“Joker” is the origin story for Batman’s worst enemy. Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Flick, a strange loner, mama’s boy, and sporadic laugher. All he wants is to be is a clown and stand up comic, but everyone treats him like dirt. Phoenix does a good job showing his pain and descent into madness and there is talk that his performance could be Oscar nominated. This movie is very dark, but unlike some of the other DC films, the darkness is appropriate. While I wouldn’t rate Phoenix’s performance as good as Heath Ledger’s in “The Dark Knight”, it comes close. Lots of blood and violence.