When this week's selection, Chronicle (2012), arrived from Netflix, it was a mystery. This has happened before. I add to my list months in advance and forget the more obscure films. This one put fresh spin on a familiar theme. Three teenage males find a hole in the ground in the woods. It leads to a deep cave, where they find a mysterious object, probably extraterrestrial. Soon, they begin to develop super powers. What makes this story different is the exploration of the psychological effects such gifts might bring, particularly on the most troubled of the group. The portrayal of the teens is genuine, unlike in most films. Kudos to screenwriter Max Landis, his first full length feature; to the three leads: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan; and to director John Trank, who directed several episodes of a TV series, The Kill Point, with which I'm not familiar. The special effects are extraordinary, especially given that the entire budget of the film was "only" twelve million. It earned 125 million worldwide. The climactic scenes are reminiscent of the second Christopher Reeve Superman. The running time is less than 90 minutes. What a treat. On a scale of five, four. It is rated 7.1 out of ten at IMDb.
It looked like luck had finally ended for the floating book shop after a solid week. The only positive in the first two-and-a-half hours was a visit from Bill, who has self-published five books through Lulu. He describes them as niche. One is on grain elevators. Anyway, he promised to buy one of my books if I can find more by John LeCarre for him. Deal. In the last ten minutes Bad News Billy and Sue, local realtor, LHS class of '67, showed and bought a bunch of books. As we were gabbing, a gentleman approached and purchased the last two of my current stock of Russian books. Thanks, folks.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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