The Ides of March

This really is the year of the Gosling and he will deserve any and every award he receives unless it is at the annual Razzie ceremony. I don't think he is capable of pulling a Sandra Bullock from two years ago and winning both best actor and worst actor in one year. Especially with the year he has been having with Crazy, Stupid, Love and Drive under his belt (The Ides of March being a predecessor to Drive) I believe that he has at least the best actor statue in his pocket and he very well could snag the best supporting actor as well. I don't know if that has happened in the history of the Academy. However there are still some great movie months on the way so I can't really call it yet.

Diving us right into the corrupt world of politics we follow the seemingly incorruptible Stephen Meyers, played by Ryan Gosling, the head of the campaign for presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris. We learn more and more about the perfect Morris (George Clooney) as we plunge into the grimy muck of politics.

Reprising his directorial role for the fourth time, George Clooney does an outstanding job yet again both in acting and directing. As a director he does a great job making us feel the world closing in around the main characters and as an actor we find ourselves torn over what to think of him. Stephen Meyers is a rock in the  torrential downpour from the politics around him, getting chipped away slowly, but surely. He tries to keep his hands clean in the dirty political world.

While much of the plot was predictable, the dialogue and interactions made up for the lackluster surprises. And of course the acting is what really propelled this movie to where it is now.

Gosling steals the show yet again in this movie and keeps the momentum he has gained this year rolling well on his way to many nominations and wins in the coming award season. Definitely an enjoyable movie worth seeing.

7/10