John Podhoretz isn’t impressed with Clint Eastwood’s latest movie:
If you make the mistake of going to see J. Edgar, you will emerge much older by the time the movie finishes, even though only two hours will have passed. Forget all that questionable talk about how those newly tested subatomic particles move so quickly that they violate the rules of time and can order a drink before they walk into the bar. It is Clint Eastwood, Hollywood’s only functioning octogenarian director, and not a subatomic particle, who has figured out a way to breach Einstein’s relativity theory. In the theaters in which his movies play, time literally slows down to the speed of an ant. I was so ancient by the time J. Edgar was done that I went home and watched five reruns of Law and Order.
There’s more, including a John Voight reference.
Saw it Saturday…..eh…. Good acting; boring story. Not one of Clint’s best.
Gregg,
having seen the commercials, and knowing Eastwood leans left, what was the draw for SEEING this? I’m no Hoover supporter knowing some of the stuff he did, but it just seems that the chances of this being told straight and true were slim and none, given the director, the cast and Hollyweird in geveral.
Just wondering.
Eastwood leans left? Really? Sometimes I can understand why it’s so easy to make the case that everyone is just paranoid about the Red Threat.. because they are.
Dear Der,
I like a lot of Eastwood movies. I loved Gran Torino, for example, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven. I don’t care what the political preferences of a performer or director or writer are – I care about whether or not their work entertains me. Many Eastwood movies entertain/entertained me.
As for this particular movie, I do enjoy bio-pics. I had warning that the critics didn’t like it much, so I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. And I didn’t. But I was willing to take a chance – the critics and I don’t always agree. In this case it was a flop but that’s ok, too.
As for this particular movie, I do enjoy bio-pics.
This is my delimma. I like bio-pics as well, but in this case, its DeCaprio that’s my problem. I wanted to like The Aviator. However, from the first scene, which made me wonder if the director was a pedophile, to the long drawn out scenes of Hughes self-isolation; I stopped watching. There was about 20 minutes of the film I enjoyed. The rest was misery that makes Podhertz comments familiar to me. With that memory, I’ll likely wait for J. Edgar to make it to FX or AMC.
One can lead a completely worthwhile life without *ever* seeing J. Edgar.
As for The Aviator, I never thought Martin Scorsese was the best choice as director for that one. I like a lot of Scorsese movies but I think you need someone with a deep interest in aviation to create an aviation-centered movie.
Kind of in the same vein as Scorsese’s movies about New York City and/or the Mob – they all feel right because the topic is something he understands deep in his bones.
In my opinion, you need the same sort of understanding of aviation to make an aviation picture that feels right.
Never could figure out why he left Cary Grant out of that movie. Grant was a major influence on Hughes in the Hollywood years.
But you know, I kinda liked Dicaprio in that one.
Fun fact: Googling “Leonardo D” will get Dicaprio before da Vinci. My, my…