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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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TM & © DC COMICS

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