On this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out yet another scary clown with Joker, a film that insisted we think deeply about its shallow politics and half-baked philosophy. We ponder whether death of the author is even possible when the author won’t shut his mouth, and whether a strong, dark, and gritty Joaquin Phoenix performance is enough of a selling point in a world in which You Were Never Really Here already exists.

Then we venture back to earlier in 2019 and find ourselves shocked by our unabashed praise for Rocketman, a biopic of Elton John that we refuse to call a jukebox musical. Glenn decided to make Daniel watch it this week because it’s as close to the opposite of Joker as he could muster, but also because it’s an entry in a genre that we could’ve sworn was creatively bankrupt, and we found ourselves delightfully mistaken (58:03).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Joker): 4 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Rocketman): 9 out of 10

Show notes:

• [02:49] Review: Joker
• [19:55] Spoilers: Joker
• [36:59] Review: Rocketman
• Music for this episode is the tracks “I Want Love” and “I’m Still Standing”, by the cast (and from the soundtrack) of Rocketman.
• A few solid reads on Joker:
  • “You’re Not Going To Remember Any Of This Shit: Joker, Reviewed” by Felix Biederman (Deadspin)
  • “Love it or hate it, the Joker movie presents a tempting fantasy” by Tasha Robinson (The Verge)

Listen above, or download: Joker, Rocketman (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)