The Ides of March
2011 Directed by George Clooney
Synopsis
Ambition seduces. Power corrupts.
An idealistic staffer for a newbie presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Based on the play by Beau Willimon.
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Ryan Gosling is my new favourite actor. He has more lines in this film than Drive, but his ability to "act" without speaking is again incredibly well used in Ides.
Add in a touch of Philip Seymor Hoffman, some George Clooney, and the guy from Sideways; and you end up with buckets of "soft power".
The storyline kept me interested, with perhaps my only criticism being that it felt more like an episode rather than a film. But then I think we've been spoiled by political TV drama (West Wing, Boss, et al). I get the feeling that the screenplay is fairly faithful to the play it is based on, which results in a tighter movie than Hollywood might otherwise have produced.
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I was gonna write something substantial but all I have is HOLY SHIT RYAN GOSLING'S EYES.
I mean, we all know. We've all looked into them in one film or another. But it still bears repeating.
Holy shit: Ryan Gosling's eyes.
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It's hard not to admire the variety of work Gosling has been attempting these past few years. He seems to want to go everywhere and try everything. This is one of the more ambitious ones. To play a hard core cynic turned true believer turned... something else entirely is a real piece of dramatic wizardry and wizardry of any stripe is risky.
And as it always is with risk, the only thing that matters is results. The results are good. It's not quite as powerful as it tries to be. I can feel a real masterpiece hiding underneath this film, but it never quite gets there.
Overall, an excellent film.
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Normally I love movies where P.S. Hoffman is fat, smoking, and holding a glass of whiskey. This wasn't one of them.
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Good enough movie if you're at all interested in politics. Great enough movie for seeing Clooney and Gosling be handsome wearing suits.
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Old-style Hollywood meets old-world politics in The Ides of March, George Clooney’s compulsively entertaining fourth effort behind the director’s chair. Adapted from the play “Farragut North,” Clooney opens the story up to multiple locations, and keeps the pacing brisk, cleverly balancing the demands of the story with the desires of an audience in the mood for more than talking heads. The result is a remarkably adept, textbook example of classic Hollywood storytelling and subtle formalism that recalls Sidney Lumet and Orson Welles in equal measure, capturing some of the best ensemble acting seen all year.
The film takes place during the week leading up to the Ohio Democratic Presidential Primary, and follows the campaign of Governor Mike Morris, played by…
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After watching "The Ides of March" I had the sense that this was a good story just begging to be in a great movie.
All of the actors are good and give solid but kind of forgettable performances. Clooney does a fine job directing. The story itself is not particular original other than it is focused on idealistic man behind the scene instead of the idealistic candidate. It ends and I kinda shrugged. Nothing to complain about yet no real payoff either.
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Film #26 of the 100 Movie June Challenge
Great fucking cast and interesting enough story about politics (I can't stand it) to keep me engrossed for the full 100 mins.
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I didn't dislike this film, but given my limited interest in British politics, let alone American politics, I found it quite difficult to give this my full attention.
The first 45 minutes were almost tedious, I just didn't care about the campaign. It wasn't until things got complicated that I started to take an interest. But again, the fact that it was political complications that were the main focus, I just didn't care enough to feel 'gripped'.
From an acting stand point, the film was very good, and contained a lot of big names that worked great in their roles. The performances given were spot on. I'm a big fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti anyway, so that… -
¨There is only one thing I value in this world and that`s loyalty; without it you`re nothing! ¨
This is the third 2011 film starring Ryan Gosling and I must say he does a great job at choosing his roles because all his movies this year were really great. He also has done very diverse roles, and this time he plays an idealistic media consultant for a presidential candidate who he admires (played by George Clooney). This is a political film that teaches us how the campaign trail works, but it also has very intense and surprising moments. I`m not a fan of political movies, but the actors and the story make Ides of March a really interesting and entertaining…
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Gosling doesn't put himself in a lot of big production films, but when he does, he sure kills it. That mixed with Clooney, Giamatti and Hoffman makes for one of the best cast performances I've ever seen. This is a great film.
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So Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, enough said.
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First 20 minutes is mind-numbing but finds its way and becomes interesting watch
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Another movie I tried watching multiple times and just couldn't care enough about it. I'm sure it was great to some people, but eh. It was so boring to me. And the performances were mediocre, save Evan Rachel Wood. :0/
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Now I was wondering whether to give this film 3 1/2 or 4 stars, but I decided to give it a higher rating as the positives do indeed outweigh the negatives, but it should be made clear that this is a low 4. The story is extremely interesting here, and although it is technically simple and it's message simple also, it really kept me interested throughout. And it's short, so it never really drags or overstays it's welcome.
The performances are the strongest part of the film, with Ryan Gosling giving a good performance and the same with Clooney, Hoffman and Giamatti, and Clooney's direction is good, but there is nothing outstanding here. It all works like clockwork, but there…