Suicide Squad

Review: Birds Of Prey is the fantabulous desperation of one Harley Quinn

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 17th February 2020

There’s no denying that the Joker is a truly iconic figure. Whether it’s Joaquin Phoenix’s fragile psychopath, Heath Ledger’s cruel anarchist or Cesar Romero’s painted moustache, the character of the Joker is an indelible legend of pop culture. But you wouldn’t want to hang out with him, would you? Imagine all the whoopee cushions and hand buzzers and all that endless itching powder. He’s just a terrible try-hard, isn’t he? So it’s probably apt that this film, which is primarily focused on his sudden absence from Harley Quinn’s life, tries to fill his void by being just as eager to entertain. It’s packed with colourful chaos, wacky narrative devices and fun, so much fun. But just like the Joker’s constant giggling, it also feels a little bit forced. Why so weary-ous, Harley Quinn?

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20 exciting and totally achievable ways the DC Universe can rebuild

Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 17th September 2018

The DC universe is broken. Henry Cavill is done with Superman. Ben Affleck is too goth even for Batman and reportedly wants an escape route. Wonder Woman accidentally became the most successful one and now all the men at the studio have no idea what to do with her. And Aquaman... exists. Forget whatever humanitarian crises the Fake News Media are pushing on you this week: we need to focus our efforts on figuring out how to fix these adult manbaby movie franchises, and STAT. These 20 ideas to fix the DCCU by yours truly are a start, but frankly, I'm not hearing anything coming from your end. Is this thing even on?

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Suicide Squad, DC and the Warner Bros war against coherence

Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 8th August 2016

It should be abundantly clear now to anyone with even a passing interest in superhero movies that the concept of the "shared universe" should be feared. Credit to Marvel: they took a big risk, did their groundwork and built up their shared universe by releasing not one but four successful individual franchises, before bringing them together like a corporate executive doing an overbite and interlocking his fingers in the universal sign language for 'synergy'. Everyone else saw The Avengers' box-office success and thought, 'Yeah, we'll have a bit of that. But sod all that hard work!' And thus, the very blueprint for superhero movies was torn up, sellotaped back together and plonked on the desks of finance departments throughout Hollywood.

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Suicide Squad

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 5th August 2016

Here's something that shouldn't be a thing: any director, cast member or studio that says "we made it for the fans, not the critics". Now, I would say that I occupy a space somewhere in between those two clearly very unique and separate positions. I'm an occasional blogger currently writing a review (that, heaven forbid, will be listed on Rotten Tomatoes) but who particularly enjoys superheroes and comic-book movies. So where does the DC party line of 'fans not critics' leave me? I'll tell you where - in the same place as literally anybody else who sees this film: with an opinion, and only that. Obviously, it should be argued as objectively as possible, but for the sake of DC's stance in the matter, let me try to review this like a fan rather than like a clueless critic doing super-serious critiquing on Marvel's payroll. With that in mind, Suicide Squad is a bit rubbs.

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Revealed: the full extent of Jared Leto's on-set anarchy

Movie Feature | Ali Gray, Becky Suter, Ed Williamson | 22nd March 2016

Reports from the Suicide Squad set indicate that Jared Leto immersed himself in the role of the Joker by giving "horrific gifts" to his co-stars, including a dead pig and a live rat. This is anarchy on a scale not seen since Johnny Rotten said a rude word on the telly, leading to the overnight collapse of Judeo-Christian society. How much further could Leto go, yo? These unverified set reports suggest he was willing to push it to the limit.

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Momentous photo shoot proves that Ben Affleck is dead inside

Movie Feature | Matt Looker | 15th July 2015

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