The narrative and tone of Todd Phillips’ latest is heavily inspired by TAXI DRIVER and KING OF COMEDY, but given the attention paid to the work of Martin Scorsese on this podcast of late, we decided to look at Phillips’ new JOKER in tandem with a more literal cinematic predecessor: Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT, featuring Heath Ledger’s posthumous Oscar-winning performance as the Clown Prince of Crime himself. In this half we consider Ledger’s Joker in the context of a film that took a radically different approach to the comic-book movie and its villains, debate some confounding plot specifics—and whether they ultimately matter that much to one’s enjoyment of the film—and try to remember what it was like experiencing DARK KNIGHT independent of the subsequnt superhero movie deluge it helped spawn. Plus, we respond to some feedback on our recent episodes looking at CASINO and HUSTLERS. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE DARK KNIGHT, JOKER, or anything else film-related, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Outro music: Hans Zimmer, “Why So Serious?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices