Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of October 7, 2024
The Apprentice
Rated R for sexual assault, language, drug use, sexual content, and some graphic nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%
In Theaters
Perhaps the most controversial film of the year is this biopic that explores the early years of Donald Trump and how his real estate career started. Trump, played here by Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) begins as a slum lord, but he aspires to build grand hotels in the hopes of becoming rich. But he is in a lot of hot water due to not renting his current properties to African Americans. For “The Apprentice” part, in comes attorney Roy Cohn, played here by Jeremy Strong (Succession), who takes young Trump under his wings to teach him how to be successful, even if he must cheat to do so. Especially if he must cheat to do so. While the narrative focuses mainly on Trump’s exploits (which are mostly very-well documented), it tries to make it all relevant to this key relationship in Trump’s life. The movie starts out showing a young and impressionable man without a moral compass who needs a mentor, only to find his path through another man who has succeeded without a moral compass, thusly creating an even worse monster. For most who watch this film, the revelations will come as no surprise, as almost nothing he does on screen is worse than what he has publicly said or done in the last decade. The most unsettling scene shows Trump violently raping his then wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), which came from a story in her autobiography, only to be dismissed as a misunderstanding by her later. It needs to be said that this film, while heavily researched with an intention of laying out what could have happened, is still a work of fiction. But with the factual events serving as its base, it is a fascinating look behind the curtain of how Trump could have become Trump. It is also a great showcase for its main cast as Stan, Strong and Bakalova all turn in strong and thoughtful performances that aren’t merely impersonations, but rather realistic personifications of these infamous individuals. The film will obviously be very polarizing, as it does not paint the former president in a positive light. But as a very large percentage of Americans, and the world, already dismiss the man as a vile and horrific human being, this project’s true goal, and success, is to serve as more of a villain origin story. A-
Joker: Folie a Deux
Rated R for language throughout, brief full nudity, some sexuality and some strong violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 33%
In Theaters
Taking place after the events of Todd Phillips’s 2019 Joker film, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is in prison for the multiple murders he committed. While there, he chums up with a new lady friend named Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) in a choir class meant to rehabilitate prisoners through music. As their relationship intensifies, Flick is going through his murder trial, which turns into more of a circus than a hearing. And all of this is done with musical numbers interlaced throughout. Since this review is coming out the week after opening, it is likely that most of you have heard that it this film is quite the stinker. It was a bad sign that that they screened it for the majority of press on the day before it opened, hoping that most of us would miss our publication deadlines. But honestly, after seeing it, I’m surprised they screened it at all. Phoenix, who won the Oscar for Joker, is much like his former character, so I can’t complain much about the acting. What I can complain about is the misuse of the actors. There are some powerhouse players here, with Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brandon Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Steve Coogan, all of whom make the most of the script – but the script is torture. This is a two-and-a-half-hour-long court drama that doesn’t care that the audience will most likely hate it. It almost dares the audience to watch it. I’m not sure if Phillips was purposefully trying to give Warner Brothers a bomb or if this was just a misfire. But it feels like the disaster is intentional. I also hated the first film due to how dangerous I thought it could be if watched by the wrong audience, due to its destructive and violent nature. I hated this one for very different reasons. The film is boring, and the musical numbers are atrocious. It’s like they tried to emulate Chicago but just couldn’t find a way to make it work. Like maybe it was a great idea when they were all drunk or high, but sobriety should have corrected the miscalculation. Any way you look at it, the film is a dumpster fire and will be the butt of many jokes for years to come. And with it hot on the heels of another major awful theatrical entry, Megalopolis, it should be a fun race to watch for the Golden Raspberry Awards, celebrating the worst of the year’s cinema. F