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Also feat. Robin Wright, Jason Bateman & Jeff Daniels

State of Play starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel Mcadams and Helen Mirren feat. Robin Wright, Jason Bateman & Jeff Daniels. Image via movie-list.com

Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is a smart and successful congressman investigating private “mercenary-providing” companies. His good reputation goes down the drain, however, when his assistant is killed, and it is revealed that they were having an affair.

A grieving Stephen has his career and marriage on the line and the only person who can help him is his old university friend, journalist for the Washington Globe, Cal (Russell Crowe). As he digs more into the story, initially to help Stephen get out of the mess, he stumbles into political agendas, conflicts of interest (including his own) and life-risking situations.

Throw in a full-brown government-related conspiracy, emotional baggage between Cal and Stephen’s wife (Robin Wright), a blogger-turning-into-a-reporter named Della (Rachel McAdams) helping Cal, an ambitious editor (Helen Mirren) getting impatient and caring less about loyalties and manners and more about the juice and you have a very entertaining and gripping political thriller, with the stellar cast as a bonus.

State of Play flows like a well-written novel: slower at times, but only to build up for the more significant upcoming scenes and/or to make things even more complicated.

Why I Loved State of Play

– All characters are pretty much as grey as it gets, although Rachel McAdams’ character seems to evolve and learn the most.

– Cal does try to protect his friend from a downfall- but his sense of loyalty hasn’t stopped him from sleeping with his wife in the past.

– The enthusiastic blogger turns into a reporter who cares about the ethics and the safety of the others more than the seasoned reporters she is working with.

– It’s great that there is no romance between Cal and Della – in fact, Cal’s personal life is pretty much doomed but he has no intention of doing anything about it. He has a story to write.

– The more desperate Della and Cal get, the more creative they get in getting their information and evidence.

– Nothing is ever what it seems- except when it comes to the Cal, Della and Cameron (Helen Mirren) who might make some bad decisions, border on breaking the law and disagree on a lot of things.

– The journalist-aka the protagonist- is a not a fit, muscular guy who can take care of himself.

– The cast.

Well, there are more, but these are the first that came to my mind. It is not perfect, but it is pretty damn good. Rated at 7.2 on IMDB – voted by over 62.000 people. 8/10 from me.

Directed by Kevin MacDonald (Last King of Scotland). Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs) , Tony Gilroy (Duplicity) and Billy Ray- based on the series by Paul Abbott.

Other Posts on The Cast

Retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is living the quiet, suburban life. The highlight of his days is when he talks on the phone with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) – his representative for the pension fund: Even though they never met, they both have a crush on each other.

While Frank makes plans to meet in person, a team of assassins try to kill Frank. Frank escapes but now that he is a target. So he has to kidnap Sarah, who is unwilling to believe that Frank is in fact ex CIA. But she eventually believes him. Frank realizes that the hit has been ordered by CIA itself. And it is not just Frank. A past Guatemala operation has gotten lots of agents and a news reporter killed. So Frank pulls up a team he can trust – although he has to let each member know that he is not trying to kill them first.

His team includes ex-CIA Joe (Morgan Freeman), nutty but smart Marvin (John Malkovich), ex MI6 Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Russian Ivan (Brian Cox). At first the CIA was confident that their agent in charge, the highly capable William Cooper (Karl Urban) could take care of a “grandpa” agent but as it will turn out, this team of old agents and a civilian can really kick ass and raise mayhem. Catching Frank will be a lot harder than anticipated…

2011’s Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Red is a pretty entertaining action/comedy that deliberately starts slow and follows with fast action and good comedy. The cast is incredible, the characters are hilarious. It is one of the most entertaining movies of Bruce Willis, who has been kicking ass in action films for over 2 decades now. And kudos to Helen Mirren, whose character totally destroys all the stereotypical movie roles a 65-year-old actress can get.

It’s unreasonable. It’s illogical. And the ending is predictable. But it is bloody good entertainment. It is hard to pick a favorite character but for me it is a tie between deadly Victoria and the paranoid Marvin who gets upset when he doesn’t kill anyone.

Written by Jon and Erich Hoeber. Directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife). Based on the graphic novel created by Cully Hamner and Warren Ellis.

7 Fun Red Facts:

– Nip Tuck’s Julian McMahon makes a guest appearance as the Vice President.

– The cast also features Richard Dreyfuss.

– The “Russian” Ivan is played by Brian Cox, who is actually Scottish.

– Sex and the City’s Richard James Remar makes a guest appearance.

– Between the cast, there are three Oscars in acting: Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Richard Dreyfuss are Oscar-winning actors.

– Weeds star Mary- Louise Parker used to date Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who also appeared in Weeds.

Favorite lines:

Sarah is not happy to be kidnapped.

Frank: I was just hoping you’d be a little more understanding of the situation.
Sarah: I was hoping not to get kidnapped. Or drugged. I was hoping you’d have *hair*. So it looks like none of our dreams are coming true at the moment.

Frank (Willis) and Cooper (Karl Urban) are engaged in a deadly fight. Cooper first thinks he can beat Frank easily because of the age difference but Frank beats the crap out of Cooper.

Frank (locking Cooper in a wrestling position):Krodesky trained you?

Cooper: Yeah.

Frank: I trained Krodesky.

Marvin wants to kill the agent who is trying to kill them and has called Marvin an old man.. Frank had previously made him let her go, thinking she was an innocent civilian.

Marvin: Can I kill her now? (Frank nods and Marvin kills her) Old man, my ass!

Favorite scenes (minor spoilers):

– Pretty much all the action scenes, especially the kidnapping of the V.P.

– The very last scene.

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