Batman: The Killing Joke Movie Review. Share. This adaptation should be a slam dunk for DC. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by.It's adapted from the seminal graphic novel from writer Alan Moore and artist Brian Bolland. It features several key actors from Batman: The Animated Series reprising their iconic roles. And it's only the second Batman film (after the extended cut of Batman v Superman) to earn an R- rating, suggesting a darker, more visceral Batman story in line with the source material. Unfortunately, the movie is brought down by its attempts to veer away from that source material. For much of its 7. The Killing Joke serves as a very straightforward adaptation of the graphic novel. The movie explores the twisted bond between Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Joker (Mark Hamill) as the Clown Prince of Crime embarks on one of his most terrible crime sprees yet. As Joker puts it, his goal is . And to do so, he sets his sights on two of Batman's closest allies, Commissioner Gordon (Ray Wise) and his daughter, Barbara (Tara Strong). Lesbian Films for watching and sharing lesbian movies, lesbian tv series, lesbian webseries, lesbian clips, and lesbian animation online with engsub. Torrent anonymously with torrshield encrypted vpn pay with bitcoin. Freeze: I am sorry, Batman. I wanted to toy with you a little longer, but.that is the way the ice cube crumbles. How large is George Lucas Net Worth in 2016? Find out one of the richest celebrity George Lucas Net Worth, their valuable assets: luxury cars, yachts, houses & salary. You're reading the news with potential spoilers, make them spoiler free, dismiss. The Bacchus Lady (2016) 2016/10/08, Source, 'The Bacchus Lady' Genres: Drama Running. Instantly find where to watch your favorite movies and TV shows. With WhereToWatch.com, you can discover when your favorite movie or TV show is playing, or if you can. 1989 I made this Paintbrush drawing of what I saw in a bus window February 1983, when going to work in Oslo. I liked to sit in the middle, but that day my feet walked. The race for the presidency is heating up as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both try to dismantle each other’s credibility. This time it is a rumor from the 90s. With Martin Landau, Jacqueline Bisset, Billy Campbell, Eddie Cibrian. Biblical tales from the books of Genesis and Exodus, including the stories of Abraham's devotion. So far, so good, right? The rub is that The Killing Joke is a fairly short book and not really great fodder for a full- length film (even one with such a modest run time). That requires director Sam Liu and writer Brian Azzarello to expand the original story and embellish the conflict a little. To do so, Azzarello's script basically adds on an entirely new opening act, one that fleshes out the relationship between Batman and Batgirl in this particular universe. Theoretically, this should be exactly what The Killing Joke needs. The Killing Joke is perhaps the quintessential Batman/Joker tale, but it's a terrible Batgirl story. She's less a character than a plot device, one who's maimed and degraded by the villain in order to provide motivation for the hero. It's one of the more notable examples of a dark trend that plagued superhero comics in the '8. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill return to Gotham City once more. The idea of an adaptation that expands Batgirl's role and makes her a more active participant in the story seems like the perfect way to make amends. Instead, that's exactly where the movie stumbles. It takes the already troubling depiction of Batgirl and makes it much, much worse. And the movie accomplishes that feat through the misguided decision to portray Batman and Batgirl as lovers as well as crime- fighting partners. Maybe there are some incarnations of the DCU where that relationship makes sense, but this isn't one of them. It's not even an age thing. Regardless of whatever age gap might exist between Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon in this animated continuity, it's clear they're both consenting adults. The creep factor comes from the fact that Batgirl has such a clearly subordinate relationship to Batman. He's the seasoned veteran and mentor. She's the newbie pupil. That Batman would take advantage of that relationship reflects very poorly on him as a superhero. That's to say nothing of the fact that he's essentially fooling around with his best friend's daughter on the sly. Between this movie and last year's Arkham Knight video game, it's enough to wonder what happened to the classic Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon romance. The Batman/Batgirl romance is weird and skeevy, but it would be one thing if it actually added something to the story. Instead, it results in a dull, meandering storyline involving Batgirl chasing after a suave, misogynistic gangster named Paris Franz (Maury Sterling) while simultaneously butting heads with Batman at every turn. Her greatest concern in life is not battling evil, but that her costumed boyfriend doesn't pay enough attention to her. Like the lead in a bad romantic comedy, she pouts and makes boneheaded decisions in the heat of battle because she's too distracted by her lousy love life to focus on superhero- ing. That's not the Batgirl fans know and love. She's a bad joke. Worst of all, none of this opening act has any real bearing on the remainder of the film. Batgirl still comes across as a sacrificial lamb in the end. Her insipid romantic drama adds no weight to her eventual trauma. Franz himself is an utterly pointless addition to the conflict. Nor does this material do anything to flesh out the elder Gordon's role in the story or explore why Batman suddenly develops such a fatalistic stance on his rivalry with Joker. The first half- hour of the film can be cut completely with no impact on the remaining 4. Frankly, that half- hour should be cut. It's poorly paced and feels like it belongs in a completely different film. The Killing Joke flounders whenever it attempts to deviate from the source material. The good news is that those final 4. Many key shots mirror panels from the comic - the encounter between Batman and the impostor Joker in Arkham, the reveal of the true Joker later on, Gordon's frantic fun- house ride, etc. It's a pity the animation isn't detailed enough to truly replicate the feel of Bolland's intricately rendered comic book art, but Liu and the animators make the most of their limited resources. Some of the Joker- related imagery is quite haunting, especially the various rictus grin- adorned corpses he leaves in his wake. The sepia- toned flashbacks also stand out, hearkening back to the noir/Art Deco flavor of Batman: The Animated Series. Much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the comic, too. Even if some of Moore's razor- sharp prose sounds a little odd spoken aloud rather than being read on the page (a problem common to slavish comic book adaptations like Watchmen and Sin City), there's a great appeal in seeing Conroy and Hamill give voice to such an iconic story. Given how much both have come to define their respective roles, it's tough to imagine anyone else reading those lines. Hamill is particularly impressive as he delivers one of his most well- rounded Joker performances ever. There's plenty of the gleeful, sadistic Joker on tap. But Hamill also has the chance to explore Joker's saner, more lucid side in a pivotal scene where the villain is forced to finally take stock of the course his life has taken. And that's to say nothing of the recurring flashbacks, which offer a glimpse (real or imagined) of the ordinary man Joker was before his . Hamill brings out the character's humanity, even as shades of the psychopath lurking within are there along the margins. There's even a brief musical number for those who didn't get enough of the singing, dancing Joker from the Arkham games. For her part, Strong's performance is decent despite the often painfully limiting material. There's a palpable shift in her line delivery as Barbara transitions from costumed avenger to ordinary, weary civilian. Wise is the one real disappointment in terms of the voice cast. His bland delivery doesn't do justice to a character who's put through a terrible psychological ordeal. It's unfortunate that Bob Hastings (the voice of Gordon in Batman: The Animated Series) passed away in 2. Conroy, Hamill and Strong. Try as it might, this movie can't diminish the fundamental appeal of the original comic. It offers a very poignant and intelligent look at the doomed relationship between Batman and Joker. It showcases the Clown Prince of Crime in a rare period of vulnerability while still reminding viewers how deadly and twisted he is. It makes use of the R- rating without being pointlessly gratuitous in terms of sex and violence. And there's that wonderfully ambiguous ending, which arguably works even better with Conroy and Hamill's voices bringing it to life. This is still a great Batman/Joker story. It's just an even more terrible Batgirl story. The Verdict. There's probably a way to expand on the events of The Killing Joke and craft a story that doesn't elevate Batman and Joker at the expense of Batgirl. Sadly, this movie doesn't find the answer. As an adaptation, The Killing Joke succeeds only when it sticks closely to the source material. Its attempts to embellish the original story end in disaster. Fans of that story or Joker in general should give it a watch, but maybe fast- forward through those first 3.
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