The Rant: Why 'Joker 2' failed, and the sequel I want
Fun fact: You can still love sports without being addicted to the outcomes.
There used to be a time when I would flame out after a loss by one of the local sports teams. The Blues losing to the Blackhawks so many times in the 1990s leaves a thorn that doesn’t pull all the way out still, and don’t get me started on Mike Matheny letting Michael Wacha seal the Cardinals’ fate against San Francisco. Even the regular season losses took a toll, making me pace Mardel Avenue like my grandfather paced Bancroft decades before.
When you get that close to the flame, emotional repercussions are expected. All of those ninth inning save chances from the likes of Dennis Eckersley, Dave Veres, Jeff Brantley, Jason Isringhausen, Ryan Franklin, Trevor Rosenthal, Alex Reyes (another playoff casualty), and the rest try to con three outs from a hungry lineup edged a few years off my total. The goal posts struck, foul lines avoided, and just-fair home runs. It can be a little much.
These days, I don’t care as much about the outcome of sporting events. It’s like sitting a little higher in the stands, and not caring at all. You’re there and enjoying the action, but further from the fire. The emotional investment is smaller, but the intensity can flare up at any time. For example, if the Cardinals got into the playoffs, there would be blood boiling and supreme focus. Instead, I shrug my shoulders and look elsewhere for engagement.
It’s the same reason you don’t read as much Blues coverage as the St. Louis Game Time days, where I would pump out 4-5 articles per week on the rogues in blue. Times change, minute allotments vary, and the care and will to do it ebb and flow. At one time, not that long ago, I was writing for 3-4 websites and cranking out up to 80 posts per month. One time, I hit 90 and that wasn’t even for a full-time gig. The will was there.
Granted, I still pound out plenty of prose about the Redbirds, but it’s nowhere near as much as the amount put out years ago. KSDK News was my beacon, and it shined 24/7 around cyberspace. I could send one in, and immediately begin another story. After a while, if you’re not being paid and the willpower decreases, the output will soon follow suit.
Delivering plumbing supplies has nothing to do with creating sports and movie commentary, which is why the output is limited to 22-27 articles per month. In a world far away, I could deliver a toilet and a five minute sports rant about the current state of sports in St. Louis, but we’re not there yet. 22-27 is a fine amount amid a physically and mentally-draining job, but certainly less.
The amount of writing I do is something I care about more than the score of the Blues game. They lost their first game of the season last night after playing heartbreak ridge with the scoreboard for three straight games. A fact I found out simply from checking my email at six in the morning on the way home from my folks.
It’s the same manner in which I discovered Mike Shildt’s San Diego Padres had been eliminated from the playoffs. The Los Angeles Dodgers are pests for actually acting like the most expensive club in baseball on occasion, so they outlasted the Padres in a 2-0 Game 5 triumph that pits them against the New York Mets. One must admit--there’s something kind of sexy about a Dodgers-Mets clash.
I’m now rooting for former Cardinals, Harrison Bader and Jose Quintana. The Mets may still be paying Max Scherzer to pitch elsewhere, but they could win a World Series without him.
The Blues have made a habit of starting off games by hitting the snooze button. In their first three games of the 2024-25 season, every report I’ve read and game footage I’ve corralled shows me a team that will take some time to come together. Think about the new roster additions and the amount of regulars who are gone, and it’s an adjustment. I didn’t know who Philip Broberg and Mathieu Joseph were before the first puck drop, but I’ll know them better soon enough.
After fighting back to win the first two games, game #3 was a challenge. Due to the inevitable, hard to quantify aspects of hockey-the wicked bounces, trickery of the ice, and other variables-you’re going to lose half of those close contests by Murphy’s Law alone. All one can do is hope the lines gel, and the roster buys into their roles. As in, the role that makes the team better, not just one’s stat line.
Drew Bannister looks like Professor X mixed with Lex Luthor, and the Blues could have so much fun with that. The NHL in general needs to get creative about how they market the sport to the masses. You hear little to nothing around the outside walls of the game. Little about Connor Bedard, Connor McDavid, or any Connor for that matter. Nobody talks about the sport, so get wacky and win them back. Adding an old wooden ship to the mindset of the NHL may help.
That’s not my department. What is my department? MOVIES. I love them more than baseball, hockey, and every other cool thing to watch put together. I love them bald, fat, and driving a bus. Any form or process, I will devour. Let’s talk fast and think fast about some trendy movie topics.
First off, Extraction 2 is awesome and deserves another sequel. Unlike Joker: Folie a Deux, this one took a concept and elevated it instead of drowning the poor thing.
*Joker 2 failed because nobody asked for a sequel to that film, even the star and director. However, not making a sequel after grossing a billion dollars would have been futile, but their swing was so pitiful. A $200 million budget got you a hollow stick of entertainment. After such a different blend of Joker tale in 2019, made with an unbeatable Joaquin Phoenix, they pumped this crud out of the chamber. I’m sorry, Todd Phillips, but not wanting a test screening was THE warning sign that something shitty was coming down the pike. Next time, just say no and make Old School 2 instead.
*Movie theaters can survive, but they must lower their concession prices. Ticket prices can hover around $10 apiece, but having to pour $30-40 into snacks with 2-3 people in tow gets unaffordable. Lower one or both, and you will see people come back to the movies. The quality hasn’t dropped as much as some would tell you, but the cost to attend has soared too high.
*Back to Extraction 2, which remains an action masterpiece. Shooting to thrill and featuring one absolutely thrilling “oner,” aka an uncut shot that tracks a large amount of screen time, the Chris Hemsworth-led banger doesn’t let up for two hours and improves on an already highly entertaining original. There’s even some Idris Elba in the equation. Give me more. Spending $200 on this would be much more worthwhile than dropping that much on a lunatic standing trial.
There’s too many options. Netflix pools around 100-200 new titles per month it seems like, and little of it seems worth chasing. I find myself continuing to feel the urge to click on A Midnight Run instead. Last night, Avengers: Endgame and The Terminal were selected. They couldn’t be more different, but yet the appeal sits fairly close. There’s a comfort there that isn’t in half of these newer movies.
Every year I participate in a vote on movie awards, I become more unenthused with the practice. Everything that hits people later in their 40s is coming to me earlier, and I don’t mind it.
Cutting the emotions in sports. Seeing less movies. Watching the classics. Slowly but surely, I plan on doing everything I want to do and much less of the things I used to pay time to daily. Work is work, and will always carry a knife to one’s side due to the uncontrollable clashing of multiple personalities and people inside a single space and the unpredictable nature of the next day’s work.
But you can control what hits you outside the walls of a work shift. A routine helps. What some confuse with becoming robotic is actually a wise way to slice up your time on this rock. Along with maintaining discipline and incorporating spur-of-the-moment decisions, sticking to a solid routine keeps you healthy, alert, and ready for all of life’s bullshit.
A job is just a job. Your life is everything on the table. It’s there that you’re the master of the domain. Use the time wisely. None of us are making it out of here alive.