Welcome to another edition of The Discourse, the show where we discuss film news, reviews, and any other topics in the pop culture zeitgeist that we feel the need to weigh-in on. And boy oh boy, did we need to come in hot with this one. On this episode, I’m joined by Chris Evangelista (/Film) to discuss “Joker,” the film that is on everyone’s minds and has been on everyone’s minds since the script for the film leaked in August, and the discourse has not slowed down a bit.
Director Todd Phillips‘ spin on the origins of Batman’s most iconic nemesis – a mixtape of Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy” – debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where it won the fest’s top prize, The Golden Lion. From there, criticism has been leveled at the film for being a potentially dangerous incel recruitment video, has garnered polarizing marks from critics that range from “masterpiece” to “dumpster fire,” has seen security increased in certain cities and theaters showing the film, and a press tour that has seen Phillips hit more unforced errors than all four years of my high school tennis career combined. The noise has been so loud for so long that it’s easy to forget that the film is just now opening to the general public this weekend. We address all of those issues, but as usual, we cut through all the noise to ask one question: how is the film itself? Well, depending on who you ask, you may get a bit of a different answer, so you’ll have to listen for yourself.
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