J. Edgar (2011)

Is J. Edgar the best cinematic tribute to the infamous creator and 1st director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover? Maybe yes, maybe no. But it's unclear how else you could have done other than Clint Eastwood's stoic interpretation. This is a by the books biopic, reminiscent of takes from old Hollywood. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hoover, in what was obviously a gunning for the Academy Award, but falling way short. But in his performance, he encapsulates precisely the kind of man Hoover was. A self-aggrandizing, paranoid political animal about as concerned about his grasp of power as he was about his closeted feelings for other men. An angel he clearly wasn't. Lying to the press about his heroic accomplishments, to going so far as penning a virtual death threat to Martin Luther King Jr. Eastwood allows the audience to draw their own conclusions as to the lore of the FBI, and whether or not you can trust it from it's founding. But he does so with reverence to Hoover all the same, and how he created one of the most powerful judicial apparatuses our country has.