J Edgar is a detailed biopic of the man who created the modern-day FBI. J Edgar Hoover was a fiercely commited and ambitious man, dedicated to his mother and his work, to the exclusion of any other personal commitments. As a boy he runs errands on his bike and after spotting a police investigation where the officers fail to notice the most basic of clues or observe good practice at the crime scene he resolved to being a new crime-fighting force that will supersede the police and rescue the country from the communists he despises so much.
The spoof poster for J Edgar in this little collection of gems is pretty spot-on about this film. It's a very worthy biography of a controversial figure in America's history but as with many Oscar contenders it all gets a bit too serious. There's a lot that's interesting about J Edgar Hoover, and I did approve of the fact that director Clint Eastwood has included the close 'friendship' that Hoover had with his right-hand man Clyde Tolson. Growing up in a household ruled by his domineeringly Catholic mother you have to feel for poor Hoover as she warns him away from a full relationship with Tolson with the delightful phrase "I would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son." Thanks to Mother Hoover J Edgar lives a life that revolves solely around his job and his final days are rather tragic as he refuses to let go of an organisation that no longer needs its founder. It's an interesting story and I'm glad I know more about the man but in general this film didn't blow me away. It's also far too long at 2hours 20 mins, by the 1hr50 mark I was ready for a swift finale, not another half hour of looking at poor Armie Hammer's abysmal old-man makeup.
Chronicle was last week's Orange Wednesday pick, after the sad revelation that not one of the many cinemas in Oxford was showing Young Adult, which would have been my first choice. Sadly it seems I shall have to wait for the DVD to see Diablo Cody's well-received dark comedy. So, my experience of Chronicle may have been slightly tinged with disappointment but it was a definite improvement on the dour J Edgar of the week before. Chronicle is an 'alternative' superhero movie that, in the grand tradition of Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, uses shaky video cameras in the hands of exitable teens to add some realism (and motion-sickness) to the story. Three high school cliches (sorry, boys) discover a mysterious blue crystal in a pothole which gives them nose-bleeds and magical powers of telekinesis. With great power comes great responsibility, and predictably loner Andrew (Dane DeHaan - currently giving good hillbilly in True Blood), who is all bitter and twisted inside thanks to an abusive father at home and bullies at school, is overcome with new-found confidence and ultimately all three boys pay the price for poking around where they shouldn't be.
Chronicle may be full of cliches but I did genuinely enjoy it. It brings something new to the superhero genre, not being as comicbooky as Spiderman et al and possessing far more grit than the glossy TV serial Heroes. Thanks to the shakycam and aforementioned excitable teens it does have rather too many elements of the traditional horror movie, but there's just enough story and excitement to hold your interest. Clever but low-key special effects add to the realism of the movie. I especially enjoyed the flying sequences, which were as exhilarating as Iron Man's, but in sensible waterproof clothing. The films one failing for me is that it is made by teenage boys for teenage boys so not only are there gratuitous shots of girls at parties but also a distinct lack of good dialogue or interesting female characters. It's not my film of the year but in a town devoid of Young Adult it turned out to be a fair substitute.
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