There are very few actors in Hollywood today as dedicated to their craft as Joaquin Phoenix. In heavy roles such as Commodus in Gladiator, the tortured Batman villain in Joker, and possibly the most anxious man alive in Beau Is Afraid,

If you look up and revisit the list of names mentioned in the first paragraph, I think it’s fair to say that he is regularly successful in looking for filmmakers with unique vision. There are a lot of auteurs who have successfully made movies that are instantly identifiable via their special signatures and flairs.

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal face off in "Eddington." Credit: A24 Comedy is tragedy plus time. There may be a day when critics look back on Ari Aster's COVID-19 comedy Eddington with kinder eyes.

Joaquin Phoenix couldn't figure out his Eddington character, Joe Cross, until director Ari Aster did something that inadvertently unlocked the role for him.

Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone take on early 2020 pandemic crises of every sort in Ari Aster’s “Eddington.”

Set in the fictional New Mexico town of Eddington, the narrative centers on a standoff between Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), a hostility that bleeds into the community and sparks division, conspiracy theories ...