Since Joker arrived in theaters at the beginning of this month, it’s been on quite a tear at the box office. This past weekend the movie passed $800 million worldwide, and topped both Deadpool and Deadpool 2 as the new highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time in the process.

As has become customary when a movie beats another movie’s record at the box office, congratulations were in order. And with Ryan Reynolds being the star of the Deadpool franchise, you knew it was going to be a good one. Reynolds sent out a tweet offering congratulations, and did so in a completely fitting way for the new R-rated champ. You can see what he shared below.

Joker
Director: Todd Phillips
Writer: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Rated R | Minutes: 122
Release Date: October 4, 2019

One of the worse things that a writer and director can do in a comic book film adaptation is misinterpret the source material. It is one thing to re-envision it in order to suit a vision of the story that you want to tell, but it is something else when you go far off the edge just to prove you can be the bleakest of the lot. That is what Todd Phillip‘s Joker does. Using Gotham City as a canvas, the film is painted with the colors of Martin Scorsese inspiration and the complexities of heavy themes of mental illness and social inequality, with a slight touch of DC, all of which makes Joker a dark, depressing, and gritty hardboiled crime drama that also happens to be the origins story for the clown prince of crime. The story delves into the mind of the lonely title character, played brilliantly by Joaquin Phoenix, who has been dumped on by society. But as fascinating as the lead performance is, everything else about it lacks complexities and nuance, and only further stigmatizes those who do suffer from mental illness.

My full review here below.

While most comic book movies borrow directly from the source material, they aren’t necessarily direct adaptations.

Todd Phillips‘ Joker, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, may fit into that category as it will not be inspired by the comics and will present an original character-driven story. Check out the full report below.

The Joker continues to make some very unexpected castings which may make the film riveting or just plain weird. Alec Baldwin is the latest to join the cast, but it is who he is playing that could hook some people in.

According to various reports, the actor will play Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce Wayne. Additionally, the character is being described as someone who has the same personality and unusually orange tanned skin as a certain someone. More on the story below.

Martin Scorsese has been an executive producer on Todd Phillips‘ Joker since it was announced last year. While this is the filmmaker’s first superhero film, Warner Bros.’ vision for the character is what attracted Scorsese to the project. According to previous reports, WB is planning to expand the DC universe with new and unique storylines that aren’t a part of the current DC Extended Universe. Phillips says the film will be a gritty and hard-boiled crime drama in the same vein as Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The King of Comedy.

Now we are getting to see how much of an influence Scorsese is having on the film. According to new reports Robert De Niro, who starred in all three of the aforementioned influences, and Frances Conroy, who starred in The Aviator, are currently in talks to join titular star Joaquin Phoenix and recently reported Deadpool 2 star Zazie Beetz on the cast of the new the origins film. More on the story below.