Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 104
- 3
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
The new joker is so bad that both critics and audience score at rotten tomatoes agree at 33% . In a way I am impressed how they achieved that with the talent and budget that they had. It is not exactly culture war because in culture war usually there is sizeable gap between the two score.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joker_folie_a_deux
I still don't understand why the first one achieved the acclaim it did, although that might have been primarily the result of the expectations I had going into it than the film itself.
When I heard that it had won the Golden Lion and was being praised as this incisive portrayal of mental illness, I was anticipating a sensitive, intelligent art film. What I actually got was an overwrought early-2000s psychological thriller, which clumsily attempted to tie in Arthur Fleck's origin story with Batman's (to the detriment of both) and featured a completely superfluous pseudo-romantic subplot for no good reason. The supposedly realistic portrayal of mental illness bore about as much relationship to the genuine article as Norman Bates in Psycho.
The only really positive things I can say about it are a) Joaquin Phoenix conjured a genuinely impressive performance out of a decidedly underwritten character, the most powerful portrayal of the character since Heath Ledger's; b) the score and cinematography were decent, if unremarkable; and c) I liked that they made no attempt to sanitise the violence in the film, and instead endeavoured to milk it for all the horror it was worth. The latter choice lent the film a gritty integrity which would have been sorely lacking without.
I guess overwrought early-2000s psychological thrillers are just that much better than 2020 bullshit -- if somebody wants to start churning out mediocre-but-fun 90s movies again I won't complain.
Exactly, the standard of Hollywood slop in 2019 was so poor that a movie which would have been straight-to-DVD in 2004 makes a fortune and is praised as a masterpiece.
Was straight-to-DVD ever particularly viable for (wannabe) psychological thrillers? I got the impression that it was used more for genre schlock and feel-good films.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link