Plans (and desires) for a standalone Joker movie have been rife for many years. Those plans will finally be coming to fruition in October of next year when Todd Phillips takes the directing and co-writing job on ‘Joker’ (catchy title). With Joaquin Phoenix’s first make-up test being released, I thought I’d look into what we know about what is already one of the most anticipated films of 2019.
Ant-Man and The Wasp is the latest addition to the MCU, and after the dark, brooding ‘Infinity War’, it was nice to see a return to a lighter side. However, with this also comes a plethora of returning clichés, and by the end of the film, you start to wonder whether Marvel are starting to go stale.
Pixar haven’t had the best track record for sequels. Cars 2 was dreadful, Monsters University lacked suffered in comparison to the original, and Finding Dory was nothing to write home about. Only the Toy Story sequels have managed to do that rare thing of improve on the original. Having loved The Incredibles, I was really, really hoping that this sequel would manage to at least match it. What a shame then to report that The Incredibles 2 doesn’t quite live up to the freshness of the original.
Well, Deadpool 2 has done it. It has joined the rankings of 'Terminator 2', 'The Godfather 2' and 'Shrek 2' for sequels that outshine the original. I always felt the first film wasn’t as groundbreaking as it thought it was, and while entertaining, it lacked enough humour and action to really make it fantastic. Where the first film lost out, this one picks up, and boy did it do a good job of it.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW. Having avoided all trailers, I went in blind, and while it was still a fantastically enjoyable film (that totally beats Avengers: Age of Ultron), it had some flaws aswell.
Well, I’d like to rename 2017 “the year that Marvel killed it”. Having already watched Guardians 2 and Thor 3, I finally got around to seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming, and blimey was I impressed yet again.
I missed Thor: Ragnarok when it came out last November, but with Infinity War looming on the horizon, I invested in the Blu-ray to watch it first. Boy am I glad I did, not only for the story continuation that will occur in The Avengers 3, but also for the sheer joy of watching one of the best Marvel films to date.
Reflect on a great year in film as I recall some of my favourite films of 2017, and look forward to what 2018 has to offer (click to read more)
Daniel Robinson: From Reel to Real 