A Movie Review: The Ides of March

The Ides of March.  Some dirty political moves are made behind the scenes of a presidential campaign in this movie.  Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) and Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are political operatives for a Democratic presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney).  They're in for a fight in Ohio, which is a key state to determine the Democratic nominee between the final two standing candidates.  (There are three remaining states that are mentioned as key:  Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania).  In an attempt to pull off a victory, a number of political moves are made.  Both candidates attempt to woe Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) who dropped out of the race at some point and has around 300 delegates.  Also, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who works for the other candidate (Senator Pullman) attempts to convince Stephen Meyers to switch sides.

Along the way, a young, beautiful intern (Molly Stearns played by Evan Rachel Wood) catches the eye of Meyers.  She also happens to be the daughter of the Democratic National Committee chair.

Due to certain political maneuvers, Meyers is fired from the campaign.  This doesn't sit well with him and he decides he's going to use some political dirt that he happened to uncover to get his job back.

This is an intense movie; however, I believe at the end it leaves a rather wide open hole in its story line.  Not to give away too much in terms of spoilers, the political dirt that Meyers uncovers indirectly comes to light to the news media.  Considering the nature of what happened, one would think that the media who eventually figure out what happened (or a theory that is somewhat close to reality) even with Meyers attempting to keep this news under wraps so that he can use it.

  

Spring 2014 Movie Rankings

I didn't catch all that many movies for Spring 2014.  I guess I just wasn't all that intrigued by the offerings, but the movies I did see I really loved.

Here's my short rankings:

1.  Grand Budapest Hotel
2.  Captain American
3.  Non-Stop

I recommend seeing all those three movies.

A Movie Review: Mean Girls

Mean Girls.  So how is it that I'm finally catching a movie that was a:  box office hit, filled with future movie stars and had Lindsay Lohan at the top of her game?  No explanation.  This is a fun high school take down movie.  I suppose most high school kids (boys and girls) have these sort of fantasy take down thoughts.  I'm betting even "Plastics" have these type of thoughts.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) spent her youth in Africa.  Her family moves back to America and she needs to navigate through the cultural land mind that is high school with no real context. The first day of school is tough, but she quickly becomes friends with a couple outcasts: Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese). If Cady had grown up in America, she'd probably never have become friends with these two individuals. By chance, she also becomes involved with The Plastics led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams).  The Plastics are the three hotties in the high school.  Janis, Damian and Cady decide to take down Regina.  Of course, when Cady becomes part of The Plastics she finds that being popular is addictive.

A Movie Review: The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries. Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a solid enough high school basketball player, the second best player on the team.  There is some college interest.  There is a problem.  He has a controllable drug addiction that develops into a full blown heroin addiction.  He gets kicked off the basketball team and the downward spiral hits the pedal.

This movie is tough to watch.  You watch and one thought keeps on kicking around, "Why would anyone shoot up heroin?"  Is it worth a watch?  Yes.  Will it make you squirm throughout the movie?  Definitely.

Leonardo DiCaprio does some great young adult acting though honestly he looks a bit too scrawny to be a college basketball prospect.  And I swear he should have been called a number of times for carrying the ball.

Interestingly, this movie has three future Sopranos:  Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore.

Air Life at The Satellite

Air Life. They had a bit of a problem getting their set started.  They were ready to play, but the DJ just wouldn't stop the music.  The lead singer, Taylor Dexter, was amused by it all.  "You can stop now," he finally blurted out.

Once they started, they got the groove on.

There was one song where Vicky Nguyen took the lead and wow does she have a voice.

Alex Lilly at The Satellite.

Alex Lilly. Here's a person who really just loves her music beat.  After one of her songs, she was dancing on stage.  It didn't seem like it was part of her stage performance.  It seemed to me that her song was still beating in her head and she was enjoying it.

Le J Collective at The Satellite

Le J Collective. I saw this group at The Bootleg a couple months back.  I only caught the last two or three songs on a recent trip to The Satellite.  I quickly wished I'd caught their whole set.  They play jazz.  They'll having you searching for 88.1FM KJazz.

A Movie Review: Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Ain't Them Bodies Saints. This is a movie that takes place in Texas, probably in the 1970s. The movie starts with Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara), Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) getting ready to commit a crime along with a third individual.  (We also learn just slightly before this that Ruth is pregnant.)  A police chase occurs and the three are cornered in what we later learn is the abandoned house of Bob's father.  The third individual is killed in the gunfire.  Ruth fires randomly and hits a police officer.  Bob takes the blame.  Somehow Ruth evades having to go to prison while Bob ends up serving time.

The two still communicate, but Ruth has mixed feelings.  She now has a four year old child.  Her crime days are far behind her.  At the same time, she finds herself a tad bit attracted to the police officer that she shot.  Bob escapes from prison and so the movie focuses mainly on Bob's desire to re-unite with Ruth and her mixed feelings towards this potential reunion.

This movie is more poetic than storytelling.  At times, I had a hard time understanding what was being said.  In fact, I couldn't even figure out what Bob's last line was in the movie.  I watched this on DVR and tried to figure it out a number of times.  If you want an action/prison escape/intrigue movie, this isn't for you.  If you're looking for expressions of emotions such as uncertainty and desire, this is for you.  

A Movie Review: Byzantium

Byzantium. A low key, yet violent vampire movie that breaks a few rules. Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are a mother/daughter vampire duo.  After having a run-in, they escape to a small seaside town.  There, Clara sets up a house of prostitution and Eleanor heads off to college.  You'd think that after 200 years, they'd advance to doing other things.  Would someone really want to be a prostitute for 200 years?  Would someone want to continue taking college courses for 200 years?

Eleanor falls for a young man who is dealing with cancer.  She let's her secret out.  The young man fails to understand the confidential nature of the disclosure and suspicions arise in the town.  

Though, as mentioned above, I can't help but wonder why someone would want to do the same thing for 200 years, I did enjoy this movie.  I liked the low key nature of the movie.  These are vampires who do need human blood, but still want to interact with humanity.  Clara seems to feed on the low life while Eleanor feeds on those who are near death.  This is a movie for vampire lovers who don't find the Twilight series all that thrilling.

A Movie Review: Babes on Broadway

Babes on Broadway.  With Mickey Rooney passing away, TMC aired Babes on Broadway.  I put it on DVR and just recently watched it.  

When I was a kid, I used to love watching Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland together.  It was a pleasure seeing them on screen again.

Mickey Rooney plays Tommy Williams, a down on his luck wanna be actor.  Judy Garland plays Penny Morris.  Penny Morris also wants to be an actor.  There is a slight difference in their circumstances.  Penny lives with her father.  Tommy is on his own.  Tommy is also far more the optimist.  

The two happen to meet up at the local diner where all the unemployed actors hang out.  With a little luck, Tommy might just have a big break coming his way.  Penny, on the other hand, has a growing desire to help the tweens/teenagers in the community.  A little conflict.  A big play is put on.  They make it to Broadway.

This movie works most of the way.  There is a build-up as Tommy and Penny negotiate love and ambition along with actually pulling together a performance.  It falls apart, for me, towards the end when there is a long drawn out musical number.  Never mind the fact that we now view black face as racist.  For me, it was a much better movie watching the two interact and play off each other versus watching a Broadway rendition on screen.

Monogem at Bootleg

Monogem. She wants you to have fun while listening to her upbeat music.

Run Things at Bootleg

Run Things.  A random decision to try out a Sunday at Bootleg.  I ran into Run Things.  I'm happy I went out.

A Movie Review: When Harry Met Sally . . .

When Harry Met Sally . . . Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) is hitching a ride with Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) from Chicago to New York. They’ve both just graduated from the University of Chicago. Sally is an optimist. Harry is already jaded. After their ride together, they go their own ways. They randomly run into each other a few years later at the airport. And then they run into each other at a bookstore, which results in a growing friendship.

I really do love this movie. I saw it recently for the first time in a number of years. Perhaps Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are a much better movie couple, but Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan hit it off just fine.  Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby have fun supporting roles, especially the scene where they first meet each other via a double date.