(may contain spoilers)
Joker: Folie à Deux
Douban rating: 6.1
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Douban Comments: “The first 30 minutes really weren’t necessary. Also, if Harley Quinn isn’t supposed to be a metaphor for a personality, there’s no reason for her to even be there – she’s as pointless as the opera-style storytelling. I’ll give one star for the reputation of the previous film, one star for the actors’ performances, and one star for the ending’s metaphor and the mental shift. If they’d used ‘Die with a Smile’ as the theme song, I might’ve given one more star. Someone called it Ha Ha Land, which cracked me up.”
“I absolutely love this movie – it’s the complete opposite of the first one and acts as an ‘anti-Joker’ film that deconstructs the Joker character. If the previous film focused on the Joker as a symbol of madness and primal instincts, this one brings us back to Arthur, a fragile, repressed human. The Joker’s creation was already a deconstruction of the traditional hero story, but as the Joker became a glorified anti-hero, this movie tears him down again, grounding him in his human side. It’s a story about complex humanity: there’s no Joker born to rebel, only an Arthur who resists oppression. Or rather, it’s always been Arthur – vulnerable, broken, violent, and mad.
When the Joker is shown as a complex person, it suggests everyone has both Arthur and Joker within them. But like Harley Quinn, who gets swept up in the show, audiences only want to see what they want to see: either they dismiss him as weak, submissive Arthur, or they glorify him as the rebellious, violent Joker. Yet they refuse to see him for what he really is – a mix of weakness and violence. This is what the movie reconstructs after tearing down the myth.”
“Everyone loves the Joker, but what people really want is just the fantasy – no one actually cares about Arthur. As the subject of these fantasies, this show presents a more multi-dimensional Joker and shows how he is treated by others. The lawyer and Harley Quinn represent two types of people. The lawyer is rational, viewing him as an object, someone to help live a normal, ordinary life. Harley, on the other hand, comes for the fantasy, drawn to his madness, pushing him towards becoming a legend, cutting off any path back to normalcy. Just like us, the audience – we all want to see the extreme Joker, not the mundane Arthur, don’t we?
3.5 stars (I loved the scene where he sets fire in the prison, but there were too many musical moments, which felt a bit out of place).”
“The director tries hard to make the musical segments feel natural – like by showing that some characters just love to sing, or by using song and dance to depict fantasy sequences that contrast with the bleakness of reality. But in the second half, the singing gets a bit excessive and packed in, almost like they’re trying to get their money’s worth with Lady Gaga. Sometimes, it’s just a fixed close-up on a face singing a whole song. No matter how talented the actor or singer, that kind of heavy, drawn-out filming gets tedious… I honestly found myself echoing Phoenix’s line: ‘Can’t you just talk instead of singing?’
Even with anti-genre, anti-hero intentions, a movie still needs to be engaging. The first film did such a great job of that, but this one turned into half courtroom drama, half musical. The film seems to be aware that audiences want to see a revenge-driven, satisfying story – so instead, it chooses to leave you feeling trapped and frustrated. It’s rare to see a superhero film that leaves you this down. This Joker really is helpless, unable to fight back against anything. Life’s hard enough as it is; if I could, I’d still want to be the bad guy in a movie.”
Venom: The Last Dance
Douban rating: 6.6
Director: Kelly Marcel
Starring: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple
Douban Comments: “A movie that can tell a good story in less than two hours is a rare gift these days, and Venom does just that. The soundtrack is top-notch, and the final battle scene is both thrilling and moving, with a hint of tragedy. Venom is even more lovable than in the first movie. The different-colored symbiotes come together to create a new kind of monster art.”
“I was in tears during that final goodbye scene. Seeing an older, slightly heavier Tom walking down the street, reminiscing about his time with Venom – the sharp jawline he once had, the smooth neck, that youthful smile and charm, once called ‘the sexiest man on Earth’. Their incredible first meeting, the wild and chaotic but joy-filled time they shared… I felt like I was looking at my own life. Life really is a series of losses, where happiness is fleeting, and sadness lingers. Everyone and everything can only be with us for part of the journey. It was so incredibly moving. Major props to the female director – her style was smooth, confident, and absolutely nailed it!”
“This one is better than the second movie but doesn’t quite measure up to the first. There’s a second post-credits scene, but you’ll need to sit through the entire 13 minutes of credits to catch it. There are quite a few flaws, like the thin plot, which feels more chaotic and mindless – a universe-level crisis just appears out of nowhere, and they still take time to dance. The villain is always shown with a dark filter and a forced, gruff voice to sound menacing. The world-building is nearly non-existent; the symbiotes can travel across the universe, but they’re still clueless. And even in 2024, the Area 51 soldiers are still just pew-pew-ing at aliens…
But on the bright side, there are plenty of monsters, lots of intense fight scenes, and a good sense of threat, with various Venom transformations and bizarre symbiote designs. If you’re a fan of monsters and Venom, you’ll have a visual feast. The film gets extra points for the callback to that slightly tragic ending.”
Alien: Romulus
Douban rating: 7.4
Director: Fede Álvarez
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux
Douban Comments: “This film brings back the classic trio of ‘reckless white guys courting death, android masterminds, a female warrior taking the lead, and reviving the iconic formula established by Alien (1979): a ‘space trucker’ cat-and-mouse game in tight, claustrophobic quarters. Though the initial setup is a bit slow and dry, the tension quickly ramps up with a series of jump scares that snap you into focus. From the moment the female warrior navigates a zero-gravity acid vortex, it’s one thrilling surprise after another.
Fans of the series will find extra joy in the callbacks – such as seeing the late Alien I android Ash, played by Ian Holm, digitally ‘revived’ through AI for a significant role. The explosive third act boss references the skeletal alien from Alien IV and the Engineers from Prometheus, and even teases the cult pairing of female warrior and android.”
“The real surprise of this film lies in how it refreshes the series without dumbing it down, even with younger leads in the spotlight. True to tradition, there’s still that rule of ‘snarky characters meeting grisly ends‘. It experiments with elements from Don’t Breathe and A Quiet Place, while finding a new evolutionary angle that builds on the fourth film’s themes, though not surpassing it.
By highlighting genetic similarities between humans, rodents, and Xenomorphs, and delving into the advanced iterations of androids, the movie brings in themes of cloning, hybridization, mutation, evolution, colonization, and enslavement – infusing them with an unnerving horror that goes beyond mere fear tactics. The journey is thoroughly engaging, with the tension building and delivering in the later acts.”
“This is a true, classic horror film – no deep philosophical musings, just pure, brutal survival horror. It’s all about the relentless jump scares and ever-escalating terror, with each scene upping the stakes. The final climax is absolutely epic, taking a familiar horror trope and giving it a fresh twist!”
