Armie Hammer and Leonardo diCaprio as Clyde Tolson and J. Edgar Hoover, respectively. Photo Credit: Warner Bros.
J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the FBI through eight different presidents, six different decades and domestic conflicts such as the gangster wars of the 1930s and the Red Scare. Though he was arguably one of the most powerful men in government, his straight-suited image covered up his eccentric personal life. Among other things, he is rumored to have been involved in a long-time affair with Clyde Tolson, his second-in-command, in addition to being a cross-dresser. This dichotomy should have provided all that the all-star production team, including director Clint Eastwood, Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black, and star Leonardo DiCaprio, needed to make J. Edgar one of the best American biopics of the last ten years. However, dissonance between the visions of writer and director prevented the film from offering insights into one of America’s most intriguing figures. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Armie Hammer,
Clint Eastwood,
Dustin Lance Black,
j. edgar,
J. Edgar Hoover,
Leonardo DiCaprio
Daniel Radcliffe in "The Woman in Black." Photo Credit: Nick Wall.
Saturday morning matinees aren’t usually my thing. My friend and I, gigantic Harry Potter fans, thought we’d support our favorite wizard Daniel Radcliffe in his latest post-Harry Potter role. The Woman in Black is about a widower named Arthur Kipps who’s a lawyer who is assigned to Eel Marsh to handle property that has to be sold.
Before watching, the trailers made the movie seem like a suspenseful thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Instead, I found it be a movie that had lots of hype but didn’t meet up to it’s expectations.
[click to continue…]Tagged as:
Daniel Radcliffe,
The Woman in Black
Miles Teller and Kenny Wormald from "Footloose." Photo Credit: K.C. Bailey.
The slick sugarcoated remake of Footloose (2011) has trouble standing on its own without a love of the original, and can barely be compared to a classic like West Side Story (1961).
For one thing, it’s hard to say that Footloose is even a musical. Much of the music in this remake is used as a soundtrack, especially in one very melodramatic scene in which the protagonist, Ren MacCormack, dances out his anger as he talks to himself. This scene is an example of the many holes in the script—it is bland and negates its own best qualities with overly emotional scenes like this one. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Film,
Footloose (2011)
Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood's J Edgar. Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein.
Clint Eastwood directs J. Edgar, a biopic revolving around the character J. Edgar Hoover, a very controversial historical figure. Renowned Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the titular role, playing young and old Hoover. Dustin Lance Black, another big name in the Hollywood world, was the screenwriter of this film.
The film starts out with the rise of Hoover’s career as he campaigns against the “communist revolutionaries” and is named head of the Bureau of Investigation. As the movie moves from Hoover becoming the head of the Bureau to fully establishing the bureau’s power, DiCaprio accurately portrays the ambition and single-mindedness of Hoover. The mysterious relationship between Hoover and several other characters were also interestingly illustrated throughout this film. In my opinion, the most interesting of these relationships depicted in the film was between Hoover and his “wingman”, Clyde Tolson. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Clint Eastwood,
Film,
j. edgar,
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Armie Hammer in "J. Edgar". Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein/Warner Brothers Pictures.
In J. Edgar, a few guns are pointed at people, some interesting American history is told, and a couple of gay-jokes are made. Never does this movie have much more depth than those examples, and no one is really saying that it needs to, as a Citizen Kane-esque biography of the enigmatic J. Edgar Hoover is something that has not yet been made into a major motion picture. All I was looking for was some interesting facts, and a balanced perspective on who J. Edgar was, and that’s pretty much what I got. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Clint Eastwood,
j. edgar,
Leonardo DiCaprio
If you’re the kind of movie-goer who prefers a simple, linear plot, The Tree of Life probably isn’t for you. But if you’re open to a dynamic film, filled with breathtaking imagery, meticulously planned shots – one that’s laced with below-the-surface meaning and symbolism – then The Tree of Life has plenty to offer.
At its core, the film, written and directed by Terrence Malick, is a coming-of-age story about the loss of innocence. The movie follows Jack O’Brien (played by Hunter McCracken and Sean Penn) from the time he’s just beginning to grow, to when he raids a neighbor’s panty-drawer, to when he sees someone die for the first time and when he wants to kill his father. Malick successfully shows the world from the eyes of a curious child during each distinct point of Jack’s childhood. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Brad Pitt,
Emmanuel Lubezki,
Jessica Chastain,
Sean Penn,
Terrence Malick,
The Tree of Life
$5 Tickets
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
