Rich Heldenfels, Pop Culture Wanderer

Joker, the disturbing origin story of the character from director (and co-writer) Todd Phillips and actor Joaquin Phoenix, is the bleakest of comedies.  Late in the film, Arthur Fleck, who will become Joker, says that he has long thought his life is tragedy only to realize it is a comedy. But his life, and the film, are comedies only in the sense that the Joker sees the word -- one daring everyone else to admit that they don't get the joke. That Phoenix is brilliant cannot be argued, and with an impressive resume already he may become the second actor to win an Oscar playing the best known of the Batman villains. But the movie overall, as watchable as it may be, is a too-familiar consideration of the connection between private madness and public heroism, of the rage of the disenfranchised against the unfeeling elite, of Bernhard Goetz, of the themes evident in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and King of Comedy . It's no accident that Robert De Niro plays a talk-show host i

The space scenes in the movie Ad Astra are almost unbearably gorgeous, possessed of the kind of chilly, silent beauty also evident in space films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Gravity. They are further served by the lead performance by Brad Pitt as someone also capable of a chilly silence, only to reveal torment as his walls break down. It's tempting to say this performance tops his engaging one in Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood  but it's better to argue that he's just having one of those stretches where the Oscars should grade not for single works but for the cumulative effort in a year. It would be an even more rewarding performance for audiences if the movie itself was something more. At times it seems like a science-fiction variation on Apocalypse Now, an episodic journey toward disaster, or one of those fat adventure novels that, having carried the reader along for hundreds of pages, abruptly wraps things up before a second volume is required. The film, directe

It's no secret that promotional spots for movies are not always reliable when it comes to the content of the film itself. Intense dramas may be turned into implied comedies, and vice versa; famous actors in small roles are made large in the trailers, and sometimes scenes shot for trailers have been cut from the actual movie. The problem with such tactics -- however successful they may be in getting people into theaters -- is that audiences' expectations are based on what they have been told in advance. So, if they are expecting a comedy and do not get it, disappointment may follow. Sure, it's possible to sit down with a movie and put aside all preconceived notions, seeing the film solely on its own terms -- possible but not all that likely. And that does harm to the movie itself, because as much as it may be admirable, an audience expecting something else has to fight disappointment. All of this applies to Hustlers, the recent drama about women trying to make a living i

Here is the official word from the hall: he Nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 are: Pat Benatar Dave Matthews Band Depeche Mode The Doobie Brothers Whitney Houston Judas Priest Kraftwerk MC5 Motörhead Nine Inch Nails The Notorious B.I.G. Rufus featuring Chaka Khan Todd Rundgren Soundgarden T.Rex Thin Lizzy To be eligible  for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Nine  out of 16 of the Nominees are on the ballot for the first time, including Dave Matthews Band, The Doobie Brothers, Mot ö rhead, The Notorious B.I.G., Pat Benatar, Soundgarden, T.Rex, Thin Lizzy, and Whitney Houston. Inductees will be announced in January 2020. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2020 Induction Ceremony, presented by Klipsch Audio, takes place at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio on May 2, 2020. The Ceremony is preceded by Induction Week, w