When we happen upon Andrew, he is the quintessential model of a teenage afterthought. Unsure of himself and lacking in self esteem, he muddles through his high school trying his best to go unnoticed. Despite this he is made fun of, harassed and bullied. Things aren't much better for him at home as he is verbally and physically abused by his functional-alcoholic, former-firefighter, now disabled father. His mother is his only source of comfort but, she too is being taken away from him -- as she is in the last stages of a terminal disease.

It is only when he is goaded by his cousin Matt into attending a party, "You're a senior for Christ-sakes!" do things seem to change for him. At the party the abuse he suffers at school is repeated, only this time amid music, alcohol and light sticks - prompting him to go outside to find solace. Instead of solace, he runs into exceptionally charismatic, potential Senior Class president Steve who insists he bring his ever-present camera to document what Steve and his cousin Matt have found. What they find is a crater caused by what appears to be a near-earth object that has lodged itself underground far enough to create a cave-like entry hole. A chasm big enough for the three of them to enter. The boys are exposed to glowing crystals that appear to be wicking moisture away from their bodies. Fade to black...

In the next scene all is well and the three boys seem to be having a grand time in their backyard testing the limits of the new powers they've gained as a result of being exposed to the previously mentioned crystals. The boys have gained the powers of telekinesis. 

As their control over their powers grow Matt exclaims, "I think it's like a muscle so the more we exercise it the stronger it/we get. But I also think it is elastic, we don't want to do too much at first otherwise it'll snap."

Buoyed by his growing skill, since he practices incessantly, Andrew is convinced by Steve to showcase his control in the high school talent show. Disguising his powers as onstage magic tricks, for the night, Andrew becomes the big man on campus. At a party following the talent show he is lauded with attention, plied with alcohol and meets the first girl who has given him any consideration. There's just one problem, Andrew doesn't really drink. Thus he loses self control in what should be the biggest night of his teenage life. 

It then becomes ironic but not surprising that Andrew, the one who could most benefit from these powers, begins to abuse them. His intentions are made clear when we see him manipulating a harmless spider on his bedroom floor - only to dismember it in mid-air.

Brilliantly photographed in the lingua franca of the YouTube generation, director Josh Trank shows us the most genuine "super-hero" experience to date in cinema. Through the use of footage captured from Andrews own video camera, cellphone video and public security cameras a story of "absolute power corrupting absolutely" unfolds.

It helps a great deal that all of the cast members are relative unknowns, so the act of suspended disbelief is easier to accomplish. What follows is exactly what you'd expect teenagers to do if they discovered they had telekinesis. From juvenile pranks the boys graduate to full fledged flight, explored in amazingly staged action sequences. Watching the climatic scenes of Chronicle, fans of the anime will find themselves eerily reminded that this could be a live-action version of the film AKIRA.

An entertaining piece of fiction, Chronicle is well worth the time and money invested. 

Every time I'm in a bad mood or need a pick-me up, the Big Lebowski invariably gets popped into the VCR, DVD player and these days streamed from Netflix or my own personal collection. I still have the 4x3 version believe it or not. I'm sure I'll eventually purchase the fully restored, letterboxed 15th anniversary Blu Ray when it comes out next year.

It is a joy to watch and gets better with repeated viewings. The more you watch it the more nuances, real and imagined,  come to light. From John Tuturo as The Jesus, Peter Stomare, Flea and Torsten Vorges as the nihilists, I find the supporting cast gets funnier and more flawed. The fact remains that everyone in the movie, no matter how small their part, brought their A game and made the most of the few minutes they were given.

The fact that it has become one of the most popular cult films of this past decade, spawning drinking games, festivals, Halloween costumes, college dissertations and books by academics that shuttle between serious and absurd -- does not diminish the impact or likability of this movie. Primarily because we all want to be Jeffrey Lebowski, the dude happy in his own skin.

And as we all know, "The Dude Abides"

It was hot and I had a few hours to kill, so I headed into the air-conditioned theater and took in Luc Besson's new flick. It was sci-fi, the matinee showing, it had Guy Pearce, the trailer was intriguing --and so I thought what the heck. There are worse ways to spend 10 dollars.

The movie started off at a very "you-better-keep-up-cuz-Im-not-repeating-myself-twice" pace. Beautifully shot and laced with snappy banter like:

• Interogator (Peter Stormare): "So tell me what was going on in NY."

• Snow (Guy Pearce): "It was coupon night and I was trampolining your wife." To which I thought, "OK its going to be one of those movies, all right let me change my expectations."

For the first 20 minutes you got all the Luc Besson cues, militaristic police in next gen armor, sweet-looking, almost space-age motorcycles, and a high speed highway chase in a near-future cityscape. It was Guy Pearse reprising the "reluctant hero" archetype perfected by Bruce Willis in Besson's previous sci-fi movie, 'The Fifth Element.' Pearse was making the archetype his own rattling off one liners like it was going out of style.

After a few laugh-out loud interludes and a fairly exciting opening, the movie falls flat — almost as if two different directors were working on this movie. This of course was because there WERE two directors working on 'Lockout' — specifically James Mather and Stephen St. Leger. In fact, both of them also worked on the screenplay — and it shows. Im not sure who worked on what scenes but, the entire movie felt disjointed at times and the middle was slowed down by exposition (the perfect time to make a run for the bathroom.)

In the end, the story of "A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates." felt like a retread of existing movies. Namely Escape From New York with hints of Outland.

The movie was watchable but it won't be everyone's cup of tea. If you're jonesing to go see this movie, by all means go see it. But, if you're wondering if it's worth the price of admission, perhaps you should rent it when it comes out on DVD.

"Something wicked awesome this way comes." ~ Wired Magazine

...

I was looking forward to the Avengers movie as I was reading through the reviews on Letterboxd.com. Most of these reviews were from the rest of the world and I hoped I would not be disappointed -  it just premiered in the US today.

It should be noted that no other studio, outside of Marvel, could have pulled off this feat. I'm talking less about the Avengers movie itself and more about Marvel starting their own studio and taking control of their  intellectual property. Who better than a comics publishing giant could understand the needs of their own fans?

With premiere properties like Spiderman licensed to Sony, X-men  and the Fantastic Four to Fox (and a host of other characters licensed to Lionsgate, New Line and Columbia) it seemed like the right time to venture out on their own. Marvel wanted to do this before making a movie, like The Avengers, would be hampered by lawyers and licensing deals. So Avi Arad and company bet the farm, staking their survival on the success or failure of the first Iron Man movie and the reboot of the Hulk. The latter being the version with Edward Norton. Lucky for us, that bet payed off.

Which brings us to Joss Whedon, the man entrusted with the mythos of The Avengers. I'm sure the Hollywood suits had their doubts but, found Whedon uniquely qualified to do the one thing that has plagued many failed super-hero movies - tell a good narrative without giving in to excessive exposition, back-story or cramming in too many heroes and villains. It doesn't hurt that Whedon's street cred includes a stint writing the Eisner Award winning X-Men series for Marvel.

We assume with millions to be made in licensing, the studio execs would insist Whedon to do things their way - the better to sell the myriad of merchandise that accompanies such spandex-wearing spectacle. Yet what we see on screen is quite the contrary. Joss Whedon has pulled off a masterpiece of summertime goodness that will appeal to the kid in all of us. For someone who grew up on the comic book rations Marvel,  it is immensely satisfying to see what used to exist as drawings by Jack Kirby, John Buscema and George Perez (among others) come to life  in a live-action movie that is respectful of the source material.

Whedon does more than make these characters come alive, he embodies them in the Walt Kelly (Pogo) catch phrase, "We have met the enemy and he is us." 

Because what is the Avengers but, a story about a dysfunctional family? This is how we are able to relate to the characters.  We all have dysfunctional families with different members playing the roles of (Avengers roll call!) the father figure (Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury), the self-righteous hero (Chris Evans as Captain America), the egotistical brother (Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man), the mediator/peacekeeper (Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk), the outgoing and responsible sister (Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow),  the entitled 'holier than thou' brother (Chris Hemsworth as Thor) and the enforcer (Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye).

So off we go on a cross-country road trip, dysfunctions and all, crammed into the family station wagon (the S.H.E.I.L.D flying fortress) bickering about who has to sit in the middle. Only when we are united against a single and common enemy (Tom Hiddelston as Loki) do we get our act together, repress our respective egos and begin to act like a family.

Don't worry if some of the arcane fan-boy musings in this review have you scratching your head - all will be explained in the movie. Just sit back in the cool darkness, feed yourself that delicious 'movie' popcorn and let this blockbuster wash over you. You'll not only have a good time, you'll leave the theater thinking, "I must own this on DVD when it comes out." 

Because surely there will be a directors cut as well as loads of extras...

...

Be sure to sit through the end credits to see not one but two media stingers (extra scenes).