by Dave Scrimgeour, Mike Nay & Kev McCluskey New World Pictures (Australia) In Association with Mace Neufelo and Simon Heath presents a Robert Kamen production of a Mark Goldblatt film Dolph Lundgren Louis Gossett Jr. The Punisher Starring Jeroen Krabbe Kim Miyori Production design by Norma Moriceau Director of photography- Ian Baker Edited by Tim Wellburn Executive producer- Robert Guralnick Written by Boaz Yakin and Robert Kamen Co-producer- Su Armstrong Produced by Robert Kamen Directed by Mark Goldblatt Based on the Marvel comics character Distributed by New World International Dave So here we go, Mike’s debut to We See The World In Ben-Day Dots. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh. At last, Mike’s debut to the We See The World Through Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key-Tinted Spectacles arm of Ben-Day Dots. Mike Welcome to our coverage of the obscure age of Marvel movies. Dave Exactly. Kev “The obscure age,” indeed. Dave One of the good ages of Marvel movies, I have to say. Kev Yes. Mike Yeah, but an age where all their movies went straight to video. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh! Dave New World Pictures Australia, there you go. Kev Ha,ha! Yeh. That shows you the level we’re working on here. Dave This is quite interesting, this opening. I love the music. Do you think they were planning this for a TV series? ‘Cause there’s almost a TV series feel to this. Kev It is like the opening to a TV series, isn’t it? Dave Yeah. It’s got that dark, haunting music, which really sets-up the mood for the film though, doesn’t it? Kev Yep. Dave This is great, Al Capone’s just popped-up. Kev It’s got that little bit of a noir, and ‘Death Wish’ vibe as well. Dave Yeah. Kev A little bit of a ‘Dirty Harry,’ in there as well, maybe? And a bit of Lalo Schiffrin, as well as that 70’s looking, lenticular aesthetic? Dave It does have a bit of that actually, yeah. Kev I suppose, it does have more of a 70’s thriller feel to it, in some ways, doesn’t it? Dave Yeah. Mike I have to admit, the opening here looks like some kind of a documentary on crime throughout the ages, to be honest. Kev Because it’s much more of a grounded character, they were maybe going for more of a documentary look then. Dave And it’s got that dramatic music to it. Dennis Dreich. His music isn’t dreich anyway. Kev Ha, ha! Very good. Dave I like this opening. Kev Me too, man. It’s really stylised with its use of primary colours. Dave It’s classic. It’s got a bit of that 80’s kind-of thing going on as well. When they were making films like that. Kev Before every opening to a Marvel film became so computer generated. Dave And there were actually opening credits in movies. Kev Yeh, right enough, because you’ve said before how you feel they just go straight into things now. Dave Yeah, it feels a bit clumsy these days. This is where that deleted scene would have come in. Mike Oh yeah. Kev Right, okay, so it was right at the start, yeah? Dave Yeah, yeah. Mike Fifteen pages into the official movie adaptation. Kev How many pages does that adaptation have altogether then? Mike I’m not too sure. I’ll have to see if I’ve even still got it. It’s probably hidden somewhere in my flat. Kev Punisher. Question mark. Dave Just look for a man with a question mark for a face and you’ll find him. This was filmed in Sydney too. Kev Yeh. For tax purposes, I bet. I've read that it’s cheaper to film there apparently. Dave This is not America, Moretti. It’s Australia. Kev Ha, ha! I like the way he says “Punisher” there. The way he really spits out the "P." Dave I love this extra in the background, he’s brilliant. This guy here. Mike Ha, ha! Kev Which camera am I supposed to be looking at? Dave Ha,ha. Kev The opening, with the news and stuff, reminds me a little bit of ‘Robocop.’ And Frank Miller was using that technique, the use of rolling news and media coverage, a lot in comics at the time as well, with ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ for example. Dave Ah, yes. It is a bit like ‘Robocop,’ yeah. See, they’ll not recognise Frank here, because they’ll not see a man with question mark on his face. Kev Yeh, exactly, they’re looking for the man with the question face. Dave Yep. The face and the question mark. Mike Ha, ha! Dave I like how they don’t waste any time, they just get straight into the story. Kev Yeh. You’ve kind-of said before that you think the lack of budget in these films often means that they’re so much more economical with the storytelling and that they just rattle through it. Dave Yeah, This is like ‘Enter the Dragon,’ isn’t it? Kev With the mirrors, yeh right enough. This bit kind-of reminds me of that scene in ‘Leon’ as well, when he takes those guys out in that house as well. Dave Yeah. Kev But they’re not messing around with the violence. Right away it’s knife in the heart, sort-of thing. Dave No, they’re not. Mike Have either of you ever seen ‘The Punisher’ Playstation 2 game? Kev I haven't, no. Mike It’s really interesting. It’s based on one of the Garth Ennis comic books, and it’s just a typical run-and-gun, shoot ‘em up type of game, but you get special torture and interrogation scenes, for information, kind-of thing. Kev Is it based on the ‘Welcome Back, Frank’ stuff, yeh? Mike Yeah. Here we are, the only skulls you see in the movie. Kev Is that the only skulls, yeh? The ones on the knives? Mike Yeah. And that’s a big mistake. Without his skull on the shirt, it just feels like another action movie to me. Dave And that’s his logo. His symbol, isn’t it? Kev Yeh. All they needed to do was put the skull on that black undershirt. Mike And it’s not like it would’ve cost that much more in terms of the budget, just to do that. Kev No, that's true. I do like this shot going through the sewers though, with the voiceover, that’s nice. Dave Yeah. Kev Sewers were big at this time though, what with the Turtles and everything as well. Mike Does that explain why there are so many ninjas in it as well? Kev It could do. And here’s a shot of Dolph’s lovely bum. Dave Dolph’s looking a bit stoned. Kev Yeh, he is. Mike I was thinking that too. Dave Now this bit, with the flashback, this was originally in the opening. A lot of this stuff here was the stuff that was taken out. So they’ve just compressed it down. This is basically the origin here. Mike And they’ve decided to omit Frank’s military background as well. Kev Yeh, that’s true. They’ve not touched on that at all, have they? I do think that Dolph does the haunted look very well. He actually looks like a man who has had the life drained out of him. Dave He does actually. I thought that as well. Kev I’ve always thought that, despite the action hero films that he was doing at the time, Dolph Lundgren’s got really soft eyes. They’re quite good for him looking like a wounded animal, y’know what I mean? He looks wounded and haunted, I think. Dave Yeah. Mike At this time, of these more obscure Marvel movies, Dolph Lundgren was probably the biggest star they had. Kev Right enough, yeh. ‘Cause when you think of it, ‘Captain America’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ were around about this sort of time, weren’t they? Yeh, you’re right, Mike, Lundgren was certainly their biggest star, ‘cause he was on the rise at this point as well. Dave Yeah, he was on the up, wasn’t he? Kev And Louis Gossett Jr. was no slouch at this point in time either, really. He was an Oscar winner for crying out loud. Dave No, he was in a lot of films, wasn’t he? Kev Yeh, he was. He's also just recently shown-up in ‘The Watchmen’ this past year as well. Dave Has he? Kev Yeh. Comic book stuff has been good to these guys. Mike Hmm. Yeah, I suppose it has. Dave This character here, Jake’s new partner, she was in the opening scene as well. She was the undercover cop, posing as the hooker. Kev Ah, right. Mike Now what was her name? She was in ‘Robocop,’ wasn’t she? Dave No, that was Nancy Allen. Kev She looks quite similar to Nancy Allen though. Dave And she has the same first name. This is Nancy Everhard. Mike Oh, wait a sec, I recognise her now, from ‘The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk.’ Dave Was she in that? Mike I think it is her, yeah. She played Matt Murdock’s partner. Dave Ah, right. Okay. Kev Louis Gossett Jr, making a bald head look good on black men in ‘89. Him and Michael Jordan. He looks great. Just looking at this now, the fashion that Louis Gossett Jr. is rocking here, is kind-of back in vogue. It doesn’t look 30 years old now, I don’t think. I kind-of looks quite contemporary. If you saw someone dressed like that today, in 2020, you wouldn’t think anything of it. Then again, my "fashion sense," if you could even call it that, has barely evolved since 1995. So what do I know? Dave That’s it, yeah. Some of the ‘80’s fashion hasn’t dated quite as badly as others, has it? Kev No. Speaking of Michael Jordan, there’s a guy in a Jordan shirt. Dave There’s another few dodgy extras. That don’t even know why they are there. Kev No, some of them look a bit lost, don't they? Dave Confused.com/extras. Mike Ha, ha! Kev Where is it that Gianni and Tommy Franco have supposed to have been? Where have they come back from? Dave The old country. Kev Ah, right. Of course. Why would they have gone anywhere else? Dave This is another plot point that’s made a bigger deal of in that deleted scene that was originally at the start of the movie. It’s made clear that Franco flees to Italy to escape Frank. It’s interesting watching films of a certain age where there are no mobile phones or anything, so everything is one-to-one conversations. Kev Yep. And mobile phones are such a plot point in things now as well. Because everybody has one, it becomes so hard to disconnect characters from each other. Mike We did have those brick ones back then, the ones you see in ‘American Psycho’ and things, people used them. Kev Yeh. Dave They were big with the yuppies, weren’t they? They were massive. Kev That’s true, yeh. Hardly anybody had them. Dave They would’ve cost a fortune, those ones. Kev Yeh, they were expensive. Well, so I would’ve thought. It’s not like I could’ve ever afforded one. I wasn’t Zack Morris, or anything. Who is this actor playing Franco? What’s his name? Dave Jerome Krabbe. He’s been in a lot of things. Kev Yeh, I recognise him from other stuff. There’s nothing over the top in this, is there? It’s just a gangster story really, isn’t it? Dave Yeah, it’s a pretty straightforward film, isn’t it? Mike And here we have our Micro stand-in. Kev True. Dave That’s what I was thinking as well, yeah. Kev Nice “thespian” gag, there. Dave That bartender has a great face, doesn’t he? Kev Yeh. It’s a brilliant face. All rectangular eyes, and "on fleek" eyebrows too. Dave This scene here got used a lot as a clip. Kev Yeh. Dave Was this not the one they used on 'Film ‘90' with Barry Norman? Mike It is, yeah. I remember this being on there. Kev Good balance to keep that bottle standing upright here. Dave Yeah, The Punisher’s a good driver. He managed not to spill that bottle. I wonder how many takes it took them to get that right. Kev That bottle is glued to that little truck. Dave Ha, ha! Yeah, it’s probably been glued down. Mike What is it with The Punisher and strong bottles of whiskey? Do you remember that ‘Dirty Laundry’ bootleg, where he was beating up all those criminals with a bottle of JD, and it wouldn’t break? Kev No, it didn’t want to break at all, dit it? Dave And even when he drops it. I’d laugh if it broke then. Kev That’s kind-of your big reveal for Punisher, isn’t it? That tracking-up shot. Dave Lundgren’s actually incredibly well cast. Kev I think so, man, yeh. Mike He does look the part. He’s got the hair, he’s got the physique, he’s got the height. Kev The height as well! Yeh, you’re right, Mike. He’s got the stature for Frank Castle, doesn’t he? Dave Yeah, ‘cause he’s supposed to be this big, imposing guy. Mike And he does look like a young Punisher. ‘Cause when The Punisher came out in the 70s, he was a Vietnam vet, which at the time, wasn’t that long ago. Then, in later years, in the comics they aged him quite a bit, to the point where nowadays they’re making him a Gulf War vet. Dave I suppose they’ve got to keep it current. Kev Were they not ageing him in real time at once point? LIke they've done with Judge Dredd? Mike Yeah. Kev And then they realised that it was getting to the point where he was going to be in his 60s or 70s. Dave Yeah. Kev What’s this character’s name again? Dave Shake. Kev I like this guy. He’s just a bit odd. Dave Yeah, he’s a good character. That’s Mel Gibson’s brother, Donal, here. Kev Is it? Ha, ha! That’s brilliant. Dave He looks like Mel, doesn’t he? Kev He does a bit actually, now that you mention it. Dave Was there any indication that he WASN’T in the military in this? It’s never referenced, is it? Mike No. I remember, in the comic adaptation, he was only referred to as being a police officer. Which, I suppose, a lot of military vets would probably find a job in the police after their service. Kev Yeh, that’s true. Dave This is a good set-piece. Kev Yeh. Dave I think some of this got spliced for the cinema. Kev It’s quite “big” considering the budget for this film wasn’t massive, isn’t it? Dave Yeah, they spliced a lot of this. I think they had to. Kev Throat slitting with the knife there. Dave It was a lot of this stuff that was spliced. Mike They wouldn’t get away with that “F” bomb nowadays. Kev No, you definitely wouldn’t. You’re right though, Mike, a lot of this kind of stuff here, all you need to do is just put the skull on that undershirt and it’s exactly what it needs to be. Mike Yeah, it would be perfect. Kev Especially for ‘89/’90, 'cause as a character, The Punisher had only had his own, regular, monthly comic book series for two or three years. Mike Yeah. Dave There’s A LOT of this that has been spliced. Obviously the censors must’ve made them cut bits out. Kev Yeh. Was there ANY other violent, R-rated comic book films at this point? Dave No. I think this was kind-of it. Kev I know you’d had ‘Fritz: The Cat,’ or something like that, but was this the first live action R-rated one? This is good, this zip-wire bit. I like that. Dave Yeah, it’s good, isn’t it? It’s a cracking little set piece, actually. Kev And it always helps when you have someone like Lundgren, who is actually athletic. He can obviously do the martial arts stuff because that was his background, but he can also do all the running and the jumping and stuff like that. Dave And he was in the army when he was younger as well. Kev Was he? Dave Yeah, so he was probably familiar with weapons as well. He got clipped here though, didn’t he? She doesn’t know how to get her snorkel off, that’s why she’s kept it on. It’s stuck to her, she can’t get it off. Kev Yeh, she’s the big bad reveal, so she has to keep hers on for an extra little bit, for dramatic effect. Dave I like how it quickly jumps from scene to scene. There’s no wasted time with the storytelling. Every scene is relevant. Kev Yep, every scene is moving the story forward. Dave This is the ‘Rambo’ scene coming up. Mike Hot knife to the wound. Dave Cauterise it, yeah. Kev I suppose, things like ‘Rambo’ and stuff are still relatively current at this point. ‘Cause what are you, three deep into the ‘Rambo’ series by this time? Dave Yeah, there were three ‘Rambo’ films by this point. Kev All these corporate buildings look the same, don’t they? Even though this is not New York that they’ve filmed this in, it could be anywhere. Were the Yakuza used much in American films at this point? I know ‘Rising Sun’ featured them. Dave ‘Rising Sun’ wasn’t until ‘93. There had been a couple. Robert Mitchum did ‘The Yakuza’ in the 70s. ‘Black Rain’ was ‘89. I think ‘Black Rain’ came out after this actually. Kev That is a nice checked suit this guy is wearing here. I like that. Dave That’s another nice tracking shot, with her going round the table. Kev And Jesus on the cross as well, for that Italian, Roman Catholic vibe. You’re right, man, that tracking shot is good It’s like a predator circling its prey, isn’t it? (D), (M) & (K)
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by Jai Hutchison "Happy. Hm. I haven’t been happy one day out of my entire fucking life." – Arthur Fleck Director: Todd Philips Writers: Todd Philips and Scott Silver Producers: Bradley Cooper, Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Todd Philips Based on Characters by DC Comics On August 31st, 2019, Joker premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion and receiving an 8-minute standing ovation. Since then, Joker has been received by audiences around the world, to quite mixed reviews. Many people across the world actually walked out of the cinema; some claiming it was too violent, some troubled by the way mental health issues were portrayed. NME called it “the most profitable comic book movie ever” and The Guardian labelled it “the most disappointing film of the year”. Personally, I loved it. Set in Gotham in 1981, Joker looks at the life of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix); a struggling clown and aspiring stand-up comic, whose hopes are to make people laugh. Society has turned its back on Fleck. We see him bullied, mocked, betrayed and quite literally kicked while he is down. When we first meet Arthur Fleck, he is seeing someone who appears to be a social worker, therapist and physician in one, and is also receiving treatment in the form of medication; despite this, he is far from stable. Fleck is lost within his own reality, disconnected from his sanity and exhibits signs of varied mental illnesses such as Pseudobulbar affect; present in Fleck as an involuntary and uncontrollable outburst of laughter. When his access to state provided medication and support services are cut off, Fleck, in his already unhinged mental state, descends on a downward spiral of self-destruction, violence and a journey of self-discovery; due in part to his mother (Frances Conroy) and her potential lies about his father’s identity.
What I love about this movie is the way that it is so unlike other Joker stories. The way in which this could easily be the story and journey of a man, not in Gotham but in my world. All elements that a viewer would often expect from Gotham City are stripped away. Yes, we have the scene with the Wayne’s, we visit Arkham Asylum and it is set in Gotham City. But this story could easily be a portrayal of you or me; there are no superheros and no villains in the traditional sense, just a man that civilisation has given up on, a man lost, a man driven to the precipice of his own sanity by the cruelty of our world. One could actually question if this is in fact a story about the Joker. Or is this a story about a man who struggles deeply with his mental health, his reality and his identity. A man so lost in his own reality, fuelled with hatred and anger towards a society that has abandoned him, who turns to extreme violence as he tries to find solace as well as his place in this, and his own, world. Alan Moore’s 1988 classic ‘The Killing joke’, has always been my favourite Joker story. It portrays the Joker in a different light to what I had seen before, and it sparked my empathy. (Bear in mind, that I was only 2 years old when The Killing Joke was first released, and that I haven’t read or seen all Joker stories in chronological order of release.) Philips’ and Moore’s Joker character profiles share premises, predominately with both depicting how our external environments can lead to irrational, violent behaviour as well as varying mental illnesses, and also the effects of mental illness on one’s behaviour. The difference between these Jokers is that Moore’s is remembered for having “one bad day”, whereas Tom Philips and Scott Silver bring us a new origin story, which could not only be a bio pic, but is stripped of all stereotypical comic book elements, and that sees Arthur Fleck unravel over many bad days. Something that I really liked about Joker, which is also present slightly in The Killing Joke, are the elements of raw, exposed humanity; the authenticity and the way in which it actually resonates with our reality on this side of the screen. In Joker, we see this concept magnified. Philips and Silver have truly created a socially relevant movie that reflects the world that we live in today. Other than being set in Gotham, and the scene which depicts the Wayne’s murders, Joker could actually be a movie based on true events, which makes it vastly different to anything I've seen before throughout the streets of Gotham. Joaquin Phoenix was simply beautiful in this movie. His connection with the character and the role that he portrayed will definitely make a lasting impact; for some, a positive one, for others not so much. For me, I had goosebumps. His dedication and commitment to this role was unbelievable, with the actor actually losing just under 4 stone in preparation for this role; as I am sure those of you who have seen Joker, will have noticed. When asked about the weight loss, Phoenix commented, saying that “as it turns out, that then affects your psychology. You start to go mad when you lose that amount of weight in that amount of time." I am not surprised. Watching Phoenix in this movie felt like a privilege. He was just outstanding. A favourite scene of mine is the bathroom scene pictured above, in which Fleck dances, moving with such poise. This scene, along with several others was actually improvised by Phoenix, as he was given the opportunity to explore his creativity and improvisation talents on set, which cinematographer Lawrence Sher talks about in an interview with Slash Film. I am sure fans of Heath Ledger’s Joker won’t like me for saying this, but Phoenix has got to be my favourite Joker of all time.
If I had to find one flaw in this movie, it would be that I was expecting to see Harley on the other side of that table at the end. But again, overall, I really enjoyed the take on this movie with the lack of traditional elements such as superheroes or multiverses. If you still haven’t seen Joker yet, do not be put off by Todd Philips’ previous works, which are mostly comedies, some of which are awful. However, his work on Joker is incredible; I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joker sweep at the 2020 Oscars. |
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