I don't give ten-star ratings

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2019)

There's a reason you use the weighted average on IMDb's ratings. There are a helluva lot of people out there who, if they like a movie, give it ten stars, but if they don't care for it, give it one. They have no gray area, no ability to recognize that most movies are somewhere in between. Thus, the weighted average, which tosses out the tens and ones, and gives you the rating of people who THINK.
I don't give out ten-star ratings. I don't do the obligatory standing ovations that seem to follow every damn live performance, and I don't yell "bravo" unless it's actually called for. But I'm giving "Joker" ten stars.
It's rare that I see people sitting in their seats just staring at the credits after the lights to come up, not because they're waiting for some stinger scene, but because they're just too stunned to move. "Joker" did that to the audience with which I saw it. The most common comment I heard in the lobby afterward? "Holy shit."
This movie is a high dive into the deep end of the crazy pool. Fifteen minutes in, I was convinced that it will be at least a nominee for Best Picture, and for my money, the clear winner. If Joaquin Phoenix does not come away with the Best Actor Oscar, it's only because the Academy winners decide that it doesn't count as acting if you're actually crazy, because NOBODY is that good of an actor. Even the score was Oscar-worthy, moody and threatening.
Yes, this is the Joker of the Batman universe. It touches on some of the familiar Batman tropes: young Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, Arkham Asylum. But make no mistake, this is not a comic book movie. This is a fascinating and and powerful and disturbing look at the decline into madness of a troubled person, pushed by events over the edge of the mental chasm. SEE IT.
THIS was a ten-star movie. Bravo!