MOVIE MOVIE WEEKEND

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Maxwell, I miss you. I miss your cute grouchiness. It's great that you're in love and living with Girlfriend, but I miss you. I wish you'd return and write about how you hate everyone. Then I wouldn't have to be grumpy. I could just enjoy your style of cranky.

Ah, well. On with the show.

First up we have J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the famous and infamous J. Edgar Hoover.  This biopic is interesting, but not great. It's rare to see a biopic about a complex person that actually helps one understand WHY the person is how he is.

Hoover seems to have been dominated by his mother. O.K. Lots of us have domineering mothers, but we don't turn into people who bully the President and other prominent leaders.

I was a bit afraid when I started watching that Hoover would be mincing around in a dress and high heels (not that there's anything wrong with that; I just didn't want to play the voyeur). I should have had more faith in Eastwood as a director. Although he leaves no doubt that Hoover's long-time best friend and constant companion Clyde Tolson was gay, Eastwood leaves Hoover's sexuality up in the air. That's fine with me.

However, he does not leave Hoover's lies about his crime fighting exploits up in the air. It's quite clear that J. Edgar liked to take credit for arrests made by actual agents. He seems to have been the type of guy who sat behind and desk and schemed -- sort of a Richard Nixon kinda man.

DiCaprio is quite good, but the make-up used to age him into Hoover is not so great. Rather silly looking.

I recommend this movie if you're at all interested in the history of the FBI or if you're a DiCaprio as an actor fan or Eastwood as a director fan. If you want a bright, sunny comedy, however, this is not it. It's really quite a dark film, appropriately, as Hoover had quite a dark personality.

Now let's go back to 2006 to revisit a film called Half Nelson, starring my boyfriend Ryan Gosling as teacher Dan Dunne, whose sad, lonely student Drey sees him enjoy a little crystal meth in the school locker room after a basketball game. I know this sounds like the kind of drama that will make one feel miserable, but somehow it manages to be heartwarming instead.

For a while, Dan gives in to his habit, but then he starts to pull away and clean up. He knows he has to protect Drey from the neighborhood dealer who will gladly turn this young girl into his assistant. This movie may put one in a little tizzy for a while as one feels concern for Drey and perhaps some anger toward Dan, but ultimately, this is a feel good movie. I love Half Nelson. If you've never seen it, then I strongly recommend giving it a try. Or if you haven't seen it since it came out, then enjoy it again.

My boyfriend Ryan was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for this indie film.

Stay cool this weekend. Enjoy a movie in the AC, after you've spent plenty of time reading a good book, such as Bible Girl & The Bad Boy by E. C. Stilson (our beloved Elisa -- the middle child I never had).

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug