- Joker (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

So I finally watched this Joker. When I read the reviews, I was aware of the acclaims it received, but I read the negative ones first and they were quite convincing. I’m cynical. My first exposure to the Batman series was with Adam West and Cesar Romero as the Joker, 1960s. Who's Cesar Romero? Back then I was meh to it because it was just another show on TV. Who cares. Fast forward to 1989, I saw Batman with with Keaton and Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the theater. Liked them both. But Nicholson’s performance as the Joker became unforgettable. I’m not a fan of Nicholson, but he sure left an indelible mark in my memory of the Joker that I believe has been incomparable. In 2008, I saw Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight and thought he was good, but not as good as Nicholson. I think Ledger continues to garner praise from certain folks who remember him because he tragically died so young. But some folks today probably don’t even know who Heath Ledger is in our Gotham City-like world. So... no doubt Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in this 2019 Joker was good. I enjoyed the movie and felt it wasn’t boring. I didn’t think Arthur Fleck was on a self-pity trip. The murky swampy darkness served its purpose throughout the film. Gotham City is a dump much like our world. Compared to Nicholson’s Joker, I felt Phoenix’s Joker inspired more compassion though. They both portray madness and evil, but Phoenix’s Joker seemed more realistic and understandable to the times of today. How many people are sad, lonely, and depressed in this stinking world like Arthur Fleck? Exactly. Parody is an understatement. Can’t hate Phoenix’s Joker entirely when he spares Gary’s life after killing Randall, even showing brief warm affection with a kiss on his head saying, “you were the only one who was nice to me”. A touching moment. But until Phoenix’s Joker finally snaps into wickedness by discovering the highs and satisfaction he gets from killing others who mistreat him, i.e. revenge, I kinda felt sorry for the guy. He didn’t know he was adopted. His invalid nonbiological mother lied to him. They were both abused. They’re poor. He’s emaciated. Times are tough. Work sucks. Bullies all around. Even his counselor is useless, and she knows it too. Who wouldn’t feel like Fleck under these conditions? So after a stint as a clown and comedian, Fleck finds a new satisfying and thrilling career as a full bloom psychopathic killer. And now he enjoys being the Joker as he goes from being a no one to a someone. Great story indeed. But I still can’t forget Nicholson’s Joker. As for the negative reviews, I think to like or even have a neutral outlook on a movie like this, you have to have some appreciation for this franchise or the Batman genre. Bottom line, it’s still fiction and a movie, which means it’s NOT real. Some may confuse reality with fiction as there’s a fine line and the criticisms can be skewed. So if you are cynical like me, I’d say don’t judge a book by it’s cover and watch it for yourself to truly determine the quality of the film. I didn’t think I would, but I give it a thumbs up!

This is one of the best movies I have seen in years! It is NOT a feel good or fun piece of entertainment. It is an unrelenting, brutal story of a man that society has abandoned, and has been pushed from near the edge, to over and way beyond. Where his only sense of worth and recognized value is the spearhead to lead the charge to destroy the corrupt and uncaring system. J.P. give a masterful performance, draws you in, makes you understand and care about this person how is desperately trying to follow the rules and fit in. When he finally breaks it is no surprise, this had to happen sooner or later. And yet he is not just a monster, he has no hate for the only person how ever treated him decently. The director was great, takes his time, even the side characters feel real and have a sense of backstory. This is the kind of movie that Stanley Kramer would have made. It is entertainment with a message, and that message is worth hearing, treat people like trash, and they will return the favor with interest. I think this story also blends with the Batman saga very well. The Joker is the opposite of Batman because of his environment. The Bruce Wayne we see in the movie has obvious emotional problems, but unlike Joker, he is raised in a rich nurturing and protective atmosphere after his parents are killed. But they bot go into adults that are insane by society standards, one a psychopath screaming truth and the other a vigilante trying to save a collapsing city. I think most of the negative reviews either: A) didn't watch the movie through, B) expected a Nolan style Batman movie, or C) Can't stomach the message. I am amazed this movie got made, let alone wide release. Most of the stuff coming out of Hollywood the last 20+ years is just trash that won't be remembered in 1 year let alone 10. I think Joker is the one that will be taught in cinema class for the next 40 years. By the way, I don't want to slight the other parts of this movie, the costumes are great, the sets and cinematography are perfect. The music and makeup are on a fantastic level. What they did with a $62 million budget puts the $100+ movie to shame. They truly deserve the Oscars for this.

Firstly, it is an extremely dark movie; I do not recommend showing it to people, especially young people, who are not in an emotionally stable place in their life. I'm not saying that the movie will turn troubled folks into Jokers but it is not an uplifting movie that leaves you all warm and fuzzy at the end. Basically, watch with caution. Secondly, this is a masterpiece, hands down. From the cinematography to the acting to the dialogue, everything shines. Not to mention the hauntingly beautiful and raw soundtrack by the talented Hildur Guðnadóttir. Everything flows perfectly together and it sets itself apart from all other comic book movies. There is no black-and-white villain, no neat and happy ending, no flashy CGI battles, or flawless characters. It is raw and scarily real; during the Murray interview with Joker, I felt like I watch actually watching it live like it was genuinely real. Thirdly, Joaquin Phoenix is not just playing the Joker - he IS the Joker; you can see how much passion and hard work he poured into the Joker's character. When he dances down the stairs you can't help but feel thrilled. The scenes all revolve around him and you can't help but be captivated by the raw emotions he pours into every line. He brings the Joker to life, much like Heath Ledger did. De Niro and Beetz also excel in their roles and play off of Joaquin's character perfectly. There's this amazing energy that is shared among all of the actors and actresses in this film. It makes the film feel alive. Lastly, the way they handled the delicate, controversial topic of mental health was fantastic. My favorite line is when Arthur says "what do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? I'll tell you what you get! You get what you f*** deserve!" It's a loaded line for sure. Being someone who is diagnosed with a mental illness and who has experienced auditory and visual hallucinations, I could connect with Arthur on that level, feeling like a freak and an outcast. It's a whole different situation telling someone that you have anxiety rather than telling them that you see monsters. Anxiety is "safe", psychosis is dangerous. The movie does not say that mentally ill folks like myself and Arthur are violent - rather, it is the abusive environment around them that makes them all the more vulnerable to aggression. Society cultivates monsters. In the end, I'd recommend giving this film a watch. But really watch it. It's not a movie that you turn on in the background. You have to savor it. And then watch happy kitten videos after it's ended.

WOW! JOAQUIN PHOENIX IS PHENOMENAL! He lost 52lbs to play character. I honestly said, "WOW!" After first viewing. MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE BONUS MATERIAL!!!!!

This movie was not that bad, it takes a lot of risks, and as such, some of those risks don't land well with some people, but people who think outside the box will get it. You either love it or you hate it but it will mostly be determined by your risk appetite. In today's day and age where risk taking isn't rewarded by society, I can see why some people don't respect the movie for what it is. If you're one of the people who only listens to pop music and you expect the chorus of a song to be played within 20 seconds of the start of the song, or you're a helicopter parent or millenial who had helicopter parents and were raised to be risk adverse, this movie most likely isn't for you. If you're an old person, traditional conservative, or someone who demands politically correct content, then I would also say that this move isn't for you. However, if you do have a risk appetite and you're willing to entertain ideas outside of the box, this movie is great. There were a couple of high risk high reward scenarios where the director exprimented with an unreliable narrator given the main characters mental illness, but it is in good taste and works well IMO. What I don't like is that the Joker himself is portrayed as someone who simply has mental illnesses, his genius isn't directly portrayed in this movie. I would have prefered him to be more of a mad scientist as opposed to someone who is simply suffering from mental illness. Needless to say, it does seem the author of the movie had some sort of message he wanted to send the world regarding mental health issues and that influenced the overall tone of the movie. It doesn't detract from the overall message of the movie. The intelligence of the Joker is implied to anyone who has studied mental health given his indulgence in fantasy, his social isolation. It is clear that the Joker is a schizoid, which is a form of creative genius, but while the movie expresses the typical symptoms of the disease, his actual genius remains hidden. The movie seems to emphasise how he is perceived by society because of his mental illnesses rather than how he actually is as a person. That being said, they got closer than most to expressing the true personality of schizoid, but they blatantly failed overall. For that reason, I give it four stars as opposed to five given that the movie lacks realism in that regard. Overall, great movie! Be skeptical of the 1 and 5 star reviews as they are biased.

It is a film that despite the fact that the second pays nefariously, it is first, it is a work of art, photography is great, how well achieved the atmosphere is and the soundtrack make this One of the best Joker movies

I admit, when I saw the trailer, I was interested in seeing this. The trailer promised an in depth look at the psyche of a man beaten down by society, the effects it had on his mental health and how it would turn him into The Joker. I was also prepared to be very disappointed as usually a great trailer can lead to a disappointing movie. Not in this case, in this case the movie delivered. Without giving any spoilers away, Joaquin Phoenix gives a stunning performance that makes you believe in his character of Arthur Fleck. Todd Philips delivers an amazing script that doesn't hold back any punches and the cinematography is just a thing of beauty to behold. This is a movie about many things, mental health, uncaring societies, people been driven to the brink. What this movie isn't is a cartoon movie or a super hero (or even a super villian) movie. It's gritty, real and down to earth. For this reason the brief few bits of violence in the movie do stand out. Simply because they seem so real and sudden without being overboard. That makes it all the more unsettling. People complained that this movie would make people feel sorry for someone who is a complete psychopath and who is violent, but that's not quite the case. You do feel sorry for what the character suffers through, but by the end, when he has fully embraced his dark side, you don't feel sorry for him, you feel repulsed by him and this is where the movie finds it's strengths. All in all, a stunning master piece of a movie, but it's also very dark, very unsettling, and it won't be to everyone's taste. There is no doubt though, it's DC's best movie yet and it owes it's success to Todd Philips for making a very real and grounded movie. There's no superhero's here, there's no giant CGI monsters, there's just a broken man living in a broken society with broken dreams.

Great movie and definitely worth a watch, but the ending was very predictable, and that disappointed me. That's my only gripe about the whole film. Keep reading only if you want to hear me elaborate. I figured out what going to happen at the ending with well over a half hour left in the movie, and I kept waiting for a twist. But there was no twist. It's just a predictable ending. Joaquin's acting is great, though. Definitely a must-watch if you're a batman fan or you just want to see another great portrayal of the Joker. This movie delves a bit more into the early development of his mental illness compared to that other great movie featuring the Joker which took place at a time when his mental illness had already made him a full fledged criminal. This is kind of beside the point, but I think Heath Ledger would have approved of this portrayal of the character. They're different, but it's not hard to believe the two jokers from the two movies are the same person, just at different times in their lives.

Muy buen DVD, entregado a tiempo y buen estado. Sólo esperaba un poco más de extras, al ser disco doble; pero aún así los incluidos son geniales.

Joker(released Aug/19)stars,among others,Joaquin Phoenix,Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy. The story finds Phoenix,one Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed loner,with a job as a clown in an agency that specializes in providing them for clients.He lives with his mother and cares for her every need.He is also undergoing periodic supervision for his mental issues with a city provided counselor from whom his gets his seven different meds.His life is nothing but a dreary and constant beatdown and his meds help to keep his inner rage and negative feelings under control. When on a subway he encounters three drunk men bothering a young lady,he starts involuntarily laughing(a major issue)and they come over and start literally beating on him.The day before on a job,he had a sign taken from him outside a business that was closing.He chased the thieves but they turned on him and put the boots to him.One of his co workers later gave him a gun and this he uses on the men in the subway,ending their lives.It turns out the men who were shot worked for a firm owned by billionaire Thomas Wayne,who is is currently running for mayor and who thinks the down trodden are all clowns that need the kind of help only he can provide.The gun in question also gets him fired when it accidentally drops out of his costume while performing at a children's hospital.That along with the made up testimony of a co worker who said Phoenix took his gun from him.That lie would come back to fatally bite him in the butt. At home Phoenix sits with his mother every night watching the Murray Franklin Show(DeNiro),a kind of Johnny Carson knock off.One night just as the show ends his mother asks her son not to forget to mail yet another letter,among dozens she has written to Thomas Wayne over the years.Curious he opens it and reads it.In it he learns that he is the illegitimate son of Thomas Wayne,with whom she had a clandestine affair with years before. The next day he visits Wayne's estate but only gets as far as the iron gates.However he gets to meet Wayne's son Bruce(his future nemesis) briefly,until broken up by the butler Alfred.When Phoenix explains who he is and who his mother is,Alfred tells him that his mother was delusional and that there was no such tryst between her and Mr.Wayne. Meanwhile the city has cut funding and Phoenix ends up falling between the system's cracks,with no counseling and no meds.While he had been out at Wayne Manor,the police had shown up investigating the subway murders and asking questions to his mother.She ended up having a stroke and he arrived home just in time to accompany her in the ambulance.At the hospital he sees a clip of part of a stand up routine he did in a comedy club a few day before on Murray Franklin's show.It's an embarrassing one and done purposely by Franklin for derogatory laughs. Having had no luck at Wayne Manor, Phoenix attends a charity screening of Chaplin's Modern Times(some would argue the ultimate clown)disguised as an usher.He confronts Mr.Wayne in the washroom and hears yet again that his mother was mentally ill and he was not his child.To top it off he gets a punch in the face for his troubles.The next day he goes to the State Hospital to look up his mother's records there,to find out once and for all who he is.The truth isn't his mothers but Mr.Wayne's, and he was not only adopted but violently abused by a boyfriend of his mother's. When he gets back home he gets a call from the Murray Franklin Show wanting him to appear on the show because of the clip that was run.That night while visiting his mother he calmly suffocates her.The next day comes his appearance on the TV show.Everything starts out quite well but soon devolves into something else.The meds are no longer in him to calm his demons and with his clarity of thoughts comes explosive action and reaction.He admits to the subway killings and then kills Mr.Franklin. On his way in the police car to the station it is T-boned by an ambulance.The driver of that pulls Phoenix out of the car and lays him on the hood.Around are dozens of rioters all dressed like clowns-a demonstration aimed towards Mr.Wayne and his comments there of.Phoenix slowly gets up,puts two fingers on the inside of his mouth and pushes up to reveal the Joker persona the world(at least Gotham City) would come to know.The film ends with Phoenix in the State Hospital being chased in the halls by an attendant. Talk about dedication to his craft.Phoenix looks like a concentration camp survivor in his role,having lost something near 60 pounds.It's quite a disturbing sight at times.And as much as you want to look away ,you just can't because you want to see what's coming next.As a character study it isn't so much a look at a descent into mental hell,but is more of someone mentally disturbed that walks around the shallow and middle parts of the pool before taking the inevitable dive into the deep end.The system's failure,which his counselor admits doesn't give a damn about either he or she,is more or less the problem and the ultimate catalyst that facilitates his downward spiral.But is his really downward or upward? Because this is the first spark,the beginning, of what would become DC comics most famous villain.It all depends on your perspective. All in all a great film and character study.Phoenix deservedly won an Academy award for his work here.The film is raw,disturbing and quite revealing about society as a whole and the institutions which it funds,and those that fall through it's ever widening cracks.If ever there was a back story that gave us more pity than censure in regards to its subject matter,this would be it.

Non capita tutti i giorni di prendere un film sulla biografia di un personaggio dei supereroi, di un antieroe per giunta, e rendersi conto di avere tra le mani un'opera di uno spessore "sociale" di rilievo, meritevole di un Leone d'Oro al miglior film alla Biennale di Venezia, e in cui l'attore protagonista Joaquin Phoenix fa giganteggiare tutta la sua maestria teatrale al punto di aggiudicarsi l'Oscar al miglior attore protagonista, il Golden Globe per il miglior attore in un film drammatico, il BAFTA al miglior attore protagonista, un Critics' Choice Award e uno Screen Actors Guild Award. Per non parlare della compositrice Hildur Guðnadóttir, che si è aggiudicata un Golden Globe, un Critics' Choice Awards, un Premio BAFTA, un Premio Oscar e il Premio Soundtrack Stars al Festival del cinema di Venezia per la colonna sonora. E che dire del Todd Phillips che non ti aspetti, quello che si distacca di colpo dal genere comico (Un Notte Da Leoni, tanto per fare un esempio) per entrare nel mondo noir in maniera così preponderante? Davvero un'ottima sorpresa. Vorrei dire tante cose di questo film, tanti sono gli spunti di riflessione, ma ho paura di spoilerare parti che invece vanno viste e "vissute" sul momento. Però posso parlare dell'impressionante trasformismo di Phoenix che si alterna dalla mostruosità, quasi da Gollum, di un relitto umano cresciuto senza affetti, alla goliardia di un fuorilegge che si guadagna il rispetto della cittadinanza; dall'accondiscendenza buonista di un povero sempliciotto, alla furia di un soggetto fuori controllo che cerca riscatto e vendetta, da un reietto che sogna di avere contatti umani con persone che stima, ad un assassino che distrugge quelle stesse persone. Queste sembrano venire punite dalla legge del contrappasso, per cui un affetto che non ricambiano segna la loro distruzione. Phoenix sembra cambiare faccia di volta in volta, come un attore dell'antica Grecia cambiava maschera, eppure si tratta sempre del suo viso che si alterna tra un'espressione e l'altra e che allo stesso tempo sa commuovere e sorprendere, indignare ed arrabbiare, provocare pena e compassione. La sua interpretazione è talmente sublime che alla fine del film lo spettatore, anche se non parteggia per il delinquente, sicuramente inizierà a vederlo sotto un'ottica nuova. E' la deriva di una società, quella raccontata in questo film; non c'è da giudicare (come fatto da qualche testata giornalistica Oltreoceano, che forse si aspettava un film sui Mio Mini Pony), c'è solo da assistere, anche con un sentimento di impotenza, all'accelerazione del susseguirsi degli eventi e della violenza generata dall'esplosione di varie frustrazioni tenute sotto pressione troppo a lungo e dall'ingiustizia delle differenze sociali. In conclusione, questo non è il solito film di supereroi per adolescenti con deliri di onnipotenza, è un film profondo che fa riflettere sui punti deboli di una società in cui affetto e compassione sembrano valori sempre più rari e snobbati. E per certi versi è anche un film psicologico. Ma certamente non manca neanche il lato spettacolare e marcatamente noir dell'opera che fa divertire non poco. Visione assolutamente consigliata alle persone mature. L'ho dovuto rivedere subito tre volte per quanto mi ha emozionato, peccato non possa mettere più di cinque stelle.

Bellissimo ma moooolto triste. Joaquin Fenix SUPERLATIVO.

Film eccellente: si vede con i sottotitoli in italiano, basta impostarli prima di avviare la riproduzione La storia di quest'uomo è commovente, e la sua reazione di fronte alle storture della società contemporanea è più che comprensibille (non giustificabile o condivisibile, ma almeno comprensibile) Io ho sempre "odiato" i pagliacci, semplicemente non mi facevano ridere, li trovavo insulsi: mi sono accorto solo ora che ero superficiale, che scavando a fondo oltre quella maschera, in questo caso, si scopre un essere umano, il disagio della sua malattia, le sue ambizioni, il suo diritto a trovare un posto nel mondo, la possibilità di mettere alla prova le sue capacità, la sua tenacia, la sua arte, il suo modo di fare spigliato e canzonatorio, la sua simpatia, la sua tenerezza, il suo impegno nel prendersi cura dell'anziana madre, finché tutto crolla e lui si ribella, per non soccombere... Lo consiglio vivamente, è un film che fa riflettere