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Showing posts from November, 2011

J. E. hoover movie review

Clint Eastwood directs a powerful biopic in J. Edgar. In a little over two hours the director takes us through the complicated life of J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of The FBI. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays the man who held the position until his death at age 72. It is an amazing portrayal. (DiCaprio underwent six hours of make up transformation to play the elderly J. Edgar Hoover.) Between the talented director and lead actor they manage to paint the tormented Hoover as a sympathetic character. And that wasn’t easy to do because the man was despicable! In J. Edgar, Hoover was a ruthless and cruel FBI director with little regard for the civil rights of the people he classified as “subversive” or “criminal”. He was also a man with some real “momma issues” which conflicted with his latent homosexuality. Oh, he was a complicated man! Judi Dench plays Hoover’s mother in the film. Her performance reminded me of some of the characters Betty Davis often played in some of the horror...

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy's Tower heist

Tower Heist would be well received at any “Occupy Event” currently happening in NYC or anywhere else in the country. It’s a caper film about working folks who are bilked in a ponzi scheme by a Wall Street investor (Alan Alda). The working class clients, who are robbed of all their life savings, plot a scheme of their own to get back the money that was stolen from them. Ben Stiller plays Josh Kovacks, the manager of the opulent hotel tower housing the Bernie Madoff wanna be. Eddie Murphy is Slide, a petty thief who trains Josh’s team to “storm the castle” and rob the impenetrable penthouse apartment. Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Michael Pena round out the rest of Josh’s crew. All turn in fine supporting roles that keep the movie rolling. Gabby Sidibe (“Precious”) is also part of the ensemble cast. She plays a Jamaican maid who joins the team when they need a specialist to assist with the robbery. The Chemistry between the cast is terrific. Especially the teaming of Still...