xavierpop's posterous http://xavierpop.posterous.com Most recent posts at xavierpop's posterous posterous.com Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:38:33 -0800 @MovieJay's Review of The Descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-28277 http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-28277

With Sideways, About Schmidt, and now with The Descendants, Alexander Payne (also of Election fame) solidifies his place as the James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) of our time -- a torch-carrying heavyweight of the modern dramedy that specializes in making you laugh and smile while leaving a lump in your throat all at the same time.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney in another amazing performance, focuses on the role of modern men and is another in a series of movies from Payne that have specialized in men taking stock of themselves. Here Clooney sheds the crisp suits, slick hair and shoeshines of Michael Clayton and Up In the Air and trades them for tropical shirts, sandals, and hair that needs to be cut like a week and a half ago and turns in a performance more physically resembling his dishevelled CIA agent in Syriana (though not as pudgy). He plays Matt King, a man whose lost touch with his family in what appears to coincide with him losing touch with the land he is from and the traditions it represents.

If Matt seems a square and an absentee father, than his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is the yin to his yang -  a thrill-seeking, free-spirited type who opens the film in a boating misadventure that leaves her in a coma. On his side of the family, Matt's a descendant of one of the first white land-owning families in Hawaii and holds, by a slim majority, the controlling-share of a piece of untouched land on neighboring Kuaui Island that he is having to decide whether to sell to condo and resort developers.

If Matt has been taking care of his family's estate, it has been Elizabeth taking care of the rest of his family at home, including two daughters: the boarding-school teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the younger Scottie (Amara Miller). Now that mom is in a coma, it forces Alexandra home from school where she must help with Scottie as dad both takes care of work as well as dealing with friends and extended family in a new reality where he must now lead his own family instead of losing time to caretaking his family's affairs.

Things get complicated when Alexandra reveals to him that mom was having an affair with local real estate agent Brian Speer, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard is surprisingly effective in this role that announces him as a real man with no trace of the cartoonish and anxious young guy traits we have grown familiar with from the Scream and Scooby-Doo franchises.

Alexander Payne does a great job of continuing the tradition of his other intelligent, accessible Hollywood films. The idea of presenting us a story with a strong and complicated lead character surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast who are all given their moments behind the wheel is his staple and he delivers it in spades.. And like his other films, The Descendants feels uncannily like life from one true scene to the next where plot is secondary to character, allowing scenes to be as serious as they are light.

Consider Robert Forster here, as the handsome, grizzled, angry Mr. Thorson and father to Elizabeth. It's a testament to how great he is for this role that we sense so much beyond the words that are spoken in the very few scenes he's in. Mr. Thorson doesn't respect Matt, finds him weak, and in one agonizing scene when close family and friends are invited to say their goodbyes to Elizabeth (who has expressed in a living will her wish to be taken off of life support in such an instance), Thorson implies that had Matt been a better husband and stronger man that maybe she wouldn't have been seeking thrills out in the ocean and would still be with them today.

Other strong supporting roles include that of Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, an affable, well-liked, salt-of-the-earth sort to all that know him. Privately  he plays the foil to Matt, who is on the fence about selling their ancestral land. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Lillard really brings it in a character that ought to be the bad guy instead of Cousin Hugh, but who we come to find a great deal of empathy with.

Come Oscar time, George Clooney will find himself with a best actor nod, without a doubt, however huge shout-outs belong to Shailene Woodley as the teen daughter who faces down the family crisis with a reserve of grace and strength that bode well for her as adulthood approaches. Also Robert Forster, who has one of the strongest supporting roles ever rendered with that little amount of screen time, (punctuated hilariously by a moment of comic-violence between him and Alexandra's whoa-dude-spaced-out pseudo-boyfriend Sid).

Based on the novel by the same title by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants no doubt works as well as it does because of her years growing up in Hawaii, infused particularly in the characters of the two daughters in the film.

The Descendants is one of the best movies of the year above all for its performances (Sid even gets his moments of depth in there) but also in the strength of its screenplay, which does a tremendous job of fitting Elizabeth in a coma, the land deal, along with the Mr. Mom as well as the coming-of-age stuff all in one story and telling it as seamlessly as it does with charm, humor and depth.

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:35:22 -0800 @MovieJay's Review of The Descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-71474 http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-71474

With Sideways, About Schmidt, and now with The Descendants, Alexander Payne (also of Election fame) solidifies his place as the James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) of our time -- a torch-carrying heavyweight of the modern dramedy that specializes in making you laugh and smile while leaving a lump in your throat all at the same time.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney in another amazing performance, focuses on the role of modern men and is another in a series of movies from Payne that have specialized in men taking stock of themselves. Here Clooney sheds the crisp suits, slick hair and shoeshines of Michael Clayton and Up In the Air and trades them for tropical shirts, sandals, and hair that needs to be cut like a week and a half ago and turns in a performance more physically resembling his dishevelled CIA agent in Syriana (though not as pudgy). He plays Matt King, a man whose lost touch with his family in what appears to coincide with him losing touch with the land he is from and the traditions it represents.

If Matt seems a square and an absentee father, than his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is the yin to his yang -  a thrill-seeking, free-spirited type who opens the film in a boating misadventure that leaves her in a coma. On his side of the family, Matt's a descendant of one of the first white land-owning families in Hawaii and holds, by a slim majority, the controlling-share of a piece of untouched land on neighboring Kuaui Island that he is having to decide whether to sell to condo and resort developers.

If Matt has been taking care of his family's estate, it has been Elizabeth taking care of the rest of his family at home, including two daughters: the boarding-school teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the younger Scottie (Amara Miller). Now that mom is in a coma, it forces Alexandra home from school where she must help with Scottie as dad both takes care of work as well as dealing with friends and extended family in a new reality where he must now lead his own family instead of losing time to caretaking his family's affairs.

Things get complicated when Alexandra reveals to him that mom was having an affair with local real estate agent Brian Speer, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard is surprisingly effective in this role that announces him as a real man with no trace of the cartoonish and anxious young guy traits we have grown familiar with from the Scream and Scooby-Doo franchises.

Alexander Payne does a great job of continuing the tradition of his other intelligent, accessible Hollywood films. The idea of presenting us a story with a strong and complicated lead character surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast who are all given their moments behind the wheel is his staple and he delivers it in spades.. And like his other films, The Descendants feels uncannily like life from one true scene to the next where plot is secondary to character, allowing scenes to be as serious as they are light.

Consider Robert Forster here, as the handsome, grizzled, angry Mr. Thorson and father to Elizabeth. It's a testament to how great he is for this role that we sense so much beyond the words that are spoken in the very few scenes he's in. Mr. Thorson doesn't respect Matt, finds him weak, and in one agonizing scene when close family and friends are invited to say their goodbyes to Elizabeth (who has expressed in a living will her wish to be taken off of life support in such an instance), Thorson implies that had Matt been a better husband and stronger man that maybe she wouldn't have been seeking thrills out in the ocean and would still be with them today.

Other strong supporting roles include that of Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, an affable, well-liked, salt-of-the-earth sort to all that know him. Privately  he plays the foil to Matt, who is on the fence about selling their ancestral land. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Lillard really brings it in a character that ought to be the bad guy instead of Cousin Hugh, but who we come to find a great deal of empathy with.

Come Oscar time, George Clooney will find himself with a best actor nod, without a doubt, however huge shout-outs belong to Shailene Woodley as the teen daughter who faces down the family crisis with a reserve of grace and strength that bode well for her as adulthood approaches. Also Robert Forster who has one of the stronger supporting roles ever rendered with that little amount of screen time, (which is punctuated hilariously by a moment of comic-violence between him and Alexandra's whoa-dude-spaced-out pseudo-boyfriend Sid).

Based on the novel by the same title by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants no doubt works as well as it does because of her years growing up in Hawaii, infused particularly in the characters of the two daughters in the film.

The Descendants is one of the best movies of the year above all for its performances (Sid even gets his moments of depth in there) but also in the strength of its screenplay, which does a tremendous job of fitting Elizabeth in a coma, the land deal, along with the Mr. Mom as well as the coming-of-age stuff all in one story and telling it as seamlessly as it does with charm, humor and depth.

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:19:37 -0800 @MovieJay's Review of The Descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-89013 http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-89013

With Sideways, About Schmidt, and now with The Descendants, Alexander Payne (also of Election fame) solidifies his place as the James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) of our time -- a torch-carrying heavyweight of the modern dramedy that specializes in making you laugh and smile while leaving a lump in your throat all at the same time.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney in another amazing performance, focuses on the role of modern men and is another in a series of movies from Payne that have specialized in men taking stock of themselves. Here Clooney sheds the crisp suits, slick hair and shoeshines of Michael Clayton and Up In the Air and trades them for tropical shirts, sandals, and hair that needs to be cut like a week and a half ago and turns in a performance more physically resembling his dishevelled CIA agent in Syriana (though not as pudgy). He plays Matt King, a man whose lost touch with his family in what appears to coincide with him losing touch with the land he is from and the traditions it represents.

If Matt seems a square and an absentee father, than his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is the yin to his yang -  A thrill-seeking, free-spirited type who opens the film in a boating misadventure that leaves her in a coma. On his side of the family, Matt's a descendant of one of the first white land-owning families in Hawaii and holds, by a slim majority, the controlling-share of a piece of untouched land on neighboring Kuaui Island that he is having to decide whether to sell to condo and resort developers.

If Matt has been taking care of his family's estate, it has been Elizabeth taking care of the rest of his family at home, including two daughters: the boarding-school teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the younger Scottie (Amara Miller). Now that mom is in a coma, it forces Alexandra home from school where she must help with Scottie as dad both takes care of work as well as dealing with friends and extended family in a new reality where he must now lead his own family instead of losing time to caretaking his family's affairs.

Things get complicated when Alexandra reveals to him that mom was having an affair with local real estate agent Brian Speer, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard is surprisingly effective in this role that announces him as a real man with no trace of the cartoonish and anxious young guy traits we have grown familiar with from the Scream and Scooby-Doo franchises.

Alexander Payne does a great job of continuing the tradition of his other intelligent, accessible Hollywood films. The idea of presenting us a story with a strong and complicated lead character surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast who are all given their moments behind the wheel is his staple and he delivers it in spades.. And like his other films, The Descendants feels uncannily like life from one true scene to the next where plot is secondary to character, allowing scenes to be as serious as they are light.

Consider Robert Forster here, as the handsome, grizzled, angry Mr. Thorson and father to Elizabeth. It's a testament to how great he is for this role that we sense so much beyond the words that are spoken in the very few scenes he's in. Mr. Thorson doesn't respect Matt, finds him weak, and in one agonizing scene when close family and friends are invited to say their goodbyes to Elizabeth (who has expressed in a living will her wish to be taken off of life support in such an instance), Thorson implies that had Matt been a better husband and stronger man that maybe she wouldn't have been seeking thrills out in the ocean and would still be with them today.

Other strong supporting roles include that of Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, an affable, well-liked, salt-of-the-earth sort to all that know him. Privately  he plays the foil to Matt, who is on the fence about selling their ancestral land. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Lillard really brings it in a character that ought to be the bad guy instead of Cousin Hugh, but who we come to find a great deal of empathy with.

Come Oscar time, George Clooney will find himself with a best actor nod, without a doubt, however huge shout-outs belong to Shailene Woodley as the teen daughter who faces down the family crisis with a reserve of grace and strength that bode well for her as adulthood approaches. Also Robert Forster who has one of the stronger supporting roles ever rendered with that little amount of screen time, (which is punctuated hilariously by a moment of comic-violence between him and Alexandra's whoa-dude-spaced-out pseudo-boyfriend Sid).

Based on the novel by the same title by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants no doubt works as well as it does because of her years growing up in Hawaii, infused particularly in the characters of the two daughters in the film.

The Descendants is one of the best movies of the year above all for its performances (Sid even gets his moments of depth in there) but also in the strength of its screenplay, which does a tremendous job of fitting Elizabeth in a coma, the land deal, along with the Mr. Mom as well as the coming-of-age stuff all in one story and telling it as seamlessly as it does with charm, humor and depth.

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:19:02 -0800 @MovieJay's Review of The Descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-15939 http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants-15939

With Sideways, About Schmidt, and now with The Descendants, Alexander Payne (also of Election fame) solidifies his place as the James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) of our time -- a torch-carrying heavyweight of the modern dramedy that specializes in making you laugh and smile while leaving a lump in your throat all at the same time.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney in another amazing performance, focuses on the role of modern men and is another in a series of movies from Payne that have specialized in men taking stock of themselves. Here Clooney sheds the crisp suits, slick hair and shoeshines of Michael Clayton and Up In the Air and trades them for tropical shirts, sandals, and hair that needs to be cut like a week and a half ago and turns in a performance more physically resembling his dishevelled CIA agent in Syriana (though not as pudgy). He plays Matt King, a man whose lost touch with his family in what appears to coincide with him losing touch with the land he is from and the traditions it represents.

If Matt seems a square and an absentee father, than his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is the yin to his yang -  A thrill-seeking, free-spirited type who opens the film in a boating misadventure that leaves her in a coma. On his side of the family, Matt's a descendant of one of the first white land-owning families in Hawaii and holds, by a slim majority, the controlling-share of a piece of untouched land on neighboring Kuaui Island that he is having to decide whether to sell to condo and resort developers.

If Matt has been taking care of his family's estate, it has been Elizabeth taking care of the rest of his family at home, including two daughters: the boarding-school teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the younger Scottie (Amara Miller). Now that mom is in a coma, it forces Alexandra home from school where she must help with Scottie as dad both takes care of work as well as dealing with friends and extended family in a new reality where he must now lead his own family instead of losing time to caretaking his family's affairs.

Things get complicated when Alexandra reveals to him that mom was having an affair with local real estate agent Brian Speer, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard is surprisingly effective in this role that announces him as a real man with no trace of the cartoonish and anxious young guy traits we have grown familiar with from the Scream and Scooby-Doo franchises.

Alexander Payne does a great job of continuing the tradition of his other intelligent, accessible Hollywood films. The idea of presenting us a story with a strong and complicated lead character surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast who are all given their moments behind the wheel is his staple and he delivers it in spades.. And like his other films, The Descendants feels uncannily like life from one true scene to the next where plot is secondary to character, allowing scenes to be as serious as they are light.

Consider Robert Forster here, as the handsome, grizzled, angry Mr. Thorson and father to Elizabeth. It's a testament to how great he is for this role that we sense so much beyond the words that are spoken in the very few scenes he's in. Mr. Thorson doesn't respect Matt, finds him weak, and in one agonizing scene when close family and friends are invited to say their goodbyes to Elizabeth (who has expressed in a living will her wish to be taken off of life support in such an instance), Thorson implies that had Matt been a better husband and stronger man that maybe she wouldn't have been seeking thrills out in the ocean and would still be with them today.

Other strong supporting roles include that of Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, an affable, well-liked, salt-of-the-earth sort to all that know him. Privately  he plays the foil to Matt, who is on the fence about selling their ancestral land. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Lillard really brings it in a character that ought to be the bad guy instead of Cousin Hugh, but who we come to find a great deal of empathy with.

Come Oscar time, George Clooney will find himself with a best actor nod, without a doubt, however huge shout-outs belong to Shailene Woodley as the teen daughter who faces down the family crisis with a reserve of grace and strength that bode well for her as adulthood approaches. Also Robert Forster who has one of the stronger supporting roles ever rendered with that little amount of screen time, (which is punctuated hilariously by a moment of comic-violence between him and Alexandra's whoa-dude-spaced-out pseudo-boyfriend Sid).

Based on the novel by the same title by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants no doubt works as well as it does because of her years growing up in Hawaii, infused particularly in the characters of the two daughters in the film.

The Descendants is one of the best movies of the year above all for its performances (Sid even gets his moments of depth in there) but also in the strength of its screenplay, which does a tremendous job of fitting Elizabeth in a coma, the land deal, along with the Mr. Mom as well as the coming-of-age stuff all in one story and telling it as seamlessly as it does with charm, humor and depth.

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:17:42 -0800 @MovieJay's Review of The Descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-the-descendants

With Sideways, About Schmidt, and now with The Descendants, Alexander Payne (also of Election fame) solidifies his place as the James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) of our time -- a torch-carrying heavyweight of the modern dramedy that specializes in making you laugh and smile while leaving a lump in your throat all at the same time.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney in another amazing performance, focuses on the role of modern men and is another in a series of movies from Payne that have specialized in men taking stock of themselves. Here Clooney sheds the crisp suits, slick hair and shoeshines of Michael Clayton and Up In the Air and trades them for tropical shirts, sandals, and hair that needs to be cut like a week and a half ago and turns in a performance more physically resembling his dishevelled CIA agent in Syriana (though not as pudgy). He plays Matt King, a man whose lost touch with his family in what appears to coincide with him losing touch with the land he is from and the traditions it represents.

If Matt seems a square and an absentee father, than his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is the yin to his yang -  A thrill-seeking, free-spirited type who opens the film in a boating misadventure that leaves her in a coma. On his side of the family, Matt's a descendant of one of the first white land-owning families in Hawaii and holds, by a slim majority, the controlling-share of a piece of untouched land on neighboring Kuaui Island that he is having to decide whether to sell to condo and resort developers.

If Matt has been taking care of his family's estate, it has been Elizabeth taking care of the rest of his family at home, including two daughters: the boarding-school teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the younger Scottie (Amara Miller). Now that mom is in a coma, it forces Alexandra home from school where she must help with Scottie as dad both takes care of work as well as dealing with friends and extended family in a new reality where he must now lead his own family instead of losing time to caretaking his family's affairs.

Things get complicated when Alexandra reveals to him that mom was having an affair with local real estate agent Brian Speer, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard is surprisingly effective in this role that announces him as a real man with no trace of the cartoonish and anxious young guy traits we have grown familiar with from the Scream and Scooby-Doo franchises.

Alexander Payne does a great job of continuing the tradition of his other intelligent, accessible Hollywood films. The idea of presenting us a story with a strong and complicated lead character surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast who are all given their moments behind the wheel is his staple and he delivers it in spades.. And like his other films, The Descendants feels uncannily like life from one true scene to the next where plot is secondary to character, allowing scenes to be as serious as they are light.

Consider Robert Forster here, as the handsome, grizzled, angry Mr. Thorson and father to Elizabeth. It's a testament to how great he is for this role that we sense so much beyond the words that are spoken in the very few scenes he's in. Mr. Thorson doesn't respect Matt, finds him weak, and in one agonizing scene when close family and friends are invited to say their goodbyes to Elizabeth (who has expressed in a living will her wish to be taken off of life support in such an instance), Thorson implies that had Matt been a better husband and stronger man that maybe she wouldn't have been seeking thrills out in the ocean and would still be with them today.

Other strong supporting roles include that of Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, an affable, well-liked, salt-of-the-earth sort to all that know him. Privately  he plays the foil to Matt, who is on the fence about selling their ancestral land. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Lillard really brings it in a character that ought to be the bad guy instead of Cousin Hugh, but who we come to find a great deal of empathy with.

Come Oscar time, George Clooney will find himself with a best actor nod, without a doubt, however huge shout-outs belong to Shailene Woodley as the teen daughter who faces down the family crisis with a reserve of grace and strength that bode well for her as adulthood approaches. Also Robert Forster who has one of the stronger supporting roles ever rendered with that little amount of screen time, (which is punctuated hilariously by a moment of comic-violence between him and Alexandra's whoa-dude-spaced-out pseudo-boyfriend Sid).

Based on the novel by the same title by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants no doubt works as well as it does because of her years growing up in Hawaii, infused particularly in the characters of the two daughters in the film.

The Descendants is one of the best movies of the year above all for its performances (Sid even gets his moments of depth in there) but also in the strength of its screenplay, which does a tremendous job of fitting Elizabeth in a coma, the land deal, along with the Mr. Mom as well as the coming-of-age stuff all in one story and telling it as seamlessly as it does with charm, humor and depth.

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Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:28:58 -0700 @MovieJay's Review of Ides of March http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-ides-of-march http://xavierpop.posterous.com/moviejays-review-of-ides-of-march

The Ides of March, George Clooney's fourth outing as a director, brings the Beau Willimon 2008 play "Farragut North" to the big screen with sharp performances and taut, classic Hollywood storytelling. Too bad the subject matter, stuff that would have been more relevant in the Clinton-era scandal-plagued late 90's, doesn't have the same sheen as every other facet of the film, but it's a small inconvenience in a movie that provides real thrills and real honesty for it's entire 98-minute running time.

The set-up: A week out from the highly contested Democratic primary of Ohio, Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) is the more liberal candidate running neck-in-neck with the more centrist candidate Senator Pullman, played by Michael Mantell. In a small but pivotal role, Jeffrey Wright plays Senator Thompson, a contender who is no longer in play to win the nomination but carries with him enough delegates to play kingmaker to either of the front-runners.

The Morris team's campaign manager is Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), while the other side is headed by Paul Giamatti as Tom Duffy. Those characters alone could make an effective political drama, however the movie centers around Stephen Meyers, Morris' campaign's press secretary in a sharply-observed performance by Ryan Gosling that transforms this behind-the-scenes drama into a potboiler driven by tension generated from its characters and the way their chess-like po litical wars are played out.

Gosling plays Meyers as an idealist among cold-hearted realists who are all weary of the game of hardball politics they have been playing for far too long. He's 30 years old, focused, concentrated, and almost always appears to be in-thought. It is through his interaction with a reporter, played with brash intelligence by Marisa Tomei, that he  has played an active role in more election cycles than most political activists a decade older which might explain the maturity.

Political campaigns are a grind, and the fallout from the stress of campaigns such as a presidential one like this is that staffers get close and sometimes sexual intimacy is understandable, even if it's wrong. Enter Molly, played by the luminous Evan Rachel Wood, a young intern on the campaign, who gets herself noticed by Meyers in a scene that is deftly acted and teeming with furtive-eroticism in just the right moments as we say the intern flirt with and then picks up Meyers. They have important, time-consuming jobs, and the urgency of the sexual tension between them is palpable later on over drinks on a visit to the hotel where Molly is staying.Eventually this coupling leads to complications that rock the Morris campaign, but I will let you dear reader, discover those for yourself.

In a parallel narrative, Stephen is having to stave off Tomei's reporter on a leak she's picked up from an anonymous source that says he took an interview with the opposing side's campaign, in a move that could indicate that the Morris campaign is losing. He did meet with Tom Duffy from the opposing side, but who told? Or is she making it up? Later, in the film's best sequence, the "loyalty" scene, Stephen is taught the hardest of political lessons as he gets torn to shreds by Zara. Philip Seymour Hoffman is so good in this scene, it's a toss-up between this role and his baseball manager of the A's in last month's Moneyball that'll see him earn yet another well-deserved Oscar nomination. Paul Giamatti could be in line for another nomination as well, in a performance that mirrors Hoffman's in it's cold, hard precision.

What we know for sure is that nowadays it's impossible for a presidential candidate to campaign that long and that hard and not come out of it with some form of exhaustion, but the greater point of the film is how it sees the compromises that are made by candidates and their campaigns and that it's equally impossible for them to stay true to all of their values.

There are stronger films in this genre with similar subject matter, such as Mike Nichols' wonderful Primary Colors built from events during the Clinton campaign for President, as well as The Contender just a few short years later focusing on Joan Allen's past as she is nominated mid-term to the VeeP slot. Those were great films, that snapped, crackled and popped with the urgency of the topics of their day. Perhaps Ides of March would be more in league with those had it been made a decade ago, but it's still a worthwhile exercise in league with the very good The Candidate, that early 70's film with Robert Redford as a last-minute entry into the senatorial race in California, who upon his surprising come-from-behind victory can be heard to say, "What do we do now?"

George Clooney's direction is flawless as usual. Along with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night & Good Luck, and the football comedy Leatherheads, he appears to have the same gift for efficient, economical storytelling that Clint Eastwood has mastered in the last act of his career. Both of them actors' directors and in Ides of March the actors here turn this from a conventional film into an observant, tense and always honest one. Good movie.

*** out of 4

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