J Edgar

Wow!  This was quite a movie.  Having grown up during the last 25 years of J. Edgar Hoover's "reign" I was interested in this movie for historical reasons.  Also, the jokes about Hoover's personal life and the mixed signals about his abuse of power present an interesting commentary on life in America.  Hoover brought the FBI into the modern era and created policies about fingerprinting and crime scene procedures that greatly aided crime solving.  His love for his country and his staunch anti-Communist thoughts were commended by many.  At the same time he kept files on political "enemies" and seemed to keep his thumb on most of the presidents under whom he served.

Alice said she saw and learned things about Hoover that she really didn't want to know.  That may sound like the movie sensationalized his life but this just isn't true.  You have to see the movie to understand as the director Clint Eastwood presents a careful look at this life with occasional hints about Hoover's unique personality. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is amazingly transformed into an old and young Hoover as the movie goes back and forth to events in the 1930's and the Lindbergh kidnapping in particular and also the events toward the end of his life.  Judi Dench as his mother is outstanding in her portrayal.  Naomi Watts as Hoover's lifelong personal secretary, Helen Gandy, is also stellar in her performance.  In my opinion, the only problem with the movement back and forth finds his number one assistant (Clyde Tolson portrayed by Armie Hammer) having very poor makeup in the depiction of his later years.

You can learn a lot from this movie but you also have to take certain parts with a grain of salt and a discerning mind.

It was a great movie.

Jack and Jill

I confess that I don't like Adam Sandler and I went to his "Jack and Jill" fully believing that I would not care for this movie.  I was a bit surprised that the movie was better than I thought it would.  I liked the fact that the Jack character kept Sandler from saying and doing much at all.  the Jill character also played by Sandler was a bit irritating but somehow likeable.

Oh, I would never give this movie four stars but I confess that it was definitely better than Cars 2 and, yes, dare I say it, even better than Puss in Boots.

OK.  The premise is based on twins and Jill (Jack's twin) comes for her annual Christmas visit and simply stays.  Surprisingly, despite her irritating personality she is wooed by Al Pacino playing himself and Felipe.  I'm not quite sure how Jill got together with Felipe but their friendship clicked.  I guess I was out for popcorn when they they ended up having eyes for each other.  Pacino does what he can to have a relationship with Jill but she just doesn't like him.  Jack comes to her rescued after insulting Jill and manages to get everyone together and make everyone happy.  Hey, the plot is far from deep but it does work.

The movie is cute and also funny at times, though Alice felt it wasn't as funny as she expected.  It was probably only one step above the average made for TV movie but, as I say again and again, it wasn't that bad.