Filmmaker Paul Schrader on Joker: Folie a Deux: “I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough. It’s a really bad musical. I don’t like either of those people. I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing. I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.” [Pajiba]
Doutzen Kroes made her comeback appearance at the Victoria’s Secret show. Doutzen probably hopes people have forgotten that she’s an anti-vaxxer. [Just Jared]
Cher performed at the Victoria’s Secret show. [Socialite Life]
Margot Robbie’s Chanel ambassadorship has been so blah. [LaineyGossip]
Lupita Nyong’o wore an interesting dress. [Go Fug Yourself]
SZA “bugs out” on Hot Ones. [OMG Blog]
Cardi B at the Victoria’s Secret show. [RCFA]
Redband trailer for The Monkey. [Seriously OMG]
Jinger Vuolo is pregnant again. [Starcasm]
Cooper Koch is in a relationship. [Hollywood Life]
Andrew Garfield did Buzzfeed’s “puppy interview.” [Buzzfeed]
YIKES. That was some review…
I haven’t seen it yet, but even before this I’m not inclined to see it.
My son went to see it and was upset with how bad it was. Lol. I had no intention of seeing it and the reviews just confirmed I was right.
I have zero interest in seeing this movie.
Not even on streaming, free.
No coverage from you on VS show? I see the link but I was looking forward to CBers take on it.
I saw some photos from the show. It should have been stayed dead. We just started body image discussions and the VS show embodies negative body image for women. I still remember former VS show models talking about how little they had to eat and drink water before the show. It isn’t good for anybody.
@Kaiser, are you guys going to cover Anne Hathaway singing “Someone to Love” at a recent Kamala Harris fundraiser? It was a great callback to her singing that song in Ella Enchanted, and I think it’s a topical story because of the election and also because of that weird attempt at stirring up drama that that Norwegian journalist tried to do last week, attempting to ride the coattails of Anne’s Princess Diaries 3 announcement. (I really dislike that journalist.) Anne looked and sounded great!
I mean, are we supposed to like the characters? I understand if he didn’t like the acting, but these characters shouldn’t be likeable anyway. I know, in the first movie, the incels claimed the Joker character, but even that shows Joker isn’t the moral character a normal person should root for. Still I am gonna watch it at home though 😭
OMG, so same. It’s the era of the anti-hero, launched by Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but I love complicated anti-heroes, people who are deeply flawed and not admirable in their actions, but yet give us that sense of “yeah, it’s nice to see the little guy overcome.” Okay, all of these examples are angry white men, and the incel thing is terrifying, but it’s a tiny step forward for Hollywood to explore complexity. I really liked the first Joker, and I’m looking forward to this one. Maybe it will suck, as sequels usually do, but tons of Marvel/DC movies are pointless drivel. Why is this one taking so much heat? Makes it more interesting IMHo.
Yes, we’re supposed to like the characters. That doesn’t mean admire them, emulate them, or bring them home to mother – just enjoy their company during the 2+ hours we’re together in the movie theater. What makes characters watchable and enjoyable is how they’re written and how they’re performed. Evidently, Schrader didn’t like either – that doesn’t mean he can’t handle complex characters or anti-heroes (which, btw, have been around since the beginning of filmmaking).
@Eurydice, Joker isn’t anti-hero though. He is a villain. He has always been a villain and the first movie, I believe, showed that without all Batman movies’ (including Nolan’s) Joker with perfectly-orchestrated-villain-plans. It was just more real-life portrayal. Maybe, that’s why people confuse him with anti-heroes? We were never supposed to like the character. I didn’t while watching the first movie. You can actually watch a villain’s backstory without liking them.
Maybe, I am thinking too deep, he is just referring to the writing. If so, a lot of people made the same point with the script.
@sevenblue – good point. My point about anti-heroes was addressed more toward @mightymolly and maybe the word “like” contains too many elements of sympathy. Maybe the word is “interesting” or “fascinating” – whatever it is about a character that keeps an audience’s attention for the duration of the film.
For me, everything starts with the writing, especially when it’s a story about a fictional character. In Schrader’s case, I think he’s also talking about the acting.
@Sevenblue –
A villain is a foil to the hero. An anti-hero is the protagonist of the story while also being a villain. So, yes, Joker is the anti-hero. If he were just a villain, Batman would be the star of the movie. The thing about an anti-hero is the complexity rather than the simplistic good vs. evil dichotomy.
I think its a fine line because if I’m spending two hours watching a movie, there has to be SOMETHING about the characters I liked. Walter White had likeable qualities and while we saw him develop into something evil, he started out from a good place and people rooted for the HS chemistry teacher who just wanted to pay for his cancer treatments. There was a chemistry (lol) between the characters that we liked, across the board.
Having an anti-hero in a movie instead of a hero doesn’t mean the character becomes unlikeable and I think that’s what Eurydice is trying to say. If I hate a character, I’m not going to want to watch that movie or TV show.
And also like Eurydice said anti-heros have been around since the beginning of filmmaking, so its not like the creators of Mad Men or Breaking Bad invented the concept.
Go see The Wild Robot instead!
I don’t usually love Dreamworks movies but The Wild Robot was wonderful
Did he really need to get so personal in his review? ‘I don’t like those people, I don’t like them as actors’. That doesn’t explain why the movie itself is good or bad. His review is nothing but shade.
Am I the only one that saw that picture and went: oh no, Thomas Markle, Senior?!
First cursory glance: oh no, what’s TM doing here.
Schrader directed The Canyons, with Lindsay Lohan and James Deen, the porn star accused of assaulting his co-stars, and I’m supposed to listen to him talk about the quality of film and actors and people? No, no thank you.
Canyons came out in 2013; Deen was accused of assault in 2015. So unless this guy can see the future he didn’t know he was directing a future accused rapist.