10 Weirdly Distracting Moments In Recent Movies
Awful CGI, shoe-horned cameos, and of course, naked zombies.
To suspend your disbelief when watching a film, any film, is utterly essential if you want to enjoy it. A good movie can transport an audience to another world, but those watching know that what is in front of them isn't real, and they have to allow themselves to be swept up in the story.
Some pictures make this easier than others. Even in films where every effort is made to make something as immersive as possible, though, there are small, and sometimes large, details that slip through the cracks and pull the audience right back down to earth.
Recent years have seen absolutely no change in this regard. In spite of the advances in technology and just about every other aspect of the filmmaking process, there are still things brought to the screen that clearly don't belong, whether intentional or not.
CGI that is either sub-par or doesn't match the brilliance of the rest of a film is a common offender, as are ill-advised cameo appearances, jokes that take things a little too far, and general cinematic decisions that will make you question what on earth the filmmakers were thinking.
10. Every Single Song - Joker: Folie à Deux
Particularly following on from the wild and unprecedented success of Joker in 2019, to call the sequel a mess would be an insult to messes. Rarely does a franchise go from groundbreaking to laughing stock quite so quickly.
Joker: Folie à Deux actually had a strong story, revolving around Arthur's (Joaquin Phoenix) internal battles between himself and Joker. It could have made for an interesting premise, but it was buried under an inconsistent tone and director Todd Phillips trying too hard to subvert expectations. Easily the worst part of this was the musical aspect.
The question will always be asked, why did the film have to be a musical? Yes, Lady Gaga as Harley Quinzel got to show off her awesome pipes in what was a surprisingly good casting, but every single song felt out of place.
As soon as there was a moment that could have been rather poignant, deep, or something close to provoking the kind of emotional response the original film got, Arthur and Lee would ruin it by bursting into song. Subverting expectations is one thing, and certainly no one expected the Joker follow-up to revolve around these musical numbers, but there is a damn good reason for that.