Joker (2019)

[The Dark Knight]

Dear diary...

A small moment but one that speaks to me in a huge way - Arthur taking the old photograph of Penny, looking at it with blank disdain, screwing it up and then flicking it away with eyes closed. I live for this coldheartedness. Anything superfluous should be ELIMINATED from your life, and you should feel NOTHING. And if you do feel something, it should be a dark entity that tells you "why the Hell did you put up with that?"

I'm a minimalist and don't want anything. I don't eat breakfast or lunch - only have a minor dinner, work out and don't crave food. When something is gone you don't miss it. I'm happy with what I have, while the zombies waste money on endless coffee and can't stop eating.

People worry about meaningless nonsense, but I remain dead inside and keep an emotional disconnect, especially when at work and people go for that small talk. I'm just not bothered about things because I know it doesn't matter either way. When life gets tough the most competent man slows down while the others become a mess of nerves.

The ultimate statement of liberation from Arthur is: "I don't believe in any of that. I don't believe in anything."

I believe there are three superpowers in the modern age. They are:

1. Not being easily embarrassed.
2. Not caring what other people think.
3. Being able manage, control, and break addictions.

One of the biggest reminders anyone can be given is the concept of FREE WILL. People need to think for themselves. If you don't do it, others will do it for you. And why do they do this? The weak fear offending and want to be people pleasers. Just tell these critics "yeah okay" and do what you want anyway. Please yourself, because it's you going home at the end of the day, and these slobs are nowhere to be seen.

My hair is medium length. I go back to work in two or so weeks and about a day ago I made a decision. I'm not going to get it cut to satisfy other people, because I like it this length and always have. It makes me happy, so I'm keeping it. If I didn't have a job I absolutely wouldn't cut it. Screw it.

I was listening to the song Drops of Jupiter that came on the radio randomly and this lyric was an inspirational reminder: "Plain ol' Jane, told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land."

You just gotta do it. We can't wait any longer.

[thecolorsblend]

Cinema Wins finally gave JOKER the treatment. So much so, in fact, that two parts were needed to cover everything.

I noticed some stuff but totally missed other stuff. I guarantee you'll find new material in at least one of these videos.

-- Part 01

-- Part 02

EDIT- Oh, and there was a preview released a few months ago.

[The Dark Knight]

I've said it before, but for me, this is the best scene in the film.

I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect encapsulation of the human experience in such a short space of time. He starts out trying to smile and have confidence, but it fades away and his underlying depression and doubt comes to the fore. His suicidal thoughts and rehearsed death comforts his tortured mind.

It's always an emergency exit option for him.

But it's his fork in the road when he appears on the show. I simply love the upbeat 'That's Life' ending the scene, juxtaposed with the morbid image of a rehearsed suicide. The audience cheering also gives it another element of poignancy. Pulling the camera back to just show his body on the couch tells me how alone Arthur feels. The outside world is cruel, but it's still there and keeps on "spinning around" with or without him.

I love how they focused on Arthur's suicidal thoughts, as that's the core of the Joker to me. Someone who laughs when he faces certain death, such as when Batman throws him off a building. Someone who gets hit by a car, dusts himself off and keeps running without much care for his safety. There's always that depressive element under the surface, which Nicholson's Joker alludes to in B89.

He'll keep living for the joke, but if he dies, so be it.

[thecolorsblend]

I've said it before, but for me, this is the best scene in the film.

I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect encapsulation of the human experience in such a short space of time. He starts out trying to smile and have confidence, but it fades away and his underlying depression and doubt comes to the fore. His suicidal thoughts and rehearsed death comforts his tortured mind.

It's always an emergency exit option for him.

But it's his fork in the road when he appears on the show. I simply love the upbeat 'That's Life' ending the scene, juxtaposed with the morbid image of a rehearsed suicide. The audience cheering also gives it another element of poignancy. Pulling the camera back to just show his body on the couch tells me how alone Arthur feels. The outside world is cruel, but it's still there and keeps on "spinning around" with or without him.

I love how they focused on Arthur's suicidal thoughts, as that's the core of the Joker to me. Someone who laughs when he faces certain death, such as when Batman throws him off a building. Someone who gets hit by a car, dusts himself off and keeps running without much care for his safety. There's always that depressive element under the surface, which Nicholson's Joker alludes to in B89.

He'll keep living for the joke, but if he dies, so be it.

One thing that JOKER has done for me is crystallize the idea that the Joker is always on the verge of offing himself for the lolz. He's always ready to do that next but something else always comes up that's funnier so he does that instead. In the movie, he planned to shoot himself but obviously that changed because he had a better idea.

[The Dark Knight]

I've seen various criticisms that JOKER made Arthur "too sympathetic". Sorry, duderinos, but citing this as a negative is loserthink. JOKER rammed home another important aspect of the character that seems to have gone over people's heads: that both the Joker and Batman are correct in the way they view the world, while at the same time being diametrically opposed to one another.

The Police and people like Murray or Thomas Wayne just hear about three dead Wall Streeters, but they have no idea about context, and nor do they care about context, as the crime is the crime.

We have an already beaten down man getting beaten down by TV talking heads, and with funding cuts, being let down by the Government. This is the origin of his beef. When killing becomes commonplace, Arthur really becomes the villain they thought him to be.

Bruce, on the other hand, will rightly see the random murder of his parents as a travesty that must be avenged. I think both Bruce AND Arthur are good people deep down, but through their experiences went down different roads. They both embrace the crazy to bury their pain.

[thecolorsblend]

Wow. So, okay then.

Congratulations, Joaquin. Don't know wtf happened with those other nominations but whatever...

[The Dark Knight]

At the very least if I had to choose, I'd take Phoenix as best actor. Anything else is just gravy.

[thecolorsblend]

Great pics, thanks SN.

I must say I'm kind of getting jazzed for this movie. It's a low budget thing (in today's estimation of what "low budget" means), it's a period piece and it looks to be incredibly character-driven. From the sounds of it, Phoenix is doing the movie for love of the game. He wants to make a FILM. Same seems to be true of Phillips, the director. And...

... the 80's setting instantly gives the movie a bunch of extra grit and texture it might lack otherwise.

This is starting to look pretty cool, y'all.

Reading the first few pages of this thread is pretty interesting. You can watch the tide change pretty quickly with the movie, esp once the makeup test was posted online. The drip drip drip of set photos, props and whatnot helped too.

Anyway, so Tarantino sounded off on the movie at https://theplaylist.net/quentin-tarantino-praises-profound-subversion-joker-20210204

"The subversion on a massive level, the thing that's profound is this: It's not just suspenseful, it's not just riveting and exciting, the director subverts the audience because the Joker is a f*cking nut," Tarantino explained. "Robert De Niro's talk show character is not a movie villain. He seems like an a-hole, but he's not more of an a-hole than David Letterman. He's just an a-hole comedian, talk show guy."

He continued. "He's not a movie villain. He doesn't deserve to die. Yet, while the audience is watching the Joker, they want him to kill Robert De Niro; they want him to take that gun, and stick it in his eye and blow his f*cking head off. And if the Joker didn't kill him? You would be pissed off. That is subversion on a massive level! They got the audience to think like a f*cking lunatic and to want something [they would never normally want]. And they will lie about it! ["Audiences] will say, 'no, I didn't [want that to happen]!,' and they are f***ing liars. They did."

Just to see those quotes, Tarantino almost sounds like he's from the Ruin Johnson school of subversion for subversion's sake. But his movies tell a different story, I think. Very astute observations. And very true. I watched JOKER for the first time on my honeymoon. Our cruise ship has a two-screen movie theater aboard and we watched the movie with a proper audience. They all basically gasped when the Joker blasted De Niro into the next lifetime.

Before then, I think the audiences could've gone either way. I ran to the bathroom during Arthur's standup comedy set and someone followed me. In violation of The Guy Code, he talked to me about the movie. "It's okay so far but soooooo slow. Hope something big happens soon." Wtf am I supposed to say when I'm in the middle of taking a leak?

Saw the guy again after the movie and he gave me thumbs up so I guess he enjoyed JOKER after all. The talk show scene rly did elevate that movie to the next level.

[The Joker]

Here's a video going over the aforementioned Quentin Tarantino comments about Joker 2019 for the hell of it.

[Travesty]

So I just watched this the other day for the first time in awhile, and I gotta say, I think this may be my favorite DC movie ever made....and I like a LOT of DC movies.

There's just so many things going on with this movie that I love. On paper, I shouldn't like this movie. It goes against some of the things I rail against, but for some reason, this movie works for me. It's just so goddamn good.