Chronicle

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[Hiccup]

Seeing this tomorrow!

[Krissykins]

B

CHRONICLE

Wednesday 1st February, 7pm showing

350 seater, sold out. Scotland, UK.

Trailers:

John Carter (no reaction)

The Woman In Black (talking)

This Means War (some laughing)

Film:

This is a great debut for the director, and he uses the found-footage effect for some really nice shots, and some cheap jump scares, naturally. The cast (for the most part) are great. The film has afew laugh out loud moments and the audience seemed into it. The film was really fast paced. The effects when there are floating objects are at points really really lousy. But some of the bigger effects towards the end of the film are excellent. The main actor tends to overact severely in the last 10 minutes. The film doesn't dwell on moments that could have been great character moments and it doesn't spend any time on the serious implications of their powers. And at some points the found footage element is pretty ridiculous. for example the police saying "we have to record this for our records" when a character is lying in a hospital bed unconcious- just so the audience can see. And at some moments your left thinking "um, exactly who is supposed to be holding a camera here?" so in the last 20 minutes of the film, the found footage element is completely dropped at points and we see the action from a normal stationary camera.

Overall it was fun, quick, funny and entertaining.

[Andy Stitzer]

Copied from my post in the "Crowd Report" section (*Go to that page to see more on my new grading system for movies):

Chronicle

12:01AM Friday, February 3rd

AMC Boston Common 19 & Lie-MAX

Theater Capacity: 199 (80% full, nearly all college students)

Ticket Price: $8.50

Snacks: 1 small Coke Zero

TRAILERS:

(*There was a 15-minute projector delay before the trailers began)

This Means War - it's a solid action trailer; got a good reaction

21 Jump Street - very, very funny trailer and always gets an excellent reaction, especially from this audience

Project X - this was an epic, two-minute trailer that got the best reaction of the night and had lots of talking afterwards.

Silent House - I hadn't heard of this found footage film before tonight, but the trailer suggests it's an 88-minute long, single shot film of Elizabeth Olsen trapped in a haunted house; got everyone talking also

THE FILM:

Like a lot of people when they saw the first ads for Chronicle, I was skeptical about whether or not to see this. "Another found-footage film?! Couldn't they do something more original at this point?" Well, I was wrong. And thank goodness.

Chronicle is no ordinary "found footage" film. There is actually an above-average story at hand surrounding the hardships of being lonely as a teenager and--as I perceived it--the repercussions of mistreating or bullying someone. Our protagonist has the misfortune of leading a pretty sh*tty life. Dad's an abusive drunk, mom's terminally ill, the girls are "creeped out" by him, and he's bullied constantly. Fortunately, he has a cousin that makes a genuine effort to look out for him and broaden his horizons (no pun intended). It's only once they start hanging out together that their world changes forever. This sets up the first 5-7 minutes of the movie.

There's no use in laboring over all the details in the film as it's only 85 minutes long, but it was about as good as I'd expected (after reading review-upon-review praising the film this week). While the sci-fi footage and elements will draw comparisons to contemporary films like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, I actually think Chronicle plays out most similarly to Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie. These are all excellent films for Chronicle to be compared to, but at the same time I think Chronicle deserves a little more credit for rising above the other horror crap released recently in the found footage format. The audience seemed to enjoy the movie--about half of us were clapping at the end. And I think it ends in such a way that people will want to discuss how it plays out and what it might mean to have telekinetic powers... but mostly how awesome the last 15 minutes are! ;-)

Crowd Experience - 24/30

Story/Writing - 18/20

Acting - 9/15

Tech Specs (Cinematography, Editing, Effects) - 13/15

Direction - 8/10

Music - 2/10

Bonus: Originality - 3

THE VERDICT: 77/100, B

[Noctis]

Crowd Experience should have absolutely no part in grading of actual film and its contents. Sorry, but that is just utterly ridiculous.

[Andy Stitzer]

Crowd Experience should have absolutely no part in grading of actual film and its contents. Sorry, but that is just utterly ridiculous.

How about just "experience"? Because going to a movie and experiencing it means something to me (and others, I assume) in a way that's difficult to explain by any other parables.

[baumer]

I'm not sure if this just caught me on a very good day or if someone spiked my bag of M&M's with a wow pill, but this is one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in any film. Simply put, I was blow away. I get that computers can get rid of harnesses and such but to have this as a found footage film and use the special effects so incredibly, it just blew me away. The story does move fast, the characters are excellent and the wow factor is top notch. The irony here is that I was much more blown away at the small things in the film, like killing a spider or stopping baseballs in mid air. When the last 20 minutes was upon me and all the really impressive stuff starts happening, it too was great, but not quite as good as the small stuff.I'll write more later but I'll give this a 9/10 for many reasons. The most important is that I was wowed and entertained like few films have done to me before.

[Hiccup]

Chronicle

7:25pm

SOLD OUT (70% male / 30% female. Mostly teen-college age people not a lot of older people)

Trailers

This Means War- Silence

Three Stooges- Laughs

Wrath of the Titans- Some talk

21 Jump Street- Best reaction/Lots of laughs

Movie: Amazing film! Easily best film of 2012 and probably one of my favorite films all time. The acting was amazing for a unknown cast. The African American kid was hysterical and the audience laughed at all his jokes. The audience ate up the film. Claps at the end and lots of talk about Andrew and the super powers. A lot of people loved Andrew and people

gasped in horror and sadness when he was killed. One lady behind was crying when Matt was giving his final talk to the camera.

The movie was very dark and sometimes disturbing. The ariel shots were fantastic. The story was fast paced and packed with fun and action.

I am still in shock that they killed off Andrew and Steve off.

I am curious to see were the sequel if one happens will go. My brother and dad loved it too. Great movie! Must see of 2012!!! :)

9.8/10

[hogwash13777]

"Chronicle" mini-review. SPOILERS.

Before I start, I'll say that the found footage aspect, is the BEST part of this movie. It works well, it's unique, it breathes life into an otherwise disappointing movie.

It's undeniably entertaining at parts, true, but that's trumped by the fact that none of the characters really connected with me. And that's for a few reasons: like the over-reacting, making odd decisions, under-developed characters. Like what exactly was the point of the blonde blogger other than the extra camera angle? Or why should I sympathize with Andrew when he's gone mad off things he's read on the internet and because he's drunk off power? Who was I supposed to cheer for or feel sorry for at the end of the Seattle battle sequence?

It also follows the synopses and trailers, to a fault. This leads to everything being expected and rather underwhelming. They get the powers, they play around, one starts losing control to the powers, then there's a fight in Seattle. I'm ALWAYS one for the journey, not the destination, but I couldn't enjoy it because it all seemed too distant with the bad characters and story set up.

That Seattle Battle is fun, and the flying sequences are fantastic, but that's all eye candy. Can't give it a pass for just that.

Man. I really wanted to like this. The concept is there though. If you like that alone, it's worth a try. But otherwise, "Skip it." or 4 out of 10

P.S. After/during the credits: There's nothing. Thought I'd put that down.

[Noctis]

One of the most unique films I've ever witnessed. I haven't seen anything like this. It's quite rare to see characters as fleshed out as these when centering around teenagers, especially in a rather short running time. Great performances from the leads (particularly from the guy with the huge dimples), a story that feels shockingly realistic despite the fact that everything that happens is the complete opposite of realism, and the action sequences are thrilling. This will probably be in my top ten of the year.

[Fanboy]

I am so angry my theatre didn't get this.

[DAR]

Chronicle

7:25pm

SOLD OUT (70% male / 30% female. Mostly teen-college age people not a lot of older people)

Trailers

This Means War- Silence

Three Stooges- Laughs

Wrath of the Titans- Some talk

21 Jump Street- Best reaction/Lots of laughs

Movie: Amazing film! Easily best film of 2012 and probably one of my favorite films all time. The acting was amazing for a unknown cast. The African American kid was hysterical and the audience laughed at all his jokes. The audience ate up the film. Claps at the end and lots of talk about Andrew and the super powers. A lot of people loved Andrew and people

gasped in horror and sadness when he was killed. One lady behind was crying when Matt was giving his final talk to the camera.

The movie was very dark and sometimes disturbing. The ariel shots were fantastic. The story was fast paced and packed with fun and action.

I am still in shock that they killed off Andrew and Steve off.

I am curious to see were the sequel if one happens will go. My brother and dad loved it too. Great movie! Must see of 2012!!! :)

9.8/10

Well I think the competition hasn't been too stellar so far.

[baumer]

I'm almost certain this will make my best of 2012 list.

[Hiccup]

I'm almost certain this will make my best of 2012 list.

This will probably enter my Top 5 even maybe Top 3 of 2012.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Silly Fox! Movies that come out in January & February are supposed to suck!

One of the good things I liked about the movie was that it never has to throw a crappy script with crappy actors at the wall and just let the premise do the work (hell, the kid who played Andrew was actually pretty good.) Not to say the story was amazing, but it wasn't as bad as one might expect with such a film. Of course, the main part of the movie comes from the powers, and the last 20 minutes were INSANE. One particularly striking moment was when

Andrew suddenly grabs his father's arm in the hospital room

.

It's not a perfect movie, though. The narrative moves pretty fast, but it kind of felt like there were a few gaps missing. I had no problem with them not explaining how they got the powers from undergound, but it felt odd that the three just jump into their powers, so how exactly do they learn about their powers? There were a few other quibbles that I had, something that would have been solved if they made it a titch longer.

The visual effects were fine, especially considering the budget.

Overall, it's a surprisingly solid film that gets progressively better as the film approaches its explosive climax.

B/B+

[CJohn]

Top 10 of 2012 almost locked. I loved this movie.

[Gopher]

I've already seen two 2012 movies I really liked (The Grey and Tim and Eric). Are you guys telling me that if I see this, that will turn into three?

[Noctis]

Just watch it, you melodramatic slag.

[mattmav45]

I saw this film today, but honestly need to see it again before I can even try to review it.

I took a bar 40 minutes before it started, and honestly remember 10 minutes of actual screen time. I will say that about 12.5% of the film was pointing toward a C+ to B, but don't put any stock into this into I get a re-watch.

[DeeCee]

I still can't believe how good this was. I only became aware of the film in the last week and wasn't expecting to much but it just blew me away. The last 20 minutes were just insanely epic. It's not really a found footage film like Cloverfield as more then one camera is used especially in the final 20 minutes. But I just didn't care. It also has an actual beginning, middle and a satisfying ending.