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Pretty much every time there's a big premiere of a popular franchise entry, Ben Mekler posts an absurdist faux reaction on Twitter that invariably both inspires awe-inspiringly credulous responses and also somehow gets included among the legitimate post-screening reaction write-ups of one or more entertainment sites; for whatever reason, the Birds of Prey edition and some of the responses hit me just right and made my afternoon:

I'm relieved that I wasn't foolish enough to take that Colin Powell tweet at face value, although it did make me do a double-take. No offense to Mr. Mekler, but "Ben Mekler" is the perfect weasel-y YouTube-level online critic name

Reviews for Birds of Prey are mixed trending towards positive, with lots of comparisons to the John Wick series (which appears to be more than accidental, as Chad Stahelski, director of all three of those films, was brought on board to direct some of the film's heavy reshoots) and Deadpool, along with alternating approval of and annoyance at Margot Robbie's performance. None of this is high praise, certainly, but I'm glad to hear that the film is at least not a Suicide Squad-level abomination.

If true, this is a humiliating admission of defeat.

It's true alright (and I guess this is why Edge of Tomorrow was briefly trending on Twitter today, although at least they waited until the video release with that one). Doubt it will help much since I think a fundamental mistake made here was assuming Harley Quinn has a much bigger mainstream profile than she actually does.

Surprised they didn't rename it Margot Robbie is hot, remember?

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:13 amDoubt it will help much since I think a fundamental mistake made here was assuming Harley Quinn has a much bigger mainstream profile than she actually does.

This most certainly is it, but I guess every little helps, especially in the case of an extended universe in which any failure could jeopardize the whole thing.
However, its budget is only $82m, so I guess it'll be quite easy avoiding making a loss on this one.

I cherished those brief moments in Birds of Prey, and there weren’t many, when the obnoxiously loud soundtrack was silenced, the hyperactivity paused, the motor mouth dialogue went into neutral, and there, underneath her garish makeup and attire, one could recognize Margot Robbie valiantly trying to summon up a genuine emotion.

Robbie has managed to fit in some good movies and roles since her previous incarnation as Harley, but her imdb page indicates there are three more in the works. To be honest she does look like she’s having fun, even if I wasn’t.

Mr Sheldrake wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2020 3:24 pm I cherished those brief moments in Birds of Prey, and there weren’t many, when the obnoxiously loud soundtrack was silenced, the hyperactivity paused, the motor mouth dialogue went into neutral, and there, underneath her garish makeup and attire, one could recognize Margot Robbie valiantly trying to summon up a genuine emotion.

Robbie has managed to fit in some good movies and roles since her previous incarnation as Harley, but her imdb page indicates there are three more in the works. To be honest she does look like she’s having fun, even if I wasn’t.

It’s funny because this stuck out like a sore thumb to me while I was watching it and I started to wonder: since the motor mouth dialogue is all done in voiceover and Robbie has very little actual on screen dialogue was the choice to blitz the soundtrack with heavy narration and music just there to cover up a lukewarm performance?

Watched this. It's extremely mediocre and tediously boring. The first 50 minutes or so abuse to death exploding the storyline and the back-and-forth in time wears off very quickly. It's extrmely counter-productive to the flow of the movie since it means the first 20 min seem aimless, then the movie throws in an action scene without explaining why only for then going back in time to explain it. When this ends, we're halfway through the movie already and not much happened yet. It's only made harder by Robbie's Quinn that quickly grows annoying too, though fortunately, the supporting female cast is given some screen-time so that the viewer can get some rest (I guess).
Everything else is nothing to remember, from the awful digital design, the numbingly chaotic soundtrack (almost 30 songs in 109 minutes, including a insufferable random dance number) and the villains that of course die like crap.

In the end, I guess this is better than Suicide Squad, but merely because at least visually, it doesn't look like an awful undecipherable dark mish-mash. And there are 2 action scenes that are way too long but quite OK to look at, and sure enough, that's probably thanks to Stahelski's input on those.

I could care less about superhero movies, but this parody of The Dirty Dozen poster is oddly refreshing in the era of super glossy, super photoshopped posters. Or maybe my braincells in my brain have eroded to the point that anything slightly different is enjoyable.

That looks fun, Joel Kinnaman aside

Seems of a piece with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which is appropriate, as Suicide Squad was originally supposed to be DC’s answer to the Guardians series.

Kinnaman's career trajectory is a shame. I don't know if he's just been used poorly or had the bad luck of landing roles in bad movies or what, but Holder was such a strong character that he almost made The Killing worth watching, fueled entirely by his perf vs. any compliments to the writing of that awful show. He was also pretty good on House of Cards, though I loathed Altered Carbon and while I've heard good things about For All Mankind, I'm skeptical.

I’m just upset that Peter Capaldi has taken a role requiring him to shave his head.

Peter Jackson in 1970s Italy couldn’t make something as excessive as the Snyder Cut.


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The Suicide Squad is getting some embarrassingly effusive praise elsewhere from comic fanboys (I've now seen countless proclamations that is the best comic book movie ever made... which means precious little, but still). Anyone here see it who can give a presumably more measured take?

Even better than American Splendor? That would be impressive.

I am hearing it has better action sequences than Persepolis

But are the effects up to Our Little Sister? Kore-Eda did a lot with a little.

It's really violent, to the point that I've seen otherwise hardened people make it a big point of discussion when in private. Obviously people's tolerance for carnage (Including some mean spirited violence) is going to differ from person to person but if you're not down for a gorefest you may wish to avoid this.

In fact people over in the UK are mad at the BBFC for only giving it a 15 rating.

Most reviews I read mentioned "Troma" as an obvious influence, so I guess that's not too surprising. Even though those films have never been my thing I admit the comparison peaked my interest.