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Joker

2019

Todd Phillips

Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy ...

8.0

72,310

Thriller. Drama Year 1981. In Gotham City, mentally-troubled Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) works as a clown-for-hire and lives with his mother, Penny. Arthur, whose motivation in life is to make people laugh, wants to be a stand-up comedian, but he is ignored by society, and a series of tragic events will take him to see the world in a different way, full of anger and rage against everyone and everything.

	Author	Review
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"Phoenix is astonishing as a mentally ill geek (...) [An] hypnotically perverse, ghoulishly grippingly urban-nightmare comic fantasia"	POS
United States	Mark Hughes Forbes	"An awesome accomplishment sure to please fans of the character and of the superhero genre, as well as average viewers just looking for a terrific film for adult audiences. (...) 'Joker' is one of the true masterpieces of the superhero cinema, and one of 2019's greatest achievements."	POS
United States	Jim Vejvoda IGN	"Phoenix’s fully committed performance and Todd Phillips’ masterful albeit loose reinvention of the DC source material make Joker a film that should leave comic book fans and non-fans alike disturbed and moved"	POS
United States	Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"It’s exhilarating in the most prurient of ways, a snuff film about the death of order, about the rot of a governing ethos. But from a step back (...) it also may be irresponsible propaganda for the very men it pathologizes."	NEU
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"Joaquin Phoenix paints on the famed maniacal smile with his own blood (...) what's most noteworthy about this gritty entry in the DC canon (...) is the pathos he brings to a pathetically disenfranchised character"	POS
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"For better or worse, superhero movies will never be the same. 'Joker' is the boldest and most exciting superhero movie since "The Dark Knight." It's also incendiary, confused, and potentially toxic.	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is indeed wild (...) The actor puts a horrifically human face on an iconic comic-book villain in the year’s most controversial movie (...) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Glenn Kenny rogerebert.com	"If you live to see Joaquin Phoenix go to performing extremes like nobody’s business, this movie really is the apotheosis of that (...) As social commentary, 'Joker' is pernicious garbage (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"A dark, brooding and psychologically plausible origin story, a vision of cartoon sociopathy made flesh."	POS
United Kingdom	Terri White Empire	"Joaquin Phoenix is astonishing (...) Comparing him to Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson feels like a nonsense: this is a Joker we’ve never seen (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"An empty, foggy exercise in second-hand style and second-rate philosophizing (...) the film turns out to be afraid of its own shadow, or at least of the faintest shadow of any actual relevance"	NEG
United Kingdom	Xan Brooks The Guardian	"A brilliantly insurrectionist origins story (...) Audaciously, it’s a film that invites us to love the monster (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)" (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"A convincing but ultimately hollow simulacra of better, smarter movies"	NEU
United States	Joe Lipsett Bloody Disgusting	"A cultural touchstone (...) Who would have guessed that a film about a clown could mean so much? (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Stephanie Zacharek Time	"Joker wants to be a movie about the emptiness of our culture. Instead, it’s a prime example of it"	NEG
United States	Alex Billington First Showing	"[I] don't know if the world is ready for this movie (...) Even if it isn't perfectly polished, even if it has flaws. I highly doubt [it] will be forgotten"	POS
United States	Joe Morgenstern The Wall Street Journal	"If you're feeling insufficiently anxious in your life, 'Joker' could be just the ticket. If not, look elsewhere to be entertained."	NEU
United Kingdom	David Sexton London Evening Standard	"One of the most alarming portraits of psychosis ever put on screen (...) Phoenix gives an absolutely convulsing performance, maybe the most powerful of his career (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Robbie Collin Telegraph	"There is something inescapably and chillingly glamorous in watching Arthur’s Joker persona emerge, like a poison-striped parasite devouring its host (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Superhero fans will inevitably have their favourite version of this unforgettable villain, but it’s probably not too controversial to propose that Phoenix’s take is the most human — and, as a result, the most tragic."	POS
United Kingdom	Geoffrey Macnab The Independent	"What do you get when you take a poor, mentally unstable loner and you treat him like trash? The answer given in Todd Phillips's ingenious new feature is Batman's arch nemesis (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
Ireland	Donald Clarke Irish Times	"Satirical masterpiece or manifesto for psychopathy, this is a beautifully made film (...) A classy diversion (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"A bleak but oddly beautiful horror boasting a brilliant, terrifyingly committed performance by Phoenix (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Sinead Brennan RTÉ	"Chilling, unnerving and absolutely brilliant (...) Phoenix gives the performance of the year here, but De Niro is also at the top of his game (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Brian Lloyd entertainment.ie	"'Joker' isn't perfect by any means, and it's not really trying to be. It's aiming for something much more authentic and real and it achieves that, for the most part (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Graham Scannain	"Everything is (almost) working in perfect harmony in 'Joker' (...) Arthur Fleck’s journey to demonic dolt is a tough watch but an engaging one (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Andrew Parker The Gate	"[It] is, like the character at the centre of it all, hard to define, but leaves an indelible impression (...) A provocative, unnerving picture (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Norman Wilner Now Toronto	"The movie’s a void; people will see whatever they want to see in it (...) But will this Joker change the game for superhero cinema? Is it an important movie? A potential Oscar contender? Don’t make me laugh"	NEG
Canada	Peter Howell Toronto Star	"Joaquin Phoenix is superb (...) The combustible characters and events in 'Joker' are plausible (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
Canada	Barry Hertz The Globe and Mail	"[It] is not nearly as dangerous, or interesting, as the internet would have you believe (...) An okay-but-not-especially-good-and-ultimately-nothing of a movie (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU

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