‘Joker’ Film Review: Joaquin Phoenix Channels Classic Robert De Niro in Grungy ’70s Homage

When Martin Scorsese directed “Taxi Driver” in 1976 and “The King of Comedy” in 1982, he was commenting directly on the contemporary world and on the damaged individuals trying to survive in it.

When director Todd Phillips chose to set “Joker” in a 1981 that very much resembles those films (it’s Gotham City as “Fun City”) and with a character that seems to be an amalgam of Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin from those two classics, he seems to be doing so because he’s such a Scorsese fan.After all, if you’re going to make a film about working-class people being crushed by the wealthy, and about a sociopath who inspires violent followers after committing crimes and going on television, 2019 is just sitting here.Viewers will no doubt disagree about whether or not “Joker” should have been a period piece, but there’s no question that

Read full article