The lights dim. The curtains rise. A murmur passes through the room, the residual sound of a thousand voices going silent. The stage is set. A street from another century. A lamppost that would make Gene Kelly feel right at home. A series of storefronts with nothing behind them but a skeleton of two-by-fours. Then there he is, appearing as though by magic. Joaquin Phoenix. In his full Joker makeup. As he starts into a passionate musical number, bellowing his emotions to the back of the room and beginning a highly choreographed dance number, two thoughts cross your mind: 1) Joaquin Phoenix truly is one of the greatest performers of our generation and 2) What the hell is he doing in your kid's school play? Mr. Phoenix is definitely not out of place in Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips' follow up to his smash hit Joker, which took the box office by storm back in 2019, earning nearly $1 billion for Warner Bros. Joker 2? Let's say its contributions to Warner Bros.' portfolio were more... aspirational than financial. In a genre-bending twist, Phillips and Phoenix take superhero movies into a new realm with the help of Lady Gaga, introducing the world to the first musical superhero blockbuster movie of the modern era. Taking a sharp left turn from where most audiences thought about the trajectory of the character and world, the team behind the second Joker movie instead decided to try something completely different with the character and the genre. Whether or not that new direction worked for you (and based purely on box office numbers, odds are that it did not) is a matter of taste. Either way, Joker: Folie à Deux is nothing if not a bold vision, and your intrepid hosts at The Reel Film Chronicles have gallantly sallied forth to explore the deranged minds at the heart of of this film and the characters they've created on screen for our twisted amusement.

JOKER: FOLIE à DEUX (2024)

directed by: Todd Phillips

starring: Joaquin Phoenix - Lady Gaga - Brendan Gleeson - Catherine Keener

runtime: 138 minutes

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episode 90