Et tu Clooney?

We’ve seen it all before but Clooney lets the actors shine
by
Morgan P Salvo

Pretty boy George Clooney gets a bad rap; from conservative attacks on his liberal politics to jabs at his good looks. Problem with that scenario is that Clooney is a really good director and couldn’t care less. Clooney is also a damn fine actor so it’s no surprise that Ides of March although driven by political force, is all about the acting. Touting a superb cast and drawing from source material Farragut North, a 2008 play by Beau Willimon, Ides tells the tale of an idealistic staffer (Ryan “I’m in every other movie” Gosling) who gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail working for a presidential candidate (Clooney). Unfortunately not much transpires that we’ve not experienced in the political movie realm. Nothing really new is revealed. There’s no surprise watching the inner workings behind political wheeling and dealing. We’re supposed to have enormous feeling for certain characters but alas as the film progresses you feel more inclined to hate just about everyone in this flick. Maybe that’s the point.
So that brings us back to the acting. Ides is all about the performances. It’s Gosling’s movie all the way but just seeing Paul Giamatti and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the same flick is almost goose bump inducing. And the always dependable Marisa Tomei shows up and thankfully this time around doesn’t have to have sex with an ugly guy.
After being introduced to the chess game of politics, about a third of the way in I’m wondering… where is the tension? When it kicks in we get a good suspenseful feel for, say about three minutes and then everywhere you wish Ides would go just refuses to go there. Right when we think its going to go the path of Julius Caesar, Ides just kind of rides this self explanatory plane wherein everything is spelled out for you.
Clooney’s direction surprisingly underwhelms. The simplistic easygoing approach harkens back to the Hollywood of yesteryear, the problem is that style doesn’t mesh with today’s political hot topics. Sure pipe dreams are shattered and slimy shady dealings behind close doors are powerful but without the versatility or complexity of Tim Robbins’ Bob Roberts or Michael Ritchie’s The Candidate, the only motivating force is Clooney’s left wing agenda. Jabbing at the republicans’ vicious power and the democrats’ extreme wimpiness, more times than not under the guise of political intrigue Ides feels only like a vehicle to showcase Clooney’s left leaning politics.
I really liked where I thought it was going to go but in the end everything about this flick is just too obvious. Plus Clooney isn’t very pretty this time around.


Ides of March
Starring George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright
Directed by George Clooney
Rated R







2 stars

Dream On….

Dream team of A-list actors and director cannot save the misguided path of Dream House
by
  Morgan P Salvo





Okay, here we go again with another installment of the haunted house genre. You know the ones with “haunting” and/or “house” in the title that I have proven are destined to suck. They don’t stand a ghost of a chance. This flick is no exception to the sucking rule but guess what? It’s not a haunted house movie, which now leads me to believe anything with just “house” in the title sucks. And yes, even that predictable TV series.
Beginning with scary angelic music Dream House introduces the typical new inhabitants in a strange and creepy house with a shady past where things creak, squeak, and go bump in the night all destined to make towering A-list film stars (Daniel Craig, Rachel Weiz, Naomi Watts) crap their pants. But all that changes midway through with a twist from the “is this all real?” Shutter Island school of twists, detouring into ridiculous hallucinations, visions, questionable sanity and yes…murder.

What I thought was going to be yet another in the big steaming pile of bad haunted house movies turns out not to be the case. Dream house is a steaming pile of a different entity. Moving at a snail’s pace with zero suspense, rife with stupidity, hack job screenwriting, and a huge dose of WTF, this flick manages to churn out a tepid psychological thriller at best. Even with two major plot twists, the movie is still so formulaic that you can almost see the solution boiling out of the science beaker. Attempting Hitchcock territory, it’s too lame and stupid to even come close. If we’re going to be treated to this kind of thriller I say thrill us and crank it up a notch. Director Jim Sheridan has jeopardized his substantial filmmaking credits (My left Foot, In America) as all he does is make a terrible “made-for-bad-TV” psychological mess look slick which makes it all the more glaringly apparent how truly awful this movie is. File this one under “too demeaning to experience” and move on. Bad writing abounds in movies these days, and screenwriter David Loucka who also wrote 1989’s Dream Team must have dreams on his mind. Well I have news for him and the filmmakers...keep dreaming. This flick could possibly induce nightmares for all the wrong reasons.
Dream house keeps you on the edge of your seat…geared to leave. A more appropriate title could be Outhouse. When a movie gets all phony with its transparent moodiness, absolutely ridiculous with its gaping plot holes, wretched dialogue and monstrously insulting acting from capable thespians, it’s downright painful.

Dream House
Starring Daniel Craig Rachel Weiz Naomi Watts
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Rated PG-13
1 star