Luke Bohannon

“J. Edgar,” much like the man it’s based upon, is shadowy, enigmatic and infinitely fascinating. The collaboration of Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio led to the creation of a film that is truly a masterpiece in almost every way. Shifting between the personal and public lives of J. Edgar Hoover, Eastwood has created a unique portrait of an individual who was once regarded as one of the most powerful men in America.

Hoover was the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years, during which he transformed the woefully underpowered agency into an efficient crime-fighting organization.

But the film shows us much more than just Hoover’s public life and career. We are given a view into a fairly sensationalized version of Hoover’s personal life, focusing primarily on his relationships with his long-time secretary and confidant Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and his closest companion Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). One other relationship highlighted in the film is that between Hoover and his domineering mother, Annie Hoover (Judi Dench).

Hoover’s relationship with each of these people is defined very quickly through subtle cues, brilliant acting and perfect direction. Eastwood must be applauded for balancing Hoover’s very well documented public life and his somewhat murky private life, including the prevalent rumors of Hoover’s homosexuality. All of these aspects are explored through incredibly powerful scenes that showcase the true acting abilities of the cast.

While DiCaprio is the main character and does a truly masterful job, Armie Hammer’s portrayal of Tolson is a somewhat downplayed but undeniably powerful one.

Hammer is possibly best remembered for his dual role of the Vinkelvoss twins in “The Social Network,” and he surpassed himself in every way in this film.

From a young agent in the FBI to an old man suffering from the aftereffects of a stroke, Tolson’s character presents a plethora of challenges for an actor, and Hammer not only overcomes these challenges, but thrives, out-shining DiCaprio in many scenes.

Any great film needs an outstanding cast, a visionary director and an inspired writer. “J. Edgar” definitely has all three, with Dustin Lance Black as the author behind the script. Black’s most prevalent work before this was “Milk” in 2008.

Black, rather than trying to guess at what these people may have been like, has presented the film in a manner which allows for the accepted public image of these individuals to be presented. The majority of the film is told through the ingenious device of Hoover dictating his memoir to several young agents as they write it over the course of several years. While this does lead to a somewhat distorted timeline, jumping between past and present, it never becomes tedious and actually allows for added drama.

There’s a lot that can be said about this film. “J. Edgar” is one of the best, if not the best film of 2011.

Luke Bohannon

Luke Bohannon

Just when I was beginning to wonder where Matthew Broderick went, he shows back up with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller to pull off a heist. Honestly, I didn’t see that coming.

But make no mistake – “Tower Heist” is way more of a heist movie than it is a comedy, despite what the trailers might lead you to believe. Although, there are definitely a few solid laughs throughout the film.

The Tower is a luxurious apartment building where only the very wealthy can afford the rent, and they certainly get their money’s worth. The staff, headed by Josh Kovacs (Stiller), are courteous and competent, attending to the tenants from the moment they enter the Tower, where they’re greeted by kindly Lester, the doorman (Stephen Henderson).

One of the most notable tenants is financial powerhouse Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) who owns the penthouse of the Tower as well as a bright red 1953 Ferrari, once owned by Steve McQueen. However, the Tower is turned upside down when Shaw is arrested by FBI agents, lead by Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) and accused of running a Ponzi scheme, which includes the pension plans and investments of the Tower’s employees, even old Lester the doorman.

Outraged, Kovacs rounds up a group of employees, plus a crook named Slide (Murphy), and sets out to rob Shaw’s penthouse in order to steal back their money. Of course things don’t go quite according to plan, but it’s a heist movie.

“Tower Heist” is all about the ensemble, and this one is pretty good. The core team is Kovacs, Slide, Mr. Fitzhugh (Broderick), who’s jobless and has lost his family following his eviction from the Tower, Charlie the concierge (Casey Affleck), the bellhop Enrique Dev’reaux (Michael Pena), and Odessa the maid (Gabourey Sibide). This odd mix of traditionally serious actors like Affleck and Sibide and comedians creates a cool dynamic that allows the movie to switch between serious and funny at the drop of a hat.

Aside from the cast, “Tower Heist” also had an all-star production crew, including Brett Ratner, best known for the “Rush Hour” franchise. Ratner managed to create a movie that defies traditional genres, not just being a comedy or a drama, but rather a subtle blend of the two, all the while giving every actor their moment to shine.

Of course, Ratner doesn’t get all the credit. Writers Ted Griffin (Ocean’s Eleven) and Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can) created a screenplay that plays perfectly with the tone of the times, touching on the battle between Wall Street and the working guy.

While it wasn’t quite as funny as I expected, “Tower Heist” was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, offering both laughs and genuine quality drama. Definitely check this one out.

Luke Bohannon

Luke Bohannon

“In Time” combines an interesting new story concept with a well known moral tale to create a fairly unique film that delivers exactly what it promises.

Starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, “In Time” tells the story of a world very different from our own where time is literally money. Each person is genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, after which they’re given one year to live. But people can work to earn more time. So as long as their time doesn’t run out, they never die… unless they’re murdered or die in accidents. Basically, the rich can live forever and the poor try to survive day-to-day.

Will Salas (Timberlake) works a menial job, earning barely enough time to keep himself alive until one night he meets a wealthy man named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) in a bar who has over a century on his clock. After Salas helps save his life, Hamilton gives him his remaining time and dies. Salas uses Hamilton’s time to cross “time zones” into New Greenwich, a wealthy district, and meets Sylvia Weis (Seyfried), the daughter of a wealthy citizen.

He soon finds himself accused of murdering Hamilton and is forced to go on the run, pursued by the “Timekeepers,” a police force led by Raymond Leon (Cilian Murphy) and a mob-like group called the Minutemen. Salas and Weis end up going on a crime spree, giving time to the poor.

The film is helmed by Andrew Niccol, director of “Lord of War” and producer for “The Truman Show.” Niccol does a good job with this film, not overdoing the action or drama, which serves to increase its appeal.

But one flaw is that the film doesn’t explain the whole history of the time currency system very clearly. We’re given a very cursory explanation of the whole idea and left to figure the rest of it out on our own.

The casting for this movie is spot on, and while there wasn’t a great deal of emotional depth in the script for the actors to work with, each cast member played their parts well.

There wasn’t anything “bad” about the film, however, there wasn’t much that really made it stand out from other action movies. The Robin Hood-esque storyline has been done before and the premise of the movie didn’t add much to it.

While “In Time” wasn’t anything overly special, it was still entertaining and definitely worth seeing for anyone who’s craving a good action movie.

Luke Bohannon

Luke Bohannon

I’m a huge fan of the “Paranormal Activity” movies. The unique way in which these films have utilized the “found footage” style has been both refreshing and horrifying – that is, until now.

“Paranormal Activity 3” has fallen very short of the legacy of the series, and it’s a shame to bear witness to.

This prequel to the first two films takes place in the late 80’s and again focuses on the sisters Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi Rey (Jessica Tyler Brown). The sisters are living with their mother Julie (Lauren Bitter) and her boyfriend Dennis (Chris Smith), and have befriended an invisible entity named Toby who lives in their house.

Naturally, some spooky stuff starts happening in the night and Dennis, who just happens to be a wedding videographer, decides to set up cameras in the house to catch said spooky stuff along with a lot of unnecessarily long pan shots and a completely random sub-plot involving witches.

As I said, I’m a fan of this style of filming, but “Paranormal 3” didn’t bring anything new to the table aside from stretching the bounds of believability. There were several moments in the film that I found myself wondering why the cameraman was carrying around a camera at that particular moment or even why the camera was left on.

One possible reason for the shortcomings of this installment could be the directors, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Neither have worked with the “Paranormal” franchise before this, although they have made another “found footage” film called “Catfish.”

The true disappointment lies with producer Oran Peli, who has been involved as a writer with all of the “Paranormal” films as well as “Insidious.” Seeing as he remodeled his own home to film in and bankrolled the original film, you would think he would have looked at the third one and said, “Maybe this isn’t the direction to take.”

The biggest downfall of this movie is that all the cool and interesting moments advertised, as well as the plot advertised in the commercials, were not actually in the movie. The previews show a house fire that played a large part in the back-story this movie was supposed to portray, yet it was completely absent in the final product.

Also, nearly all of the scary moments shown in the trailers that were omitted from the film for whatever reason were replaced by rather lack-luster scares and false-alarms, aside from one rather inspired moment in a kitchen.

“Paranormal Activity 3” had the potential to be another great addition to the “Paranormal” series, but instead it became a tedious exercise in unrewarded patience for this unhappy viewer.

Luke Bohannon

Luke Bohannon

What happens when you toss George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and Ryan Gosling into a political drama? Good things happen.

“The Ides of March” follows a young, idealistic Stephen Myers (Gosling) who is the junior campaign manager for Pennsylvania governor and democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney). Myers is working alongside senior campaign manager Paul Zara (Seymour Hoffman) in an attempt to win the voter support for Morris along with the presidential nomination.

As a debate between Morris and his opponent nears, Myers is contacted by rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Giamatti) with an offer –  jump ship and work for him. Myers refuses the offer. At the same time, Myers new girlfriend is one of the interns on Morris’ campaign.

Little does he know, Myers’ meeting with Duffy and his new relationship are catalysts that will send him on a journey into the dark reality of politics.

Clooney’s directing is at a high point in this movie, and he also managed to portray an interesting behind-the-scenes look into the campaign of his character and at the same time deliver a satisfying amount of intrigue and drama.

Along with his directing, Clooney does a great job on-screen as Morris, looking and sounding every bit like the political powerhouse he’s supposed to be.

But Clooney isn’t the only actor who shines in “Ides.” Most, if not all, of the cast does a fantastic job. Gosling plays his part with simple grace, slipping through his character’s transformation during the film without missing a beat. Hoffman, of course, delivers a great performance as Zara, and Giamatti is a perfect foil to Hoffman’s character.

“The Ides of March” is based on a play titled “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, and it definitely shows. The whole movie plays out like a stage production, focusing on characterization and character-driven drama.

Many hot-button political ideas are addressed in this movie through debates and town-hall meeting, including religion, same-sex marriage and foreign policy. The combination of smart story-telling and political topics will leave viewers with a lot to think about after they’ve left the theater.

The one notable flaw of “Ides” is that it lacked an emotional impact in many scenes, mostly due to the music, or lack thereof. The score of “Ides” is somewhat awkwardly carried out.

In some scenes the music was very obvious, playing out with faux-patriotic tones that bring to mind cheesy History Channel educational videos about politics. But when some sort of musical cue was really needed to underscore a major event, all the viewer gets is silence.

Still, if you’re politically inclined or just looking for an interesting drama to watch, I definitely recommend this film.

Luke Bohannon

Luke Bohannon

I’m not a huge fan of baseball – I’ll admit that – but I’m definitely a fan of “Moneyball.”

This new drama from director Bennett Miller, who also directed Capote in 2005, shows the gritty reality of the baseball industry from the perspective of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), general manager of the Oakland Athletics.

“Moneyball,” based on a book of the same name by Michael Lewis, dramatizes the real life struggle of the Athletics in the early 2000s. It begins with the team’s loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

We immediately join Beane as he begins to try to rebuild the Athletics after the loss of three key players to a free agency. The team also faces an additional financial handicap in comparison with other professional teams. Beane meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who challenges the traditional notions of scouting by picking players based solely on statistics with no regard to personal lives, appearance or age.

The two team up to bring together a misfit team of throw-away players that other teams won’t touch. This leads to conflict with the Athletics’ manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the entire scouting crew, until the strategy surprisingly begins to work.

Brad Pitt does a great job playing Billy Beane. He hits the mark in his depiction of a concerned father, an ambitious team manager, a scrupulous businessman and failed player past his prime. Pitt manages to portray the weariness of his character as if he himself lived through Beane’s disappointing major league career. Beane’s relationship with his daughter is a central tenant of his character, and every scene with the two of them is pure gold.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is spot on with his portrayal of Art Howe, and truly immerses himself in the role. His performance elicits both sympathy and frustration as he tries to do what he feels is best for his team.

While “Moneyball” seems like just another movie about baseball on the surface, it’s truly something else entirely. For one thing, there’s actually very little baseball played. The focus of the film is on Beane and Brand as they work to create and maintain an all-star team.

However, the baseball that we do see is shot beautifully. It romanticizes the game and still manages to keep it grounded in a starkly realistic style that defines the film.

Miller meshes scenes of the movie with real life footage from games and television shows seamlessly, which really adds to the film. “Moneyball” attempts to portray baseball realistically, and it truly delivers.

While I’m not saying that “Moneyball” will make it to the Oscars this year, I certainly think it’s a great film that’s worth seeing as soon as possible, whether you’re a hardcore baseball fan or just someone looking for a great movie.

Luke Bohannon