pinartarhan.com

Fun and comprehensive entertainment blog feat. movies, TV series, actors, movie-makers, music & books: 1980 - Present

  • Home
  • Hire Me
  • Books
  • Privacy Policy

The Ides of March feat. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti & Philip Seymour Hoffman

Posted on January 6, 2012 Written by ripitup

Share

The Ides of March Plot Summary- with some spoilers
The Ides of March movie poster
The Ides of March. Image via stuffistumbledupon.com

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is a smart and ambitious political campaign specialist, and he is co-managing the presidential campaign of Governor Mike Norris (George Clooney), an idealistic politician who might be just what the USA needs: anti-war, pro-choice and refusing to let go of his principles in order to secure a win. In the meantime, Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is having a difficult time getting senate votes because of Meyers’ ideals.

Stephen has little time apart from managing the campaign and the press –especially journalist Ida (Marisa Tomei). He starts hanging out with the 20-year-old intern Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), and is quite happy with his situation until two things happen:

1)      The campaign manager of the opponent, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), wants to meet with him and when Stephen goes for curiosity’s sake – and someone leaks this to Ida.

 

2)      Intern Molly confesses that she slept with the happily married Morris, is pregnant and needs $900 to have an abortion.

From then on, everything seems to work against Stephen. While he works to manage the crisis, Paul fires him- because he met with Duffy. And when Molly can’t manage the idea of a very angry Stephen looking to take revenge, things get even more complicated for Stephen….

**

Review

The Ides of March is a solid political drama with an impressive cast, and while it is not a thriller, sometimes it manages to be as engaging as one. It is hard to do a political drama this interesting, and director/co-writer/co-star George Clooney has pulled it off, no doubt with the help from Gosling, Giamatti, Hoffman, Tomei and Wood.

The only problem with the movie is the stereotype George Clooney’s character turns out to be. One minute he is this idealistic and principled guy who refuses to “bribe” his way into getting votes, and the next he is screwing a 20-year-old intern. So he is too decent to be a corrupt politician, but not a decent enough husband to keep it in his pants…Yes, politician with some nice views who has a problem staying loyal to his wife. Gee, where did we see this guy before?

The sad thing is, when Morris turns out to be a little moral than Meyers thought, he still wants to run the campaign. Who cares about his bedroom habits if he can manage the campaign right? But of course Morris only plays the game by his own rules, and Meyers just might to lose his self-respect to get back what he lost…

In the end, the movie engages you, depresses you and makes you question morality, loyalty, ethics and ambitions. It is well-done, even though you may not get any characters that you like or respect at the end.

Currently rated at 7.4 on IMDB.com

Fun notes on the cast:

Max Minghella, who plays Ben (one of the campaign staff) is the son of the deceased director Anthony Minghella, who is best known for the movies The English Patient and Cold Mountain.

 

Other Posts on the Cast

Also on Ryan Gosling

Crazy, Stupid, Love starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Trivia

All Good Things starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst & Frank Langella

Movie Reviews of 4 Nicholas Sparks Adaptations: A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle and The Notebook

 

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: drama, Evan Rachel Wood, George Clooney, george clooney the ides of march, Jennifer ehle, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, movies, paul giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling, ryan gosling the ides of march, the ides of march, the ides of march cast, the ides of march movie, the ides of march movie review, the ides of marcn plot

3 Romantic Roles of Edward Norton

Posted on February 12, 2010 Written by ripitup

Share

Edward Norton

Yes, we know he can play a psycho, a gambler, a man who is going to jail the very next day or he can just star in the cult film Fight Club. It is so easy to get used to this diversity and we are not exactly surprised when he plays the nice, romantic fellow occasionally. But of course being Edward Norton, even his romantic parts are very different from each other. So here is a list of three (very) good movies and links to its reviews:

* Keeping The Faith

Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman and Ben Stiller
Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman and Ben Stiller. This rabbi (Stiller) and priest (Norton) would look more at home at a rocknroll concert.

Edward Norton has directed this lovely comedy where a rabbi and a priest reunite with their old childhood friend (Elfman) and eventually both fall in love with her. Both these guys are very popular, modern and fun. But of course Norton’s character Brian Finn isn’t supposed to date. Or flirt. Or fall in love. Oops…

You can read the review below:

http://www.articlesbase.com/movies-articles/keeping-the-faith-with-edward-norton-jenna-elfman-and-ben-stiller-1852125.html

The Painted Veil

The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts
The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts

It is sad, romantic, touching, powerful and poetic. It is well-done in every way. Not your typical love affair either. An unfaithful wife (Watts) is forced by her doctor husband (Norton) to go the most dangerous place (1920s, political chaos- combined with a cholera epidemic) in China. But maybe they were both too quick to judge and despise each other? Produced by Norton and Watts. A must-see. To find out more about the film (no spoilers there either):

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/the-painted-veil-with-naomi-watts-and-edward-norton/


The Illusionist

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel
Wait till you see the cool magic trick Norton's Eisenheim does with Biel's Sophie. Talk about having interesting encounter with your childhood sweetheart!

The Illusionist takes you to a magical Vienna with fine cast: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell.Romantic, mystical, mysterious and lovely. For the review:

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/the-illusionist-with-edward-norton-and-jessica-biel/

Would love to hear what you think of these movies. You can comment here, on their individual pages.

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Jessica Biel, Keeping the Faith, Naomi Watts, paul giamatti, The Illusionist, The Painted Veil

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel

Posted on February 9, 2010 Written by ripitup

Share

The Illusionist with Edward Norton
The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell. I take this magician over The Prestige's two competing ones any day...

When Eisenheim was a young boy, he had two life-defining experiences. First, he met a magician that opened his eyes to a mysterious and alluring world. Second, he became best friends and fell in love with a girl called Sophie, who was way above his social class.

When he grows up (Edward Norton), he comes back to Vienna. He starts putting on sold-out shows that amaze and entertain everybody. His success intrigues the chief police (Paul Giamatti) and pisses the hell out of the crown prince (Rufus Sewell) who is usually quick to expose any “magic” and he has the services of the chief at his disposal.

The Illusionist, Edward Norton
Edward Norton as Einsenheim. He is just...well..magical.

Eisenheim isn’t intimidated by either of them. He is extremely frustrated to realize that he still has deep feelings for Sophie (Jessica Biel), who is expected to marry the crown prince.

The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Jessica Biel
The Illusionist. Mark my words: The Orange Tree. You will like this trick.

I dare not say any longer- I am scared to give any spoilers.

Why should you see this?

* From the moment this movie starts, it takes, it takes you in. Edward Norton is absolutely amazing and graceful as the smart, talented and romantic Eisenheim.

Paul Giamatti in The Illusionist
Paul Giamatti in The Illusionist. He creates more than enough trouble for Eisenheim and Sophie.

* Paul Giamatti is just brilliant as the police who we can’t tell whether he is going to go all evil on us to serve the prince or he will respect intelligence, love and true character.

Rufus Sewell in The Illusionist
So you are telling me there is a mysterious movie with a beautiful setting and a clever script and the cast has Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. I have nothing against Jessica Biel- she is lovely. And you also have Rufus Sewell as the bad guy? Boy, I love this movie!!

*Oh, the Crown Prince is evil. The performance of Sewell is really cool as usual. Shame that he had to cover his face with all the mustache and beard but hey, all the (male) charm and beauty belongs to Edward Norton here.

What you need to know about the movie is that, it is a smart)drama/ thriller/romance. I love it much, much more than The Prestige. Prestige plays all its smartypants cards to soon, drives up your expectations- only to disappoint in the end. This movie does not have one irrelevant line or scene. It might have fewer twists but it never disappoints. I’d say at 7.7 on IMDB, it is underrated.

Other Edward Norton

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/the-painted-veil-with-naomi-watts-and-edward-norton/

Other Giamatti

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/shoot-em-up/

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/duplicity/

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, paul giamatti, Rufus Sewell, The Illusionist, The Prestige

Shoot ’em Up! starring Clive Owen, Monica Belluci and Paul Giamatti

Posted on January 29, 2010 Written by ripitup

Share

Clive Owen and Monica Belluci in Shoot 'Em Up
Clive Owen and Monica Belluci in Shoot 'Em Up. Fast, cool, sexy and hard rock all around.

This movie kicks ass. It is exciting, fast, sexy, funny, clever and as exaggerated as a computer game but it just works. Imagine a roller-coaster ride. Only, it is better, because the movie just never loses momentum.

Smith (Clive Owen) is a lone ranger minding his own business. The guy is so cool, he makes eating carrots look cool. So he gets annoyed to see that a heavily pregnant woman is being chased by gun men. He just has to get involved. There are many shooters but he takes care of them as if they are merely still targets. He even kills a guy with a carrot. Oh ,yeah. And you thought the carrot wouldn’t come in handy?! The shooters just keep coming and Smith takes care of them all the while help deliver the baby. He gets to save the baby and all the shooters come after him. So from that point on, we embark this uber-cool journey as this 6’2” stranger takes care of a newborn, gets assistance from his hooker friend (Monica Belluci), shoots men tens at a time as the audience gets to watch with a big grin on their faces.

It is absurd and totally unrealistic. But Clive Owen plays Smith to such perfection and you think: That guy is like smarter, cooler, faster and better than we have ever seen on screen and he can pull that off. He is also full-of one liners. You so wish you could know a guy like Smith and have him watch your back (and I am thinking if you are a woman, you would want to take him to bed too-the guy can shoot up everyone all the while continuing to give the woman an orgasm. And no, it is not my fantasy, it is a scene in the movie)

Paul Giamatti plays the ultimate psycho and Smith’s main enemy. His motives aren’t all that clear but his acting sure adds to the movie’s coolness.

The baby is fantatic. It smiles when Smith talks about guns and sleeps when he hears heavy metal.

Oh, and if by any chance you love rock music, the soundtrack is awesome. It includes Motorhead, Motley Crue, Nirvana, AC/DC, Wolfmother, Iggy Pop and more.

Fun as hell. See it. I take a movie this fun over any serious film or a light chick-film any day.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlx4n_ibNZE[/pro-player]

Posts on Clive Owen:

* Clive Owen Trivia: 21 Facts about Clive Owen

* Duplicity Movie Review – Duplicity also features Paul Giamatti

* The Boys Are Back Movie Review

* Beyond Borders Movie Review

* Closer

* Elizabeth The Golden Age

* The International

* Derailed

*Inside Man

Share

Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Clive Owen, Clive Owen movies, films with clive owen, monica belluci, monica belluci clive owen, paul giamatti, rock soundtrack, Shoot 'em up, shoot 'em up trailer, shoot them up, thriller

In the mood for a fun romcom novel?

Copyright © 2025 · Focus Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT