The Ides Of March [HD]

The Year's Best Cast In A Well Made Film That Fails To Break Any New Ground In The Political Drama Genre
There's nothing that I enjoy more than an adult political thriller with its smarts, scandal and cynicism front and center. Therefore, I was over-the-moon in anticipation for George Clooney's "The Ides of March." Director Clooney has assembled one of the year's most impressive casts including Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and Clooney himself. It's a dream team and every performance is exemplary. And yet, despite the heavy hitters at the top of their game, the actual story behind "The Ides of March" is pretty familiar and, frankly, a tad underwhelming. I certainly wanted to and expected to like this movie, even love it, but it simply offers little new to the well-worn genre of political drama. Adapted from the 2008 play "Farragut North" by Beau Willimon, the narrative revolves around a Democratic primary with the standard amount of political hubris and idealistic disillusionment. It's really a very tight story highlighting...

It Is Ryan Gosling's Year
Despite the exalted cast in this movie, don't be fooled. it is Ryan Gosling's movie, just like it has been his year in acting in general. This is both the movie's strength and its weakness. In order to give him a dilemma, the screenplay picks a rather hackneyed problem which detracts from all this stellar acting.

George Clooney directed it and he has no problem playing the charming, good looking Democratic governor, who is very reminiscent of JFK. This is all too true of his eye for the ladies as well, which leads into the dilemma at the heart of the movie. Ryan Gosling works for the candidate. He has a fleeting relationship with a young woman, whom it turns out has had an even more fleeting relationship with the Governor.

While he's involved with the young woman, he also gets caught in the cross fire between two more seasoned political veterans played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giametti. Both of them play fairly detestable characters. In fact,...

A solid film about the shifting loyalities in politics with strong performances
"The Ides of March" focuses on the dirty game of politics, how we compromise our ideals and, yep, drink the kool-aid when it comes to believing in the political figure we vote for/work for/admire.

George Clooney's film focuses on a brilliant junior campaign manager Stephen Meyers(Ryan Gosling) who discovers that the candidate he believes in for the democratic nomination governor Mike Morris (Clooney in a nice subtle performance)and the campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman)mentoring him are playing the game of dirty politics even within the faithful themselves. Zara wants to win at all costs while Morris claims he doesn't want to compromise his ideals when it comes down to the wire he's more than willing to do so to gain the electoral votes from a senator (Jeffrey Wright) that he despises.

The Blu-ray looks marvelous with a top notch transfer. Blacks are deep and rich. Colors don't exactly pop but they are not supposed to as the film has a somewhat...

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