Movie Reviews Up To October 5

"Downton Abbey The Movie" PG
The classical British service and waitstaff series jumped to the screen in the film adaptation of the continuation of the ship, set in 1927. The main cast returns, save for some replacements, and they were to meet King George and the Queen, but antics occurred that made a mess of the proceedings. The film was actually a lot of fun, and had some Oscar worthy costumes and at least one performance was nearly Oscar worthy also, the lead headmistress.The fans of the show were not disappointed. It was a fine film.

"Rambo: Last Blood" R
In this sequel to the reboot Rambo (2008, which I did not see) the old man Rambo had adopted a family and raised a stepdaughter, who was old enough to go out on her own. Instead of listening to her adopted Dad though, she ran off to Mexico nearby and got kidnapped by a sex cartel, which sent Rambo on a revenge spree to get her back. The flick is as horrifying as the others, but came off in the end as a horror slasher film more so than a Rambo film. The first two thirds had a lot of talking. It was not all that good a movie.

"Joker" R
Juakeem Phoenix (Walk the Line) played the Joker, the main villain of the Batman series, in this origin story set in 1981. The story was kind of a sideways universe where Joker had a laughing sickness and other issues, and had desired to be a comedian, like in The King of Comedy, but also a vigilante, like in Taxi Driver. The story made allusions to Scorsese. Phoenix made the flick his own and made the character a best actor nod for sure, and hid film, best thriller horror story so far this year. Many critics didn't care for the pacing or it being so similar to King of Comedy, but it's kind of a spoof in this opinion, so it works. It was dark and sardonic and not for children. It had many themes and images that were dark and twisted.