Oct 2011
Ides of March - Entertaining Politcal Thriller
10/10/11 01:21 Filed in: Cool Stuff
When did everyone get so cynical? Repeatedly in
reviews of this movie, you see critics say something
like, "Not a bad movie, but tell us something we
didn't already know about American politics." If this
is what we already know - if it really is this down
and dirty - then we might as well just all give up
and stop voting now. Personally, I found The Ides of March highly
entertaining and unpredictable. George Clooney is especially
appealing as an all-the-right-answers
presidential candidate, as is Evan Rachel Woods as the sexy
intern at his headquarters. (Woods really steals
the show.) Ryan Gosling continues to be
underwhelming to me in movies (see "Drive"), but
it was particularly unwise to put his brand of
blandness right there beside the blinding star
wattage of Clooney. Not a good move at all. Oh,
and while Philip Seymour Hoffman does
that thing he always does in movies
where he's really emphatic and his hair flops
around during his colloquies, this movie just
affirms he's one of the best actors in the
business (same goes for Paul Giamatti).
There are a number of smart, good beats in The Ides of March (pay attention to the cell phone snafu between Woods and Gosling in the hotel room), so it's almost certain you will walk out of the theater with a feeling of satisfaction in having chosen something intelligent. The only thing I didn't care for was the last couple scenes where Clooney attempts to drive home the tragic unraveling of Gosling's moral center. It felt too heavy handed, like Clooney was screaming at us "This is an important movie!" which, of course, has the opposite effect.
There are a number of smart, good beats in The Ides of March (pay attention to the cell phone snafu between Woods and Gosling in the hotel room), so it's almost certain you will walk out of the theater with a feeling of satisfaction in having chosen something intelligent. The only thing I didn't care for was the last couple scenes where Clooney attempts to drive home the tragic unraveling of Gosling's moral center. It felt too heavy handed, like Clooney was screaming at us "This is an important movie!" which, of course, has the opposite effect.
Why I Like "Moneyball" (Despite Not Being a Baseball Fan)
10/01/11 01:14 Filed in: Cool Stuff
In addition to having a great soundtrack by Mychael Danna...
And a nice performance by Brad Pitt...
And an even better performance by Jonah Hill...
The movie is about a guy who failed (relative to his potential) for a decent portion of his life and somehow managed to turn it all around. In that way, Moneyball reminded me of "Jerry McGuire" in that you have a big-name actor like Brad Pitt playing someone who is essentially a loser pretty convincingly, which is entertaining in and of itself.
Billy Beane was considered by many to be one the most promising players to baseball when he was recruited out of high school in the 80s. But in his professional career he languished and never lived up to the hype. Adding insult to injury, he had turned down a scholarship to Stanford for a big paycheck. Then, right there on center stage, Beane failed for nearly 10 years before retiring from pro baseball to become a GM. And even as a GM for the Oakland As, victory eluded him. That is, until he hooked up with Jonah Hill's (fictional) character and started employing sabermetric principles which value players based on a complex mathematical formula rather than for their stadium appeal and good looks.
This movie was re-written by Aaron "The Social Network" Sorkin, and it has the same feel as the Facebook film. You will definitely leave the theater inspired. I may even check it out again this weekend. Thumbs way up.