46 | OCTOBER 3 • 2019

AT THE MOVIES:

Opening “wide” on Friday, Oct.
4, are The Joker and Lucy in
the Sky. Joker stars Joaquin
Phoenix, 44, as the iconic
nemesis of Batman. However,
this is only at the edges a
Batman-related film. Rather, it
is a Scorsese-like portrait of
how a troubled “normal” man
becomes a nihilistic criminal.
As the film opens, the (future)
Joker is simply Arthur Fleck, a
guy who works as a clown by
day and tries, during the eve-
ning, to make it as a stand-
up comedian. Suffice it to
say that his stand-up career
doesn’
t work out and one very
bad decision sets into motion
Fleck’
s embrace of the Joker
persona.
Advance reviews are mostly
good, with Phoenix’
s per-
formance being particularly
praised (probable Oscar nom).
The film was directed by and
co-written by Todd Phillips,
48 (the Hangover movies).
Lucy stars Natalie
Portman, 38, as Lucy Cola,
an astronaut who begins
an intense love affair with
Mark, another astronaut (Jon
Hamm), shortly after returning
from a long space flight. The
flight itself left her somewhat
unhitched from reality. Her
downward spiral escalates
when Mark takes up with
an astronaut trainee. Nick
Offerman, 49, has a support-
ing role as a physician. Sad
to say, advance reviews are
mostly negative.

SO MANY JEWS! SO, TRY IT!
The entire first season of the
Netflix satirical comedy series
The Politician was released
on Sept. 27 (a second season

is already ordered). Broadway
star Ben Platt, 25 (Dear
Evan Hansen) stars as Payton
Hobart, a wealthy resident of
Santa Barbara. Each season
will revolve around another
political race Payton is in;
the first season is about a
high school election. The cast
includes Gwyneth Paltrow,
46, as Payton’
s mother. The
supporting cast includes
Zoey Deutch, 24, and Bob
Balaban, 74. Bette Midler,
73, and Judith Light, 74,
make guest appearances.
The series was co-created
by Brad Falchuk, 48, who
Paltrow married last year.
My respect for Paltrow shot
up following the recent pub-
lication of She Said: Breaking
the Sexual Harassment
Story that Helped Ignite a
Movement. It chronicles how
two New York Times report-
ers, Jodi Kantor, 44, and
Megan Twohey, helped bring
the Harvey Weinstein sexual
harassment story to light.
They say Paltrow was the
first actress to tell them her
harassment story. They asked
her to contact other actresses
and ask them to talk, too.
Paltrow was told it would hurt
her career, but she made calls
anyway and got many other
women to speak to the report-
ers.

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker.

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