Having heck with trying to re-edit whether what I said should've been a "spoiler". Looks like it's not working. Anyway it was the murder scene with the dwarf.
I’m with you. Spoiler He probably did. At that point, all he wanted was to seek acceptance from another person. Turns out, those feelings and interaction from that woman was all in his head.
Spoiler I don't recall there being any indication he did. He really only seemed to "target" people who had (he perceived) "wronged" him in some manner - the "Wall Street" subway guys, his mother, Randall (even letting the other guy go, because he had never done anything hurtful to Arthur), and finally Murray. There's no indication he felt any ill will towards Sophie.
I wasn't sure either until my wife pointed out……. Spoiler that after he visits her, the next shot is him in his own apartment and there are sirens and emergency lights flashing outside. I tend to think he did
Spoiler I just saw it and didn't get that he had murdered them either. She just asked him to leave and was scared, she wasn't cruel in any way. If he had feelings for her in his fantasy life, I think something would have had to push him in the opposite direction for him to murder for no reason. It was supposed to be a chaotic situation all over the city, so the sirens could have been for any reason. With the police suspecting him already for the subway murders, if another set of murders happens down the hall, I would have to think there'd be much more effort to track him down than only the same two cops pursuing him.
also saw it today. Can’t say I enjoyed it but did admire it. Phillips really captured seedy NYC,mean Gotham circa 1978
I saw the movie yesterday. Thought it was good but not great. Joaquin Phoenix was excellent and certainly deserves the Oscar buzz he's getting. I'm not sure if what I am stating qualifies for spoiler material but to be on the safe side: Spoiler Generally I thought it a sad story of a guy with mental issues and his slow decline to insanity. I think the whole Joker thing was just part of his delusions. I just can't see naive Arthur Fleck having the crisp sharp intelligence that would be required of Joker. Even if the masses initially followed him I'm sure they would quickly catch on to his inability to be what they are looking for.
Spoiler There's speculation, based on the ending, that perhaps the entire movie was a delusion. Which in a way, is yet another ode to Taxi Driver and its ambiguous and oft-disputed ending.
But did they let you see terrifying horror movies at 4? This event actually scarred my brother. Not that he turned into a serial killer or anything, but he still remembers how traumatized he was. My parents let me start to see selected "R" movies when I was 10. That's a lot more reasonable than taking a 4-year-old to a violent "R" movie!
Oh, I've seen a few movies where people laughed uproariously at violence not intended to be funny. Most infamous (in my mind): "48 Hours" back in 1982. IIRC, there's a brutal scene in which a guy gets shot in the head early in the film. Some dope laughed through the whole scene - and all the rest of the movie's moments not intended to be funny. I think he went with the expectation this'd be a wild Eddie Murphy comedy and thought everything was meant to be humorous. Or he was this guy:
I think that the ending of "Taxi Driver" Spoiler is up for grabs as fantasy. I see why it can be viewed that way, but it's also just as likely - if not more so - that it's ironic. The nut who went on a violent rampage gets honored as a hero. On the other hand, clearly chunks of "Joker" didn't happen - we're told that there was no relationship with the neighbor. The question becomes how much more was fantasy. I tend to think most of "Joker" did happen and it's told as Arthur's memory. Won't lean strongly one way or the other until I see it again, though!
No, I doubt I was that young. Earliest movie I remember seeing in the theater was Return Of The Jedi.
Saw it in IMAX (LieMax, really) today and loved it. Looked fantastic, and the movie was excellent. Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips made a hell of a picture.
he plays everything well...especially creepy crawlers! the guy can be quite repulsive, menacing, wonderful, caring and whatever duty calls of him. I'm a fan.
Thought this was pretty average. They'd made a lot of fuss about the violence, and the use of Gary Glitter's music, but in the end there's nothing here shocking or that we've never seen before. I thought it labored it's point, and could have lost 20 minutes without serious detriment. It's okay, nothing more, imo.
One of the Taxi Driver similarities that caught my eye was when Fleck followed his neighbour to work. He looked just like Bickle walking down the street with his hands in his jacket pocket, right down to his gait.
I had a friend who saw it and expressed disappointment that the movie wasn’t violent enough. I thought what violence there is was rather shocking actually—something about the gritty feel of the film and us basically in Fleck’s POV the entire time. Anything more would have been cartoony and untrue to the vibe. Warner Bros took a risk with this film and it definitely paid off. Compare this to garbage from last year like that other comic book ‘bad guy’ film, Venom.
