Joker

 Another brief film review, this one on the polarizing film from last year - Joker.  And which side of the line do I stand on?  Well, I thought it was excellent.  Dark, graphic, adult, heavy on psychology, heavy on mental disorder and sprinkled with class divide - it is an apt film for our times.  My only criticism might be that it didn't need to use the comic character Joker to tell this story - a figure already portrayed many different ways on the big screen, most recently and memorably by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  This would have worked perfectly well as a dark character study of someone less known and outside the DC universe.  However, I loved the setting - making Gotham City like run-down 70's New York reminded me of all the great films from that period - and Joaquin Phoenix's performance was memorable and worthy of his Oscar.  I have to recommend it (though definitely not with kids - this is not the Joker from the Lego movies) - 4 out of 5.