Give My Boy Joaquin An Oscar

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2019)

So, Joker also known as the unofficial sequel to Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy was honestly the best comic book movie of this year, and this is the same year that Avengers:Endgame, Spider-Man: Far from Home and Shazam came out.Joker was a solid film but it was not without its faults
A major fault it had to me was the ending. I think the ending dragged on a bit with the Joker in Arkham Asylum. I feel like that scene wasn't really needed and it would have been more effective if the movie ended with him being carried by his followers and then showing the news media's coverage of the events happening. To me, a weaker ending doesn't necessarily ruin a film but it does keep it from ruining its full potential.
Another minor critique is the amount of Scorsese elements in the film. While they do enhance the style of the film with the era, the film over-relies on it at times and keeps it from fully developing its own style.Looking into it further, Scorsese was originally supposed to co-produce but had to leave due to conflicts with other projects, but I still wish that the film had a greater defined style. My last main critique is that there is a mild lack of subtlety in the film with some of the dialogue being a bit on the nose and the reveal of the girlfriend not being real by showing flashbacks kind of took me out of the film but that didn't happen too often. Anyways, these are the only things I thought that made the movie falter but otherwise it was amazing. Especially with the acting I'mI'm sure I'm not the first to say it, but Joaquin Phoenix carries a lot of this movie. His performance is powerful and heartbreaking. From the opening shot of the film, you can tell how much passion and effort Phoenix had for this role makes him one of the best iterations of the Joker of all time. I could go on and on about how amazing Joaquin Phoenix's performance is, but I would be preaching to the choir. Every other actor also did an amazing job. Robert De Niro gave a memorable performance despite the limited amount of screen time he had. Zazie Beetz also did a great job as Arthur's "girlfriend" and Frances Conroy also gave a memorable performance as Arthur's mother.The other actors in the film did a great job as well.I also loved the score, it was haunting and chaotic with low cello tones. Give my boy Hildur Gudnadottir an oscar.The presentation was also beautiful with nice cinematography, lighting, use of color, editing, and the rare thing of shooting on location and not in a sound studio with a green screen. The film had a nice aesthetic to it which helped to immerse you in the gritty slums of Gotham.Unlike most people I didn't mind the Batman tie-ins with the film as much as others. Sure the part where Arthur met young Bruce Wayne was a bit forced and strange but the integration of Thomas Wayne into the story with him being a politician and then the scene where he gets shot in the alley was done masterfully .