I dare you to anticipate Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips's JOKER (now with something that may or may not be a SPOILER)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t433PEQGErc

https://frinkiac.com/img/S04E22/411026.jpg

very rude to stick Zazie Beetz and Bill Camp in this

just... why

It's like portraying Hamlet, every actor gets a turn eventually regardless of whether anyone asked for it or not.

all i want from this movie is that the first thing joaquin does after suffering his catastrophic breakdown is put on the makeup and go straight into a full-scale busby berkeley number where he and hundreds of dancers stage an elaborate performanec for the entire running time of the steve miller band's 'the joker'

https://pics.me.me/scott-aukerman-scottaukerman-follow-scottaukerman-theres-almost-something-chilling-about-24198437.png

I came upon a subway train surrounded by Jokers during the shoot

didn't get cast as an extra alas

The most intensely challenging, daunting role that any actor can play is that of the clown who fights Batman.

— 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝕯𝖆𝖞 (@NickPinkerton) January 22, 2016

I came upon a subway train

tmi

wokkawokkawokka.gif

tbf it would seem to nix your chance at being cast

c/d: making bad jokes in a movie about a sad clown

I’m perversely interested in this, as a fan of movies about Joaquin Phoenix’s gorgeous catastrophe of a face

yeah the weird thing is that i'd totally be down to watch a taxi driver-inspired movie about joaquin phoenix descending into madness but... does it have to be about the joker ffs

a taxi driver-inspired movie about joaquin phoenix descending into madness

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/7151VW52LPL._SL1500_.jpg

exactly!

ive no problem with this

should poll which is gonna score higher on RT: JOKER or IMPRACTICAL JOKERS

This at least has a chance of being good. Nothing about the trailer struck me as being obviously terrible.

Not gonna lie, this looks interesting.

Now where’s my gritty Crazy-Quilt biopic?

was ready to snark but I'm kind... of liking the look of this? (<3 Joaquin, what a weirdo)

This one's gonna be completely carried by Phoenix, amirite? Taking bets. Because that director...yikes.

ive no problem with this

― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Wednesday, April 3, 2019 7:47 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

From my perspective, as a guy who hates superhero movies, I think this was made for guys like me to say "as a guy who hates superhero movies, this doesn't look bad..."

Nothing about the trailer struck me as being obviously terrible.

The digital coloring was nauseating but that problem is certainly not limited to this movie

what I like about that trailer is that it seems really off-putting and downbeat, and not necessarily in the usual crowd-pleasing twisty ways that genre films have been either of those things.

irredeemable schmuck becomes violent clown

Looks identical to the Suicide Squad trailer, but maybe that's just how these things are marketed.

From my perspective, as a guy who hates superhero movies, I think this was made for guys like me to say "as a guy who hates superhero movies, this doesn't look bad..."

The last Superman kind of did the same thing - based on the first two thirds of the trailer, it could have been a Terrence Malick ripoff.

Wow, October, how will we make it?

Todd Phillips sucks.

This at least has a chance of being good. Nothing about the trailer struck me as being obviously terrible.

Huh. I thought this entire thing looked really, really dumb.

Why has the Joker character taken on this Incel/burgeoning serial killer antihero thing lately? Fuckin sick of seeing joker memes all over the place with that 'when nice guys lose their patience the devil shivers' crap on them.

Probably because people have either actively forgotten that The Joker is the personification of chaos with no actual code of ethics or reason, or because people are actively, willingly embracing evil in an attempt to make themselves feel powerful and in control.

Between Todd Phillips as director and Joaquin Phoenix in the lead, there's at least a chance we'll get to see the Joker take a shit on the ground and throw it at people.

Dan - thats a depressingly good point.

For reasons I can't quite pin down, the vibe of the trailer felt very

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLWKQ0eU2E4

I watched the trailer with the sound off, and I'm sure it added value.

I really hope that the trailer accurately reflects what will be in this movie and that there aren't a ton of effects shots and fights against batman that aren't ready yet or something

xp trayce probably, there were some words in v.o. and they didn't seem to mean anything

gang weed has flipped joker memes into weird meta-memes so completely at this point that they're inscrutable tho

(many xps to the joker memes convo)

gang weed? is that some kind of shitposting thingy. /old

very much so

this is actually a decent synopsis of gang weed

Kind of a weird revival of Godspell, but ok.

Kinda hoping Phoenix's character is driven to madness by watching Eddie Murphy's Delirious on tv and realizing all he knows are vaudeville jokes

so why exactly is DC making movies outside the DC Extended universe featuring characters that are in its extended universe.

are they going to see how it does and then decide whether to fire Leto as the Joker in the actual EU? cos I think that's a decision that can already be made.

I came upon a subway train surrounded by Jokers during the shoot

Expecting Leto Nicholson Gorshin cameos at the end of this

Why does DC have a popular Flash TV show and then make a Justice League movie featuring someone completely different as the Flash, why does DC make 80% of the decisions it makes? My unsubstantiated guess is 'rampant late-stage syphilis' but who can say, really.

Most of their decisions can be attributed to the fundamental po’ faced absurdity DC specializes in.

i laughed real hard at the funny parts and i feel like nobody focuses on those in their thinkpieces

― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, May 13, 2020 1

There aren't any funny parts to focus on.

The guy walked into a door that was kinda funny

The hospital clown bit was meant to be funny but didn’t really land for me iirc

I think there’s some unintentional comedy in how oppressive and tryhard and stupid this is most of the time. I’m with dmac & co tho this was passable enough for a serious funny papers movie and the takefest that accompanied it was far worse

I dare you to anticipate …

The Joker - Folie à Deux

Oh good god pic.twitter.com/oQI50iZ8ZI

— better call joe bro (@JosephBarnhurst) June 7, 2022

in the sequel, the Joker, now released from jail early due to appeal, is the host of a popular TV program, but has been "cancelled" for making disparaging remarks about women. The Joker seeks to "cancel" Gotham.

Electric Juggalo

We've got to
See
That
Bro
Electric Juggalo
And then dance down a staircase

Hope there's a dedication to Paul Mazursky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjZdTTc5TIE

I don't know if this is technically part of the Batman franchise or not--probably not--but broadly speaking, it's the only one of these kinds of series I keep up with. I would have seen this no matter what, the song is an unexpected bonus.

The people have spoken: no thanks.

https://deadline.com/2024/10/box-office-joker-folie-a-deux-1236107521/

“This isn’t a box office marketplace problem, this is a creative development problem,” declared one movie marketing vet this weekend over Warner Bros‘ bold swing with a foul, Joker: Folie à Deux which at a production cost of $190M+ net is coming in way below projections at $47M…or less.

Friday was $20M (which includes previews). Off that figure, industry projections are predicting a landslide today for the Todd Phillips directed sequel, down some 20%.

The fear nowadays in some executive corridors is that the headlines for a tentpole that’s bombed is some nefarious harbinger for the end of theatrical, particularly after it’s been rattled by Covid and dual strikes.

Um, no, think again.

People are still interested in going to the movies evident in how the industry reduced this year’s deficit vs. the 2023 B.O. from -20% at the start of summer to a current -11%. You think R-rated comic-book movies don’t work? Look at what Deadpool & Wolverine did at $1.3 billion worldwide unseating 2019’s Joker ($1.1B) to become the highest grossing R-rated movie of all-time.

The failure of Joker: Folie à Deux is as clear as an azure sky of deepest summer: No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical sequel, Mr. Phillips. Period.

Focus on Joaquin.
Pull focus to window.
Gaga draws perfect smile.
Pull focus back to Joaquin.
Joaquin moves head.
Joaquin smiles perfectly.

You are in the hands of fucking professionals. pic.twitter.com/d2ulFFR5fc

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) April 10, 2024

I imagine Dakota Johnson is breathing a little easier tonight.

Of course, Madame Web also feels like 30 years ago.

my sister loved the first movie, was excited to see the second one & her review to me last night was basically “what the fuck was that bullshit” lol

footnote: she also loves Lady Gaga & was raised on musicals so if she hated this then they definitely fucked it up

Damn do I despise that smile shot lol

"The failure of Joker: Folie à Deux is as clear as an azure sky of deepest summer: No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical sequel, Mr. Phillips. Period."

The first film reminded me a lot of Steptoe and Son. It had the vibe of a 1960s British kitchen sink drama, and the basic plot - "young man longs to break free from clingy parent, but is constantly thwarted by his own inadequacies" - is similar although the details are different.

There was a Steptoe and Son film, which I haven't seen, but it's probably just as bleak as Joker. Twice bleak, because (a) the basic setup is bleak (b) 1970s British TV comedy tie-ins were inherently bleak. They were unfunny, cheaply-made, usually released after the parent series had run out of steam, it was the 1970s etc. You know a bleak film? On the Buses, in which a bunch of bastard assholes try to sabotage an intake of women bus drivers out of spite, but the film presents the men as the heroes. It's like a glimpse into a dystopian parallel Britain. Thankfully the Tories came into power in 1979 and swept all of that away. Just a few short years later we had The Hunger, I rest my case.

So the logical thing to do would have been for Todd Phillips to take the script of Steptoe and Son Ride Again - the sequel to Steptoe and Son - and just cross out "harold" and put in "Joker" and that would be the film. If only Hollywood had given me some of that $190m. The world would be a better place.

The plot summary on Wikipedia of Ride Again does not read like a comedy film. Steptoe's horse has to be sent to the knacker's yard, but Harold wastes the money on a greyhound, which turns out to also be lame. So Harold buys a mannequin and uses it as part of a plot to have his dad legally declared dead(!) so he can collect the life insurance, at which point the rest of the film involves a bunch of gangsters threatening Harold while he simultaneously tries to maintain the fiction that his dad is dead. At the end "Harold accidentally smashes into a tomb and whilst being buried Albert finally wakes up and frightens everyone away."

I mean, just change "Harold" to "Joker", and there's the film.

Don't know anything about those movies, and haven't seen these movies, but the logical sequel would have been a Joker/Gaga roadtrip to Vegas movie, part "Hangover," part "Godfather 2." And then the third one would come out in 20 years and go full "Godfather 3," with Joker running an ostensibly legit business empire until he's pulled back in and goes full Joker.

Josh, even I might’ve watched THAT movie.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joker-folie-a-deux-box-office-d-cinemascore-1236025168/

We've got to
See
That
Bro
Electric Juggalo
And then dance down a staircase

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, June 8, 2022 7:23 PM (two years ago)

sometimes you have give a ned his due.

lol at “Electric Juggalo”

This film just goes on a bit.

Inevitable fodder for semi-convincing lists of misunderstood films til the end of days though.

You might know about the silent film connection to Batman and the Joker, but a bit more than meets the eye.

https://bsky.app/profile/moviessilently.bsky.social/post/3l5uqgulhhw23

I thought the first one was pretty good, I admit, but my patience for shit and tolerance for paying through the nose at theaters is diminishing so I will reserve my hate watching for streaming (see also Megalololoctopus)

Literally turned my car around en route to the theater today when I learned that it’s a musical. I even like musicals but don’t want this to be that. I just want another second rate Scorsese thing like the first time.
Folie à Don’t!

It didn't really feel like a musical to me. A film with lots of fairly short musical interludes that failed to stay in my head is much closer.

what's funny is I wasn't as neg on Joker as many on this board, but I was definitely not someone who wanted to watch it again either with how 'too close to home' some of the shit at the end was, but I had a pair of friends who were convinced they'd seen Gunga Din, and neither of them have any desire to see this.

all i want from this movie is that the first thing joaquin does after suffering his catastrophic breakdown is put on the makeup and go straight into a full-scale busby berkeley number where he and hundreds of dancers stage an elaborate performanec for the entire running time of the steve miller band's 'the joker'

― a photographer, satanist and ukip voter (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 3 April 2019 14:10 (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

does this happen y/n

I really hope every single number is a patter song

looks like it's going to make something like 6 mil in its second weekend, lol and RIP

Warner Bros’ second weekend of Joker: Folie à Deux is posting a -82% freefall with around $6.7M-$7M per industry estimates — that’s the absolute worst hold for a DC character movie in the history of the brand on the big screen. Triple note, James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios did not steer or shepherd Joker 2. The Joaquin Phoenix-Lady Gaga R-rated musical is even getting kicked out of No. 2 by a cartoon robot, DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Wild Robot ($13.5M third weekend) and also out of third by Warner Bros’ own Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (estimated $7.3M sixth weekend). This drop isn’t a shocker as we saw Joker 2 doing worse than the second frame of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s The Marvels (-78%) which was the worst hold for that Disney label’s movies.

Joker 2‘s second weekend drop is steeper than the previous worst drop for a DC character movie, summer 2023’s The Flash (-73%). It’s also more severe than the second weekend of 2021’s The Suicide Squad (-72%) which remember had a theatrical day-and-date release with HBO Max; those dynamic distributed titles always tumbled in their second weekend. The only nice thing to say here about Joker 2 is that it’s second weekend is more than Wonder Woman 1984‘s second weekend ($5.4M) which of course was due to theater closures during Covid, and it’s better than the second weekend of Jonah Hex ($1.6M) which owns the worst opening ever for a DC movie at $5.3M.

RIP woke killed Joker

Woker

Go Joke, Go Broke?

I liked the first one--parts of it a lot--and wanted to like this one; the trailer piqued my interest because of the great Burt Bacharach song. I assumed that was an isolated scene, though; finding out it was in fact partly a musical was puzzling, to say the least.

I ended up liking some of the musical bits ("To Love Somebody" the best--very The Sonny & Cher Show), but overall, so ponderous. The Joker's in jail, an admirer latches on to him, they go to trial...I won't say any more, but the rest is a big nothing. I mentioned on an ILM thread that Phoenix sings a Daniel Johnston song over the end credits.

Big Cineplex, holiday Monday, and I think there were seven other people in the theatre.

Saw an afternoon performance in a cineplex in Hanoi with 3 other people. Didn't hate the first one but my god this was one of the most ponderous and uncompelling films I have seen in years. Not sure if Pennies From Heaven was an influence but if it was it was really poorly served.

Gaga was a thoroughly unengaging presence and so uncharismatic . Was pretty shocked.

And god did it go on and on and...

Should of done a Paul Schrader and left after 10
minutes.

Having said that I know people who loved it. Just weird.

it's funny that like, outside of this thread, people I knew almost unanimously loved teh first Joker (I liked it, but found it flawed and too unpleasant to rewatch), but none of those people have seen the sequel or have any desire to. like normally wouldn't you be keyed up to see a sequel of the initial movie you loved?

Having said that I know people who loved it.

Judging by the numbers, maybe you know all of them.

My dad and sister are massive musical fans...never thought I'd ever utter this phrase but kinda wish Ken Russell would of been around to have a hand in it...rong I know but at least I would of had some kind of reaction to it

i think the biggest issue is even though the first film did well, it's just not fun, and while every other Joker is a demented prankster, this guy is just an extreme version of Crazy Joe Davola.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USKQ8sSNjMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cpA1yzEcVk

yeah the last 10 minutes of Joker felt a little too close to home w/ the political climate in the US, it's when I decided I couldn't watch it again.

even though of course Phillips tried to frame it like Occupy Wall Street-esque people were the terrorists because of course

occupy did give us many Joker types on top of the relatively sane protestors. some are stars of the conservative mediasphere now!

97% of the people who loved the first Joker wanted a version of The King of Comedy for dummies and didn't realize it.

Second part of the Megalopolis Zoomcast I posted a few days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6dyEmCfPKI

Prison, trial, prison, trial--that's all we came up with for Joker: Folie à Deux.

Random thoughts, with spoilers:

As bad as this movie was at home streaming, I can only imagine the angry/mocking/scoffing reactions in a crowded theater would have made it into something much darker and worse.

The fantasy musical sequences have a confusing status within diagetic reality. We get the "Cut back to the beginning of the sequence and have someone ask 'Well? Aren't you going to say anything?'", we get the "Cut to a live TV feed showing what's really going on during the fantasy sequence," but we also get a singing-in-the-rain escape attempt that we are I think supposed to take at face value?

A cigarette makes an appearance in almost every scene (can't remember if they were anywhere near as prominent in the first), and their sheer omnipresence seems like a kind of nihilism.

I wouldn't read as much into it if the movie didn't explicitly focus attention on the smoking. Arthur's first spoken line, iirc, is "Can I have a cigarette?" His legal counsel tells him not to smoke in a TV interview because "It makes you look too cavalier. We need people to see you as human." He blows smoke through the bars into his lover's mouth after the guard does the "No touching!" thing that has been permanently ruined for me by Arrested Development. The credits even include, alongside the standard "no animals harmed" and "made possible by a generous grant from", a disclaimer I don't recall seeing before: No promotional considerations were received from tobacco manufacturers in exchange for depictions of tobacco use.

One thing I will give the movie credit for is not glamorizing smoking. It doesn't make it look cool or assertive, but gross and weird and compulsive, about as satisfying as picking a scab. (There are exceptions, but those shots are few and far between.) Lee is even smoking in the scene where she reveals she is pregnant!

There is a sort of tragic irony in the way that innocent people around Arthur keep getting hurt: his incarcerated supporters are beaten and choked out by the monstrous COs; his one-time friend and coworker Gary Puddles now suffers from PTSD and insomnia; the car bomb that explodes in the crowded street outside the packed courthouse presumably kills untold numbers of Joker stans.

To the extent that the movie has any point, I think it is somewhere in between those last two paragraphs. It's about Arthur's self-destruction, and the forces willing to aid in that self-destruction (prison, media stardom, a certain idea of romantic love). And ultimately, Arthur is supposed to be the good guy. Because when the people cheering for him to self-destruct, the people who support his mythic alter ego without really seeing or caring about him as a person, when those people fall for the myth and get blindsided by the reality, crushed by the even greater destructive forces of the inhuman system outside of Arthur that he's been struggling against all along... he at least feels bad about it?

Also full disclosure, I walked out of the first movie halfway through (I was on a date and we both agreed that anything else would be more fun) and never felt any desire to revisit it. My favorite moment of that one was in the opening minutes when a radio announcer mentions a garbage collection strike, briefly getting my hopes up for a subplot about municipal services.

Is there a Gotham villain called the Trashman?

God I wish

Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dahdah

TRASHMAN