Movie review: Joker (2019)

[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

Nota bene: for other movie reviews, click for the dedicated page with movie reviews.

Joker (2019)

[IMDB; en.wikipedia]

Most reviews...

1. praise the movie,
2. consider it really good with respect to everything,
3. agree that it may at least earn some nominations at the Academy Awards if not win some etc.

At first glance, it all seems correct.


...but, if you let the story/movie digest in the back of your head for a couple of days, you might conclude (as I have) that:

1. The story (and the whole movie) actually is artificial and superficial in its stubborn attempt to be deep.
   Seems deep, but it's actually chaotic.
2. Seems so European by the way it constantly bullies (i.e. psychically tortures) the main character.
3. They constantly hesitate at taking sides and pointing fingers... or at least are very ambiguous about it... or maybe I just haven't paid enough attention to all details?... I'm still not sure whether the Joker has been 100% mentally ill, or it's been his mother's fault, or Thomas Wayne has mistreated Joker's mother...

I do have the taste for good drama, be sure about that! :) It's just this one has touched me less than it has touched most reviewers.


The violence in the movie is ok. I agree with the "R-rating", but to be honest there's nothing special about it, nothing that may require debate - the whole discussion on this topic I suspect to be well done marketing to attract people to the cinema...


The cinema experience is a must. TV cannot possibly capture the whole experience the movie delivers at the cinema.

Conclusions

Joker (2019) is a good watch to most people, but not so much to me.

Movie review: Paradise Hills (2019)

[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

Nota bene: for other movie reviews, click for the dedicated page with movie reviews.

Paradise Hills (2019)

[IMDB; en.wikipedia]

Entertaining overall.

Starts well - the initial 10% of the time displays a good storyline, is well paced, keeps the viewer focused etc.

Then for the next 50% of the time it turns bad, really bad - it's like the Middle Ages in history - not much of a storyline, almost nothing interesting or mildly relevant happens... it just drags, gets rather boring etc.
Not sure on their intentions here, but they have certainly failed - it simply doesn't resonate with me.
Certainly the movie feels a lot longer than it actually is because of this rather bad part.

Then, for the remaining 40% of the time, it suddenly turns really good: the storyline develops rapidly and gets more and more interesting & captivating, you get action & adrenaline etc. - basically you get the whole package. This part saves the whole movie - congratulations to whoever's been in charge on this part!

There are 2 nice twists and turns. First, regarding the school's real way of accomplishing its objectives and what/who The Duchess really is. Second, regarding Markus - indeed, this one is rather obvious, but I won't spoil it :)

I really enjoyed the cinematography + the choice of costumes & colors + the rather weird, but subtle soundtrack that blends in perfectly.

The cinema experience is a must, since TV would ruin the whole experience.

Conclusions

Paradise Hills (2019) is a good watch and I consider the time has been well spent with respect to the initial 10% and the final 40% of the movie.