Monday, October 24, 2011

The Biz: Ides of March

Now here is a big time Hollywood film about a subject that is pretty serious and heavy, and I don't think theres been something of this type, magnitude, and just pure drama out for some time. You couldn't ask for a better cast. Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Thome... Not to mention this was (co)wrote and directed by Clooney himself. Also, on an interesting side note, Leonardo DiCaprio had an executive producer credit...whatever that means.

I haven't seen a movie that was that "sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat" dramatic in I don't know how long. This one was of those films. It follows a high level staffer (Gosling) on a presidential campaign who gets pulled into some serious stuff. This movie isn't really about a transition of a person, I think the timeline for all of that is too short (takes place over a time frame of something like 2 or 3 weeks), but there definitely is a change in Gosling's character over the realization of, well, lots of things. My only real issue with the story is that I feel that a person who is supposedly as good at his job as Gosling's character is probably should have seen some of these things coming.

Acting is top notch, overall the script is good. The visuals are pretty nice, with a generally dark tone that adds to the tense atmosphere. If you have ever worked in politics this is probably a film for you. Perhaps if you're a top level guy things in Ides will just seem silly, but me personally, whose worked some campaigns and lived in DC, I'm pretty sure I got some jokes that others didn't, such as repeated references to going back and working on K street, which for those of you who don't know is a main drag in downtown Washington DC.

I give this 3.5 out of 4 stars. A really must see for anyone who can appreciate a drama.

Also, what portion of people do you think who saw this film even know what happend on the Ides of March? Et tu Brute?



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