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

Yeah but it’s in a tradition of highly idiosyncratic New Yorker film critics.

The worst part of the movie is you can tell Phillips thinks he's saying something. But he uses the Reagan-mentally ill trope as a cheap device - as a result of going off of his meds and losing his therapy, he becomes a cause celebre in Gotham, gets an infamous TV appearance, becomes the unwitting face of movement.

He's not like other real life victims who wound up homeless and abused, he just gets to be a reckless criminal, only not apprehended due to the Keystone Kops of Gotham

Even though he kills kids on the subway while wearing clown makeup hours after being fired for bringing his gun to his clown gig.

The detectives have motive, placement at the scene, circumstantial evidence, yet just let the dude go about his business, politely letting him blow them off, not making an arrest or even holding for 48

It should not in any way be controversial to say that Black Panther is a bolder political work than Joker. As is Aquaman, for what it's worth. Not much, really, in the case of Aquaman...

why do you post so much about aquaman

Wants2smash

https://i.redd.it/f9j41lvcqmq31.png

why do you post so much about aquaman

I watched it a couple of days ago. It's a work that really sticks with you.

for a couple of days

Eh. The scene where a merman dives head first into a toilet will haunt my dreams for a long time.

thats trainspotting iirc

It's kinda Gravity's Rainbow, but the thing is that this guy has gills, so he is breathing piss.

the worst TOILET in Gotham

Wants2splash

the worst TOILET in Gotham

― just another country (snoball), Saturday, October 5, 2019 7:27 AM bookmarkflaglink

And we're back to Sweeney Todd

the weirdest stat about JOKER opening to a $90m+ weekend is that it’s broken Robert De Niro’s long-standing opening weekend record, held by SHARK TALE ($47m)

— David Sims (@davidlsims) October 5, 2019

saw this earlier, it was... okay, obvs its politics are all over the place but it looks pretty good and Phoenix is excellent. The "is it all in his head" stuff is kind of infuriating. It woefullly fails the Bechdel Test, of course.

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

Also Alfred Pennyworth is a dick in this

Wayne Manor has very bad security as well

yeah far too much "DO YOU SEE???", which is totally unnecessary and serves to undermine Phoenix's performance.

it had the positive effect of making me want to watch The King of Comedy again, so we'll be doing that this weekend

I cannot imagine wanting to see this shit a second time. It's Polanski's "Repulsion" levels of ugly and the last five minutes were overload for me.

But i didn't dislike it? Just didn't go in expecting any real philosophy which helped

must remember to set my concerns over bechdel criteria aside also before prepping for evaluation of this piece

Yeah, the 'it was in his head!' reveal was hilarious in how unnecessary but then after that we're never told what he does to Sophie, which is infuriating.

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

it had the positive effect of making me want to watch The King of Comedy again, so we'll be doing that this weekend

must remember to set my concerns over bechdel criteria aside also before prepping for evaluation of this piece

― too many cuckth thpoil the broth (darraghmac), Saturday, October 5, 2019 8:57 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

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

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!