I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” on Amazon Prime and Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a two step! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the musical psychological drama “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the comedy bio “Saturday Night” and the drama “White Bird.”
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with host Sean Leathong, to talk about the musical psychological drama “Joker: Folie à Deux” and the comedy bio “Saturday Night.”
I join “CTV News Atlantic at Six” anchor Todd Battis to talk about the musical psychological drama “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the comedy bio “Saturday Night” and the drama “White Bird.”
I joined CP24 Breakfast to have a look at new movies and television shows coming to theatres and streaming services. Today we talk about the musical psychological drama “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the comedy bio “Saturday Night” and the Netflix comedy special “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.”
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres and streaming including the musical psychological drama “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the comedy bio “Saturday Night” and the drama “White Bird.”
I wrote about the fantasy, obsession and the ordinariness of evil in the new, tuneful “Joker: Folie à Deux” for CTVNews.ca.
“After 2019’s “Joker” nabbed $1 billion box office dollars and a Best Actor Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix, a sequel was certain. What form that sequel would take, however, was less certain…” Read the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the musical sequel to 2019’s Oscar winning “Joker,” and now playing in theatres, Joaquin Phoenix stars as failed-comedian-turned-murderer Arthur Fleck. Incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital, he awaits trial for his crimes as Joker, when a chance encounter with Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) gives him a chance at finding true love.
CAST: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz. Directed by Todd Phillips.
REVIEW: After 2019’s “Joker” nabbed $1 billion box office dollars and a Best Actor Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix, a sequel was certain.
What form that sequel would take, however, was less certain.
In the risk averse entertainment landscape that is 2024 Hollywood, one would have expected a continuation of Joker’s reign as Gotham City’s most unhinged agent of chaos.
Well, no one will accuse director Todd Phillips, and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga of being risk averse.
For better and for worse, “Joker: Folie à Deux” mixes romance and show tunes with law and order in what may be the bleakest jukebox musical ever made.
Question is, Is the risk worth the reward?
From its animated 1950’s Looney Tunes style opening—a recap of the Joker’s killing of talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert de Niro) on live television—to its starkly staged musical numbers, it is a study in fantasy, the ordinariness of evil and obsession that is sure to deeply divide audiences.
Phillips, working from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, wedges big ideas about the commodification of Joker as an entertainment celebrity—underlined by the use of the tune “That’s Entertainment” from the 1953 musical “The Band Wagon”—obsession/delusion and betrayal, into a film that blurs the line between reality and fantasy.
It’s ambitious, like Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz” filtered through a funhouse mirror, but it’s also frustrating. Frustrating in the sheer volume of underwhelming musical numbers that feel jammed into the story, in its laboured courtroom drama and its underuse of Lady Gaga.
The musical numbers are mostly fantasy sequences and vary from full production numbers to intimate renderings of love songs. Each tune acts as a substitute for dialogue or an inner, emotional soundtrack that only the characters can hear. When it works, it’s a neat trick, but often the songs feel a bit too on-the-nose, as in Gaga’s performance of “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” sung during a prison visit as a thick plate of plexiglass separates them.
The musical numbers are plentiful, performed with a lack of polish—because, the press notes say, neither Arthur or Hartley are professional singers—that works for the authenticity of the characters, but is less interesting for the audience. It’s a device, and, if used sparingly, it could have been a nifty one. As it is, however, when Arthur says, “I don’t wanna sing anymore,” near the end of the film, it seems like the best decision he’s made all along.
As Arthur/Joker, Phoenix transforms himself physically; his slight, bony frame a testimonial to the years of abuse Arthur suffered at the hands of his mother. However, when he puts on the Joker outfit—the garishly coloured suits, shirts and make-up—his shoulders square up and he becomes a different person. It’s an interesting shift and Phoenix embodies it, creating two characters from one source.
Unfortunately, Lady Gaga is given less to do.
The film’s broken heart is Lee’s attraction to Joker. In the film’s first hour, she’s a compelling character, a kind of Mansonesque follower whose curiosity with Arthur/Joker as a rebellious folk hero blossoms into the shared delusional disorder of the title (Folie à Deux). It’s a shame then, when she fades from view during the bulk of the courtroom scenes, discarded in favor of a focus on Arthur’s antics.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is a bold comic book movie that breaks free of the shackles of the comic book genre, but in doing so blunts the power and the danger of its title character.
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.