I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about going to see Joker. A stand alone movie about the Clown Prince of Crime directed by the guy who directed Old School and the Hangover set in the 1980s? What the hell! Let’s check it out. I am not going to spoil anything for you, but I would say go see it whenever you can. It felt like a movie filmed in the 1970s/80s. While I was working on Gotham Joker was filming a few stages down from us and I didn’t really get to see too much of the set itself, but got to see a lot of the picture cars and also the background actors going to and from set. Quick little behind the scenes look, the marquee for the Murray Franklin Show was actually built on the face of one of the entrances to the production offices at Steiner Studios. It was weird watching that be filmed there, while we were in the stages filming Gotham.
I really enjoyed the set design of Joker. I really felt like I was back in NYC during the early 1980s even though it was supposed to be Gotham of the 1980s. They did a great job using Newark streets of today to give a throwback feel. Todd Phillips even used the Warner Brother's Film logo from the 80's to start the movie off. That got a huge pop out of me. I love little touches like that.
One of the best things about Joker is you didn't know what when A.Fleck was going to break. You know it was coming of course because the movie is called Joker but you just didn't know when. Joker felt like an homage to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy and there was definitely a nod to both works by casting Robert De Niro.
Things I loved-
Joker costume matched up with Joker from Batman TV Series. The smile make up was reminiscent of Caesar Romero's make up also.
Arkham looked like a real dilapidated mental health hospital and not a gothic castle.
You only really felt bad for Arthur Fleck when Joe first started.
This could have been called Jester, had nothing to do with Batman connection and still worked.
Showed how budget cuts for mental health programs is one of the reasons why we are dealing with so much violence and crime.
Kind of Flight Clubesque.
Don't go into the theater thinking this is going to be a run of the mill super hero/villain story. Go into this thinking you are going to see a pretty damn good flick. "But you haven't really told us why you liked it... Like what happens in it?" I hate reviews that give away too much of what happens in the flicks. Just go see it...
