The Ides Of March

There are a lot of actors that try to make the transition into directing, but very few of them pull off being really good at both. George Clooney is one of those. When he finally broke out of "pretty boy" leading man status and developed "respected" leading man cred, he began to move into the directors chair, and hit it out of the park with his debut feature Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. His newest, The Ides Of March, gathers some of the best talent in the industry and creates a hard look at politics in the wake of the wins and losses of the Obama administration.

Ryan Gosling is Stephen Meyers, a young and idealistic campaign manager for Clooney's Governor Mike Morris, who is running for president (notably under many of the same ideals as Obama, and even sports a knock off of the Shepard Fairey designed "Hope" poster). Meyers teammate, and boss, is Paul Zara (played by Philip Syemour Hoffman). The two are unshakeable in their belief that Morris is the man to lead America, but when a key element of support from another politician isn't forthcoming, Stephen takes up an offer to meet with the manager of the opponents campaign, Tom Duffy (played by Paul Giamatti), against his better judgement. This begins a string of events that could potentially ruin a lot of people's career's, including Stephen's, and derail Moriss' campaign.

Gosling brings his trademark intensity to the role, and Clooney uses it to great effect. In fact Clooney seems to play on all of the strengths of his actors, from Hoffman's quiet and serious nature, to Giamatti's ability to play good cop/sleazy cop, to Evan Rachel Wood's seductiveness, He has picked all of his actors with great consideration. While Ides can sometimes move at a snails pace, it never seems to bloated. The slowness just comes off as a necessary part of the story. Ides doesn't really bring much of anything new to the genre, either, but as a zeitgeist film, focusing on what it means to be an idealistic political candidate or part of the support staff for said candidate, and the reality of how dirty politics is, Ides is a fantastic watch, especially as candidates are already gearing up, heavily, for a race that will be incredibly heated (and possibly messy) in 2012.

The American

Anton Corbijn is a world renowned photographer and music video director who made his first foray into feature filmmaking with the exceptional biopic Control, which follows the life of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. His follow up, a purely fictional narrative based on a novel of the same name, is The American, starring George Clooney.

The American follows a spy/assassin, Jack (played by Clooney) who is on the run from the mysterious "Swede's". He has a talent for pretty much everything, but his main game seems to be guns. A man who is, assumedly, his boss, tucks him away in a small Italian town to hide him from the Swede's, but gives him the task of building a very particular snipers rifle for a fellow assassin. While spending time in this nowhere village, Jack comes into contact with some of its inhabitants, and begins to break his rule of not getting close to anyone.

Corbijn directs a solid piece of work, extremely quiet and meditational. This is NOT Jason Bourne. If Terrence Malick ever made a spy film, The American would be it. Corbijn follows the emotions which pour over Jack's face during various points of interest in the film, and much of the action (or inaction, as it may be) is fairly subtle, as opposed to being given the modern treatment (quick cuts, lots of close ups, etc.). Clooney brings to life a carefully calculated man who is slowly unravelling in his old age.

While the film is adequate, one would most likely go into it expecting something more dynamic, and that, I think, is its shortcoming. It defies expectation, but not in a particularly good way. The marketing just didn't hit the mark. I enjoyed it, as much as I could, I suppose, but its hard when you go in expecting apple's and you get pecan's. It's not Corbijn's fault, by any means, it the studio's for mis-marketing, so I can't really blame him, or Clooney, who, like I said, did a fantastic job with the character he has to play. Overall, I would suggest the film, with the caveat of making sure people understand what it is BEFORE they watch it.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

A Wes Anderson film is one of those "events" for my generation. Most of us probably missed Bottle Rocket, and ended up seeing it on DVD after seeing Rushmore (at least twice). The Royal Tenenbaums was a complete kick in Hollywood's tail, and is still my favorite Anderson movie. The Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited were movies we waited patiently for, and did no less for Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The film is Anderson's first foray into animation, and is the story of Fox, played by George Clooney, who gives up his youthful hopes and dreams in order to settle down with his lady friend, Mrs. Fox, played by Meryl Streep. Jump ahead a few years, and Fox is working a job as a news reporter, has a little fox, Ash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), and is living underground in... well, a fox hole. He decides, during a mid life crisis, that he is going to buy a tree (that he can't really afford), and also take up stealing chickens and other things from the local farmers, as this was one of the things he gave up to start a life with Mrs. Fox. But, when the local farmers get pissed and decide to put the hurt on Fox, it starts a war.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is, like many of Anderson's films, about not wanting to grow up, and the trouble that can cause. Fox lives a perfectly good life, until he decides to start doing something he shouldn't, and this is what causes all the trouble for Fox and everyone around him. It also gives them an undeniable adventure, which is also a constant in Anderson's films. The animation was really cool, and seemed so real and natural, and the writing was, for the most part, pretty funny and enjoyable, but, ultimately, like Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox just lacked a certain amount of that early Anderson charm to make it a REALLY good film. It was okay, but it just wasn't as good as some of the other films. That being said, I had to watch Life Aquatic a couple of times before it really clicked with me. Maybe that's what Fantastic Mr. Fox is going to take before it can really blow my mind.

Burn After Reading

This is a little late, considering I saw this film almost a month ago, but, better late than never. Burn After Reading see's the Coen Brother's return to dark comedy after their cinematic adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men, and the more mainstream (but not very popular) Intolerable Cruelty and The Lady Killers. The Coen's have a bit of a reputation for a darker brand of humor, and have no problem jumping right back into it, even after the huge mainstream success of No Country.

The film stars Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt as a couple of dimwitted gym workers. McDormand, who plays Linda Litzke, is trying to get plastic surgery so that she can look younger and fitter, so that she can attract more men. Her insurance, however, won't pay for the procedure. When her doofus friend, and fellow gym employee, Chad (Pitt) finds a disk that he says holds secret government documents on it, they attempt to blackmail the owner of the disk, now ex-CIA agent Osborne Cox (played by John Malkovich) into giving them the money they need. Cox, though, isn't giving them a dime, and Linda and Chad's attempt at blackmail only leads them further down the rabbit hole.

Burn After Reading is hilarious. I mean, some of the jokes are only funny if you find off the wall, out of nowhere violence funny, but, hey, that's what the Coen's do best - make you laugh at things that shouldn't be funny. George Clooney is particularly hysterical as a sex crazed, ex-FBI agent, and JK Simmons is equally hilarious as an apathetic CIA boss.

While the film does drag a little, at times, I find that, for the most part, the Coen's always seem to deliver with something hilarious to keep you coming back for more. I really can't wait to see what they come up with next, and whether it's more serious, like No Country For Old Men, or more dark humor like Burn After Reading, I'm all for it. Or, you know, they could make a Big Lebowski 2. I know I'm not the only one who would be looking forward to that...