Chronicle (Director's Cut: The Lost Footage Edition) [Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo]

(The review I wrote for my college newspaper)

Chronicle is the story of three high school seniors named Andrew Dettmer (Dane DeHaan), Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), and Steve Montgomery (Micheal B. Jordan). Steve is a popular guy, running for student body president. Matt, Andrew's cousin, has never had any shortcomings with popularity or women. Andrew is the opposite. He comes from a poor family, with a dying mother and an alcoholic, abusive father. He never talks to anyone, is regularly bullied, and his only outlet in life is his camera, which he carries with him everywhere. What do these three have in common? Telekinetic abilities, and one flippin' good movie.
After stumbling out of the hole where they found a strange crystal formation, they discover they have the ability to change the world around them with their thoughts. They start small with their new powers, building with toy blocks and stopping baseballs in mid-flight, but if they over-do it, their noses start to bleed like a faucet. 'I think it's like a muscle,' Matt said in one scene, 'The more you use it, the stronger it gets.' But after some pranks at the local supermarket, one unfortunate tailgater shows them just how dangerous these abilities are, and Andrew realizes how powerful he can be. As he describes in one scene, he has become an 'Apex Predator,' the highest link on the food chain.
Chronicle is a beautiful example of taking aspects of previous films and doing them properly. It has Cloverfield's style of filming, but without the camera shake (he used a tripod, how about that?). The movie is based around the core concept of Andrew filming the events that are happening, and later in the movie, this takes the shape of police dash-cams and other people filming from their windows. External shots of the main characters are cleverly disguised as Andrew 'floating' his camera. The act of telekinesis in the movie is flawlessly done too, there's no flashes or lines to link the action to the character, but the character's movement links to the action. There's no lights or flashes when they use their powers, like in Push. They use hand gestures or head-tilting to show that what they're doing.
One of the finest details is the choice of actors, all relatively unknown. (Except Micheal B. Jordan, who was in Friday Night Lights, voiced Jace Stratton in the video games Gears of War 3, and also starred in January's Red Tails.) While this is normally a huge gamble, this is a great example of it paying off. The fact that they're mostly unrecognized adds authenticity to the story.
In short, Chronicle is a valuable addition to any movie fans' arsenal!

Chronicle(released Feb/12)stars Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer,Michael B. Jordan as Steve Montgomery,Alex Russell as Matt Garetty,Michael Kelly as Richard Detmer,Ashley Hinshaw as Casey Letter and others.This is yet another Blair Witch Project,this time done through the eyes of three Seattle high school students."Done" is the operative word here,as in done this genre right into the ground and done terribly poorly.
The film finds Andrew as the school loner.He has a dying mother and an abusive,alcoholic father.Andrew decides to start taking a camera along wherever he goes(quite convenient),and during a party his cousin Matt and his friend Steve take a walk in the nearby woods,and discover a strange hole.Steve gets Andrew to come and film it.In the hole they all go and they come upon a strange crystalline structure at the end of the tunnel.Whatever it is emanates different lights and strange sounds,and when they leave the tunnel their lives slowly start to change.They start to discover they have the powers of psycho-kinesis.Andrew develops it faster and stronger than the others.Whenever something untoward happens to one the others gets nose bleeds.There is a definite symbiosis going on here.
At first they start out doing harmless lifting of various objects big and small.As their powers grow they have the ability to literally fly into the air and travel great distances.Andrew however is slowly but surely withdrawing from the others,his home life situation not helping any.After a confrontation with his father,he flies into the clouds and Steve comes to talk to him.It all ends as Andrew pushes Steve away so hard,he falls to earth and dies.
Andrews mother grows weaker everyday and when Andrew has no money to pay for his mothers pills he starts robbing his school mates,then a mini-mart.However during the latter a propane tank explodes sending Andrew to the hospital.As his father sits by his bed he reveals Andrew's mother passed away that night.But because he was out looking for him he blames Andrew for him not being able to be there for his wife.As he stands over Andrew demanding an apology,Andrew causes a huge explosion to rip the wall out of the hospital room.This draws the attention of the police and the media.Matt is getting a nose bleed and knows something is wrong.He sees the kerfuffle on TV and speeds to the scene.He is just in time to save Andrews father who is thrown to the ground by a hovering and very angry Andrew.Matt and Andrew have a huge showdown over Seattle and it all comes to a disastrous end when Matt is forced to kill Andrew.
The film ends as we find Matt in Tibet.Andrew had said earlier on in the film that they should travel there and they all agreed,except they never made it.This is Matt's way of fulfilling the promise.
If I have to sit through another of these cheaply made,Blair Witch like films,I don't know....burning the disc is too good.The only positives I can say is that it is a kind of a neat idea,on paper,and the special effects were well done.Other than that this wanna-be life like picture is a total washout.As life-like as these films try to be,they really are far off the mark.For instance Andrews father belts him across the face and knocks him off his chair.He comes back up with a grimace but nothing else.Reality?....he should have been crying.But hey,this is Hollywood and REAL reality is a no-no.Just pretend reality.And the moral of the story,that man is not meant to have these powers?Yeah,yeah....they did it better in Star Trek,and long before that.
Technically speaking the film is in its w/s a/r of 1:85:1 and extras include pre-viz stuff & a camera test.
All in all another Blair Witch rip off,and done very poorly and uninterestingly at that.The moral is as old as the hills and just as lame.Highly NOT recommended.

The chronicle movie Is not what I was expected.To me it's not a well made stories.
I didn't like the movie. I don't know If I would recommended to anyone.