Origin Story

Tick, Tick...Boom!Year: 2021Rating: PG-13Length: 115 minutes / 1.92 hours I have never seen Rent. I'm loosely aware of what it's about, and I know it's one of the most highly regarded musicals to have ever been created, but I've never seen it. In fact, I don't think I could tell you the title of any song from Rent. Before I watched Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), which seems to align with Rent's 25th anniversary, I was loosely aware that this movie was about the creation of this iconic musical. Except, that's the thing: it's not. Perhaps I was expecting a musical-style Shakespeare in Love (1998) that puts Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) through the story beats to create Rent. Instead, there are only hints of Rent in this movie that focuses on Larson's desire to create something important before he's 30 (as a 36-year-old, may I say..."ouch"). Sure, there are musical bits in this movie, but another thing I was unaware of with Rent is...

Joker Year: 2019 Rating: R Length: 122 minutes / 2.03 hours With the saturation of superhero movies between Marvel and DC at all-time highs, it was only a matter of time before a movie like Joker (2019) would come along. If anything, the current socio-political environment in the real world is ripe for this kind of story. While superhero films are appealing to show how individuals with exotic abilities can do battle in CGI-heavy fight sequences, there is a certain amount of horror involved with Joker in the sense that it could realistically happen. There aren’t any radioactive spiders. There isn’t any high-tech gadgetry. There’s only mental illness. I applaud the team behind Joker for not resorting to hackneyed comic book origin stories like chemical spills or “tit for tat” vendettas (even if we had to watch one of the same origin stories again near the end). The casting of Joaquin Phoenix was initially an odd choice, but he nails the role. His type of methodical acting almost humanizes one of...

Tag: Origin Story

MOVIE: Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021)

MOVIE: Joker (2019)