Yes, No, Maybe So: "J. Edgar"
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 10:15AM That vibration you're feeling on the ground, that telltale rippling disturbance in your glass, is the clomping arrival of one of 2011's (presumed) Oscar behemoths, Clint Eastwood's biopic of FBI man J Edgar Hoover called J Edgar [official site].
Don't wilt like a little flower. Be strong."
Which means we have to get down to our yes, no, maybe so breakdown of things that make us want to buy a ticket, run away screaming, or mull it over before committing. As a founding member of the oft reviled and totally misunderstood* 'Clint Eastwood is Overrated Club' I realize my breakdown will already be broken for some. But I do approach each trailer with as open a mind as I can muster given my general leanings. In this case everyone knows (and I'd never deny) that I vew cradle-to-grave biopics as the mustiest of all film genres; they aren't inherently cinematic with their staccato 'greatest hits' survey of life since movies are always strongest when they capture something seismic in miniature about a character, story, time, or theme that suggests rather than illustrates a major life beyond two hours.
YES
Is that legal?"
- Ummm... welll... oh, okay. Got one. The font of the logo is excellent with those flamboyant J and G curls in the otherwise Serious Man signature.
- Like everyone else I'm curious to see how well the actors handle the "alleged gays" material.
- Maybe Armie Hammer has a lightness of tone that will help it. Though he looks vaguely brainless when he puppy smiles directly at Mr. Hoover, the "is that legal?" line has hints of mischief and love of life.
- The shot of the John Dillinger death mask reminds us that plot point, already cinematized on its own, has plenty of juice should they squeeze.
The trailer in question and more commentary after the jump
NO
It's time this generation learned the difference between a hero and a villain."
- It's time this filmmaking team learned the difference between color and black and white. I think one of the reasons that Letters From Iwo Jima worked was that it leaned enough towards being an actual black and white film and that's what Eastwood and his DP Tom Stern always seem to want to make. Why must all the movies have the same somber drained-of-color palette with the same heavy chiaroscuro lighting? These movies they make have different characters and different themes. Why are the visual choices so matchy-matchy? Argh! The most colorful thing in the whole trailer is ...a door... behind J. Edgar!
- The opening narration "When morals decline" "evil flourishes" "doomed" "never lower our guard" ...it's like cement pouring until you totally buried in its oppressive bromides.
- It also has the unfortunate affect of reminding us that Leonardo DiCaprio's voice has never been his most valuable instrument as an actor.
- The last thing Leo needed was another glum brow-furrowing role.
- Little boy scenes preordaining the rest of the movie, plate smashing domestic strife, deathbed scenes, old age makeup sadness scenes, Nooooo; It's like Cliches R Us up in here.
- There's not one moment in the trailer that doesn't' feel like an FYC ad.
- Judi Dench could probably act this role in her sleep. Won't someone challenge her again with something like a Notes on a Scandal?
MAYBE SO
He most so conduct himself as to eliminate even the slightest possibility of his criticism as to his conduct."
- Maybe just maybe... the team's old fashioned discomfort with the alleged homosexuality (at least it seems that way in early press statements where even Leo seemed unsure... um, doesn't he need to make a choice about that as an actor?) will result in a inspired stiffness of character or an inspired statement about oppressive / opressed people?
- Maybe the mother/son angle... "don't wilt like a little flower" sill have interesting beats? (That one line made me involuntarily think of Roy Cohn's Mama bit in his deathbed in Angels in America... God, what a scene that was.)
- Maybe someone will be Oscar worthy instead of Oscar bound?
Related: Oscar Predictions
I am less interested after seeing the trailer which I was not at all expecting. I thought I might enjoy the period feel or see interesting performance beats or something. Maybe you'll feel differently? You'll tell me either way in the comments, won't you, where you fall with the Yes, No, Maybe So?
*Calling someone "Overrated" should never be interpreted as "they're not talented". Overrated, an admittedly too generic and lazy term that we should all stop using (sorry), merely suggests a disconnect between proportions of praise to the talent in question.
Reader Comments (38)
One thing I would add to the Yes's is Dustin Lance Black.
As generic as the trailer looks, he did write Milk after all and that was one the best biopics of the past decade. Maybe he has something in the script that we don't see in the trailer?
Also, the whole Leo's childhood thing reminded me of The Aviator, but if this film is half as good as that one, I'll be ecstatic.
Do we think Judi Dench will get Oscar nom #7? I sincerely hope the Academy breaks the habit of just picking their 4 or 5 favorite films and nominating everyone in them in for each category.
How great would it be to see a Melissa McCarthy nom for Bridesmaids as opposed to a default Judi Dench nom for this? But hey I haven't seen this yet so of course she could be great? We shall see :-)
DiCaprio's wobbly accent aside, looks good to me. One caveat - the trailer gets huge mileage out of the music, and you know that there won't be anything so emotional in the movie - it's going to be the usual plinkety, Eastwood-penned piano score, which even I as an Eastwood apologist am sick to death of hearing in every single movie.
I'm a yes except for leo's accent. I loved the trailer and was really surprised to see Naomi watts get a lot of time in the trailer, could she be headed for another nomination?
Is the accent bad though? It sounds ridiculous, yes, but so did Hoovers (which actually seemed to change depending on venue and time period). Wasn't this a problem with Leo's accent in Blood Diamond. Sounded super silly, yet people I trust ended up saying it was pretty authentic to the character.
I'm a yes on this, but the trailer is super generic. That first 10-15 seconds were especially atrocious.
The first thing I saw was DiCaprio's overly concerned face (which is so overused by now) and I thought no.
Then I saw the trailer and said No Way. Shame that Judi Dench is in this, I really like her but not even she can make me watch what looks like a boring biopic.
I'm not entirely sold on it either, but I never was. Leo's old-age makeup is pretty impressive, though. It also seems from the trailer that they're trying to cover too much ground in his life for anything to really stand out and make an impact. That may just be the way they cut the trailer, but I'm worried it's going to be a less "greatest hits" biopic and more of a "greatest ringtone hits" version.
Am I alone...or does anybody else think that Judi Dench looks rather ridiculous in this? I kept thinking of the mother in "The Manchurian Candidate" when I saw her.
Other than that, I'm pretty iffy trending towards No.
"i am less interested after seeing the trailer" sums up my feelings perfectly....and i wasn't particularly interested to begin with
that whole 'he was very devoted to his mother' intimation seems very dated
Wow...Naomi Watts barely got any play. Looks like they're focusing on Leo and Judi.
Old version of Leo reminds me of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane.
No.
Then again, I did even manage to live through Invictus, as close a call as it was.
I love the cinematography. It's their style, their vision, something that's beyond characters or particular times or situations. The techs may follow the auteur's point of view. Fellini made movies about movie stars or little towns with the same excessive art direction.
Clint Eastwood is not Ron Howard - his movies may have different stories, but the most important thing is always his point of view (And I find his work with Tom Stern very inspired, even in movies that I don´t like, like Invictus).
By the way, this black and white thing is very telling, since Clint Eastwood is a director that makes old-fashioned choices. He could have made his movies in the 30's, with ancient cliches, and you'd accept perfectly. The point is that he doesn't give his movie a vintage reference, to make you agree you're seeing something with a purpose of being old-fashioned. He doesn't wink at you, like a Todd Haynes did in Far From Heaven.
That's why the excessive nature of screenplays like, for example, Million Dollar Baby never hurts the movie - it may not fit movies like we'used to see now, but it fits perfectly the movies of Clint Eastwood.
Of course old-fashioned doesn't mean good. He makes a lot of mistakes, too. The problem is that sometimes his qualities are not that easy to observe. People who love his movies are often only enamored with him, the star. People who hate him just can´t see his movies are not normal.
That said, I think this movie is going to fail, what bring us to a Clint Eastwood crisis after Invictus and Hereafter. He may be finding his Woody Allen days, making too much movies, but not greatly as he was used to be.
I am maybe so.
(I think the accent sounded ok?)
I find Eastwood and DiCaprio to be reliably uninteresting these days, and true to form I couldn't even bring myself to finish watching this trailer. Proposed tagline: "Bring a Book".
I'm a Yes. I was interested before the trailer but now I want to see it even more!
I get thatwe see many cliches but somehow I didn't mind that much.
But that puppy smile? Indeed, that was Hammer thinking: How do I show that I adore him and I'm the bottom?
Seriously, with that and the plate-smashing scene he's going for "Leo's 100th long-suffering wife".
By the way, I don't mind seeing Judi cast in any role, even if many of them are quite similar to each other, but I think her role in My Week With Marilyn will probably be something different, given the person she portrays. But I'm still curious to see how she does in this one.
I am a little disappointed. It looks terribly elegant and well made and a little stodgy. I want this to be good. I harken back to the total spark in the teaser for IRON LADY - risky and odd and at least interesting whereas this seems terribly tame. We'll see.
FYC Comment du Jour, by James T.: But that puppy smile? Indeed, that was Hammer thinking: How do I show that I adore him and I'm the bottom?
There's no issue for me when filmmakers repeat a visual palette for their films whether they fit exactly the story their telling or not. (Fincher, Cameron, Kubrick)
Judi Dench can do no wrong. Her role in Notes isn't an example of a challenge as it is a reminder that older women aren't writtern interesting roles. Which is why <I>Notes is so alive whenever we think of awesome roles for women of a certain age.
Dicaprio is adorable. I like that he's chubby and odd. I wish he weren't a world famous movie star. I want to date him.
I'll just say it: Leo is a perpetual over-actor. The fact that he regularly plays these loons (and usually loons with accents he can overdo) tells me that he enjoys doing so.
On the plus side, I'm excited to see Hammer in what I hope is a less restrained role (I too liked the glimmer in his eye during "Is that legal?" line). And Judi Dench's performance looks solid, albeit a little redundant. But there are so many big "No"s-- Leo, the make-up, the tired lighting, and (I'm betting) the screenplay. I personally thought Milk was a bit conventional and benefited from a sweetness in its characters and its treatment of them. Given the Hoover's life and line of work, I just don't see that happening here, and that could be a problem.
I'll see it because it's an Oscar contender, but not because I want to.
Dustin Lance Black's participation here is not the encouraging sign some say it is. Milk gets by with a great lead performances and some deft choices by Van Sant, but if you read the screenplay, it's really rather pedestrian, HBO-biopic stuff. If you read Black in interviews, he comes across, frankly, as not that bright. Nor does Eastwood, though.
Amazing how Orson Welles looks more convincing as the older Kane than DiCaprio does as the old Hoover... in a movie made 70 years ago.
Color me cautiously optimistic, if only because Dustin Lance Black and Clint Eastwood seem like two very mismatched cooks in this homoerotic kitchen. I'm curious to see if they make something interesting out of that tension, or if it just becomes a trainwreck.
Yes, solely because all the unjustified crap DiCaprio gets. I'd rather see a dozen of overconcerned DiCaprios than 1 Burtonian Depp more. And Eastwood is quite a solid director that can direct this in his sleep.
I know this is so not the point, but Armie Hammer is ridiculously adorable in that screen grab.
I cant believe Armie Hammer has just turned 25. Just like I will never believe Blake Lively has just turned 24 and ScarJo 26.
So either
a) I look really young for my age (good for me)
b) They all look old for their age (bad for them)
c) All those hollywood people lie about their age (I belive they all do)
I'll go with option C.
Yes. They're pitching this to The Academy. Why? Because, with the market for straight drama's being what it is (almost non-existant), the only hope to succeed financially is Oscar noms. That having been said, I hope this...doesn't. The reason action movies are so dominant is because there's one that's REALLY GOOD and ACCESSIBLE every 1-3 years. (The last decade had The Bourne Identity, Sin City, Casino Royale and The Dark Knight.) The great straight dramas (without humour or kinesis being too dominant), though, have become, by and large, impenetrable or alienating. (Donnie Darko (at first glance and thought a bizarre Lynchian tale, but is ultimately the simplest time travel story on film, but that first glance turns people off), Far From Heaven (winking references to a 50s filmmaker), Talk to Her (foreign language) and Before Sunset (giant bleeping tracking shots) in particular are, although great, have aspects that naturally push audiences away.) The big exception to this is There Will Be Blood (Plainview is extremely unsympathetic)...but There Will Be Blood was the Best Picture runner-up and Best Actor winner. (Major Oscar play helps negate filmgoer and studio nervousness.)
Volvagia, I strongly disagree. These are the action movies you bring to justify your point? Why not something by Michael Mann. And there's not a single action movie in these last years that is half as good as The Social Network, for example, and I'm only talking about Oscar movies.
I don't know. I'm sure the National Board of Review will eat this up like they do for all Eastwood movies, but based on the trailer (which could possibly be playing it down), I'm not sure how people will react to this movie overall. Frankly, I'm just expecting a lukewarm response, kind of like Invictus got. I know it's silly to write something off just based on a trailer, but honestly I've had doubts about this movie from the beginning. I think the Academy's love affair with Clint has been on the decline recently, and this doesn't look like the movie that will rekindle the spark. A DiCaprio nod seems like a good bet (unless people think it's too generic a performance), but I'm not counting on it getting in for Best Picture.
Love the era, love the subject matter, love the cinematography, intrigued by how they'll develop from young J. Edgar to old Anakin Skywalker, and Judi Dench's role looks much much bigger than people expected. And that shot of her crying the movie theater! Gah!
So I am a very enthusiastic YES.
"Amazing how Orson Welles looks more convincing as the older Kane than DiCaprio does as the old Hoover... in a movie made 70 years ago."
To be fair, makeup is easier to fake in black-and-white than in color. That's partly why Mike Nichols shot Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in black-and-white, knowing that Elizabeth Taylor could never believably look the role in color.
I did kind of laugh when they showed a piece of Hammer screaming at Leo that he's a 'scared little man' because that is EXACTLY the type of insult that Kate Winslet's character used to hurl at him in Revolutionary Road. I don't know the story behind J. Edgar Hoover, but it looks like Hammer's character isn't too far from joining Leo's Dead Wives Club.
I still love Hammer though. He's a hunk who comes across as a complete dork in interviews which makes him even more attractive.
No! This looks awful.
Yes!
Eventhough I'm in the overrated club concerning Eastwood, I can't believe no one mentioned the two men "holding hands" shot in the back seat of the car while mom Judi stares in disgust. I never thought Clint had in him to film such a scene.
The kiss will make Leo win. Enough said.
I'm in, so YES. I think this could be Leo's real shot at an Oscar win. Armie Hammer could show up in supporting actor. And getting Judi Dench back in the race? Hell yes! She's the best part of this trailer. Not quite sure if BP/BD are likely or not. The Academy's been iffy on La Clint lately. But this is the kind of bait that they should love unless it's a pure clunker. I'll have faith that Dustin Lance Black pulled through again with a fine script with lots of gaaaaay subtext. Or that's just what I'd like to hope happens. Maybe some Leo/Armie heavy petting/strained looks?
i keep wishing leo would somehow be awesome again.. but it looks like he never will. the departed was his last chance.... very sad.
Seriously, folks, I've read parts of the script and if they play anything like they read, it could be gangbusters. That said, who knows anything really based on a bloody trailer. Snippets of this scene and that, most of which is cobbled together and some of which won't even be in the actual film. Pulleeze, Nat. I can't tell you how many trailers I've seen that have been totally misleading and I'll bet you could pull more than a few out of your hat as well. Anyways, I've watched the trailer a few times now and it's grown on me, but then I don't necessarily condemn any actor based on a fucking trailer usually. I tend to see the actual film before I do that and if it turns out well then I'm the better for it. Still, I think anyone who builds something up is bound to be disappointed if they don't immediately fall in love.
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I really love Leonardo, but his voice and too youthful looks just makes it impossible for to think of him as a grown man... it is not his fault, but it is definitely a liability IMO.
The trailer was ok, but Leonardo is overdue for an Oscar. He was robbed in 2004.