Jamie
It’s possible that Joker is the biggest BMT film of all time. There are Transformers films, sure. There are Jurassic World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and DC Comics proper films. But there is nothing quite like Joker and the immense popularity of the first film. It was a box office smash and in the Oscar race. It was so huge that not only was a sequel obviously going to be made, but Todd Phillips was given a blank check. A blank check that he used to turn it into an uber expensive jukebox musical. It’s almost impossible to think of something even comparable to this catastrophe. So suffice to say I was pretty excited.
To recap, Arthur Fleck is in prison. He is a real saddo and generally treated as a joke. A musically inclined guard, though, decides to convince the higher ups to let him in on music therapy where he meets Harley Quinn. He’s taken by the idea that she is obsessed with his TV movie and his exploits as The Joker. During a film screening she sets a fire and they attempt an escape, which lands him in solitary confinement. Harley meets with him there and helps him have sex with her (yes, what happened is exactly as I wrote it there… it’s very funny). He then goes off for a softball interview to try to help his case that he is mentally unwell, but instead launches into a song that begins to incite people again. As his trial begins, Harley is upset that he isn’t doing more press as The Joker, but Arthur’s lawyer reveals that Harley is a liar and has made up all kinds of lies to get close to him. She admits to that, but also claims to be pregnant with their child. He dismisses his lawyer and begins representing himself. As his defense takes a disastrous route and he and his friends are abused by the guards, Arthur reflects and denounces his Joker persona and is found guilty. At that moment a bomb explodes outside and a group of his supporters help him escape. Eventually he runs from them and finds Harley who is like “nah, no thanks.” He’s taken back to Arkham where he is stabbed to death by the real Joker. THE END. (Or is it?… well yeah, it probably is).
I think I probably like Joker 2 more than most people. The idea that he made the entire thing as a fuck you to fans fo the first one I don’t believe for a second. I think this is always what he wanted to make. For sure making him a hilariously pathetic “villain” was quite a twist for those that held Joker up as some matinee idol. But I wasn’t one of those and there was something nice to how you watch this character and the whole time (even the first film) you’re like “this is the guy who becomes Batman’s archenemy?” Only for that to pay off exactly as that absurd concept should: a second straight year where Joaquin Phoenix wins Funniest Sex Scene of the Year Award (last year he won for Beau is Afraid). His sex scene with Lady Gaga is hilarious and is meant to be so and quite an accomplishment. My big problem is that the film was too small. Even the songs are small. They should have had Joker and Harley escape and then we could have romped through the city. Would have made it more fun. As constructed you sure do spend a lot of time talking away in a courthouse and interviews. As for Rebel Moon: Part 1 & Part 2, is it possible for me to kind of enjoy the daring of a film, but also think it represents the downfall of the medium? This and Carry-on were the two Netflix films I watched this year and boy howdy, what the hell is going on over there? The story structures are like children’s films. Still, some crazy sci-fi settings and kooky alien design? The main villain appears to have a sexual relationship with a squid alien? There are things to point to in Rebel Moon and say, “He tried.” Visually at least.
Hot Take Clam Bake! What if Arthur Fleck was the Joker after all? Sure at the end of this film we see him get stabbed. And sure that guy carves a smile onto his face implying that he becomes the Joker. But you know what we didn’t see? What happens right after that. Arthur ninja flips himself off the ground and karate chops that dude in the throat. He then reveals that he was wearing a bullet proof vest that also is knife proof. He then runs to tell Harley what happened but is shocked to find that his assailant killed her and their unborn child (which was real and definitely not a lie). Then as the guards rush him, Arthur leaps from the window into a vat of chemicals below. He is… The Joker. Hot Take Temperature: Acid Burn.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! *Gif of me dancing down some stairs but then I trip and fall all the way down and my face goes directly into a big pile of dogshit, I start crying, and then Lady Gaga walks by and laughs at me* Let’s go!
The Good? Whenever the films get close to actually being a DC film you start to see pieces of what really works. In the first film it is the bits and pieces of seeing how Joker like figure would generate a following, and there are pieces of Bruce Wayne set up that kind of works. Here, all the stuff concerning Two-Face and maybe how that could go is by far the most exciting stuff.
The Bad? Unfortunately the rest of the film is filled with aggressively mediocre Jukebox Musical numbers and/or is just very dull scenes of Joker wandering around a prison, or sitting in a courtroom, or being a big old saddo. It is a truly strange follow-up to an okay film with a great central performance.
The BMT? This movie is just bad. They really hamstring themselves with the singing. Whenever it started to happen I groaned because … they aren’t singing well? What is the point? It makes Joaquin Phoenix look kind of dumb. It is quite unfortunate to behold. And I didn’t even really like the first one that much.
To pair with the glory that is Joker 2 we had to go for the double dip of Netflix slop with Rebel Moon – Part 1: A Child of Fire, and Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver. Wooooooooof these films are wild stuff. Imagine the most derivative Star Wars garbage you’ve ever seen, but also very stilted and cut up because the production is Netflix weirdness. It was a surreal experience to watch like five hours of quite bad science fiction. The positives? The world building was fun, it is nice sometimes to be dropped into a space opera with interesting aliens and governments and space travel and junk. The negatives? Every time a battle scene came up I would basically lose track of what was happening and fall asleep. It is the anti-James Cameron. Cameron has an eye for action which makes those scene exciting, but the Avatar world is a bit derivative. This is occasionally interesting world building with some of the worst action scenes you’ll ever seen. Can’t wait for Part 3 and 4. C+, something about watching the absolute worst Netflix has to offer every year is fun. Electric State here we come!
Ah, finally, a little test on the batch image processing. What shall we look up? What about movie posters with clowns in them? I used the top 150 films from 1990 and ran it 10 times. The answers were: 10/10 Quick Change, 5/10 Child’s Play 2. The second is interesting. I chose the top 150 from 1990 because I knew Quick Change was in there (at #146). There is a little toy clown in the Child’s Play poster. Why does it only hit 5 out of 10 times? … I don’t know. But I like the correct indexing. In a way, possibly, 5/10 could literally mean the model is only 50% confident that a toy clown counts. I’ll have to explore this more.
You know that his is a Setting as a Character (Where?) for Gotham City baby. And I do think this has a Worst Twist (How?) potential with the reveal that he probably isn’t the actual Joker, but instead is stabbed (probably not to death, I assume the plan for a third would have involved the other Joker taking his mantle and him being a big saddo about it) by the actual Joker in the end. This is a Bad film, although I do admit it gets close to BMT in its weirdness, I just don’t think I would ever watch it again.
Read all about DC villains I guess in the Quiz. Cheerios,
The Sklogs
Bad Movie Twins 