Joker (2019 Joker film)

[Small Man Big Horse]

I reckon Phoenix's character is meant to be about 30 at the most. Actors usually play younger don't they cos they tend not to age as quick?

It's more than possible, but I think it makes the character more tragic if he is still at home with his mother in his mid-forties.

[Cuellar]

I agree, thought he was much older than 30.

[Dr Rock]

I think he's supposed to be about 30 - if he's older, say forty, that would mean his mother was possibly having an affair with Thomas Wayne and then locked up in Arkham in the 1940s? Did not seem that way, can't remember. It's set in 81 right?

[Dr Rock]

Internet says there are many references to his birth being 30 years ago or over 30 years ago, and some other stuff like the records at Arkham means he's got to be either 32 or 33.

[Icehaven]

Internet says there are many references to his birth being 30 years ago or over 30 years ago, and some other stuff like the records at Arkham means he's got to be either 32 or 33.

Yeah he's supposed to be early 30s, it's just Phoenix being a decade older and (IMO) looking it throws you a bit.

[druss]

So Batman is decking a guy in his 50s, that's alright then.

[Dr Rock]

Brad Pitt is 55. Heck I'm 51 (next month) and I could probably kick Batman's arse.

[Jim Bob]

Heck I'm 51 (next month) and I could probably kick Batman's arse.

Definitely couldn't.  Dr Rock?  'Dr Sink Like A Rock', more like.  He'd BATter you, good and proper.  Honestly, giving it all that!  Giving it the big I am!  "Oooohhhh, hello. I could beat up the Bat Man."  What an absolutely disgraceful display of sheer arrogance, I must say.  The bat man is a better man and bat than you'll ever be, quite frankly.  To claim superiority, is to claim godhood.  How very dare you!  Ought to be ashamed of yourself, for making such an outlandish and wild declaration of assurance.  Go back to your room and think upon what you have done.  For shame.

[Dr Rock]

I hereby challenge Batman to a punch-up. Put out the word. Come at me BattyBoy.

[Kelvin]

Cut to Dr Rock calmly browsing CaB while hanging upside down from a gargoyle.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Everyone can beat up Batman. All the heroes and villains just say he's hard to humour him.

[Cuellar]

Yeah he's supposed to be early 30s, it's just Phoenix being a decade older and (IMO) looking it throws you a bit.

Christ he's had a tough life I suppose (Joker not Phoenix, although probs both tbf)

[greenman]

It almost certainly won't happen but I'd say really the message Warners should take from the films success is that there are quite a few actors out there with potential to be successful who don't naturally fit into staring roles in Marvel(or Starwars, Potter, etc). The likes of say Rockwell or Gyllenhaal got supporting roles but had to tone it down considerably, those two as say The Riddler and Dent in films along the same lines as this I could see working pretty well.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Everyone can beat up Batman. All the heroes and villains just say he's hard to humour him.

Batman's piss weak, only he's got those taser guns, the ones that double as big neon lamps shaped like letters spelling 'pow!' and 'zap!'

[Dropshadow]

Well, I liked it. The funny thing is it was exactly - exactly! - as I imagined it was going to be. Story, plot, pacing....... everything. The film version of comfort-food. Everything is as it should be with no surprises. That's that, I suppose. Have to admit. though, that I missed the vat of chemicals he should, at some point, have fallen into thus completing his journey to becoming The dreaded Joker. I'd have settled for him spilling some typewriter correction-fluid and getting it all over his shirt, and that. Can't have everything, I suppose.

[Shaky]

I approached this with some trepidation but thought it was pretty ace. On-the-nose when it needed to be but surprisingly deft and subtle elsewhere. The character was mesmerizing to watch but not likeable in any way, shape or form which, in my mind at least, stopped the film from lurching into the incel wank-fantasy it's accused of being in some quarters. The face-off in the studio was very well done and provided a fine sudden jolt.

Fat Alfred threw me a bit, mind.

[SteveDave]

It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be but Robert De Niro was the weak link.

Joker's speech on his show at the end was great though and after he shot MurRAY and he was vibrating was fantastic. 

[Shaky]

It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be but Robert De Niro was the weak link.

Joker's speech on his show at the end was great though and after he shot MurRAY and he was vibrating was fantastic. 

Yeah, Phoenix gave that whole sequence genuine weight and tension even with it's fairly expected unpleasant conclusion.

[Kelvin]

I thought the speech on the show was terrible; the most badly written and on the nose section in the film, by some distance. All De Niro's questions felt like such contrived setups "So you don't like Thomas Wayne either?" and there's no art to the language. It's also contradictory when he says he isn't political, then goes on to explain precisely why his next act will be.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Watched it last night and it was alright but frustratingly shallow, especially given all the hoo-hah around it. Whoever said it was a popcorn film trying to look arthouse was bang on the money.

Todd Phillips has no artistic style or message he wants to convey, so while it's technically accomplished it's all surface-level. Which would be fine if it wasn't straining so hard to appear like it has depth. Phoenix is bloody great though.

[Bazooka]

Watched it last night, it's a hard one, Phoenix was very good, but I was just waiting for, when is he going to snap,when is he going to snap?  After enduring 3 hours or whatever of laughing(the character not me). The thing is you know the batboy story by now, we know he is going to be the Joker, in alternative world, where this was stand alone and we knew nothing of bat boy, I dunno I'm waffling here because that's the idea.

The cinematography was very nice though.

[Custard]

Quelle surprise, a sequel is a-happening

https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/joker/68656/joker-sequel-in-the-works-with-todd-phillips-and-joaquin-phoenix-set-to-return

[Old Gold Tooth]

Just listened to clueless film berk Jack Howard banging on to Kermode about what a brave, brilliant film it is. It really isn't.

[Glebe]

Quelle surprise, a sequel is a-happening

https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/joker/68656/joker-sequel-in-the-works-with-todd-phillips-and-joaquin-phoenix-set-to-return

Apparently they discussed a sequel on set... doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

[Jim Bob]

Quelle surprise, a sequel is a-happening

https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/joker/68656/joker-sequel-in-the-works-with-todd-phillips-and-joaquin-phoenix-set-to-return

Whilst the way in which Hollywood operates these days, pretty much ensures a sequel to a film which doesn't really warrant one is all but inevitable, this paticular scoop has been disputed and labeled as bunkum.

[checkoutgirl]

Very surprised by the sequel talk. Maybe I've misinterpreted Phoenix's career but I didn't have him as a sequel type. I suppose it could be good, anything could be good.

[Noodle Lizard]

It's bunkum!

My guess is that they'll try to get this DC Black thing going, but not with Joker or Phillips. They'll probably get someone else to do an intentionally "arthouse gritty" origin story. It'll be far too ponderous, self-aware and underwhelming, then they'll stop because the sheen of Joker will have worn off by then.

[Spiteface]

It's bunkum!

My guess is that they'll try to get this DC Black thing going, but not with Joker or Phillips. They'll probably get someone else to do an intentionally "arthouse gritty" origin story. It'll be far too ponderous, self-aware and underwhelming, then they'll stop because the sheen of Joker will have worn off by then.

What'll happen is what always happens.

DC will learn the wrong lesson from it and take Joker as a blueprint for most things going forward.

Like they did The Killing Joke/Dark Knight Returns in the 80s and the Nolan films...

I thought Joker was fucking shit anyway.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Phillips has already suggested that it might not happen - https://news.avclub.com/todd-phillips-calls-joker-sequel-reports-anticipatory-1839981733

[checkoutgirl]

I thought Joker was fucking shit anyway.

You're a fan of Power Rangers, aren't you?