Joaquin Phoenix and the film ‘Joker’

The film Joker (2019) works. Joaquin Phoenix starring in a gritty, physically demanding, emotional gut punch of a role as Arthur Fleck demands your attention. While given credible support in roles supporting him, make no mistake that Joaquin Phoenix as star of this character study surpasses the critical appreciation granted Christian Bale for Batman Begins (2005). While in the conversation, it is hard for me to say Phoenix’ Joker surpasses that of Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight (2008).

(Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in the film Joker).

While thinking quite highly of the film Joker and the role Joaquin Phoenix played, this commentary is largely intended to keep the story of the experience to myself. Robert De Niro starring in a role reminiscent of Johnny Carson‘s The Tonight Show brings credibility to a sense of time and place in setting to a time of the maybe the 1970’s with the fictional city of Gotham standing in for New York City.

(Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin in the film Joker).

Arthur Fleck faced the gritty hardship of experiencing the difficult sides of a life that lacked stability, a future, and other elements that brought the Joker, as a character and villain, into conflict with the character Batman we know through the myth of the comic books, the multiple television series, and the multiple movie franchises. Arthur’s relationship with Penny Fleck, as portrayed by Frances Conroy, is given appropriate treatment in Joker.

(Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck, Arthur’s mother, in the film Joker).

Further, critical roles were given convincing voice in giving the role of Arthur Fleck an escalating series of events, each deepening Fleck into his culmination as sociopath Joker. Bringing Gotham with him in parallel offers a tangible sense of what guides the Batman we see on the reverse side of the coin. Those leveling criticism of this film as juvenile, bleak, clichéd, derivative or not angry enough miss a large point that this was a character study. Part of what made the slow burn of Quention Tarantino‘s film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019) film work made Joker also work.

(Joaquin Phoenix with director and co-screenwriter Todd Phillips from the film Joker).

Todd Phillips directed Joker. Scott Silver joined Phillips with screenwriting credits. My feeling of this movie, following my first viewing on Sunday of opening weekend, is that the film deserves the 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five that I am granting it. The audience score (91% favorable) rather than the score of critics (69% favorable) from Rotten Tomatoes on Sunday evening at roughly 10:30 PM Eastern Time, is more in line with my experience.

Matt – Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie review

Set upon arrival in the 1920’s New York City where witchcraft and sorcery are synonyms for Prohibition and poverty of the age, the hard times of 1920’s New York City are central to place for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that people recognize from the books and movies, are clearly presented and present in this movie.

Almost glancing references are made to Hogwarts and Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts story, which is accurate to the backstory of Dumbledore (supposedly born in 1881). With Fantastic Beasts existing before the more contemporary stories of Harry, Hermione, their parents, or even Tom Riddle, the timeline is satisfying for ringing true. The glancing references to language between the sides of the Atlantic Ocean (the United Kingdom versus the United States) was for my part a cute touch.

Fantastic Beasts is a good family movie, which is the focus of this post. I liked the movie and enjoyed it.

The tone hits you as less intense / dark than the last three Harry Potter movies, which are based on the books Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Scamander does a respectably British in mannerism protagonist through the movie, with mates, foils, and fantastic beasts in Kowalski the baker, Graves, Chastity, Modesty, and Credence Barebone, the Shaw family, and others. The Grindelwald mystery, which scores as a background story for our hero through much of Fantastic Beasts, does reward the clever viewer in search of a mystery.

Finally, remember that while Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is definitely of the Harry Potter universe, my strong recommendation is that this movie works in isolation. That is, the movie is an uplifting standalone experience. I’d be amiss for not mentioning that the movie does earn its PG-13 rating in the United States. Grade = B+.

Matt – Friday, December 30, 2016