J. Edgar (2011)

Powerhouse performances can only take a film so far. Cheesy makeup and a disorienting storyline manage to drag this one down. Disappointment, thy name is J. Edgar.

J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the young, brash leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He's never really been on the front lines, but he makes sure the public believes he has. Hoover's life and career follows an unexpected path, but all of it seems to revolve around how his mother (Judi Dench) feels. He soon hires Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) as his personal secretary and Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) as, basically, an assistant and confidant. In the midst of a congressional inquiry, Hoover takes on the now-infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Hoover sees this as an opportunity for the FBI, but the case gets bungled early and a lack of resources ultimately does it in. The result of the Lindbergh case puts a damper on his relationships, both personally and professionally. He may never recover from them. Throw in clashes with presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, it's amazing Hoover's career lasted as long as it did.

While I thought the plot included several points in Hoover's life that I wanted to know about, it moved around in such a disjointed way that it was sometimes hard to follow, or even care about. DiCaprio was great as usual and Armie Hammer gave a stellar performance that may give the awards recognition he missed for The Social Network. But, again, watching the older Hoover and Tolson act through that terrible makeup and dark lighting was really difficult. It took me out of the movie completely. I can't recommend J. Edgar, but I'm not going to stop anyone from seeing this. Grade: C+

Inception (2010)

Holy cow. This lived up to all the hype that I had put on it based on the trailer. The acting was superb, the story was terrific, and the action was unbelievable. The most fun I've had watching a movie in a long, long time.

Cobb and Arthur (Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) specialize in a very unique form of security/thievery. They do so by invading their subject's mind. However, Cobb has something else on his mind and that's seeing his kids again. Through a serious of events, Cobb is a wanted man in the United States. He decides to take one last job from a wealthy international businessman (Ken Watanabe) in order to get his past crimes erased and so he can see his children. The job he is intended to do is not as easy as it seems. Without getting into too much detail, because it will being to ruin the movie, I will say that things on this job go out of control. The main question is: Will Cobb see his youngsters ever again?

At it's core, this is a very basic action movie plot. Guy needs to do one more job to get out of the biz. It's where the story goes with that plot that I absolutely loved. All of the cast were terrific, but Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy really commanded the screen and took over when they were needed. I got bothered by one person leaving the theater early when I went so I will say this: Don't NOT leave/miss this movie. Watch it in theaters if you can, Blu-Ray if you wait. It's well worth it.

Body of Lies (2008)

I might have been a little bit generous in rating this movie, but I found it a pretty good watch. It's your basic Ridley Scott movie, in that it's a thriller with political overtones with a Hollywood type storyline. Still, it was fun.

DiCaprio plays undercover agent Ferris who patrols the Middle East under the terrorists' radar while trying to root them out. Crowe plays Ed Hoffman, the suit in DC who runs the operation without having total direct knowledge of what is going on, and that pisses off Ferris. The story is a bit convoluted as a whole, with a lot of things going on, but it still manages to dumb it down a bit for the layperson.

If you like suspense/thriller/action movies, then this is for you. Be warned, if you are squemish at all, the are a couple of scenes of torture, one is particularly cringe-inducing. I liked it, but it's not for all.