I dare you to anticipate Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips's JOKER (now with something that may or may not be a SPOILER)

WHAT is that fuckin mournful cello motif? It’s becoming the new Lux Aeterna

The first instance of "is it in his head" is completely obvious immediately but that doesn't stop Phillips from his cloying reveal scene that explains it like you're an idiot.

He must have been a real joy on April Fool's Day growing up

kind of weird that he’s this pay by the hour clown working for a clown agency but he has all these fluid body movements and dance moves that imply he’s maybe trained? like he went to the same French clown school as Baskets and it’s an essential piece of character background they just left out

will you actually watch the film or do you prefer just to comment on the reactions of those that have

― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Saturday, 5 October 2019 21:51 (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

a fair question!

still only a v few reviews/indications as to whether its worth catching and ive been away tbfttc

xp comment on overeducation and the thwarted expectations of graduated in the gig economy obv

I didn't quite make it through the first hour before I turned to my date and asked "Are you enjoying this?" — she wasn't, and neither was I (though I did get some good are-you-kidding-me laughs just now, reading a Wikipedia summary of the remainder of the plot). The strongest memory I retain of this unpleasant and idea-starved film will be the feeling of nausea I experienced when a couple sat down beside me accompanied by a quiet girl who couldn't have been more than 10 years old.

Oh jeez.

Also it's not every piece of Joker media where Joker whines about nobody being civil unironically before plugging someone

Dropping the gun in the children’s hospital was hilarious tho

Otm

Yes that was the one perfect scene, I was like "He really *is* an excellent dancer!"

Michael Moore raves.

What was the vibe like in theaters everyone went to? I gotta say I was more taken by the audience than the movie.... NO ONE was laughing, even at the obvious jokes, there was this really tense and funereal and deathly serious atmosphere.... I was just like fuck am I watching Joker in a theater full of aspiring Jokers? I didn't dare stick around to get a demographic read.

Amazing to me that y’all dont have anything better to do than prop up this schmuck’s career

It was a Filipino theatre at 11:30 am with two other people. They were quiet throughout.

Joaquin's GOAT performance outweighs Philips' thoroughly dull and facile social critique.

This nails it tho:

you've seen great films by fantastic directors be reduced to college dorm room poster movies. A Clockwork Orange. Scarface. Pulp Fiction. Fight Club. what Joker presupposes is what happens when you set out to make a college dorm room poster movie on purpose.

— Carol Grant (@carolaverygrant) October 5, 2019

Hah exactly. It was like Phillips showed his first test screening to a robot with a Grit sensor

lol @ michael fucking moore

Yes, there’s a disturbed clown in that mirror, but he’s not alone — we’re standing right there beside him.

the whole 'what about the children' vibe with this film is super weird to me. like, if you don't want to see the movie, don't see it! Who's forcing everyone to take part in this BAD CULTURAL TOUCHSTONE that we've all agreed is bad... but if I don't see it, how will i know how bad it REALLY is?!?!?!?
I'm an immense culture vulture but i've determined this is gonna suck so I'll stay home and finish Unbelievable instead so my review is "maybe watch Unbelievable on Netflix instead'.

for fuck's sake, i had a killing joke t-shirt in like eighth grade, nothing about this is new or noteworthy except for the press

Otm, it is very easy to ignore a cultural product like a film.

We're not standing besides the Joker, the Reagan administration is.

And Phillips is pointing at them going BAD! BAD! BAD!

Phoenix is a great actor but what really makes this a waste is that Fleck is just not very compelling as a character. Being “crazy” isn’t interesting by itself.

And since we have to spend the entire movie with him, it kind of makes for a

Joker is obviously indebted to King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, but those movies have scenes give you a glimpse outside their protagonists’ heads once in a while. Everything here is filtered through Fleck’s POV,

Occasionally there are glimmers of a better movie.

Good god I wrote a whole thing and had to log in and then I posted it but it was the older draft. >:(

Being “crazy” isn’t interesting by itself.

It really is uncomfortably watching one man lose his mind, truth

Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here is a brilliant movie starring JP as a traumatized vet turned mercenary that superficially has a lot in common with Joker (entirely from JP's perspective/mind, NYC underbelly, 'we live in a society') but it's a stunning and taut masterwork and Joker really is the work of an amateur in comparison. check that movie out!

I watched The Wind this weekend. If you want to see a genuinely compelling movie about someone descending into madness, entirely from that person's POV, watch that instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVZBNT0Ap-A

You Were Never Really Here was dope. Also very prescient about the Epstein/sex trafficking stuff

you've seen great films by fantastic directors be reduced to college dorm room poster movies. A Clockwork Orange. Scarface. Pulp Fiction. Fight Club. what Joker presupposes is what happens when you set out to make a college dorm room poster movie on purpose.
— Carol Grant (@carolaverygrant) October 5, 2019

OTFM

This movie felt like being in a room for two hours with one of the Heath Ledger Joker’s henchmen/followers from The Dark Knight. And that movie arguably had more humor in it than this.

I did like seeing Batman’s dad portrayed as a (possibly?) gaslighting, quasi-Trumpian rich asshole. That was an interesting angle that I would have liked to see explored more.

It was also kinda hilarious that this has yet another staging of Bruce Wayne’s primal scene. How many cinematic versions of this scene do we have by now? Poor little bastard, can’t get a break in any of these fictional universes.

What was the vibe like in theaters everyone went to?

ILX: This Looks Awful And We're All Going the First Night

TBH I wish it had been more awful rather than the utter mediocrity it was

Some of us are in a foreign country where we work during the evening and sleep during the day and sneaking in a movie is like the only recreation we've had in the entire last month xpost

I did like seeing Batman’s dad portrayed as a (possibly?) gaslighting, quasi-Trumpian rich asshole. That was an interesting angle that I would have liked to see explored more.

It was also kinda hilarious that this has yet another staging of Bruce Wayne’s primal scene. How many cinematic versions of this scene do we have by now? Poor little bastard, can’t get a break in any of these fictional universes.

Batman has apprehended Rick Scott

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ent-joker-screenings-security-20191005-qnbxvljo4ja4tbywihfxnftbu4-story.html

I kinda like the idea of some alternate Bruce Wayne transition into Batman. What if his parents died because of a bad healthcare system? Then he vows revenge on the American healthcare industry.

― i'm not a government man; i'm a government, man. (m bison), Sunday, October 6, 2019 3:00 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ohh I like this. Is he still rich in this scenario? Or is he like a working-class healthcare vigilante? That would be cool

I had a reasonably good time seeing this. It's remarkable that Todd Phillips supposedly told Joaquin Phoenix that this was "a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film," because to me, the fact that it was a comic book movie is what saved it. I kept thinking about how this story and visual aesthetic probably would have worked better as a graphic novel in the vein of the obvious touchstones, The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke. Some of the clunkier aspects of it would have been more forgiveable in that context, or absent altogether (e.g. the score).

Speaking of clunky aspects: there were so many things in this that were dumber than they needed to be. Arthur's social worker saying he's on "seven different medications" (so you know he's REALLY crazy). The way it hammered the point about Arthur imagining the relationship with his neighbor, as if the dialog wasn't enough. The setup to Arthur's last joke being "what do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?", which almost seemed like fan service for people who post ironic "we live in a society" memes. I know it's silly to ask for the Joker movie to be subtler, but I really think it could have been substantially better with a few tweaks here and there.

If they make a sequel, I'll probably see it. I can imagine something with a young James Gordon as Joker's foil.

Supposedly it’s intended to be a complete standalone, although with this new Batman movie on the way I’m wouldn’t be surprised if they tie it in to that somehow

If they make a sequel, I'll probably see it. I can imagine something with a young James Gordon as Joker's foil.

― JRN, Sunday, October 6, 2019 3:47 AM (nineteen minutes ago)

I just can’t see this version of Joker becoming a
genuine supervillain, which would require some basic level of organizational skill and ability to compel and command others to do crimes with/for him. This guy can barely function!

Remember when 1989 Joker just magically had a bunch of henchmen in matching outfits and gadgets and no one cared because it was a Batman movie?

Worse than bad, this movie is baggy and boring and its problems are not interesting. Joaquin’s performance is incredible as expected but fuck me running this movie could’ve been so much better OR a disaster, which at least would’ve been entertaining. Dropping the gun in the children’s hospital was hilarious tho

― flappy bird, Saturday, October 5, 2019 2:19 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

v otm

That’s the problem with grounding these characters in too much realism. Sooner or later the mind starts wondering about logistics or how Batman takes a leak in his suit or whatever

Self X-post

Dropping the gun in the children’s hospital was hilarious tho

― flappy bird, Saturday, October 5, 2019 2:19 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol I almost forgot about that. The movie could have used more of that absurdity. The only other scene I can think of that comes close is when he kills the gun guy in his apartment. It has something approaching the mix of tension, shock and humor that would have made the movie a million times better.

30 million Americans who don’t have health insurance is an act of violence.

Michael Moore OTM

Was wondering how the lose character I was hearing about could get anything together to do anything crime wise so interesting to see it's a.more widespread thought.
I think the traditional Joker had a history in crime before the disfiguring accident so he at least had some grounding. But on closer inspection not sure there would be much more depth to that than a set of gangster clichés being played with and developed on.

Yeah the guy can barely form a sentence at times, he hardly seems like a crime boss.

Then again, a grassroots movement forms around him based on what they thought his motives were, so maybe all he has to do is kill people, and his followers will fill in the blanks.

Anyway, all the "I'm still digesting it" reactions are aggravating. What's to digest. Arthur was abused and beat up and suffered some brain damage as a kid, imagined some Happy Together esque fantasies, killed people, became accidental leader of movement. Literally nothing else there.

Reactions from moviegoers, nobody itt

Cesar Romero ftw

Yeah the guy can barely form a sentence at times, he hardly seems like a crime boss.

― When I am afraid, I put my toast in you (Neanderthal)

god do we really need another donald trump thread here