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Film
Blu-ray/DVD Roundup for October 11, 2019
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‘Joker’: an adult version of a comic book character
![Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) plays the clown prince of crime - a mentally unstable man, who experiences his first taste of notoriety after he commits a violent act in “Joker.” Photo Credit: Warner Bros.](/images/resized/images/news/2016/235_oct11/29_100_100.jpg)
Running Time: 121 minutes
The latest comic-book adaptation to hit cinema screens is at least an attempt to try something a bit different from the current formula. Based on the famous villain from the Batman comic book, Joker is a gritty and violent take on the figure that does its best to explain the origins of the character, his motivations and the reasons behind his psychotic snap. It’s an uneven effort that doesn’t always hit the mark, but is salvaged by an admittedly incredible lead performance.
This film is not for the kids, presenting Gotham City as crime-ridden and on the verge of mass riots. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a struggling clown...
‘Abominable’ has beautiful visuals, bland characters
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Running Time: 97 minutes
It is always strange how studios tend to develop similar projects at the same time and double-down on them. There were two Wyatt Earp westerns made the same year, and other examples in the past include two asteroid movies, two volcano flicks, as well as a pair of family features about insects (specifically, Antz and A Bug’s Life). Well, it appears to have happened once again. Abominable is the second animated film this year to use a large, hairy humanoid attempting to return home and find its family as subject matter (after the excellent Missing Link arrived earlier in the year). This title is certainly nice to look at, but will...
DVD/Blu-ray Roundup for October 4, 2019
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Big New Releases!
Airplane Mode - A man with a flight phobia needs to take a plane to Australia in order to attend an important social media convention. Unfortunately, the other passengers are so obsessed with their phones, they forget to switch them to “airplane mode,” causing chaos in the sky. In the meantime, the lead’s...
‘Ad Astra’ is absorbing, features a few wondrous sights
![“Ad Astra”, released Sept. 20, features astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) in space on a mission across the solar system to learn the truth about his missing father and an expedition he undertook that now threatens the universe. Photo Credit: Twentieth Century Fox](/images/resized/images/news/2016/234_oct04/20_100_100.jpg)
Running Time: 122 minutes
If any scientists out there are planning on embarking on building a lab in space, they might want to check out the new sci-fi drama Ad Astra. It may compel them to think twice about bringing a very specific mammalian species along for the ride. For the rest of us, this is a low-key, but tense and engaging space drama that effectively combines thrills with personal introspection on the meaning of life and, to a lesser extent, dealing with family grievances.
The film is set in the future with Earth under dire threat due to a series of cataclysmic electrical storms coming from Neptune. Not long after, the military approach and...
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