Joker

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ManBehindWinkies
Roadhouse Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:08 pm

Joker

Post by ManBehindWinkies »

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.
baxter
Great Northern Member
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Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:12 pm

Re: Joker

Post by baxter »

I only just saw this post!

I agree with 100% of it. Don't get me wrong- I thought it was a well-made film, but it is utterly derivative. It really is just King of Comedy with the Joker in it. The way to get an acting Oscar is to either play a well-known historical figure, or play someone with mannered characteristics. In both cases, people fawn immediately, and say "OMG! That is an OSCAR WORTHY performance!".

I often think we are spoiled by great acting in most things we watch. Put on even a crap TV show, and the acting is usually perfectly fine. Bad acting has to be very, very bad to stand out, but it also means that anything unusual stands out by default. Just last night, I saw a scene in an average show with an incredible performance (a character having to do subtle swings of emotion within a single scene) that blew away anything I saw in Joker. Maybe I just don't understand acting, but I think there are a whole host of subtle performances that lead us into a deep character piece by piece, and they never get official recognition.

Don't even get me started on Joker being profound. Anyone over the age of 16 who thinks it is profound has something wrong with them, and even the 16 year olds who think it is profound aren't at the top of the class.
ManBehindWinkies
Roadhouse Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:08 pm

Re: Joker

Post by ManBehindWinkies »

baxter wrote:I only just saw this post!

I agree with 100% of it. Don't get me wrong- I thought it was a well-made film, but it is utterly derivative. It really is just King of Comedy with the Joker in it. The way to get an acting Oscar is to either play a well-known historical figure, or play someone with mannered characteristics. In both cases, people fawn immediately, and say "OMG! That is an OSCAR WORTHY performance!".

I often think we are spoiled by great acting in most things we watch. Put on even a crap TV show, and the acting is usually perfectly fine. Bad acting has to be very, very bad to stand out, but it also means that anything unusual stands out by default. Just last night, I saw a scene in an average show with an incredible performance (a character having to do subtle swings of emotion within a single scene) that blew away anything I saw in Joker. Maybe I just don't understand acting, but I think there are a whole host of subtle performances that lead us into a deep character piece by piece, and they never get official recognition.

Don't even get me started on Joker being profound. Anyone over the age of 16 who thinks it is profound has something wrong with them, and even the 16 year olds who think it is profound aren't at the top of the class.
I only just saw this response! :D

I think Parasite having the big Oscars night helped reduce some of the sour taste of the Joker getting so many nominations. I'm still not sure how to explain why it got so many nominations, and at the time it seemed like the film might have a bigger cultural impact than it deserves, but now I actually think it will end up being a largely forgotten footnote in a few years.
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