Chronicle

Director: Josh Trank
Stars: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan
Rating: 3/5

A spooky lo-fi sci-fi tale of power corrupting, in which director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis display enough raw talent to suggest better things to come.

Introverted Seattle teenager Andrew (Dane DeHaan) has a plan for dealing with bullying at home and school, plus the mental stress of his mother’s terminal illness: he’ll document it all with the absurdly large camera he’s just bought.

The filmmakers don’t need the Blair Witch-style found-footage conceit. It’s become both a crutch and an annoyance. Chronicle would still captivate without it, especially when you have a cast as strong as this one.

Rampart

Director: Oren Moverman
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver
Rating: 4/5

LAPD Rampart division cop Dave Brown ( a brilliant Woody Harrelson) has such a large chip on his shoulder, it’s a wonder he can stand.

From behind his aviator shades and constant smirk, Brown views the world the same way Rampart director Oren Moverman sees the urban landscape: bleached of colour and definition. Accused of being racist, Brown angrily replies: “I am not a racist . . . I hate all people.”

Brown is a chauvinist, but he lives in the same home as his two ex-wives, two sisters whom he’s fathered children with. He’s a tragic figure, almost Shakespearean in his inability to see the morass he’s fallen into, which gets deeper by the minute.