Joker [2019]
[★★★★★★★★☆☆] 8.4
Of course you should be skeptical about going to see yet another comic
book inspired movie.
Imagine
sharing with legendary Hollywood directors John Ford, William Wyler,
John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens* that in a few decades
Hollywood would be dominated by films based on comic books. Comical
right? figuratively and literally.
Joaquin Phoenix’s portrait of Arthur Fleck in
Joker delivers the
goods. The bar was set high by Heath Ledger, and Christopher Nolan with
The
Dark Knight. Todd Phillips, who directed
Old School and
The
Hangover, has created a film on par with
The Dark Knight,
arguably the best film of the comic book genre, and there are many to
choose from. If you are familiar with Todd Phillips films, sophomoric
comedies staring former
SNL characters like, Will Ferrell and Rob
Riggle, it might come as a surprise he would deliver such a dark, complex,
challenging film.
Joker owes so much of its success to Joaquin Phoenix. This was a
very clever casting choice. The films direction and content seemed to be
shaped around Joaquin…that is to say… was the film created around its
central character? In the film, Arthur Fleck is invited to appear on a
late night talk show, (hosted by Robert De Niro) this event is mirrored in
real life by Joaquin infamous appearance on David Letterman's
Late
Night. And the Joker, a misunderstood character, trouble by drug
abuse and metal health issues are paralleled in Joaquin Phoenix 2012 film
I'm Still Here about himself, which was said to be a big joke, but
may have been as much self portrait.
The response to the film is very interesting. Metacritic.com users, over
five thousand of them give Joker a 9.2 score out of ten. Favorable to say
the least. By contrast critics give the film a 59/100. Visitor to iMDb
give the film a whopping 8.7. Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 88% and a
critic score 69%. I have to wonder what the critics know what the audience
didn’t.
*Check out “Five Came Back an American documentary based on
the 2014 book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second
World War by journalist Mark Harris. It was released as a
stand-alone documentary in New York and Los Angeles, and as a three-part
series on Netflix, on March 31, 2017” Wiki
I’m Still Here [2010]
[★★★★★★★☆☆☆] 7.3
Directed by Casey Affleck, and staring Joaquin Phoenix, this low budget
film follows Joaquin Phoenix, mostly with a handheld camera, over a
period of many months as Joaquin is pursuing a new career choice as a
rap artist and desires to drop a new album in collaboration with Kanye
West.
Much of the film comes across as lunacy or absurdity, as our central
character does not appear to posses any musical talent, and spends most
of his time in the pursuit of finding and doing drugs. He occasionally
interacts with fellow celebrity, some of whom appear to be in on the
joke others out of the loop.
The film is said to be a big joke played on the audience, however it in
part appears to be a joke played on Joaquin Phoenix. Casey Affleck, who
never appears in the film, seems to benefit by just having a camera
rolling at all times documenting the crazy that is Joaquin.
The Master [2012]
[★★★★★★★★✫☆] 8.5
Another great film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, [Boogie Nights,
Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love] and staring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip
Seymour Hoffman, this film is terrific! [cooming soon]
Brick [2005]
[★★★★★★★★☆☆] 7.8
Directed by Rian Johnson [Knives Out, Looper, Star Wars: Episode
VIII The Last Jedi] and staring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This
modern film noir is chock full of style and story. High-schoolers
mixed up in drugs, crime, gangs and violence...
John
Hughes meets John Huston. Sixteen Candles meets The
Maltese
Falcon. If you’re a fan of the noir genre, you will probably
enjoy this tip of the hat to those classic films of the
nineteen-forties.
In
one scene the central character is being chased through a school
yard, running at top speeds, over concrete. The chase ultimately
comes to an abrupt end, with an equally abrupt bit of audio, which
thoroughly ends the chase. The simplicity of this scene and all that
it accomplishes with nothing more than two characters running,
accompanied by a little bit of audio is very satisfying. No special
effects. No computer graphics. Just some film, some sound, some
clever editing and voilà, movie magic.
The
heavily stylized dialogue, at first gets in the way of the films
great
writing. At least for me it did, kinda like a thick accent adorned by a favorite
actor/actress might cause one to cringe. Someone thought
historical, geographical, cultural accuracy was more important than the suspension of disbelief The
dialogue might (or it might not) get your way, but after some
time,
and some suspension of disbelief, you will be rewarded.
“A teenage loner
pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring
to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.” iMDb
Movie Title
wigglyjade@aol.com
The New York Times
Internet Movie DataBase
Metacritic.com
Rotten Tomatoes
*Your Letsencrypt certificate should automatically renew before
January, 2020
