Joker (DVD)

So I finally watched this Joker. When I read the reviews, I was aware of the acclaims it received, but I read the negative ones first and they were quite convincing. I’m cynical. My first exposure to the Batman series was with Adam West and Cesar Romero as the Joker, 1960s. Who's Cesar Romero? Back then I was meh to it because it was just another show on TV. Who cares. Fast forward to 1989, I saw Batman with with Keaton and Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the theater. Liked them both. But Nicholson’s performance as the Joker became unforgettable. I’m not a fan of Nicholson, but he sure left an indelible mark in my memory of the Joker that I believe has been incomparable. In 2008, I saw Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight and thought he was good, but not as good as Nicholson. I think Ledger continues to garner praise from certain folks who remember him because he tragically died so young. But some folks today probably don’t even know who Heath Ledger is in our Gotham City-like world. So... no doubt Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in this 2019 Joker was good. I enjoyed the movie and felt it wasn’t boring. I didn’t think Arthur Fleck was on a self-pity trip. The murky swampy darkness served its purpose throughout the film. Gotham City is a dump much like our world. Compared to Nicholson’s Joker, I felt Phoenix’s Joker inspired more compassion though. They both portray madness and evil, but Phoenix’s Joker seemed more realistic and understandable to the times of today. How many people are sad, lonely, and depressed in this stinking world like Arthur Fleck? Exactly. Parody is an understatement. Can’t hate Phoenix’s Joker entirely when he spares Gary’s life after killing Randall, even showing brief warm affection with a kiss on his head saying, “you were the only one who was nice to me”. A touching moment. But until Phoenix’s Joker finally snaps into wickedness by discovering the highs and satisfaction he gets from killing others who mistreat him, i.e. revenge, I kinda felt sorry for the guy. He didn’t know he was adopted. His invalid nonbiological mother lied to him. They were both abused. They’re poor. He’s emaciated. Times are tough. Work sucks. Bullies all around. Even his counselor is useless, and she knows it too. Who wouldn’t feel like Fleck under these conditions? So after a stint as a clown and comedian, Fleck finds a new satisfying and thrilling career as a full bloom psychopathic killer. And now he enjoys being the Joker as he goes from being a no one to a someone. Great story indeed. But I still can’t forget Nicholson’s Joker. As for the negative reviews, I think to like or even have a neutral outlook on a movie like this, you have to have some appreciation for this franchise or the Batman genre. Bottom line, it’s still fiction and a movie, which means it’s NOT real. Some may confuse reality with fiction as there’s a fine line and the criticisms can be skewed. So if you are cynical like me, I’d say don’t judge a book by it’s cover and watch it for yourself to truly determine the quality of the film. I didn’t think I would, but I give it a thumbs up!

Omgoodness, Joaquin is AWESOME in this movie! His skill for playing a creepy, slightly deranged man is off the charts.

This is a totally different adaptation of The Joker's story than have been seen before (for the most part anyway). It gives Joker an origin story as a guy named Auther Fleck, a guy who works as a clown, an aspiring stand up comic, and borderline crazy as the seedy underbelly of Gotham drives him further into madness. It does away with the whole falling into a vat of acid to turn him into the psychotic clown, but trying to answer what would turn a "real" person into The Joker. Phoenix, who is kind of a weird dude anyway, does an incredible job with the character. He totally makes it his own, not trying to be a carbon copy of any of the performances that have come before him. It is not exactly clear where the movie fits (if at all) into the DC movie and television universe. Obviously, Jared Leto played a totally different version of the character in Suicide Squad, and this version is not a precursor to that one. It is not giving anything away to say that the movie is set when Bruce Wayne is still a child, so we do not get any hint of Joker vs, Batman at all. For those who get the 4k UHD version, on the 4k disc, there is just the movie itself. All the other extras, about half an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material are included on the regular Blu-ray disc. Really, the only thing that is disappointing about the physical release is the lack of bonus material. Even though the movie does create something of a continuity mess with the DC cinematic universe, even more than it already has been to this point, if you accept the fact that it is its own thing, and does not (at least as of now), and may never tie into the other movies at all, it is definitely worth checking out. It is well written and acted, and paced very well. The two-hours does not drag at all. I highly recommend it.

Joker(released Aug/19)stars,among others,Joaquin Phoenix,Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy. The story finds Phoenix,one Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed loner,with a job as a clown in an agency that specializes in providing them for clients.He lives with his mother and cares for her every need.He is also undergoing periodic supervision for his mental issues with a city provided counselor from whom his gets his seven different meds.His life is nothing but a dreary and constant beatdown and his meds help to keep his inner rage and negative feelings under control. When on a subway he encounters three drunk men bothering a young lady,he starts involuntarily laughing(a major issue)and they come over and start literally beating on him.The day before on a job,he had a sign taken from him outside a business that was closing.He chased the thieves but they turned on him and put the boots to him.One of his co workers later gave him a gun and this he uses on the men in the subway,ending their lives.It turns out the men who were shot worked for a firm owned by billionaire Thomas Wayne,who is is currently running for mayor and who thinks the down trodden are all clowns that need the kind of help only he can provide.The gun in question also gets him fired when it accidentally drops out of his costume while performing at a children's hospital.That along with the made up testimony of a co worker who said Phoenix took his gun from him.That lie would come back to fatally bite him in the butt. At home Phoenix sits with his mother every night watching the Murray Franklin Show(DeNiro),a kind of Johnny Carson knock off.One night just as the show ends his mother asks her son not to forget to mail yet another letter,among dozens she has written to Thomas Wayne over the years.Curious he opens it and reads it.In it he learns that he is the illegitimate son of Thomas Wayne,with whom she had a clandestine affair with years before. The next day he visits Wayne's estate but only gets as far as the iron gates.However he gets to meet Wayne's son Bruce(his future nemesis) briefly,until broken up by the butler Alfred.When Phoenix explains who he is and who his mother is,Alfred tells him that his mother was delusional and that there was no such tryst between her and Mr.Wayne. Meanwhile the city has cut funding and Phoenix ends up falling between the system's cracks,with no counseling and no meds.While he had been out at Wayne Manor,the police had shown up investigating the subway murders and asking questions to his mother.She ended up having a stroke and he arrived home just in time to accompany her in the ambulance.At the hospital he sees a clip of part of a stand up routine he did in a comedy club a few day before on Murray Franklin's show.It's an embarrassing one and done purposely by Franklin for derogatory laughs. Having had no luck at Wayne Manor, Phoenix attends a charity screening of Chaplin's Modern Times(some would argue the ultimate clown)disguised as an usher.He confronts Mr.Wayne in the washroom and hears yet again that his mother was mentally ill and he was not his child.To top it off he gets a punch in the face for his troubles.The next day he goes to the State Hospital to look up his mother's records there,to find out once and for all who he is.The truth isn't his mothers but Mr.Wayne's, and he was not only adopted but violently abused by a boyfriend of his mother's. When he gets back home he gets a call from the Murray Franklin Show wanting him to appear on the show because of the clip that was run.That night while visiting his mother he calmly suffocates her.The next day comes his appearance on the TV show.Everything starts out quite well but soon devolves into something else.The meds are no longer in him to calm his demons and with his clarity of thoughts comes explosive action and reaction.He admits to the subway killings and then kills Mr.Franklin. On his way in the police car to the station it is T-boned by an ambulance.The driver of that pulls Phoenix out of the car and lays him on the hood.Around are dozens of rioters all dressed like clowns-a demonstration aimed towards Mr.Wayne and his comments there of.Phoenix slowly gets up,puts two fingers on the inside of his mouth and pushes up to reveal the Joker persona the world(at least Gotham City) would come to know.The film ends with Phoenix in the State Hospital being chased in the halls by an attendant. Talk about dedication to his craft.Phoenix looks like a concentration camp survivor in his role,having lost something near 60 pounds.It's quite a disturbing sight at times.And as much as you want to look away ,you just can't because you want to see what's coming next.As a character study it isn't so much a look at a descent into mental hell,but is more of someone mentally disturbed that walks around the shallow and middle parts of the pool before taking the inevitable dive into the deep end.The system's failure,which his counselor admits doesn't give a damn about either he or she,is more or less the problem and the ultimate catalyst that facilitates his downward spiral.But is his really downward or upward? Because this is the first spark,the beginning, of what would become DC comics most famous villain.It all depends on your perspective. All in all a great film and character study.Phoenix deservedly won an Academy award for his work here.The film is raw,disturbing and quite revealing about society as a whole and the institutions which it funds,and those that fall through it's ever widening cracks.If ever there was a back story that gave us more pity than censure in regards to its subject matter,this would be it.

Non capita tutti i giorni di prendere un film sulla biografia di un personaggio dei supereroi, di un antieroe per giunta, e rendersi conto di avere tra le mani un'opera di uno spessore "sociale" di rilievo, meritevole di un Leone d'Oro al miglior film alla Biennale di Venezia, e in cui l'attore protagonista Joaquin Phoenix fa giganteggiare tutta la sua maestria teatrale al punto di aggiudicarsi l'Oscar al miglior attore protagonista, il Golden Globe per il miglior attore in un film drammatico, il BAFTA al miglior attore protagonista, un Critics' Choice Award e uno Screen Actors Guild Award. Per non parlare della compositrice Hildur Guðnadóttir, che si è aggiudicata un Golden Globe, un Critics' Choice Awards, un Premio BAFTA, un Premio Oscar e il Premio Soundtrack Stars al Festival del cinema di Venezia per la colonna sonora. E che dire del Todd Phillips che non ti aspetti, quello che si distacca di colpo dal genere comico (Un Notte Da Leoni, tanto per fare un esempio) per entrare nel mondo noir in maniera così preponderante? Davvero un'ottima sorpresa. Vorrei dire tante cose di questo film, tanti sono gli spunti di riflessione, ma ho paura di spoilerare parti che invece vanno viste e "vissute" sul momento. Però posso parlare dell'impressionante trasformismo di Phoenix che si alterna dalla mostruosità, quasi da Gollum, di un relitto umano cresciuto senza affetti, alla goliardia di un fuorilegge che si guadagna il rispetto della cittadinanza; dall'accondiscendenza buonista di un povero sempliciotto, alla furia di un soggetto fuori controllo che cerca riscatto e vendetta, da un reietto che sogna di avere contatti umani con persone che stima, ad un assassino che distrugge quelle stesse persone. Queste sembrano venire punite dalla legge del contrappasso, per cui un affetto che non ricambiano segna la loro distruzione. Phoenix sembra cambiare faccia di volta in volta, come un attore dell'antica Grecia cambiava maschera, eppure si tratta sempre del suo viso che si alterna tra un'espressione e l'altra e che allo stesso tempo sa commuovere e sorprendere, indignare ed arrabbiare, provocare pena e compassione. La sua interpretazione è talmente sublime che alla fine del film lo spettatore, anche se non parteggia per il delinquente, sicuramente inizierà a vederlo sotto un'ottica nuova. E' la deriva di una società, quella raccontata in questo film; non c'è da giudicare (come fatto da qualche testata giornalistica Oltreoceano, che forse si aspettava un film sui Mio Mini Pony), c'è solo da assistere, anche con un sentimento di impotenza, all'accelerazione del susseguirsi degli eventi e della violenza generata dall'esplosione di varie frustrazioni tenute sotto pressione troppo a lungo e dall'ingiustizia delle differenze sociali. In conclusione, questo non è il solito film di supereroi per adolescenti con deliri di onnipotenza, è un film profondo che fa riflettere sui punti deboli di una società in cui affetto e compassione sembrano valori sempre più rari e snobbati. E per certi versi è anche un film psicologico. Ma certamente non manca neanche il lato spettacolare e marcatamente noir dell'opera che fa divertire non poco. Visione assolutamente consigliata alle persone mature. L'ho dovuto rivedere subito tre volte per quanto mi ha emozionato, peccato non possa mettere più di cinque stelle.

Film eccellente: si vede con i sottotitoli in italiano, basta impostarli prima di avviare la riproduzione La storia di quest'uomo è commovente, e la sua reazione di fronte alle storture della società contemporanea è più che comprensibille (non giustificabile o condivisibile, ma almeno comprensibile) Io ho sempre "odiato" i pagliacci, semplicemente non mi facevano ridere, li trovavo insulsi: mi sono accorto solo ora che ero superficiale, che scavando a fondo oltre quella maschera, in questo caso, si scopre un essere umano, il disagio della sua malattia, le sue ambizioni, il suo diritto a trovare un posto nel mondo, la possibilità di mettere alla prova le sue capacità, la sua tenacia, la sua arte, il suo modo di fare spigliato e canzonatorio, la sua simpatia, la sua tenerezza, il suo impegno nel prendersi cura dell'anziana madre, finché tutto crolla e lui si ribella, per non soccombere... Lo consiglio vivamente, è un film che fa riflettere

Interprétation magistrale et histoire prenante. Film sombre et émouvant, visuellement réussi. Une excellente qualité DVD, à voir absolument pour les amateurs de drame psychologique.

Era lo que esperaba en cuanto a la calidad del producto, además de que es una joya de película. Otro punto a favor es su Aspect Ratio, el cual llena la pantalla permitiendo disfrutar la gran fotografía que tiene el filme. Con un 4K nativo, se nota en su definición, colores y en las tomas oscuras con su Dolby Vision. Sin duda es una compra obligada para los amantes del UHD.