The Ides of March (2011)

The Ides of March starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney. Though many of the trailers have been quite misleading once watching the film. This is Ryan Gosling's film (as the clear lead), he is enthralling as the PR man who, despite his shrewdness, is blinded by the boss's charm. Through the film, soon enough, the bombshell drops and it's lead actress (Evan Rachel Wood). Trouble is, she just happens to be the girl who Gosling has been getting cozy with. The pace quickens as he weighs up his loyalties to the governor and the girl, as well as getting pushed and pulled between rival campaign managers (Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman). The acting is heavyweight, as are the moral questions about the personal cost of serving the greater good, which propel the story with an unstoppable force. The film works due to several twists and turns throughout and there is great suspense.

Politics is a place where ideals go to die. That's the underlying message of this realistic, well-acted, occasionally involving film.Ohio's Democratic primary is only days away, and Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) has a sizable but insecure lead over his one remaining challenger. An alliance with a former candidate with 356 pledged delegates can put Morris over the top, but at a steep price. As campaign aides scramble to make the best of the situation, Morris's deputy campaign manager, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) discovers Morris carries a secret no primary can overcome.Clooney directed and co-wrote the film, adapted from a play which presents the Machiavellian situation in the form of a personal journey similar to what Michael Corleone experienced in "The Godfather." Will he do what it takes to clear the field, or will he be left in the dust?"This is the big leagues," Meyers tells someone in the movie, though he could as easily be talking to himself. "It's mean. When you make a mistake, you lose the right to play."The challenge "Ides Of March" sets up is not in laying out the tawdry realities of campaign politics, which anyone with eyes can see on the news. It's making you care. In that way, it's not successful. The characters all talk in caffeine-charged soundbites, winning you over with their charisma but lacking depth. Clooney in his DVD commentary talks a lot about losing one's soul, and you see what he means, but you wonder whether anyone here has a soul to lose.While Meyers' journey is a dark one, we never quite see him as much of a prize. One of the first orders we hear him give deals with a scurrilous rumor about Morris' rival having a financial stake in a Liberian diamond mine. "I don't care if it's true, I just want to hear him deny it," Meyers says. "Win, win."So when Meyers finds himself the rumormongers' victim, you don't care as much as you might, even with Gosling giving a finely-shaded performance. He's too much of a Machiavel already.What gives this film its lasting power is not the message but the supporting performances. Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman crush every scene they are in with smart readings of clever dialogue without the slightest flavor of ham between them. Even better is Evan Rachel Wood as a young intern, "a little girl trying to make it in a grown up world," who discovers herself a helpless pawn in the game. She could too easily play the part of a mere sacrificial lamb, as that's what she's given. Instead she finds the grit to deliver real empathy in a film sorely in need of it.I find Clooney a fine director here stuck with one weak acting performance, ironically enough his own. Morris is supposed to be a smoothie, but his handling of trickier territory, and his attempts at playing dark in dealing with them, ring hollow. When Clooney focuses his camera on the other actors, which he often does, the results are so solid you wish he followed those selfless instincts more closely."Ides Of March" is a well-played film with a played-out message. I had no problem admiring its craft, but I felt disengaged throughout, caring less about the story than the acting clinic unfolding before me. In that sense, it delivers enough positives to make it worthwhile. Just don't expect too much.

I'm a big fan of the award-winning "House Of Cards" TV series starring Kevin Spacey as the stop-at-nothing U.S. politician determined to get into the White House and so wasn't surprised to see that programme's main writer and show-runner Beau Willimon credited as one of the writers here. George Clooney stars, produces, co-writes and directs too but yet this behind-the-scenes look behind-the-scenes of the sometimes ruthless campaigning which gives on in the race for the White House had more the imprimatur of Willimon id venture to say.Which means you can expect a twisting, turning narrative, taking in the usual mix of sex, lies, morals, ambition and in particular power-games as we follow the journey of leading Democratic candidate co-campaign manager Ryan Gosling striving to get his hero, Clooney into power. To do so he has to turn a losing position in the key Ohio primary to a winning one. Along the way, as ever, innocents get hurt, victory is clawed from the jaws of defeat and in the end consciences are wiped clean all the time nothing really changes in the way the country is governed.Gosling and not Clooney is the epicentre of the film. He starts off as an idealistic and enthusiastic spin doctor for his man Clooney but comes to learn that naïveté is weakness and that to survive in the bear-pit of Washington good guys finish last. Even if some of the main events and indeed the ending were predictable, the film entertains with its realism, sharp dialogue and recognisable read-across to the American political scene of the present and recent past.Gosling is excellent in depicting his character's development from youthful enthusiast to cynical power-broker, while Clooney reminded me of another pretty-boy-with-brains Robert Redford in a similar part from a different Hollywood generation in "The Candidate" from the early 1970's. The late Philip Seymour-Hoffman is wholly credible as Gosling's there-to-be- shot-at senior colleague and rival, while the several supporting parts as one would expect are realistically portrayed. I personally think "House of Cards" depicts this sort of thing better, but concede that over 30 or more episodes, like of course "The West Wing " too, it had greater scope for deeper character and plot development. Nevertheless this well-edited contemporary political thriller is the best of its type to come out of Hollywood for some time and draws the viewer in tighter and tighter as it progresses. I'm sure that any resemblance to real-life characters particularly in the last 20 years or so, wasn't entirely uncoincidental.

George Clooney is fast becoming a great director. Following on from the unappreciated Leatherheads, which I enjoyed. Comes this political thriller, and boy does Clooney nail it!Plot In A Paragraph: Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is a young idealist who's brilliant at communications, he is second in command of Governor Mike Morris's (George Clooney) presidential campaign, and is a true believer. In the middle of the Ohio primary, the campaign manager of Morris's opponent asks Meyers to meet; he offers him a job. Also a young intern, Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) gets Stephen's attention.Whilst this movie does not have a great deal of rewatchability, as I may never feel the urge to watch it again. It is utterly engrossing with brilliantly compelling performances from Gosling, Clooney Seymour Hoffman and Wood. Marisa Tomei offer solid support too. Clooney certainly knows how to make a movie with plenty of atmosphere, as you can literally feel the tension as you are watching the story unfold