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Five years ago, Todd Phillips released his much-acclaimed take on the DC Comics supervillain, Joker, with Joaquin Phoenix wearing the clown makeup as the bananas Pagliacci Arthur Fleck in an odd pastiche Scorsese thriller with Joker as both Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin – and granted the unearned honour of killing a character played by Robert De Niro.

I found it bizarrely overpraised and overrated by saucer-eyed pundits, but it became a prize-winning sensation – and perpetuated the awards-season tradition of rewarding the idea of comedy on the strict understanding that it’s not supposed to be funny.

Now the sequel is here, and though it ends up as strident, laborious and often flat-out tedious as the first film, there’s an improvement. It’s a musical, of sorts, with Phoenix and others warbling show tune standards, often in fantasy set pieces, a little in the way of Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven. This gives it structure and flavour that the first film didn’t have.

And that sensational acting and musical talent Lady Gaga is now in the mix – though with nothing like the humanity and depth she had in Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born – as Harleen Quinzel (that is, Harley Quinn) a deeply disturbed psychiatric patient who meets Joker in the music therapy class that he is allowed to attend as reward for good behaviour while on remand waiting to stand trial for his five murders. They fall deeply in love – with each other, that is, adding to the existing self-adoration of each, although it is never clear whether the leads’ narcissism is intentional.

No doubt about it, – the opening is sensational. A spoof Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon reprises the story so far, raising the curtain for a barnstorming first section showing Arthur’s prison existence. There’s a great supporting cast, with Brendan Gleeson as the prison guard (weirdly, it is only Gleeson whose character tells a joke while giving some indication of what one sounds like), Catherine Keener is Arthur’s lawyer, Steve Coogan is a tabloid TV interviewer and Zazie Beetz briefly reprises her role as Arthur’s former neighbour.

There’s a real spark when Joker and Harley meet-uncute in the joint. But the whole movie finally turns out to be oppressively, claustrophobically and repetitively becalmed in that oddly unreal Gotham-universe jail with Phoenix and Gaga kept apart for long periods – and Phoenix’s own performance is as single-note as before, though certainly as forceful and his screen presence is potent.

The gameplan of defence lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Keener) is to convince the judge that her client was psychologically disturbed by his abusive upbringing and that he deserves hospital treatment on the grounds of diminished responsibility. District attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) says Arthur is not mad and deserves the electric chair.

As for Arthur, he is conflicted. He understands that the insanity plea is his only chance. But he also longs to embrace his Joker destiny again – to embrace the crazy scary-clown persona that his lawyer tells him to reject: it has given him celebrity status and a heroic destiny and it has brought him love with Harley.

Lady Gaga brings a sly and manipulative malice to her role: Harley is secretive, smart and genuinely disturbed in a way that Arthur/Joker perhaps isn’t. Is she to be the Lady Macbeth of DC supervillainy?

Sort of. The story as constructed doesn’t give her character much of a chance at development – in that direction or any other. And it is possible to feel very restless during the final section and wonder whether anything remotely plausible, sad, funny or unexpected will be revealed about Arthur, given that the film’s body language insists on its mythic importance.

This crazy self-possession propels the film up its laborious narrative gradient. And Lady Gaga delivers a diva charge. Could it be that her Harley Quinn will return in an adventure of her own?

 Anything you can dream about here, you can make,” says Jack Black in the first trailer for “A Minecraft Movie,” coming to theaters April 4, 2025.

Then, ceremoniously, he proclaims, “I… am Steve,” prompting groans from the rest of the crew, who have been transported into this blocky video game world.

Directed by “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre” filmmaker Jared Hess, “A Minecraft Movie” also stars Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Jennifer Coolidge. Warner Bros. and Legendary are backing the adaptation of one of the bestselling video games in history (it boasts 140 million monthly users).

In the first footage of “A Minecraft Movie,” Black and Momoa meet piglins and creepers as they navigate the ever-changing fantasy universe.

Debuting in 2011, “Minecraft” allows players to use colorful blocks to create 3D worlds. It has also spawned numerous spinoffs, like “Minecraft: Story Mode,” “Minecraft Earth,” “Minecraft Dungeons” and “Minecraft Legends.” Mojang Studios, the Swedish developer behind the game, was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 and will serve as a producer on the movie adaptation.

Speaking to Variety about the stunts in the film, Brooks said, “I’ve been harnessed a few times. It’s mostly the combat and learning these moves. And I’ve got a weapon, I’ll you that much. Danger, danger! But it’s really Jack Black, he’s the one who is doing the heavy lifting here. He’s doing some flying and having all techno-fire coming behind him.”

With “A Minecraft Movie,” Black has solidified his status as Hollywood’s go-to actor for game-to-screen stories, having starred in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Jumanji: The Next Level” and “Borderlands.” Momoa, for his part, has starred in blockbuster franchises including “Aquaman,” “Dune” and “Fast & Furious.”

Wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn added to GB’s Paris Paralympics success with a stunning T53 100m gold at Stade de France. Scottish athlete Kinghorn, who secured 800m and 1500m silvers in recent days, powered home ahead of Swiss star Catherine Debrunner to set a Paralympic record in 15.64sec. The 28-year-old became the first non-Chinese athlete to win the title since Tanni Grey-Thompson 20 years ago in Athens.

Tears of joy streamed from her eyes as she greeted her family in the stands before dedicating the victory to her brother on his birthday. “I just can’t believe that I’ve done that,” she said. “It’s honestly absolutely blowing my mind. This one is definitely for my brother.”

Zoe Newson had experienced the joy of bronze medals in London and Rio, then the pain of a fourth-placed ­finish in Tokyo, but on Wednesday in Paris the 32-year-old went one step further on the podium, winning ­silver in ­dramatic circumstances at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

Dame Sarah Storey wins 18th gold on medal-laden day for GB women

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On the first day of the powerlifting competition she attempted the final lift of 109kg she needed for ­second spot but was adjudged initially to have fouled. She and her team appealed and, after a tense pause, the silver medal was hers.

“I didn’t realise,” Newson said to the BBC of the decision. “It didn’t come on the screen but we heard the crowd start cheering. Then we saw it on the screen and lost it. My boy and my fiance are in the crowd so I got quite emotional.”

In the pool Poppy Maskill won her fourth medal of a hugely success­ful Games in the women’s SM14 200m individual medley, adding another silver to the silver and two gold ­medals the 19-year-old from ­Cheshire has won in her debut Paralympics.

Maskill could still make it five in the 100m backstroke on Friday but admitted the demands of the ­schedule are beginning to take their toll. “It’s hard work,” she told ­Channel 4 after being pipped to the gold by Valeriia Shabalina. “I’m just going back [to the athletes’ village], napping … and that’s all I’m doing.”

Maskill and her GB teammate Olivia Newman-Baronius were ahead after the opening butterfly leg, with Maskill powering clear during the backstroke. “I was trying to see what I’ve got in there and see what happens,” she said. Shabalina touched just ahead after the breaststroke then held off the British swimmer, who touched the wall just 1.53sec behind.

Rhys Darbey grabbed a silver in the men’s SM14 200m individual medley behind Canada’s Nicholas Bennett. The Welsh swimmer, in his debut Paralympics, adds the silver to the gold earned as part of the S14 mixed 4x100m freestyle team on Sunday.

“I’m very happy with that,” he told Channel 4. “It’s my first indivi­dual race at the Games and to come ­second, two races out of two that I’ve won a medal, I’m really chuffed.”

There was also a silver for Alice Tai in the women’s S8 400m freestyle.

Tim Jeffery won a ­shooting bronze in the R9 mixed 50m rifle prone SH2 at the Châteauroux ­Shooting Centre. “The final was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time,” the 28-year-old said. “Hopefully this medal is the first of many.”

At the Stade de France, Karim Chan narrowly missed out on a bronze in the men’s T38 long jump, his effort of 6.39m just 1cm short of third-placed José Lemos, the Colombian completing an unlikely medal double having won gold in the T38 javelin last week.

The GB women’s wheelchair basketball team bowed out at the quarter-final stage but gave the United States a scare on their way. The British team led 50-49 with fewer than four minutes remaining before the bronze winners from Tokyo powered through to win 59.52.

Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade had to settle for silver in the wheelchair tennis quad doubles after losing 6-1, 6-1 against the dominant Dutch pairing of Sam Schröder and Niels Vink. There was better news for Alfie Hewett, who marched into the men’s singles semi‑finals with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Ruben Spaargaren, but Gordon Reid lost his quarter-final 6-0, 7-6 (5) against ­Argentina’s Gustavo Fernández.

he community of Winder, Georgia, is grieving two students and two teachers who were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School Wednesday. It’s the deadliest of 45 school shootings so far this year. Here’s the latest:

• Authorities arrest 14-year-old suspect: Colt Gray, a 14-year-old Apalachee High student accused of being the shooter, is in custody, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference. He will be charged with murder and will be handled as an adult as he moves through the criminal justice system, Hosey and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. Gray was expected to be booked in jail Wednesday night. Hosey said he was not sure when Gray would make his first court appearance, but said it would be “within a reasonable amount of time.”

• Authorities identify four killed: Hosey identified the four killed in Wednesday’s shooting as 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn, 14-year-old Christian Angulo, 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall and 53-year-old Christina Irimie. The school’s website shows the two adults were both math teachers and Aspinwall was also an assistant football coach.

• Nine others injured: Nine other people – eight students and one teacher – were taken to hospitals with injuries, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. All of those wounded are expected to recover.

• How the shooting unfolded: Authorities said the first report of an active shooter came in at 10:20 a.m. ET. Law enforcement arrived shortly afterwards, Hosey said, in addition to two school resource officers who were assigned to Apalachee High. The gunfire sent students and faculty desperately scurrying for cover as schools across the county went into lockdown and parents scrambled for information. A school resource deputy confronted the shooter, who got on the ground and was taken into custody, Smith told reporters.

• AR-platform weapon used in shooting: The weapon used in the shooting was an AR-platform weapon, Hosey said. A law enforcement official earlier told CNN it was an AR-15-style rifle, but did not provide any information on how investigators believe the weapon was obtained or any other details on the weapon and ammunition used. Authorities are investigating how the weapon was brought into the school. “We’re still trying to clarify a lot of the timeline from the time that he got here to school today until the incident,” Hosey said.

• High school had received a phone threat: The high school had received an earlier phone threat, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. The phone call Wednesday morning warned there would be shootings at five schools, and that Apalachee would be the first. It is not known who placed the call.

• County schools went into lockdown: All schools in the Barrow County School System, which includes the high school, were placed on lockdown and police were sent out of an abundance of caution to all district high schools, according to the sources, but there were no reports of secondary incidents or scenes.

• Government officials react to shooting: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp directed all available state resources to assist at the scene, he said in a statement on social media. The governor urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.” President Joe Biden offered federal support to state and local officials and called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. “We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” he said in a statement. General Merrick Garland said the US Department of Justice “stands ready” to support the community after the shooting. “We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene, working with state, local and federal partners,” Garland said at a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force.

• Local schools shutter after shooting: Schools in Barrow County will be closed the rest of the week while the investigation plays out. The Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state, per the district’s website. It serves about 15,340 students, 1,932 of whom are enrolled at Apalachee High School. Winder, which is about an hour northeast of Atlanta, had a population of about 18,338 as of the 2020 census, according to the US Census Bureau.

• How it compares to past school shootings: Of the 45 school shootings this year, 32 have been reported on K-12 campuses and 13 on university and college campuses. The shooting is one of 11 school shootings with four or more deaths since 2008, when CNN first started tracking school shootings. The US has suffered at least 385 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day.

People attend a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday. 

What we know about the 14-year-old suspect

The suspect, a 14-year-old student at Apalachee, was questioned by law enforcement last year regarding “anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting,” according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. He denied making the threats online, the agencies said.

The online threats included photographs of guns, the statement said.

“The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have
unsupervised access to them,” the statement said.

The agencies added that “at that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels.”

Investigators have spoken to the suspect and have been in touch with his family, Smith said. It was not immediately known whether the assailant had some connection with his victims, the sheriff said, though officials stressed that will be part of the investigation.

One student, Lyela Sayarath, said the suspect left the classroom at the beginning of their Algebra 1 class around 9:45 a.m. When the suspect returned near the end of the class, he knocked to get back in. Another student went to open the door, but Lyela said they noticed the gun and didn’t open the door. She said the shooter went to the classroom next door and opened fire.

Hosey said there’s no evidence of other schools being targeted, but investigators are pursuing “any leads of any potential associates of the shooter that was involved in this incident.” There’s also no evidence that any additional shooter was involved, and no evidence of a list of schools being targeted.

“However, there is a lot of evidence that is being recovered and evaluated,” Hosey added.

As law enforcement investigates the shooting and motive behind it, Smith warned that it could take “multiple days” to get answers.

Kemp thanked first responders and other officials who responded to the shooting Wednesday.

“This is everybody’s worst nightmare and I just want to offer my sincere condolences and our thoughts and prayers to the families that have lost loved ones, for those that are injured and continuing to fight through just a tragic time,” Kemp said.

Hosey called the faculty and staff at the high school “heroes” that took action to protect students.

“The heroes that we need to remember is our faculty and staff here at this school,” Hosey said. “They acted admirably. They were heroes in the actions that they took. The protocols in this school and this system activated today prevented this from being a much larger tragedy than what we had here today so I want to recognize them.”

Richard Aspinwall, Christina Irimie, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo were all victims in the Apalachee High School shooting on September 4. 

School community reeling from deaths of 4 victims

Kathrine Maldonado overslept Wednesday and missed school, she said. After she woke up later that morning, her friend texted her saying the school was in a lockdown.

Kathrine’s friend said she was okay and then started texting group chats, where they found out that a friend was killed and at least two more were injured.

“When I found out I started crying, and I just got mad, because why would you shoot innocent people,” Kathrine said.

Kathrine said her friend Christian, who died in the shooting, was known as a class clown and described him as a “sweet person.”

Other Apalachee High School students say they are still processing today’s tragedy, when their classmates and teachers were gunned down.

“It’s been pretty difficult because like a lot happened in kind of a short period of time,” Jayden Finch told CNN. “It was kind of hard to process it.”

Another student, 14-year-old Macey Right, said she is worried about returning to school.

“I really don’t want to go back; I feel like I shouldn’t have to go back to school worrying about dying,” Right said. “I want to go to school worrying about what my GPA is going to be when my year is over and worrying about my career.”

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