An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail (blurb courtesy of Imdb.com). Such is the premise of this political thriller directed and starred by George Clooney, who just comes in handy with the forthcoming US presidential election, which as you well know pits the current occupant of the White House, Barack Obama, versus hopeful Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Tuesday 6.
This is not Clooney's only politically-charged movie behind the camera, as he also directed - and starred - the 2005 drama "Good Night and Good Luck", based on real events and set in 1950s America, during the days of anti-communist Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had this fierce conflict with Edward Burrow, a pioneering television journalist in the 50s.
The always effective George Clooney leads a star-studded cast, consisting of some great names in contemporary Hollywood like Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of my favourite American actors, I daresay), Paul Giamatti and Marisa Tomei, alongside one of the most exciting young actors on screen today, Ryan Gosling, who I recently saw play a very convincing role in "Drive" (a bit too violent to my taste but interesting enough anyway).
The trailer looks really promising and I just hope you guys will join me and watch "The ides of March".
If you guys eventually do so, please post your comments here. How much you liked / hated the film and why, your favourite scene, ... any contribution is welcome!
So, what's your personal opinion about the movie? Mr. Blogger could you tell us?
ReplyDeleteI sincerely expected a better plot, I found it a little bit boring given the spectacular cast and although the topic was really interesting, George Clooney could have done a better job, hopelessly next time.
I liked because it's a good film about the dark side of an American presidential election. I enjoyed with George Clooney's voice because I didn't know it and it's very sexy and Ryan Gosling is an excelent actor. I met him when he played in a serie called "Young Hercules" when I was a teenager and he was the leading actor in "The Noah's Diary" too.
ReplyDeleteRight now, across the ocean, American people are deciding who will be their new president for the next four years while here, in Europe, everybody is expectant of what may happen. If you are so nervous you can’t wait to know who of the two candidates will win, tonight I suggest you watch “The ides of March”, so at least you can amuse yourself.
ReplyDeleteWhy should you watch this concrete movie? That’s an easy question to answer …
First of all, you will be immersed into the US political system, just in the middle of an electoral campaign, which will show you, without omitting details, the back-room deal-making of American politics. You’ll be witnessing this big show through the eyes of a young staffer, working for one of the two final candidates to the Democratic nomination, who will have to face his own political party and his boss’s problems, while he deals with his inner self, his own fears and personal confrontations and is tempted by his greatest enemy, the campaign manager of the other candidate.
That all means a great story, maybe nothing new but an interesting insight into politics. If you haven’t made up your mind yet it’s because I haven’t talked about the cast. It features fabulous actors such as Ryan Gosling, the main character, Paul Giamatti, his antagonist, Philip Seymour Hoffmam, the protagonist’s mentor or Evan Rachel Wood as the young intern. You also need to know that the movie director is George Clooney, who plays Ryan’s boss too.
In case you didn’t know, the ides of March were the 15th day of the months of March, May, July and October, days of goods omen in Ancient Rome, but also famous because Julius Cesar was murdered on such a date.
To conclude, I need to say that maybe you will find one part of the movie a little boring because the typical “boy meets girl” story, which is an important part of the movie and a very relevant detail to understand its ending, though maybe it lasts too long in the film. But it’s actually only a little part of it, and I’m sure you will be shocked at the ending.
Enjoy while eating a lot of popcorn!
Carlos