Friday, July 6, 2012

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

















16 comments:

  1. J. Edgar's on my Netflix list...

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    1. I quite often like biopics. This one isn't great, but it isn't horrible either. It has good and bad points.

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  2. We hardly ever watch movies, unless something happens to be shown on TV that we're both interested in. Hope your pooch is feeling good as new now. Have a super weekend.

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    1. Franklin is fine now. Thanks for your kind wishes.

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  3. I saw Half Nelson and remember it as being really, really good. I too recommend it. I haven't seen J. Edgar, and don't think I will.

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    1. I think you have to be very interested in J. Edgar to like it.

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  4. I was kind of disappointed in J. Edgar. Maybe expecting more from DiCaprio--and, I agree, they didn't have the best makeup artist for aging him.
    Ryan Gosling is such a little cutie pie and a darn good actor in what I have seen of him. I'll have to look for this one. :)

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    1. Oh, Ryan. I am so very fond of him. He's not Johnny Depp, but oh, I am so very fond of him.

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  5. We don't really watch biopics, but I was forced to watch Dillinger the other night...unfortunately I was otherwise playing games on my lap-top to notice much.
    Apparently it seemed too modern...so says my boyfriend ;)

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    1. I kind of liked Dillinger -- perhaps because of the presence of my beloved Johnny Depp. Anyway, playing games on your laptop sounds as if it's a good way to pass the time when a movie is forced on you.

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  6. Thanks for this good review on J. Edgar. I had wondered about watching this film, but thought it was probably more dark than I enjoy watching.

    You have just saved me two hours of my life. :)
    Have a good weekend.

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    1. It's my pleasure to save you those two hours. I hope you find something fun to do with them!

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  7. Dear Janie, thanks once again for these Friday movie reviews. This weekend I'm going to revisit season one of Downton Abbey on DVD. I've seen both seasons but I want to get ready for season three--which I hope is coming this fall. Peace.

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  8. The Hurricane and I LOVE Downton Abbey.

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  9. J. edgar was an awesome movie, so was the other one. great post and great blog, have a good one.

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  10. Why, thank you, Jack. How old are you, and are you married? Just kidding -- maybe. tee hee

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