Richard Crouse

I’ll be reviewing three movies this week, everything from a musical maniac and the birth of a comedy institution to a grandmother with a story of her childhood.

In “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the new sorta-kind musical staring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and now playing in theatres, failed comedian Arthur Fleck is incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.

In “Saturday Night,” a new show business biography now playing in theatres, tensions run high as producer Lorne Michaels and a not ready for prime time troupe of young comedians and writers prepare for the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” on Oct. 11, 1975.

In “White Bird,” a new World War II family drama, now playing on theatres, a youngster named Julian is visited by his grandmother, played by Helen Mirren, and is transformed by the story of her attempts to escape Nazi-occupied France during World War II.