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One of the greats in “CBM” movies. I wouldn’t call this a true comic book movie I would call this an artistic rendition of a character study. The sublime genius of work done by Phoenix playing joker , he melded into the role like no other. This was the performance of the year. His transition from a disturbed abused individual to a person with a confident stride was one to behold. The story was very simple and it had to be because it did not need to be complicated. It was simply the downfall of a man who became the joker nothing else . For the villain who had no backstory this was all that was needed. The Movie didn’t need anything to say except it being the descent of a broken man and an ascent of a mad man . Beautiful imagery, haunting score. This could have been done by any director because each frame had Phoenix, each amazing moment had Phoenix and thus by extension the movie is an amazing masterclass by Phoenix 

 

10/10

A

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Todd Phillip’s take on one of the most iconic villains in the comic book canon is a bold film that mostly lives up to the heights of its ambitions. With Joker, Phillips swings for the fences and delivers a final product that – while messy – works as an intensely compelling character study that dives headlong into its protagonist’s twisted headspace in an uncompromising fashion. As one could surmise from the trailers and promotional material, Joker has much less in common with any previous cinematic incarnation of the titular villain than it does with Taxi Driver and the rest of Martin Scorsese’s rough-hewn filmography from the ‘70s and ‘80s, and Phillips’s directorial decisions in this film serve as a stellar homage to Scorsese’s style. This film is *dark*, and not just relative to other comic book films; it pulls no punches in developing its early-1980s Gotham City as a hellhole in which the wealthy prosper at the expense of beleaguered lower classes nor its depiction of Joker’s disdain for those who belittle him as a sign of extreme darkness. Some viewers will not appreciate how comfortable Phillips is in dwelling in the darkness of the world he develops in this film and the violence that defines it, but I admire the film’s satirical aims and feel that it’s mostly successful in exploring how the upper classes’ disregard for the lower classes clears a path for someone as unhinged and horrifically violent as Joker to gain a foothold in the popular consciousness. In the title role, Joaquin Phoenix gives his strongest performance since his work in The Master. Much like his work in that Paul Thomas Anderson film, Phoenix’s performance here is remarkably committed and scarily authentic. Phoenix commits to the role completely and makes the already infamous villain all the more terrifying by honing in on his humanity; he portrays Arthur Fleck as such a broken, put-upon individual that one gets the sense that he could be any disgruntled man who feels that he has gotten a raw deal from those around him and can only strike back with unthinkable violence. While Phoenix’s performance does not match up with Heath Ledger’s definitive take on the character in The Dark Knight, it’s still remarkable work. As a whole, Joker is unconventional enough that it will divide film buffs and casual viewers alike (especially if the latter are expecting something in the MCU mold), but it’s such a brazen and compelling piece of pitch-dark satire that I couldn’t help but get caught up in it.

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- As much as I appreciated this film (and even bearing in mind that I will probably go back and see it a second time), I will not be the slightest bit surprised if it has no staying power whatsoever at the box office. Perhaps I'm underestimating viewers' tolerance for such an unconventional film, but I get the sense that most casual viewers are going to be taken aback to see a character study that has much more in common with Martin Scorsese than it does with Batman. We'll see, I guess. For whatever anecdotal evidence is worth, there was some light applause at the end of my screening.

 

- I dug the inclusion of Modern Times in the film. I'm not sure how much of the audience will get the connection, but I found it clever.

 

- While I was initially surprised to see a comedy director like Todd Phillips direct such a dark movie, I realized that it made plenty of sense after I remembered his work on The Hangover: Part III. I *hated* that film, but it was stylishly directed and seemed like as clear a sign as any that Phillips wanted to direct something bigger, darker, and edgier than another Hangover sequel. I guess this is that "something." It's not my favorite film of his (that's still the first Hangover), but it is the best directed.

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This movie remind me of Moonlight.

A systematic abuse and isolation give birth a stereotypical muscular black.

 

But in Joker, A psychopath is born. 

It worked great as a psychopathic character study drama but was meh to provide any social commentary.

 

Joker never actually hated rich or power elite or even care about the class struggle. He shot that 3 guys not because they are rich, simply because they were bully him.  

He hates to be ignored and dispowered. However, it is the riot crowd that against the rich class that empower him. He feel that he earned their respect there. He finally need no to taste the sense of belonging through imagination. 

 

Instead of saying joker led the uprising, it is more appropriate to say joker fell into uprising.

 

The last film I gave full mark was Lady bird in 2017, I will give Joker the same .10/10. The acting and cinematography are the top performer while score served the atmosphere well. 

 

   

 

   

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Too derivative of Scorsese's works to ever rise above being "good", but everything outside of the script is pretty incredible. Joaquin gives a performance up there with Freddie Quell and Theodore Twombly, and the cinematography and production design give the world this real nice texture, one that feels so tangible as though you could reach out and touch it. The score's great too, something that (along with the cinematography) is something that most of these funnybook movies really lack in. Just wish the script was a little tighter and had something more to say.

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Phoenix’s performance carries this movie on its back.  I also enjoyed the score (and for the most part the cinematography too).

 

It’s certainly unique for a funny book movie, but it thinks it has a lot more to say than it really does.  It’s a bleak movie that doesn’t give you much reason in payoff or intellectual nuance to make the bleakness worth sitting through.

 

I still think it’s well-made overall, and Phoenix really makes you buy the transformation despite the poor material he had to work with.  As a character piece for Phoenix it’s phenomenal, as a character study using Joker as the vehicle it’s an average knock-off of Scorsese.

 

I guess that leaves me around a B-

 

Lots of strong components that don’t necessarily add up to a movie that’s as good as it thinks it is.

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A+++++

 

My movie of the decade. Just about as good a social commentary as can be expected from a Hollywood movie. For me it worked on every single level. Magnificent!

 

All I kept remembering throughout the movie was a quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau-When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.

 

How easy it is in modern society to sit surrounded by comfort, blissfully unaware (or purposefully ignorant) that we sit on a powder keg and at any time the match could be lit and the whole system could come crumbling down. Watching the Joker was great but watching Gotham crumble was better still.

Edited by glassfairy
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I wondered if this film could live up to the hype. Oscars anyone? better than Jack Heath Jared? Now going for a statue their are actually possibilities here. I won't say he did better than the others Only because this film has him the lead and the other films merely a side character. But Joquaine did a mesmerizing job. 

 

The story is dark, and it need to be to truly set up a tragic character like Joker. He got noticed as the city falls apart, and he is the host of his own show. and he painted his shoes with the blood of a non-listener, who apparently didn't remember they were connected once. 

 

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A great film. Not perfect--some scenes are drawn out; I think the ending is drawn out--but I'd give it a 10/10 anyway based on how it stacks up against other films in the current theatrical blockbuster climate. Joaquin Phoenix is disgusting, in a good way. I was sinking back into my chair, discomforted, as I watched his performance. This film is going to be a classic that people continue discussing in 10+ years.

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So after all the hysteria and controversy it turns out that this is actually...good, but not great. I ended up finding myself rather frustrated with this movie in the end simply because for the first half this was so good and then it started to sputter a bit for me. It does feel like Todd Phillips bit off more than he can chew, as in addition to giving us an exploration of The Joker's origins he also tries to tackle some social commentary (mental illness, wealth inequality) that ends up coming across as empty and without a whole lot new to say. Also felt like some the writing choices felt a little too convenient, especially in the second half. Phillips is obviously attempting to channel Scorsese here (much more so than he was in his previous movie, 2016's War Dogs), and even gets Scorsese favorite Robert De Niro along for the ride in a supporting role, but he doesn't quite have Scorsese's level of craft when it comes to telling stories such as this. I don't want to sound down on the movie too much, for I did like it. This is definitely a well-crafted movie that pulls no punches in its nihilism, one in which every frame feels like it was designed to make the audience feel uneasy. The world of 1981 Gotham City as depicted here certainly doesn't look like a place anyone would want to visit. But making up for most of the movie's flaws more than anything else is Joaquin Phoenix. Losing a terrifying amount of weight, Phoenix loses himself in the part, crafting Arthur into a fascinating and disconcerting anti-hero. Matching up to Heath Ledger's iconic performance is the tallest of tall orders, but he's up to the challenge, giving us a Joker that stands out from Ledger's (as well as Jack Nicholson, Jared Leto, etc.). Other notable actors (the aforementioned De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy) have little to do, which is fine because Phoenix is the real star of this show. It's well worth seeing (especially for those craving to see what a comic book movie completely devoid of spectacle would look like) and does more right than wrong. It's just too bad that it falls short of the greatness it could've achieved. B

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I have alot of thoughts, some good and some bad, but the most clear one to me is that this movie would have been alot better if it ended like one minute earlier with him on the cop car. What was that dumbass shit at the end?

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10 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

I have alot of thoughts, some good and some bad, but the most clear one to me is that this movie would have been alot better if it ended like one minute earlier with him on the cop car. What was that dumbass shit at the end?

Pretty sure that was another one of Arthur's delusions. They probably wanted to end the movie on a note that would ensure audiences there will never be a sequel to this.

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Definitely a well made movie, Joaquin is great and De Niro is detestable. Its got a great look too, there's some fantastic set design and camera work going on. 

But it's just something I couldn't really get in to. Arthur is a hard character to really relate to, maybe that's the point, but it didn't click for me. 

Plus the choice of a Gary Glitter song? 🤮

 

It's a C for me. There's enough great stuff on a technical level to admire, even though I didn't really find myself enjoying it outside of a few scenes. 

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A lot better than I was expecting it to be but there's a lot of stuff I'm still mixed on. Phoenix's performance and the musical score by Hildur Guðnadóttir are easily the highlights of the film for me. The film does a nice job at showing Phoenix's transformation in the titular character and throughout the runtime, there's a considerable amount of dread that builds up and up until it finally explodes towards the end. It's a neat deviation from other comic book movies which was probably the main thing I appreciated about it. Definitely stands out in the crowd.

 

But between feeling like a Diet Scorsese film (yeah the Taxi Driver and King of Comedy comparisons are fairly apt, the latter of which I actually watched a few days ago) and all the media discourse surrounding it, a part of it felt very underwhelming for me. There's a lot of stuff that could've been cut out of the film and nothing would've been lost (the whole girlfriend subplot didn't add much to the film and the twist that's revealed later on I saw coming from a mile away). Other than Arthur, all of the other characters were one note and really not worth mentioning. I think the film would've worked much better if it was possibly 15-20 minutes shorter; Cutting out some of the more derivative aspects of the film would have made for a much tighter, compact story. 

 

6/10

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I'm not quite sure what to think but I think I liked it? If you can "like" this type of movie. I know I would have been absolutely obsessed with it when I was an angsty 14-years-old. Phoenix was phenomenal and should get an oscar nomination, it was visually stunning and the score is instantly one of my favorites in recent years. I didn't personally feel that it was misogynist or validated alt-right/incels whatever but I can understand the concerns that it demonizes mental illness. Surprisingly I found Arthur sympathetic throughout the entire movie, even in the end. I thought that even though the setting and events are obviously unrealistic it was still rather realistic depiction of alienation and social exclusion and Arthur resembles many troubled people I have known and worked with. Surprisingly my mom who isn't into comic books movies and usually hates anything violent liked it more than me (even though she said it was the bleakest movie she's ever seen) and the audience was very quiet and invested. I think this is going to have a great wom here and elsewhere in Europe because we love both angsty violent movies and anything Batman related.

 

I think the main reason why I didn't fully love Joker that it feels confused and unfocused, like the creators couldn't decide what they want to say, or do they even want to say anything. Like in some ways it really does come across as vindictive power fantasy for bitter people and you feel almost satisfied towards the end. On the other hand it feels like a preachy cautionary tale. Arthur himself says something along the lines of that he isn't political, he "believes in nothing". Still the filmmakers seem to be trying to say something about politics, inequality, mental illness, our culture... except they really don't. Ultimately the whole movie feels somewhat shallow and empty because of it. This is a movie about nothing. Because it can't decide whether to be entirely nihilistic or not it doesn't entirely work, at least not for me. But still I was thoroughly entertained and even a little bit moved so I guess it works well enough. Maybe it's fitting that Joker movie is just like the character: entertaining, confused and chaotic, nasty but weirdly likeable, ambiguous and coming with multiple choice.

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