Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Sitting In The Aisle: Joker



Joker 9/10

This was was amazing. Let me say that first. Joker immediately became one of my favorite movies this year for a lot of reasons I'll cover later. This is gonna be full of spoilers by the way. There has been so much controversy about this movie and how it may inspire violence. That seems more like a society problem than a movie making problem to me. If you have built it so that if someone with a mental issue has access to get a weapon and use it on others that does not mean you ban every movie where violence can occur. Did people ban Amy Schumer films after Trainwreck? Shit happens. It sucks but that's just the way things are sometimes. Shit happens because some people suck. The theater I went to was more than half full on a Tuesday afternoon at 2pm and they even clapped when it was done.

This movie is about fucking mental health care!


You can watch TV shows and movies about people doing bad shit and not be inspired by it. I loved Dexter but never wanted to wrapped folks in plastic and stabbed them. I loved John Wick but never wanted to go on a killing spree. Are there people that will? Sure. There are people walking around looking for any reason to be a shitbird and stopping any form of cinema will not stop it. I bet right now if you made a list of your five favorite shows/books/movies they feature some fucked up stuff. Anyhoot, this movie takes place in the early 80's and it very much looks like so. I loved it. Arthur Fleck is a clown for hire. He goes to parties. Dancing in front of shops. Whatever. One day his sign gets snatched and he chases the kids down before getting jumped by them. One of his coworkers gives him a gun to protect himself.


Gotham City is going to shit with a garbage strike and everyone being mad. Arthur lives with his mother who has him check the mail every day for a response from Thomas Wayne to help her out since she worked for the family years ago. Arthur also goes to a therapist who doesn't really listen to him all that much. There is every sign that this dude is gonna fuck shit up eventually. Arthur has a neurological disorder that makes him laugh at weird moments. Arthur meets this lady mother named Sophie. They hook up real quick and I was like “You need to stay the hell away from him!” He follows her all around the city and barges into her place to make out. He takes her to one of his stand up shows that gets recorded and played on his favorite late night talk show.


One day while performing at a kids hospital his gun falls out and he tries to play it off as being part of the show. The guy he got the gun from even starts to say shady shit about Arthur. On a subway ride home Arthur gets jumped by three businessmen and shoots all three of them dead. Thomas Wayne goes on TV and says anyone that would wear a mask and commit crime is a clown. Next thing you know everyone wants the rich people taken down and start wearing clown masks. Funding gets shut down for Arthur's therapy and he no longer has access to the seven medications he is on.


Now all kinda crazy shit starts happening. He is invited on his favorite talk show. He checks one of the letters his mother was sending to Thomas Wayne and it says that he is Arthur's father. I was ready to check out because that is such a shit plot twist. My Batman tattoos started burning. He heads to Wayne Manor and does some tricks through the gate for a young Bruce Wayne and chokes Alfred. Some police come to question Arthur about the subway killings and his mother ends up having a stroke. Arthur sneaks into a show and confronts Thomas Wayne in the bathroom about being his dad and Wayne is like “Your mom is crazy and I am not your father.” Then he punches Arthur in the face. Arthur ends up getting some files form the hospital regarding his mother and finds out that not only was he adopted but his mother and her boyfriends beat the fuck out of him.


I am gonna stop covering everything in this movie now. There is way more that happened. If this is the only Joker movie with this cast I am good with it. The Joker is one of those characters that has no real origin so you can have fun with it. People are comparing this with a lot of other movies and they are free to do that. You can compare anything with anything. But the movies they are comparing it with are great movies. What was funny is that they showed a trailer for Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and it felt like trash compared to this. If you wanna see this movie go see it. It has great acting. The soundtrack is really good. The way the movie looked was awesome. I really enjoyed this. If you are worried about being shot at because of this wait to rent it. And don't go to the movies. Or drive. Or go hiking. Or travel. Or eat pork. Or let dogs lick you (a lady lost all her limbs after her dog licked her!).

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker
Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin
Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond
Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck

Click here for previous Sitting In The Aisle.

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