it was announced that Freaky (watch it HERE) collaborators Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon would be teaming up again to bring us a new genre project called Time Cut, which was being described as “Back to the Future meets Scream” – and now, Time Cut is finally ready to make its way out into the world! Netflix has announced that they will be releasing the movie on October 30th, just in time for Halloween viewings, and today a trailer for it has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above. Netflix has also unveiled a pair of posters for the film, and those can be found at the bottom of this article.
Although Landon directed Freaky, he did not Time Cut. Instead, Hannah MacPherson, director of Sickhouse and the Into the Dark film Pure, took the helm. Kennedy wrote the initial script with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend story editor Sono Patel, then MacPherson got involved in the writing process as well. Landon produced the film with Matt Kaplan’s ACE Entertainment.
Landon and Kennedy are both known for putting slasher twists on familiar concept. Landon directed the time loop slashers Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U, as well as the Kennedy-scripted body swap slasher Freaky. Kennedy also wrote It’s a Wonderful Knife, which was a slasher take on It’s a Wonderful Life. A “Back to the Future meets Scream” movie sounds like something that will be right in line with those films… the only problem is, Time Cut was beaten to the concept! Although it was announced a year after we first heard about Time Cut, the movie Totally Killer was released last October, and it was a time travel slasher blend of Back to the Future and Scream. It even took its lead character to the 1980s, the decade when Back to the Future was released.
Time Cut doesn’t go back that far. It shows us what happens when a teenage girl travels back to the early 2000s to stop a vicious killer from murdering her sister. The cast includes Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Michael Shanks, Griffin Gluck, Summer H. Howell, Rachael Crawford, Megan Best, Sydney Sabiston, Adam Hurtig, Samuel Braun, Kataem O’Connor, Jordan Pettle, Chess Tomlinson, Dutchess Cayetano, Gwendolyn Collins, BJ Verot, Colleen Furlan, and Elena Howard-Scott.
Totally Killer already did the time travel slasher thing and the ’80s were a much cooler time period than the early 2000s, but Time Cut still looks like it will make for a fun viewing experience, and I’m always interested in watching a new slasher movie, with or without time travel, time loops, body swapping, or other sorts of gimmicks.
What did you think of the Time Cut trailer? Will you be watching this movie later this month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Salem’s Lot has a legendary status not unlike the vampire creatures that are the chief antagonists therein. While we are finally getting the newest movie adaptation this month after what seemed like an eternity in development and then an unceremonious shelving, the original continues to have a cult classic aura around it. There was a second TV miniseries that came out on TNT in 2004 but the quality of that one varies depending on who you talk to. Even with all the cache that the original miniseries brings to the table, it had been years since I had watched it. It deserved a revisit and make no mistake, this addition to the King cinematic universe needed a remake more than nearly anything else he has put out.
Originally Salem’s Lot was going to be a theatrical experience but Warner Brothers, who had purchased the rights, had a hard time settling on the story and the personnel. They took in numerous screenplay options from names like Larry Cohen and Robert Getchell and originally even approached George Romero about directing but the 400 plus page novel seemed daunting to faithfully recreate in one big screen film. Warner Brothers then turned to their TV division and decided to make it a miniseries event at the tail end of the 70’s which was the decade of the made for TV movie, particularly in the horror realm. Producer Richard Kobritz was given the challenge to get the project made and the two driving forces he chose were screenwriter Paul Monash to deliver the screenplay and then after watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he wanted Tobe Hooper to direct.
Hooper is one of the horror legends that we hold up on high with the likes of John Carpenter and Wes Craven even if his output doesn’t quite have the same legacy or stand the test of time. While Chainsaw is a juggernaut and will never go away, others just don’t jump out as easily. Sure, Poltergeist is credited to him, and it doesn’t sound like anyone will argue that fact, but it jumps out as feeling different from his other works. He does still have greats like the first Chainsaw sequel and space vampire madhouse Lifeforce as well as lesser greats like Eaten Alive, The Funhouse, and Invaders from Mars. The rest of his catalogue isn’t really that impressive, from his other theatrical flops to strait to video dreck. Hooper is one to be celebrated for sure, but this movie is much more in line with the rest of his contributions rather than the outlier that is TCM.
Monash was a classic TV writer from the early ’50s all the way to his death in 2003. He did add in some fun movie credits like The Law Breakers and The Friends of Eddie Coyle but mostly stayed on the small screen. Two of his biggest credits there are adapting Peyton Place for television and writing an episode of the TV event V. The Primetime Emmy winner isn’t discussed much but certainly had his place in history. The cast for Salem’s Lot could have been bigger but the screen adaptation ended up mixing characters together or cutting some completely. This sounds like a recipe for disaster when adapting a large story but King himself came out and said Monash did a really good job consolidating the material and the story remained similar at heart. Well, mostly.
Chosen for some of the roles were Fred Willard, Geoffrey Lewis, Ed Flanders, Elijah Cook Jr., Bonnie Bedelia, and even James Mason with David Soul as the main author character Ben here. This would be one of many author characters that King throws into his work to be an avatar for himself. This selection of actors mostly works. The old timers in particular like Mason, Cook Jr, and Flanders all own their roles and are every bit as interesting on screen as you would hope. The TV movie had a 4-million-dollar budget and aimed to be a big hit for the studio on TV. So, what did we get?
On paper this is mostly a success. The TV event was nominated for 3 Emmys, had mostly good critical reception, and captured TV viewership at greater levels than they anticipated. This only tells part of the story, however, as the now cult classic has its fair share of problems. The first and most glaring is how slow it is. Notice I don’t say the length of the movie. Length isn’t the problem here as a movie can be 3 plus hours and be just fine. No, I mean it’s slow. The movie runs 183 minutes but feels like it could be 300 minutes. There is a lot of just meandering around or extended conversations that don’t need to be as drawn out as they are. There are some good instances of this like most scenes with James Mason or anything with the town sheriff played by Kenneth McMillan who I couldn’t figure out why I knew him for the longest time until his eyebrows reminded me that he was the first Baron Harkonnen that we got to watch on screen.
The story itself is an interesting one with King being inspired by his class reading the Bram Stoker classic. He apparently wondered what would happen if vampires came to America, specifically to a small town. Events coincide when author Ben Mears comes back home to write about a legendary house and a pair of antique dealers open up a shop. The townsfolk start to die off or disappear and Mears starts to suspect that the new pair are vampires, or at least one of them is. He is able to convince the town doctor, and father of his love interest, but most of the town has either been killed or turned. He and a young boy who no longer has a family are able to kill the head vampire and his not quite human protector but are unable to save most of the town. They flee to regroup and are hunted by the remaining vampires, knowing that they will continue to be hunted until they or the vampires die.
The biggest issue with the movie just dragging on is that the main character we follow, Ben Mears, is a bit of a dud. The character itself is fine as an author returning to his hometown after being obsessed with what he saw at a now allegedly haunted house but actor David Soul lacks any of what his last name suggests. The character is played with almost no charisma and even less chemistry with the lovely Bonnie Bedelia. What could have been a really neat love story or even partnership against the main vampires feels every bit the slog that the actionless scenes feel like. Soul has a good look and reason to be there, but it just falls flat. Its really hard to get excited about the movie when the main character is someone you can’t wait for the film to move past.
While this isn’t our adaptation show, it has to be said that one of the biggest changes, and one that gets called out the most, is the change from the lead vampire from a debonaire aristocrat to a temu version of Count Orlock from Nosferatu. The series may have been nominated for makeup, but a new Blu-ray transfer does it no favors. I actually like the way he is supposed to look, but the movie falls flat when trying to pull it off. What We Do in the Shadows was able to make the look intentionally funny but here it loses its fear in a way that was certainly not what they were going for. He is supposed to be this very imposing figures and it’s disheartening that one of his best moody entrances, when he enters as a cape through the window, is ruined when he kills someone’s parents with a gag straight out of a Three Stooges short. My memory had this creature much more frightening than he actually is and the only time he almost lives up to his reputation is at the climax when they find him in his coffin.
The fear to non-fear ratio struggles mightily here too. It would be one thing if there was payoff for the long stretches that the movie makes you wait but there isn’t anything close to what you’d call a payoff here. The scenes that get the job done vary between ones you remember and ones that sneak up on your memory as you watch them. Probably the best scene in the whole thing comes when caretaker Mike played by Geoffrey Lewis has been bitten and starts turning only to come back to his friend’s house as a vampire. We see him slowly rocking back and forth in a chair with his piercing vampire eyes all but stealing the shot. It’s great subtle stuff that plays into the low budget and remains with you long after the movie is over. That’s the one that everyone remembers but the other really terrifying part comes at the end when Ben and Mark are trying to kill Barlow in his coffin. Mark is watching Ben try to overpower Barlow in his coffin and his victims/acolytes slowly crawl towards Mark and Ben both to stop the murder but also feed. Again, the budget here isn’t an issue as the filming and tension do all the work.
The other scene that most people remember, hell that is used in a lot of top horror scenes lists, is when one of the towns youngest victims’ floats to his friends’ windows and asks to come in. its filmed in reverse to give it its attempted eerie effects but what should be harrowing and tragic like the zombie kids at the fuel station in Dawn of the Dead, just doesn’t work here. Lots of people dying off screen combined with slow builds that don’t go anywhere leave the movie in a precocious spot of trusting that what we see on screen is worth the wait and it’s just not. What is undeniably one of King’s best works, and one that comes back both in a short story form as well as one of the characters showing up in his magnum opus series The Dark Tower, ends up falling flat on the small screen.
The movie was cut into a much smaller 112-minute theatrical version, think the opposite of Needful Things, which was blown up into a TNT event, but that version isn’t ever brought up even if King himself seemed to prefer it. Salem’s Lot isn’t a bad movie, it’s just a deeply flawed adaptation that rests on memories and legends to get by. Here’s hoping that the newest iteration finally does the King book proud.
Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!
Back in 2015, it was announced that The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman writer/director Robert Eggers (who was, at that time, had only made The Witch) was planning to remake F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE). It took Eggers several years to get to Nosferatu, though, and we’ll finally have the chance to see his take on the concept when his movie reaches theatres on Wednesday, December 25th. About eight and half months after Eggers’ Nosferatu was first announced, we heard that filming had begun on a separate Nosferatu remake. Or, as the director referred to it, a remix. That was David Lee Fisher’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror… and we hadn’t heard anything about the movie since it started filming eight years ago. Until now. Our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror will be released through Apple TV+ on October 18th!
Fisher has experience “remixing” silent classics. His previous movie was the 2005 remake of Robert Wiene’s 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. For Fisher’s version, the actors performed their roles in front of a green screen so they could be inserted into digital recreations of the original sets. That is the exact same approach he took for his Nosferatu.
Playing the eponymous vampire is veteran creature performer Doug Jones (The Shape of Water). He’s joined in the cast by Emrhys Cooper (Vanity), Joely Fisher (Ellen), Sarah Carter (Falling Skies), Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie), Jack Turner (Stitchers), Time Winters (9-1-1), and Sara Montez (Birds of Prey).
An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. Werner Herzog directed his own remake of the film in 1979.
Are you glad to hear that Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is finally being released this month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The game is afoot! Well, maybe. According to Sherlock producer Sue Vertue, BBC’s reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle’s uber-smart sleuth could return for another mystery filled with diabolical twists and turns. Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his equally clever companion Dr. John Watson, presents a fresh take on the classic characters with new cases to solve, relationship woes to overcome, and addictions to kick. A Sherlock resurgence would likely excite fans of the series, especially those who enjoy analyzing Sherlock and Watson’s unique chemistry.
“We love that show and there is a future for it. One day. Maybe. If everyone wants to do it,” Vertue told Deadline at the London Amazon Prime Video Trailblazers event.
“I’ve still got the set in storage somewhere, which is probably rotten, to be honest with you,” she added. “It’s just getting everybody aligned, it’s getting the actors to want to do it.”
Before Vertue entered the conversation, Sherlock co-creator and star Mark Gatiss teased the detective’s return earlier this year, saying, “We’d like to make a film but trying to get everyone together is very difficult.”
Sherlock ran for thirteen episodes, resulting in four three-part series airing from 2010 to 2017. There’s also a one-off special set in a Victorian-era fantasy setting resembling Doyle’s original novels. BBC‘s Sherlock offers fans exciting takes on classic cases, such as The Hounds of Baskerville, A Study in Pink (a riff on A Study in Scarlet), A Scandal in Belgravia (inspired by Doyle’s A Scandal in Bohemia), and more. The show includes slick direction, atmospheric sets, moody cinematography, and, for the most part, whip-smart scripts that push Sherlock and Watson to their breaking points.
While a Sherlock reunion would be worth crowing about, the project would be dead and bloated in the Thames without Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft, and the intensity of Andrew Scott as the detective’s nemesis Jim Moriarty. Schedules would need to align for a reunion, and even then, the writing needs to be on point for the project to be worth investigating. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a promising update and let you know if anything else gets discovered.
Are you interested in a Sherlock film? Will the original stars want to return for another mystery? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
The Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns update has some big changes for the fighting game. Aside from every character gaining an Animality finisher, various buffs and nerfs, and a new (widely hated) story expansion, something that has many fans pleased is the return of the Towers of Time.
The Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns update has some big changes for the fighting game. Aside from every character gaining an Animality finisher, various buffs and nerfs, and a new (widely hated) story expansion, something that has many fans pleased is the return of the Towers of Time.
