Movielogr

Rating: 7 stars

Tags

dolby cinema experience AMC muvico amc a-list dc comics subway clown new york city bullying murder talk show protests riot mother detective therapy delusional mental illness hospital 1980s

All movies seen on 10/10/2019

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Joker (2019)

Directed by Todd Phillips

Crime | Drama

Most recently watched by Kyrandia, CaptainBigTime, lordofthemovies, sensoria

Overview

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Rated R | Length 122 minutes

Actors

Joaquin Phoenix | Robert De Niro | Zazie Beetz | Frances Conroy | Brett Cullen | Shea Whigham | Bill Camp | Glenn Fleshler | Leigh Gill | Josh Pais | Rocco Luna | Marc Maron | Sondra James | Murphy Guyer | Douglas Hodge | Dante Pereira-Olson | Carrie Louise Putrello | Sharon Washington | Hannah Gross | Frank Wood | Brian Tyree Henry | April Grace | Mick Szal | Carl Lundstedt | Michael Benz | Ben Warheit | Gary Gulman | Sam Morril | Chris Redd | Mandela Bellamy | Demetrius Dotson II | Greer Barnes | Ray Iannicelli | Bryan Callen | Peter Benson | Vito Gerbino | Adam Quezada | Xavyer Ureña | Evan Rosado | Damian Emmanuel | Mike Troll | Jane Fergus | David Gibson | Tony D. Head | Jeff McCarthy | Kim Brockington | Troy Roberts | Lou Young | Michael-Scott Druckenmiller | Craig Austin | John Cenatiempo | Danny Schoch | Keith Buterbaugh | James Ciccone | Rich Campbell | Roger Squitero | Steven Elson | Graham Mabry | John Alldred | Alonzo Wright | Jack Wilkins | Richard Baratta | Mary Kate Malat | Adrienne Lovette | Justin Theroux | Alissa Bourne | Jamaal Burcher | John Cashin | Jason John Cicalese | Brendan Patrick Connor | Blaise Corrigan | Dennis Jay Funny | James P. Harkins | Joseph Hernandez | Ben Heyman | Graham Maby | Jesse Schratz | Isabella Ferreira | Shade Rupe

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Finally before it leaves Dolby for Gemini Man. Picked the right seat b/c it sounded and looked great, using most of the screen sorta like LieMAX. Perhaps the biggest aspect I’ve seen in the Muvico Dolby Cinema (compared to say ENDGAME which was obviously clipped from its IMAX aspect ratio).

I like a lot of things in the movie; some things I really like (Joaquin, the look and feel of the period/NYC, the photography) but overall as much as I grinned and/or laughed at certain moments, the movie as a whole didn’t grab me. It’s as tho every story beat was predictable and expected; there are no surprises. It plays out exactly as I thought even with limited exposure to the trailers and online chatter.

I was hoping that with a character as wild and weird and unpredictable as The Joker, we’d get some WTF moments. And really the only WTF moment happens during his talk show appearance but is quickly drowned out by more of the same.

Overall an odd viewing that despite enjoying the ride I left it mostly indifferent by the end. I did feel at some point in the first third that this was an Elseworlds kind of story, a what-if things went down this way instead of canon. That I appreciated yet possibly prevented me from liking the film anymore than “oh this is a what-if story that is outside of everything we know to be true.”

For example, as soon as Arthur starts to turn dark early on I’m already in the headspace of “how the hell does this guy outsmart Batman on the regular?” Like where are the signs that this person possesses any of the intellect to outwit the Batman. It’s not there. This wouldn’t have been a big deal to me had they not thrown in the Wayne family and child Bruce into this. Because as soon as that happened I was like this Joker is zero threat by himself. Sure, the mob mentality is a thing and he could have a helluva criminal gang but still that ain’t nothing against the Bat. There were just no signals that led me to believe *this* guy could take down Gotham.

Now I’ve seen some headlines that indicate that this was never meant to be the real Joker. Haven’t read them yet but I think that’s a copout. Right now I’d like to consume more critique about the film.

Also curious as to what critics think it the worse needle drop in the movie is. I’m guessing it’s the Hey Song by Gary Glitter. Just weird choice (not bc of Glitter’s offenses) bc of how that tune has been used already.

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