JOKER (2019)

Written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver



Directed by Todd Phillips



Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA. October 7, 2019 5:45 PM




The Joker, the deranged and insane comic-book villain, is just as well known as his arch-nemesis, the Dark Knight or as most of the world refers to as Batman. I guess some thought that he deserved to have his back story told and we now have "Joker", a divisive and provocative work which explores how a sad, mentally disturbed man is pushed by a cruel, indifferent society in to becoming a cruel, homicidal messiah.

Todd Phillips, the director behind the high-concept comedies, "Old School" and "The Hangover" trilogy, has surprisingly been given the reins of this violent thriller. He has effectively created a world that goes far outside of what you would normally find in a movie based on comics, a place that is far more sinister, frightening and credible. And we have Joaquin Phoenix, the three-time Oscar nominee who is best known for his impressive work in playing strange, offbeat characters, taking on this title character in a deeply committed performance with the actor going as far as losing over fifty pounds to make himself appear even more deviant.

"Joker" was the unexpected winner for Best Film at the recent Venice Film Festival which makes it appear like this film rises well above the standard super-hero action-adventure. While the film is certainly grounded with no costumed crusaders or CGI enhanced battles to be found yet if you remove the comic-book connection, the troubling and brutal dramatic situations found in "Joker" would be seen as far less innovative or entertaining.

We first meet Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) on the streets of 1980's Gotham City dressed as a clown, flipping a advertisement sign to promote a business. A gang of kids steal the sign and when Fleck tries to get it back, they beat him savagely. And to add insult to his injury, his boss informs Fleck he has to pay for the missing board.

Life at home isn't much better for Arthur, who lives and cares for his seriously ill mother (Frances Conroy). He not only has to take medication to help control his fragile mental state but also suffers from a rare disorder that causes him to laugh during inappropriate moments when he is stressed. This clearly leaves Arthur feeling further isolated and lonely.

Fleck seems to have a large sign on his back saying "Easy victim right here" as he becomes the target for a trio of drunken businessmen. However this time, Arthur is not left in a bloodied heap. Pulling out a gun given to him by a co-worker to use as protection, Fleck leaves his would-be-assailants groveling and full of bullet holes.

With one of the men perishing, the city is sent in to a panic, fearful that a dangerous vigilante is on the loose. The victims happened to work for Wayne Enterprises and the billionaire owner, Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) is running for Mayor. He uses this tragic situation to his advantage to show Gotham City he will be tough on crime while labeling the criminal a cowardly clown envious of rich, successful people. Some citizens find this statement offensive and take to the streets to protest in clown masks.

Mr. Phillips' goal was to make "Joker" a complex drama that does not feel like a direct extension of the DC comic-book universe. And with that, the director is successful. As a filmmaker, Phillips creates an interesting blend of realism and fantasy with Lawrence Sher's camerawork highlighting the garish and muddy colors which helps add to the urban decay of this dystopian world. But as a storyteller, Phillips is less fortunate. The screenplay, co-written by the director and Scott Silver, may have been aiming for reflective social commentary yet it's not exactly clear in what the film is really trying to say. The horrific deaths and unsettling mayhem that occur seems to imply that these victims may have deserved what came to them. I'm sure the intention is not to be rooting for the sociopathic Fleck. Or is it?  Phillips has not made this clear enough in his script.

There are a few well-known character actors popping up in supporting roles including Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, Marc Maron and "Atlanta" co-stars, Brian Tyree Henry and Zazie Beetz who plays a neighbor who shows Arthur a brief moment of kind attention but none of them are really given much to do. And that includes Robert De Niro who appears here as Murray Franklin, a Johnny Carson-type, late-night television host. Arthur is a big fan of the show with Franklin as his inspiration to become a stand-up comedian. After performing during an open-mike and bombing quite badly, Fleck's taped performance ends up going viral, catching the attention of Franklin who invites him on the show. Fleck accepts but at this point, he's off his meds due to budget cuts and no longer in a joking mood. De Niro is kinda sleepwalking through the film but the real purpose of his appearance was clearly designed to make a subliminal connection to the disturbed and delusional characters he once played in the Martin Scorsese films, "Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy". There are also elements of the celebrated director's early 1970's work used in "Joker" to help inspire an atmospheric shorthand for the dirty, gritty city of this world yet it comes across as lazy and trite.

What makes "Joker" work at all is the wiry and zany performance of Phoenix. It was reported that the actor was extremely reluctant to take on this iconic role. But once he was reassured that this would not be a conventional version of the character, he was comfortable to join the project and let himself go creatively. Nothing that Phoenix does here is remotely predictable, skillfully going from sensitive and caring to unhinged and ferocious, sometimes impressively all at the same time. Without the sensational work of Mr. Phoenix, you would be far more aware of the thin characterizations and cliched situations that fills the rest of the film.

To me, "Joker" is a sordid, unrelentingly bleak and miserable cinematic experience. Yet people have responded to the film in great numbers, clearly seeing it multiple times to make it not only one of the biggest hits of the year but on course to be one of the rare films to make over a billion dollars at the worldwide box-office. What does this mean? Perhaps people are connecting to the themes of destructive anarchy and violently rising up against the greedy rich. Maybe they are enjoying a refreshing new way of telling a comic-book story that doesn't involve super-powered, costumed heroes or high-flying battles. Or it could be that audiences are just simply entertained by the dark humor in this well-crafted yet unsettling drama that is anchored by a wildly dynamic performance by Mr. Phoenix. No matter. I'm certain nobody is going to see "Joker" to find any dark, hidden messages. Or are they?

DIAHANN CARROLL (1935 - 2019)

I know this is a little late but I couldn't let the moment go by without mentioning the passing of Diahann Carroll, the glamorous and talented entertainer that was one of the few African-American actors to receive an Academy-Award nomination, who died on October 4th after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. This beautiful performer also had the groundbreaking lead role in the 1960's television series, "Julia" where Carroll played a nurse and not the expected job for African-American women at the time as a domestic.

She was born Carol Diahann Johnson in the Bronx and got her first big break as a singer after wining the top prize on a television talent show in 1954. This lead to a supporting role in the film, "Carmen Jones" and a co-starring part in the Broadway musical, "House Of Flowers". Carroll would continue to appear on stage and screen before winning a 1962 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, becoming the first African-American female to win the prize.

After her trailblazing sitcom ended in 1971 (where she received a Golden-Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for her role), Carroll would get a major part in a feature film where she played against type in the 1974 romantic comedy-drama, "Claudine". She played a single mother with six children who is struggling to support her family on welfare assistance. When Claudine falls for a garbage collector (James Earl Jones), this threatens her benefits and complicates her relationship with her kids who are against this relationship. The film would earn Carroll an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

And in the 1980's during the era of the nighttime soaps, Carroll wanted to become TV's first "Black bitch". She got her wish by being cast in one of the most popular of the day, "Dynasty" where she played Dominique Deveraux, a wealthy nightclub performer who was also millionaire, Blake Carrington's half-sister.

I was a very young child when "Julia" came out on television yet I remember it to this very day. The program had such an impact on me (not only since there were not many African-Americans on television back then) because it really showed me that I could become anything I wanted to be when I grew up. I realize this was only a sitcom but what I saw on television and the movies at the time usually didn't include people who looked like me. This is why I know how important it is to see yourself represented in entertainment. And I want to thank Diahann Carroll, in a small yet meaningful way, for helping me realize that anything is possible.

15 ESSENTIAL JUDY GARLAND PERFORMANCES

Judy Garland, the beloved Hollywood musical star best known for her dramatic and moving singing voice, has been on the minds of many lately. One reason is that it was fifty years ago that Garland passed away at the age of forty-seven from an overdose after losing her battle against the many prescription drugs she had become addicted to since being given them as a young girl by her movie studio to keep her weight down and maintain energy throughout the long shooting days. And her tragic death has indirectly been attributed to sparking the New York Stonewall riots which would begin the modern gay liberation movement.

There is also a new biopic, "Judy" which covers the final year of Garland's life. Broke, unemployed and unstable, she was forced to leave her young children behind with her ex-husband in Los Angeles so she could accept a job performing in a London nightclub. The long-suffering yet still gifted entertainer is brought to life with an impressively mesmerizing (and award-worthy) performance by Renée Zellweger who perfectly captures Garland's sharp wit, gentle spirit, deep-set anxieties and self-destructive behavior.

Vulture has put the focus back on Garland's talent and career with a look back on fifteen of her most captivating screen appearances. While the list is certainly heavy with the musicals that greatly contributed to her legendary fame, there are also a few dramatic roles that Garland was equally adept such as her performance in "The Clock" (1945) which was her first non-musical part and her brief yet riveting work in "Judgment at Nuremberg" from 1961.

Click below to read the article:

The Fifteen Best Screen Performances by Judy Garland

LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE (2019)

Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman



Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA. September 22, 2019 12:30 PM



At one point in the engaging documentary, "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice", Bonnie Raitt describes the singer as the "Beyoncé of her day". And that would be an accurate assessment of this versatile song stylist. Linda Ronstadt ruled the pop charts throughout the 1970's which helped make her become one of the biggest female recording artists of all time. But while she was at the top of her career, Ronstadt grew tired of the grind of the rock & roll lifestyle and needed to challenge herself creatively. She ventured out to record albums that explored theatrical comic opera, the Great American Songbook, classic country, jazz standards, Mexican Mariachi and Tropical Latin music. Her record label thought for sure that Ronstadt would ruin her career by going so far outside of conventional expectations of a pop singer. Yet thankfully they didn't stop her either. And these records became critical and commercial successes, helping to introduce Ronstadt to a wide new audience.

Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1946 and raised on a large ranch with her parents and three siblings. As the family was fairly isolated, the children had to find their own entertainment and that would be with music. Ronstadt was exposed to a variety of different genres of music through records and the radio while the entire family would harmonize together in song. This would help later in her career influence how she wanted her music to sound and to insist on firm creative control to make sure that would happen.

Ronstadt began singing professionally with her older brother, Peter and sister, Suzy as teens around the Tucson area. The three Ronstadts eventually joined musician Bobby Kimmel's folk-rock outfit, The New Union Ramblers and together enjoyed some local success. But Peter left to become a police officer, Suzy went off to get married and Kimmel headed to Los Angeles which left Ronstadt on her own with no idea of what she wanted to do with her life.

Kimmel knew Ronstadt would do well in LA, luring the eighteen year old out to the West Coast in 1964. They formed a group called the Stone Poneys, signed with Capitol Records and had a top ten pop hit with "Different Drum" (written by Monkees member, Mike Nesmith) by 1967. The band broke-up not long after this success but the label was more interested in their female vocalist anyway.

And Ronstadt became an incredibly popular artist and enjoyed a string of hit singles (with most being covers of some of her favorite songs) including "You're No Good", "Blue Bayou", "When Will I Be Loved", "Heat Wave", "Love is a Rose", "Ooh Baby, Baby" and "It's So Easy". But being viewed as a "chick singer" was challenging for her as there were expectations to be sexy and tough which Ronstadt was not comfortable doing. Since she was one of the few women performing in rock music, Ronstadt had to occasionally endure sexist behavior and received some resistance from her all-male band members from her calling the shots. But she never let any of this interfere with her ability to do what she loved.

Ms Ronstadt had absolutely no interest in participating in a film about her life but the filmmakers, Epstein and Friedman were persistent, frequently sending her warm and thoughtful letters. The now retired seventy-three year old performer eventually relented, in part due to their 1984 Academy-Award winning documentary on Harvey Milk which Ronstadt admired and made her feel like she would be in good hands. Yet she still had a couple of ground rules; Ronstadt didn't want to have an on-camera interview nor did she want the film to dwell on her Parkinson's disease which she has been dealing with since around 2009.

"The Sound of My Voice" covers a vast majority of Ronstadt's lengthy life and career but the film moves briskly. The highlight of this documentary, without a doubt, are the several thrilling live performances from Ronstadt in her prime which perfectly capture her skill and grace as a vocalist. Some of Ronstadt's musical contemporaries appear in the film to sing her praises which include Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, J.D. Souther (which she had a brief relationship with), Aaron Neville and Don Henley who was at one time a part of a group of Ronstadt's backing musicians that would eventually become The Eagles.

Ronstadt never felt any competition with the other talented female performers who were around at the time and went out of her way to befriend them. Raitt and Karla Bonoff would become her life-long friends while she collaborated with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton on two highly successful country albums. The only criticism you will find about Ronstadt in the film is from the singer herself. She's notoriously self-deprecating, continuously going on about how she's not a great singer and that many of her recordings are not very good.

While she found her great fame during the era of the singer/songwriter, Ronstadt did not write her own material. "The Sound of My Voice" brings to focus her unique ability to reinterpret beloved, familiar tunes while reshaping them to feel like fresh new songs. Near the end of the film, we are treated with Ronstadt singing along with her brother and nephew to a traditional Mexican folk ballad. While the disease has robbed her of the powerful voice she once had, Ronstadt gives her all, looking elated and stating that there was no way she wouldn't join her family in song.