“A Joker’s Card” is possibly one of the more ambitious DC fan films I’ve come across in years. As a comic geek, I’ve admittedly seen very little fan films, but this one was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much in terms of quality, but director Wu takes what he has and turns it in to a very colorful off-beat fan film that spoofs Batman’s rogues gallery. Imagine the villains and heroes off-spring attempting to create their own crimes and chaos. Dick Grayson’s son Nick has a bondage fetish, the Joker’s and Mr. Freeze’s sons are working together to kill Gotham’s off-spring of heroes to inflict their own crimes but are met with obstacles when Wonder Woman’s daughter decides to save the day. I was just laughing my ass from beginning to end because while it is a fan film, its intention is to charmingly spoof the Batman lore and it pulls it off well.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Batman Begins (2005)
You’ve probably heard this a lot since this film came out, but fuck it, I feel like saying it too. They finally got it right. Finally. After long years of imagining what the Batman franchise could have been, my hopes finally come to fruition. Finally. Batman is now Batman. Finally. Batman is a dark menacing figure who doesn’t wear silver specks on his costume. Finally. Batman is a really layered character. Finally. And here’s an incredibly wild concept: Batman gets more screen time than the two villains in the film. Finally. This is “Batman Begins”, this where it started, and I couldn’t be happier. There’s this feeling from beginning to end that we’re being given something that we were missing in the old franchise. There’s depth, psychology, warmth, heart, subtext, and so much amazing storytelling, all of which lacked for the better part of the first “Batman” franchise.
A Joker's Card (2005)
“A Joker’s Card” is possibly one of the more ambitious DC fan films I’ve come across in years. As a comic geek, I’ve admittedly seen very little fan films, but this one was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much in terms of quality, but director Wu takes what he has and turns it in to a very colorful off-beat fan film that spoofs Batman’s rogues gallery. Imagine the villains and heroes off-spring attempting to create their own crimes and chaos. Dick Grayson’s son Nick has a bondage fetish, the Joker’s and Mr. Freeze’s sons are working together to kill Gotham’s off-spring of heroes to inflict their own crimes but are met with obstacles when Wonder Woman’s daughter decides to save the day.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
That’s it, I’m done. I’m giving up and packing it in. I don’t get it, I just don’t get it. What’s the big deal? Honestly. I love comedy that has awkward pauses, and this doesn’t have it. It’s just films like these that make me just want to stop and walk off in to the sunset. I don’t get it. After months and months of hype and good reviews, and buzz, and fan reaction, and watching people imitate lines from this, I bought in to it like a sucker and assumed that perhaps I was in for a really great comedy that was turning rapidly in to a cult classic, and then on the ten minute mark sirens went off on my head. I can usually tell when a movie is going to suck about ten minutes in to it, and suddenly, I knew this was really crappy.
The Machinist (2004)
“The Machinist” is such an accomplishment, an accomplishment that, big surprise, went almost unnoticed in Hollywood. It’s utterly refreshing in this day and age to watch a movie so intellectually stimulating, it’s fulfilling to watch a psychological thriller that demands the audience watch, pay attention, follow along, and decipher for themselves without falling in to the usual Hollywood conventions. Brad Anderson instills a lot of atmosphere and slow paced tension here for the audience, creating such a brilliant Lynch-esque labyrinth of a murder mystery.
Before Sunset (2004)
It’s like they never left us. It really is. It’s as rare as a meteor to watch an engrossing romance that’s also very intellectually stimulating, but wouldn’t you know it, with Richard Linklater once again taking reigns of his film, you get what you expect, and I ultimately got what I expected, a fascinating, charming, and beautifully written romance drama starring two people who just have incomparable chemistry. All my fears were put to rest thirty minutes within the film as that magnetic chemistry between Delpy and Hawke becomes all the more volatile on-screen two fold. They have it here, and it works so well, I was just breath taken. This is a movie that could have easily been mishandled, and botched, but it ultimately works so well as a standalone and as a sequel. Only Linklater could commit such a feat.
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)
It’s a common almost natural reflex among children that if they have two objects in front of them, they’ll almost always choose the object that’s flashier, and bigger. It’s just an inborn need, and such is the case with “A Room for Romeo Brass”. Romeo and his next door neighbor Gavon are best friends who bicker and argue and their bond is strong. Gavon walks with a limp due to a back disorder and Romeo defends him constantly. But once Morell enters the scene, their friendship is tested. Morell, after breaking up a fight with Romeo who is attacked by two big kids after defending Gavon, seems nice enough and accompanies the boys home, but pushes himself in to Romeo’s life, not only serving as a friend who is flashier, bigger, stronger, and faster than Gavon, but also as a father figure for Romeo who has no father in his life. Suddenly Romeo wants nothing to do with Gavon, nor does he really visit him once he’s had back surgery, and Romeo and Morell become friends.