Everything GREAT About Chronicle!

[Music] [Applause] it's 7:30 in the a.m. tell me find rocker knight and ensemble movies especially found-footage ensemble movies it can be a little confusing for the protagonist is or at least who we should be sympathizing with Chronicle introduces our main character with the mirror since we don't see him much when he's behind the camera sets up his motivation for almost everything he does feeling weak because of an alcoholic abusive father and wanting to protect his mother and introduces the literal lens through which were told the story solid device also spoilers right because swords liquid spear thean expenditure Sarah dear like vulnerability I mean who didn't like this song does about it have you ever read any art to show for now so basically you're telling me that I should give up on life yes philosophy lessons wanna talk about some of the narrative things this film does throughout and this is one of the first that some will probably disagree with me about but open-ended plot threads give this world a sense of further realism whitey skipped class getting high doesn't matter Andrew didn't record it if he told him so it's not in the footage thought you wanted me to come with the end I did but just going do you want for once okay abandoning Andrew at a party he bullied him into attending the one thing that does to Andrew that's worse than impaling him it's a win because I hate Matt more on that later you framed is about took for him to realize he was being creepy sorry Casey no one with that name could ever make it as a video blogger I'm not clamor to be cool you know that much is clear Matt and Matt it wouldn't you say about glow sticks philosopy burn I haven't seen this movie since the theater so I don't exactly remember what happens but I feel like you won't be making it to politics or graduation or the end of this movie ironically I'm so ridiculous the modesty don't be an idiot since it's almost Halloween this is about as much horror as you can expect for me but it's nice to see kids do horror level stupid stuff in a non horror movie yes Matt yes he's heard of it because everyone's heard of it although based on you bringing it up here I don't think you have any clue what it's about which is a perfect addition to your lost in the world trying to fit in character also just getting out the horror I may be doing a horror movie next week and it's not paranormal activity point being the way they get their powers is a little creepy so it makes sense that one of them goes off the deep end I was a guy who defended the time jumpered fan for stick but this is a Josh Trank time jump that works and makes sense in universe Andrew being quicker are picking up precision things like this is consistent throughout and sets up how much more powerful he is by the end weight is introduced a masterbuilder you don't feel like it's a little weird I can put some barrier between you and everything else long before Casey Neistat revolutionized the blog Michael B Jordan predicted the ultimate outcome I've actually been having some problems with my parents - yeah these are the nuggets of inventive storytelling that we get from josh trank and max landis Steve doesn't come out and say you know because I know that your mother is very sick it's inferred and we get it it's exposition you don't even notice unless you're looking for it like me quick mirror shot again to establish who was holding the camera the only thing they've done so far that I'm actually jealous oh I think I drew missed his calling as a camera operator with that smooth rack focus Michael B Jordan is always win we're just Mormons that's like real cringy high school dialogue clearly not something written by a witty team of thirtysomethings i love the actual visualization of the car being pushed it's like a controlled gentle hand it's as if you can see this big barely functioning claw just ripping the car off the road telekinesis that makes sense to me saving that stupid redneck it's a game or something I understood how you guys can be so angry Andrew look at me you put a guy in the hospital this is really the first hint that they needed to be more careful with Andrew his concept of right and wrong isn't clearly defined yet it also seems to be him already struggling with the idea that he's a more evolved life form now that's an entrance how do we get down smash cuts in the clouds again we've already heard this conversation so this time we just jump to Steve having won the argument you've probably heard people talk about how great the CGI is and wondered well what you have to remember that it was made for twelve million dollars so it's killing it at that budget but besides that what a perfect picture of what high school guys would do 20,000 feet up but still just chilling the fly is one of the more entertaining aspects of this movie and the first-person point of view always keeps it feeling realistic and they were smart enough to go up above the cloud so no one would see him I never really thought of planes as all that scary like on an individual level but that one is terrifying thankfulness liquid nitrogen alright everyone chill today was like I think the best day of honesty in a type of honesty a lot of us can relate to it's not easy to be genuine about things like this and I believe it from each of them you know Matt you can just mail this yourself I met your mom she already burned I can't do that I can't do stuff that requires finesse which actually makes sense for why Steve was the first to fly and Andrew was the first to stop the ball finesse versus raw power and also caution versus fearlessness and this floating camera effect was done with a cable cam rig which is exactly what it sounds like but it all just works so well and gives it that floaty feeling yeah that looks like the Cave of Wonders opening where you'd find a genie who could give you special powers mmm let's talk about how Steve orchestrated this magic show so that Andrew was the only one to look cool even though there were plenty of things he could have done that don't require finesse it's not that hard to believe everybody loved Criss Angel for like ten minutes I actually could be good at this right now literally every beer-pong pro several beers into the night I mean look that's awesome but everybody plays it you can block bounces that is Anna Wood Dane DeHaan actual wife garetty extended family family not Peter Parker but Green Goblin finally got his day I went through the camera what did you see just you being a loser you think that those people are your friends they're not you're an embarrassment what a moment that hammers home how terrible his dad is there's at least the potential that Andrews dad saw him flying or doing otherwise telekinetic things and still he only sees his son as an embarrassment because he hates himself that much powerful statement about abused kids Andrew doesn't immediately defend himself because of course he wants to think his dad isn't gonna hit him this time no matter how many times he has before another drum cut that makes sense of course Andrew isn't gonna film himself trying to resuscitate Steve or once Steve is dead but also is this how Johnny Storm actually became the Human Torch well the way Andrew doesn't want his face on camera right now is if he's accepting that he's the villain of his own story and he doesn't put his face back on camera for another minute and a half and when he does it's with this shot withered flowers to show the passing of time you know what no this powered him up to become creed this one I got really clean cause I did this little like lasso thing and then Andrew starts to really lose it interestingly I think the Edit is a little out of order but for Flo they left it like this pulls teeth talks about being the apex Watchers footage aback I like to think that he actually watched the footage back after pulling Wayne's teeth and sort of realized he was acting crazy so then went on to explain Ryan does not feel guilty when it kills a gazelle and I think that means something yep I mean he gray but still he's always a wind further disconnecting from people by now putting an actual barrier between himself and them and it's no coincidence that the very thing he showed respect for his father over is now one of his tools to break free also more awesome practical effects showing how little he cares about dragging the ants around this is a multiple viewings level of detail which is the stuff I love because the filmmakers know very few people are gonna catch it in theaters but they put it in there anyway have you noticed it yet Andrews hovering cameras in the security footage and the continuity between cuts is pretty impeccable attention to detail still keeping everything as found-footage as possible obviously Andrew isn't recording anything when he's unconscious that might seem like a little bit of a stretch but I think you're right to reasonable privacy goes out the door when law enforcement has clear evidence of you doing supernatural things oh good blame the kid just when you think maybe this guy is an actual human he blames his son for the death of his wife and demands an apology if there was ever a clear motivation for a character snap and one thing that might go unnoticed is that andrew is awake at this point literally filming his own life with a push in so that this moment is more dramatic it plays into how detached from humanity he is and how he sees himself as separate and above the rest of the world drops on the alien shirt in case you're wondering why Matt doesn't just fly to Andrew his nose was already bleeding so he's weakened also how would he explain running off into the night to Kacie saving that abusive jerk the original script had Andrew doing a similar thing to his dad he did to the spider and I appreciated that they changed it to this some may still walk away hating Andrew and thinking he got what he deserved but to me his story is tragic and unfair more on that later I love the point of view flip making Andrew irrefutable you out to be the villain of his own story now this is just an insanely awesome sequence from start to finish that is one of the main reasons you do found footage films everything is amplified by the first-person point of view I'm an apex predator an apex predator with a flair for the dramatic honking that horn telekinetically I also love how this outfit the bandages the one exposed bloodied arm even the scars in his face are such perfect supervillain trappings it would probably Sully this movie but even after Andrews death there's room for a sequel the shifting point of view also creates these visual effects cheats it keeps you in the finale because there's never an omnipresent camera catching the best angles it's just what's available so car flip is seen from inside whoo man that glass slowly lifting off the ground and now setting your finale to take place in public makes having all the camera angles at your disposal easy Smart Play so he's kneeling pretty well but this is kind of a simplified supernatural wise live-action adaptation of akita really think about the similarities and I'm good with that the intensity and desperation on both kids faces and in their voices another stellar conveyance of the passage of time with the cuts on his face almost healed I'm gonna find out what happened who was down there I don't care how long it takes I'm gonna get answers and I'll never get over the loss of the max landis josh trank time-traveling sequel that will never be he's not a bad person I know that I didn't ever get a chance to tell you but I love you I'm about to be hard on Matt but I do love this moment of love he shares with the memory of Andrew and acknowledges that Andrew wasn't just pure evil so max landis wrote this screenplay you know I'm from Netflix is bright and possibly if you take any of my recommendations two of my favorite films from 2015 mr. right and American ultra and while I give both directors of those films a bunch of credit for visual style Landis has a way with words it's in those films and it's in chronicle it's hard to tell who was responsible for what but josh trank also has a writing credit my assumption is that Landis brought the screenplay to tranq and then they reworked it together but the way the story is laid out whoever gets more credit it's it's just great storytelling short and sweet or well not sweet but concise concise and tragic good storytellers use the elevator pitch for a movie just as the framework to tell good stories the powers these kids have are just a way to amplify what it sometimes feels like to be a teenager and in that way it's ironically just a human story I mentioned how character has very subtly acknowledged things that happen off screen to bring us up to speed with their relationships to each other their friendships are built so organically I mean you saw my dad just quiet these are things I believe friends would say to each other its quality writing so here's my take and it's maybe a little bit of a stretch I think you can interpret this movie as a satirical indictment of the infallibility of the good guy who in this case is our hero Matt Matt he's a jerk he belittled Andrew right from the beginning he clearly sees himself as better than Andrew and tries to distance himself to save face then he knocks this guy over moves this poor waitresses cart so she breaks some plates and then murders his cousin okay the last one is at least a little bit on Andrew but my point is that were presented with a pretty unlikable guy who ends up finding purpose and vindication by the end and not in a super redemptive way because he's responsible for Andrew in a lot of ways andrew is obviously the most interesting character he set up early as someone with reasons to explode but you don't get bad guy of the group right off the bat he's a bit of a loner and his only real acquaintance seems to be his cousin Matt who we've established is not a great influence so in order to impress his new friends he does this he escalates the actions they took because fitting in is more important in the moment than any potential repercussions and then Matt scold him like a child who breaks a lamp after he just watched you throw it around the room they have great moments together and I believe they all help each other but ultimately I see this story being about how a bad influence are led to Andrews death and don't misunderstand we're all responsible for our own actions and Andrew chose his path it's just not the most unsympathetic path and I understand how someone could walk out of this film thinking it was just a superhero origin story for Matt who saves the day and a super villain origin story for Andrew who just loses the plot but I think it's more than that when all the cards are down sure Matt sacrifices his best friends so that no one else gets hurt and Andrew can't hear reason seeing himself as the apex predator by the time he's describing ripping a bully's teeth out by the technique rather than the emotion or even vengeance that was behind it you know he's gone but we're not just defined by the actions of one or even a few moments this person wasn't created in a vacuum the first interaction we see between men and Roo was mad expressing his nihilistic opinions everything that led Andrew and Matt to this showdown falls on both their shoulders and I personally fault Matt more than Andrew my wife and I have this ongoing discussion slash argument about any given thing that happens in the world and how far our sympathy should extend convoluted way of saying sometimes we feel bad for people who do bad things because I personally believe that most well a lot of the time some of the time people doing evil things just means something is broken in their brain and it's often because of past trauma for just the way they were born again and this is where I always concede to her people are responsible for their actions regardless of what's going on in their head I guess my point is that I don't have even an inkling of a desire to steal hats while I believe some people have to fight that urge every day I truly believe that our would-be hats dealers walking amongst us who for one reason or another by the grace of God just don't steal any hats and probably never will look some people want to lick mailboxes but they don't because they get that it's weird but their urge to lick mailboxes may be just as strong as - to drink coffee in the morning maybe I've just watched too much Dexter maybe I'm a hopeless humanist but if there was ever a clear line drawn - what why and how andrew becomes what he becomes it's here it's a dying mother abusive father outcasts of society broken brain even when things are going great things go terrible and he hasn't been taught how to deal with this kind of disappointment Steve doesn't even get it so what you threw up she really liked you she wouldn't care and if she doesn't really like you but who cares sucks it's embarrassing but this is not a person who was built to deal with this kind of failure oh I actually notice the puked on her at first okay well her response is warranted but still if she actually likes you this wouldn't be the end all that to say I think this film is something of a warning about how we interact with people you never know what's going on at home or inside their heads especially when it comes to young adults Matt is like the quintessential high school senior who was about to have his entire worldview blown up next year and freshman philosophy 101 he bent to this film aside but while he's responsible or at the very least complicit in everything that goes down the kid who's too cool for parties gets to keep on truckin while everyone else dies and I get that there's a Redemption arc on surfaces well kid who finds existence purposeless finds purpose but I have a hard time seeing this movie has anything other than the jerk getting off mostly scot-free while the abused underdog outcast is brutally killed or maybe they're just typical high school kids and I'm reading way too much into it mistress but that's something I really like about this movie it's not so clear-cut how you're supposed to feel walking away and that's not even talking about how Chronicle is an unsupervised the focus but instead they're just the springboard for these characters stories so the characters are written really well but it would be dishonest to pretend like the actors weren't a huge part of selling the realism of this story Dane DeHaan has had his hits and misses but even his arguable misses were at least consistent place beyond the pines he was even pretty good into music spider-man he was a skinny werepanther in True Blood anyway then we got my man Michael B Jordan who's still blowing up and was easily the most likeable character in the entire film making his death all the more heartbreaking and then Alex Russell is the only one who isn't at least halfway to a household name at this point ironically the year after this he was in the Carrie remake which is basically what this movie is just with the gender swap so there's some trivia for you and none of the supporting cast got in the way or pulled you out of the film even Doug Stamper wasn't Doug Stamper yet it's funny how often these found footage films worked so well because of the no names but then these films often launch careers making them work less on re-watch it still works I buy that every one of them is just a high school kid going through puberty right that's the metaphor right point is I hope to see more from all of them especially Trank even if fan 4 stick was a bit of a speed bump for him but next week a movie that I'm reiterating is not paranormal activity [Music] mr. food just don't talk about it okay never ever heard me Plato's allegory indicate [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: CinemaWins

Views: 1,109,582

Rating: 4.9487019 out of 5

Keywords: Chronicle, Chronicle 2012, EWW Chronicle, EGA Chronicle, Halloween Movie, Chronicle Review, Chronicle Analysis, Cinema Wins, CinemaWins, EGA, Movie Wins, Film Wins

Id: ydHEGhQghPY

Length: 18min 50sec (1130 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 21 2018

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