A Most Wanted Man (2014) Review

Last year Philip Seymour Hoffman died and we lost a great screen presence and formidable actor. One of his final roles was in A Most Wanted Man, an adaptation of a fairly recent John Le Carré novel. While it was well reviewed at the time of its release it didn't really find an audience and seemed to have quickly been forgotten. So I sat down to figure out whether people should have paid more attention or whether they were right in ignoring it.

The Master (2012) Review

Picture the following scene: In early 2008 I walked into a small theater in my hometown Rostock, going to see the new movie by Paul Thomas Anderson, director of such great films as "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia". When I walked out about three hours later I was a changed person. "There Will Be Blood", the film I saw on that fateful night pretty much blew me away in a way no other movie has done it to me before or ever since. In my humble opinion "There Will Be Blood" might just be the best movie of the last decade. Just watch the following video and see how devoted fans of this masterpiece can be:

Happiness (1998) Review

And here we go again, after watching some fairly convenient and "nice" movies I encountered another one that is anything but. Happiness by Todd Solondz is a poisonous little film that, like so many others before, looks into the dark soul of suburban USA. But what makes this film stand out from many others is that it is not afraid to touch dark topics without being exploitative. While other films such as Harmony Korine's Ken Park are more interested in just blatantly showing the perversions that happen behind white picket fences without any sort of context, Solondz's film is anchored by characters that are actually drawn out. We might not sympathize with their actions but at least we are able to understand them.

The Ides Of March (2011) Review

A new school year has started and that means automatically less time for me to watch movies. That's a pity because now that Autumn has come all the blockbuster rubbish from the summer gets wiped away from theaters to make space for the more ambitious crowd of movies. And who could be more ambitious than our good old beloved ex-Batman George Clooney?

His new film The Ides of March is his fourth outing as a director and features a more than impressive cast: Clooney himself, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and a couple more better-than-average actors. I mean, honestly, I did the math, his cast was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including 3 wins, wouldn't you expect nothing short of greatness?

The story revolves around young and idealistic Stephen Meyers, played by Gosling, who works as a campaign manager for presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris, played by Clooney. But how long can Stephen preserve his ideals in the dirty world of politics?

Everybody knows how liberal of a guy Clooney is so it is no surprise what kind of message he is delivering here: Power corrupts and if you want to swim with the sharks then you have to learn to play dirty. Of course that is a valuable lesson that's being taught here, the only problem is that it is not particularly new. Have you never heard of All the King's Men? Citizen Kane? The Candidate?

Of course the movie is extremely well acted, everybody in the cast shines, even the characters with minor roles such as Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti get their fare share of good scenes and unsurprisingly it is also another stepping stone for soon-to-be Hollywood leading man Ryan Gosling. The dialogue is sharp, the pacing perfect and Clooney keeps growing as a serious filmmaker. The only thing that prevents the movie from being the masterpiece it should have been is its unoriginal storyline and its not very relevant message. 

Don't get me wrong, I'd recommend this film without hesitation to anyone, I just can't help but see The Ides of March as a failed opportunity on a very high level.