CHRONICLE (Rated PG-13)

The essential account of “Chronicle” is how a trio of high school seniors acquires superpowers and then goes about the business of handling the moral complications.

In some respects, this story, as written by Max Landis (son of director John Landis), parallels in elemental ways the strangely unique powers of those kids in the recent “X-Men” films.

The fundamental difference between “Chronicle” and “X-Men” is that the kids in the former are not accustomed to their sudden newfound abilities and could desperately use the tutelage of Professor Xavier.

“Chronicle” also has a similarity with “Cloverfield” and “The Blair Witch Project,” where the hand-held camera, at times a bit jittery, records the action.

Andrew (Dane DeHaan), the least mature of the group, is also the most insecure. He uses a hand-held camera to record his life, initially for the purpose of documenting the abuse he suffers at the hands of his mean-spirited alcoholic father.

Andrew’s only friend is his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), a brainy dude with a penchant for quoting Plato and other philosophers. Matt constantly makes efforts to bring Andrew out of his self-imposed bubble.

The cool cat in the trio is easygoing Steve (Michael B. Jordan), a popular and charismatic athlete who’s running for class president, the likely front runner for any school election.

Normally, these three guys probably wouldn’t hang together, but fate draws them to a strange subterranean passageway where they encounter a glowing crystalline object.

Soon thereafter, they discover uncanny telekinetic powers to move small objects, from building a tower of Legos without the use of hands to stopping a baseball in midair.

With Andrew invariably taping their experiments, the guys elevate their innovative skill to a series of amiable pranks, as if they were filming their tricks for an episode of “Candid Camera.”

Boys being boys, it’s amusing when they remotely set off a leaf-blower to lift the skirts of cute cheerleaders or bewilder a grocery shopper by moving her car to a different spot in the parking lot.

As the sensible, levelheaded sort, Matt wisely attempts to convince his pals that their talent for moving objects carries a moral responsibility to not do harm to others.

At first, caution is exercised, but the desire to impress classmates becomes too overwhelming. Having never been popular, Andrew finds validation in a school talent show with impressive card tricks and juggling.

But the endeavor to honor a conscientious moral code becomes increasingly difficult when they are able to levitate themselves and fly through the clouds like Superman.

Distressed by his troubled home life, where his dying mother is hooked up to an oxygen tube, Andrew is more susceptible to the dark side of his supernatural gifts. His anger at the world is palpable and fierce.

Naturally, Andrew’s first instinct is to strike back at his abusive dad and to confront the vicious neighborhood bullies with a bit of comeuppance.

Then, the tone of “Chronicle” shifts to a darker, sinister place when it begins to chronicle, through Andrew’s ever-present camera, a mindset out of control.

From using his mind to crush cars and rob gas stations, Andrew graduates to full-on rage against society in general. An attack on the Seattle Space Needle fits into the pattern of destructive behavior.

“Chronicle” moves inexorably from the genial practical jokes to a climactic showdown in downtown Seattle that looks like a particularly nasty and violent alien invasion.

In the end, this science-fiction thriller is a cautionary tale about the corrupting influence of absolute power, but it’s got a lot of impressive destructive action to make the moral lesson attractive to thrill seekers.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

This column has plugged the great old TV series on many occasions, including “Mannix,” the action-packed detective drama starring Mike Connors.

“Mannix: The Sixth Season,” including all the high-speed car chases, flying bullets and fistfights, vividly demonstrates the show’s on-going appeal.

Connors’ streetwise Joe Mannix, a hard-boiled and gritty private eye, defies all the rules and protocols as he fights crime on the streets of Los Angeles.

Gail Fisher, as Mannix’s faithful secretary Peggy Fair, plays a more involved role in many of her boss’ cases than ever before. In one episode, she goes undercover as a hooker.

“Mannix” is one of the iconic TV series from the late Sixties and early Seventies. “The Sixth Season” is well worth having in one’s DVD collection of great detective dramas.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The first performance of the new variety show “Lake County Live!” will be rebroadcast on community radio this week.

The show, which took place last Sunday, Jan. 29, in the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, was broadcast live on KPFZ 88.1 FM and streamed it online.

The streaming link can be found at the radio station's Web site, www.kpfz.org. The debut show will be rebroadcast on 88.1 FM and online from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, and on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

For more information about the show, visit www.lakecountylive.com or www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Live/278359985516181.

I Was Never Able To Pray

Wheel me down to the shore

where the lighthouse was abandoned

and the moon tolls in the rafters.

Let me hear the wind paging through the trees

and see the stars flaring out, one by one,

like the forgotten faces of the dead.

I was never able to pray,

but let me inscribe my name

in the book of waves

and then stare into the dome

of a sky that never ends

and see my voice sail into the night.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Edward Hirsch, whose most recent book of poetry is The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Reprinted from the Northwest Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2010, by permission of Edward Hirsch and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – February's First Friday Fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 3.

The event will take place at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.

The First Friday Fling will introduce work from artists including Patsy Farstad, Naomi Key, Ellen Sommers, Kellie Denton, Barbara Sinor, Marge Bougas, Lynn Hughes, Kim Costa, Annette Higday, Diane Constable and Meredith Gambrel.

The Linda Carpenter Gallery will feature art work from Kelseyville Elementary School's third grade classes.

Phil Mathewson, also known as “Flipper,” will be the featured musician, with Cache Creek Vineyards pouring its wines.

For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.

Guitarist David Burgess will perform in Kelseyville, Calif., on Sunday, February 12, 2012. Courtesy photo.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Popular classical guitarist David Burgess, just back from a seven-city European concert tour, will make his second concert appearance in Lake County on Sunday, Feb. 12.

The concert, presented by Clear Lake Performing Arts, will take place beginning at 3 p.m. at Galilee Lutheran Church on Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville.

In his last appearance here more than a dozen years ago, Burgess brought down the house with his polished technique and flamboyant style and his folksy narratives about his choice of music – especially the music of Spain and Latin America, with particular emphasis on Brazil.

Now a resident of North Carolina, he has since performed around the world to universal acclaim, as well as recording for CBS Masterworks, the Musical Heritage Society, Tritone and Athena Records.

A former student of all-time guitar master the late Andres Segovia, he has won prizes in major competitions in New York, Mexico City, Toronto and Munich.

Since he has spent much of the last decade in Brazil rediscovering guitar music from that nation's past, his program will be weighted toward compositions from some of its finest composers and guitarists including Garoto, who appeared with Carmen Miranda, and also became a favorite of such musical luminaries as Duke Ellington and Art Tatum.

Others are Raphael Rabello, who recorded with virtually every major Brazilian artist of the late 20th century, and Yamandu Costa, who is recognized as today's finest Brazilian guitarist, as well as the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, the best-known composer of Bossa Nova.

Burgess has an encyclopedic knowledge of the guitar, from its earliest inventions in medieval Spain to the present, and shares that knowledge with his audiences, especially guitarists and students of guitar.

Youthful players in particular can always count on answers to their questions about the instrument – made especially easy at the CLPA-sponsored concert where youths under 18 are admitted free.

General public admission is $25, while CLPA members are $20.

Membership forms will be available at the door, with discounted admission applicable to the Burgess performance.

Most CLPA concerts take place at Lakeport's Soper-Reese Community Theatre, but a conflict in performance dates required changing to another venue, with the Galilee Church graciously offering their picturesque facility.

The church is located at 8860 Soda Bay Road, just half a mile south of the former Konocti Harbor Resort.

CLPA President Ed Bublitz urged those planning to attend to arrive a little early, to assure best seating, since space is limited. and seats are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

MAN ON A LEDGE (Rated PG-13)

The story of “Man on a Ledge” is so wildly improbable and preposterous that pompous film critics may consider leaping from a tall building after one viewing. Now that would be some great entertainment.

For the very reason that this thriller is implausible in countless ways, the adrenaline-pumping outcomes are ridiculously entertaining to the point that the opinions of snooty critics are immaterial and easily ignored.

Directed by documentary filmmaker Asger Leth, “Man on a Ledge” is a film devoid of pretensions. It only seeks the meticulous thrills that come from staging an elaborate heist or standing precariously at the edge of certain death.

The film opens with Australian actor Sam Worthington (“Avatar”), no stranger to the occasional tough guy role, checking into a Manhattan hotel under an assumed name.

After a hearty breakfast, with champagne to boot, in his room on the 21st floor, the nattily-dressed mysterious stranger exits the window facing an office building to perch himself on the ledge.

Of course, this dangerous stunt attracts the immediate attention of passersby as well as the NYPD. TV reporter Suzie Morales (Kyra Sedgwick) starts broadcasting from the scene, hyping the sensationalist aspect of a threatened suicide.

Meanwhile, the phlegmatic NYPD detective Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) ends up on the scene at the hotel room, trying to talk the mystery man down from the ledge.

To explain what is happening, a flashback takes us to Sing Sing prison where Worthington’s Nick Cassidy, a disgraced former NYPD cop, faces a 25-year stretch for a crime he disputes having committed.

Nick’s former partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) appears to believe his colleague’s innocence, though his efforts on Nick’s behalf also seem rather nuanced.

Even Nick’s own family, particularly his younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell), apparently doubt his version of events, evidencing palpable sense of betrayal.

Soon enough, as the scene reverts to the Roosevelt Hotel, one starts to ask the question of why Nick has not jumped already. Well, duh. Then the movie would end too soon.

The larger point, of course, is that Nick is waging a psychological battle, which is why he requests to speak only to controversial NYPD negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks).

Having failed to save the life of a jumper at the Brooklyn Bridge, Lydia is battling her own inner demons, which is why we first see her being called to action as she recovers from a massive hangover.

As damaged souls, Nick and Lydia have more in common than one would suspect. Their conversations on the ledge create a certain amount of emotional heft.

I am loath to give away much of the surprises in store, so it is a nearly insurmountable challenge to address the unfolding events to any significant degree.

Suspense comes from not whether how long Nick can hold on to his precarious outdoor perch. Bigger things are happening in the vicinity, and none of it is good for the villain of this story.

Ed Harris is appropriately despicable as crooked land baron David Englander, who figures prominently in Nick’s fate.

While Nick remains the man on a ledge, Englander is being targeted in a daring heist of an impregnable safe protected by the high-tech security of his penthouse office.

One thing for certain is that one member of the heist team turns out to be the sexiest accomplice for the job. Genesis Rodriguez proves unforgettable as she strips down to her lingerie in order to wiggle into a tight-fitting latex costume.

“Man on a Ledge” may prove to be ultimately forgettable, but its high-octane energy delivers the goods for the momentary enjoyment of this exciting white-knuckle thriller.

Take pleasure in the suspenseful thrills of this popcorn movie, and then later on you can dissect the evident flaws when it no longer matters.

TELEVISION UPDATE

Few race tracks are more beautiful than California’s Santa Anita Park. It’s the perfect setting for the new HBO drama series “Luck.”

The talent behind this effort is impressive. To get off to a good start, Episode One, written by David Milch (“Deadwood”), is directed by the legendary Michael Mann.

The front-of-the-camera talent is also first-rate. It’s not often that a TV series brings together Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina.

Set in the world of horse racing and gambling’s denizens, Hoffman stars as Chester “Ace” Bernstein, recently released from three years in federal prison.

Given his criminal record, “Ace” gets in the racing business by using his driver and bodyguard (Dennis Farina) as the front man for his ownership of the $2 million Irish race horse, Pint of Plain.

Meanwhile, veteran trainer-turned-owner Walter Smith (Nick Nolte) has his hopes pinned on a promising colt, but there’s a dark history and a shadow of scandal behind the horse.

We’ll soon see if HBO’s “Luck” is aptly named, but with a great cast and beautiful horses, there’s hope for a fortunate outcome.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.