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Crime, Drama, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Thriller

Joker Review

Joker Review – Joker is an American psychological thriller released in 2019. The movie is based on the famous DC Villain Joker and traces his origin story.

After the rave reviews, the movie has been receiving, I had finally watched Joker on the IMAX screen. It is a movie that breaks the fourth wall of sorts where it requires the involvement of the audience to interpret and make sense of the proceedings. It leaves you with a lot of emotions about what you have witnessed. It sort of symbolizes the rise of a dystopian society that Gotham had become later as you would have watched in Batman movies.

The movies opening scene paints the picture of the city that it is becoming. Arthur is putting on his clown make up, metaphorically putting on a happy face when the city is gone to the rats as it is conveyed by the newsreaders in the news channel. Rise of rats indicates the rise in the homeless people in the city living in makeshift shelters leading to the rise of rodent menace. The government is trying to control the rodents rather than addressing the source of the problem. There is a joke that gets aired in the Murray Franklin show on TV calling the rodents as super rats and the solution is to fight them with super cats. A sarcastic take on the tryst between Super-Villains and Super-Heroes is brilliantly weaved into the story.

The economic divide in the city has become so huge that the quality of life of the jobless people is in a very pathetic state. Arthur is just a representative of them where he craves an identity by fantasizing himself to be a successful standup comedian. Post the dramatic turn of events ( not revealing them here to avoid spoilers ), the prospective candidate for the Mayor, Thomas Wayne calls them clowns by accidentally giving them an identity that unites them.

The rest of the movie is about how Arthur’s life takes a turn with the turn of the events and what he becomes eventually. The climax is very open-ended letting you reflect and create your own version of the story.

Joaquin Phoenix is literally in every frame of the film and has delivered a very commendable performance. The hysterical laugh convinces you of a man who has a condition of mental illness. Director Todd Philips has given a movie that is much beyond the movie made out of comic. Joker can be an independent movie that has a lot to convey without having the link to the comic.

High Points: Performance of Joaquin Phoenix, the open-ended climax that leaves room for interpretations, the soundtrack from Frank Sinatra classics, the gripping dark screenplay.

Low Points: The film is dark, gritty and bold which may not appeal to the taste of folks who do not like it.

Overall, Joker is here to stay as a cult movie for very long and is arguably one of the best performances of Joaquin Phoenix yet. Joker is not just an origin story of Super-Villain but a movie that paints the side effects of the inequalities in society.

Must Watch

Animation, Comedy, Genre

Minions Review

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Minions Review – Minions is an English animated comedy movie released in 2015. This is prequel to Despicable Me series where the creatures called Minions existed since beginning of time and they always find their purpose in serving a super villain. But for years they are deprived of having a master. Three minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob set out on a journey to find their new master a new super villain.

If you love Minions there is lot you would enjoy in this movie. But if you ask if I would rate this higher than Despicable me then I would say no. My review here is going to treat this as a separate movie without comparing it to its predecessors. The plot is definitely a very interesting one. Thanks to all the Minions promos for increasing the expectation from this movie. To be honest since I have seen all the preview trailers of the minion’s movie I did not find anything new in the first half. Everything seemed to repeat itself and was another ordinary animated drama with occasional laughter.

The movie picks up in the final 20 minutes leading to an entertaining climax. I said you would need to love Minions and Despicable Me series for you to love this one. There are very subtle references of what is going to come next in the movie you might miss this is you are not a fan of this franchise. The next thing this movie has capitalized on is all superhero movies. If you have watched a lot of Superhero movies then you would associate with many of the villain characters shown here and also some of the sequences are direct spoof of a superhero action scene. If you get this you would enjoy this even more. Right from Spiderman to Godzilla you will find references to all of them. The three minions are modeled after the 3 adopted daughters of Gru in the Despicable Me series, which has worked well to continue the tradition of the franchise.

What clicked well for me is the climax of the movie, which was simply stunning and don’t miss the credit sequence which is hilarious.

High Points: Adorable Minions they proved they could take a movie on themselves in Despicable Me 2 and they in fact have done it, the climax sequence is definitely the most entertaining part of the movie, reference to many superhero movies.

Low Points: The promotion of the movie had revealed too much than it should have. The first half of the movie is a bit slow. Scarlet overkill could not match the charismatic super villain Gru.

Overall without comparing this with the previous installments, Minions deliver what they had promised to. If you love animated movies then you would enjoy this.

Watchable