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BIRDS OF PREY – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

MaryAnn Johanson 0 Comments ,
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Behold ladyrage given full candy-colored, sparkle-sprinkled voice. With a side of hangover-killing egg-bacon-and-cheese sandwich. Mmmm, so good and greasy and glittery is Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. So delicious. (But yeah, no: that title is as unwieldy as stiletto heels, and must die.)

I mean, for real, as bone-deep satisfying as it is to see a wronged woman blow up some urban infrastructure as a response to being dumped by the official Worst Boyfriend Ever (that would be The Joker, Batman’s nemesis, for the comic-book uninitiated) and to fuck up some random asshole dudes in bone-crunching ways for misunderestimating her, it is equally gratifying to behold a woman onscreen reveling in the glory that is junk food. Okay, sure, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn may be unreasonably slender, given her diet of fried sandwiches and sugary breakfast cereals and alcohol and spray-can cheese, and will hence never be subjected to shaming for her poor food choices like we mere-mortal, realistically chubby junk-food-gobbling women frequently are. But this is a fantasy, is it not? Continue reading…

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MaryAnn Johanson

MaryAnn Johanson is a freelance writer on film, TV, DVD, and pop culture from New York City and now based in London. She is the webmaster and sole critic at FlickFilosopher.com, which debuted in 1997 and is now one of the most popular, most respected, and longest-running movie-related sites on the Internet. Her film reviews also appear in a variety of alternative-weekly newspapers across the U.S. Johanson is one of only a few film critics who is a member of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (the Webby organization), an invitation-only, 500-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities. She is also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. She has appeared as a cultural commentator on BBC Radio, LBC-London, and on local radio programs across North America, and she served as a judge at the first Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Festival at the 2003 I-Con, the largest SF convention on the East Coast. She is the author of The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride, and is an award-winning screenwriter. Read Johanson's recent articles below. For her AWFJ.org archive, type "MaryAnn Johanson" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).