Joker
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:42 pm
I don't usually care too much about the Oscars. I rarely agree with the choices, I think they hold too much importance in the industry. The actual event is a bore that I never watch, etc. And yet, I don't recall ever being as shocked or irritated by a film getting this much Oscar hype. It has more nominations than any other film this year and it's director is one of five nominees? I guess I don't pay attention to Oscar speculation but never in a million years would I have even conceived of such a thing being possible based on the film I saw.
I didn't like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I get all the nominations. Tarantino has clout, and the film was well received. He was a shoe in. But Todd Phillips? I mean granted, I've never seen anything else he's made, but looking at his filmography, his thing was frat boy comedies up until now. I get that some people think Joker is an edgy masterpiece, and some of my favorite films are polarizing (hell I'm a Lynch fan). I don't know, I felt like I could see through everything this film was trying to do and see nothing. It was utterly humorless, probably bafflingly intentionally so. I guess it's edgy and ironic or something to make a film about comedians and call it Joker and make it humorless. This movie absolutely needed dark humor, IMO. It was psychologically unconvincing, It jumps around in touchy political issues like class warfare without having the courage to actually say anything about it. And I didn't come away from this feeling like this film gave a shit about anything in it or even its title character. Phoenix is a good actor and did what he could, but why the hell is every prestige actor playing a demented psychopath automatically an Oscar candidate? This wasn't even one of the top half of the performances of this same damn character in the last 30 years of cinema. I haven't seen Jared Leto but in the opinion of this person who doesn't give much of a crap about this character, this was definitely a worse Joker than Ledger, Nicholson or Hamill (who were all pretty damn great in their own ways, admittedly). This isn't Phoenix's fault.
I wish the Oscars didn't matter but they do. It influences what happens in the industry. The only possible reason this movie could be getting this much Oscar attention is because of an aggressive Academy marketing campaign from the studio. And the only reason anyone gives a shit about this movie is because it's a comic book character. There were so many more deserving... a lot has been made about the lack of female nominees, a point I find to be fair (IMO Lulu Wang absolutely was more deserving-- I haven't seen Little Women yet). But even besides that, something like Uncut Gems was far more deserving, both for Best Picture and director. I get why some people might be into Joker but not The Farewell or Little Women, but Joker and Uncut Gems should appeal to the same demographic. I can't imagine someone watching both those films and come away thinking Joker was better.
Sorry for the rant... but this all seems like a really bad.... joke.
I didn't like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I get all the nominations. Tarantino has clout, and the film was well received. He was a shoe in. But Todd Phillips? I mean granted, I've never seen anything else he's made, but looking at his filmography, his thing was frat boy comedies up until now. I get that some people think Joker is an edgy masterpiece, and some of my favorite films are polarizing (hell I'm a Lynch fan). I don't know, I felt like I could see through everything this film was trying to do and see nothing. It was utterly humorless, probably bafflingly intentionally so. I guess it's edgy and ironic or something to make a film about comedians and call it Joker and make it humorless. This movie absolutely needed dark humor, IMO. It was psychologically unconvincing, It jumps around in touchy political issues like class warfare without having the courage to actually say anything about it. And I didn't come away from this feeling like this film gave a shit about anything in it or even its title character. Phoenix is a good actor and did what he could, but why the hell is every prestige actor playing a demented psychopath automatically an Oscar candidate? This wasn't even one of the top half of the performances of this same damn character in the last 30 years of cinema. I haven't seen Jared Leto but in the opinion of this person who doesn't give much of a crap about this character, this was definitely a worse Joker than Ledger, Nicholson or Hamill (who were all pretty damn great in their own ways, admittedly). This isn't Phoenix's fault.
I wish the Oscars didn't matter but they do. It influences what happens in the industry. The only possible reason this movie could be getting this much Oscar attention is because of an aggressive Academy marketing campaign from the studio. And the only reason anyone gives a shit about this movie is because it's a comic book character. There were so many more deserving... a lot has been made about the lack of female nominees, a point I find to be fair (IMO Lulu Wang absolutely was more deserving-- I haven't seen Little Women yet). But even besides that, something like Uncut Gems was far more deserving, both for Best Picture and director. I get why some people might be into Joker but not The Farewell or Little Women, but Joker and Uncut Gems should appeal to the same demographic. I can't imagine someone watching both those films and come away thinking Joker was better.
Sorry for the rant... but this all seems like a really bad.... joke.