jonathan_91

Forget about Marvel's summer blockbusters: Joker is not a superhero (or supervillain) flick. It is a love letter to 1970s' and Martin Scorcese's cinema, and more especially The King of Comedy (1982), whose script Joker draws heavily upon. I strongly advise viewers to watch the two films one after the other to appreciate the influence Scorcese had on Phillips. You just have to consider these two films as twins, Joker being the deformed, nevrotic sibling of The King of Comedy. Phillips' movie also presents an economic and social panorama of the end of 1970s America - although some might say this comment may still be true nowadays. Phoenix is incredible: his performance is a real tour de force, an Oscar-winning one. Of course, one could point out one or two flaws in the film, but overall Joker is the masterpiece everyone was waiting for.

Netflix promises a lot, but not always delivers. They did deliver, though, with "Marianne", an eight-episode French series that will fix your need for all things Stephen King and Conjuring-related.

The story's premise is as formulaic as can be in the horror genre, especially inspired by S. King's novels: Emma, a thirty-something French horror writer, has decided to put an end to a series of books that tell the story of Lizzie Lark, her heroine, who battles an evil witch called (you guessed it) Marianne. Emma has had enough of this character and wants to move on with her life, and, maybe, write something else, something more "serious" (she is a French novelist, after all). Little did she expect a former school friend, Caro, to show up at one of her book signing events, and scare her into returning back to her hometown, which she had left 15 years before, after a terrible tragedy.

The cast is solid, the characters interesting, diverse and well-developed. Some moments are genuinely scary. The pacing may at times be a problem, and the series slows down in the middle, but nothing too problematic. The script is clever and culminates in an extremely promising cliffhanger that will certainly leave you wanting for a second series.