Only God Forgives (2013) Review

Remember how much I enjoyed Drive with Ryan Gosling? Well, he teamed up again with the same director, Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn, and here we are to see whether Only God Forgives can continue the strong showing of their previous collaboration.

Crazy Stupid Love (2011) Review

I like Steve Carell, I think he's one of the funniest actors we currently have. I like Julianne Moore who is a terrific actress and just doesn't get the roles she deserves. I like Ryan Gosling, especially after seeing his badass performance in "Drive", this guy has a bright Hollywood future. But did I like "Crazy Stupid Love", the romantic comedy that unites all of them? Well, sort of.

The movie sees Carell being left by his wife, played by Moore, for her colleague at work, played by Kevin Bacon. Then Carell meets playboy Gosling and the latter also makes him a fellow womanizer. What a great setup, I thought when I first heard about the movie. Knowing that directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra had written the refreshingly insane "Bad Santa" and "I love you, Phillip Morris" I was hoping for another remarkably bold movie.

Unfortunately the story plays it safe and has Gosling falling in love with Emma Stone while Carell and Moore realize that they still have a thing for each other. It would have been nice to see a film that's braver than your average Hollywood flick in its depiction of relationships but "Crazy Stupid Love" has more problems to fight with.

There are just too many unanswered questions that kept popping up in my head. Why does Gosling pick Carell as his scholar and not anybody else? What exactly drives Moore back to Carell, is it just his new way of dressing sharply? Why does Carell's son adore his dad so much for his love to his wife if he gets divorced? Why are Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei, two outstanding actors, wasted in filler roles? Why does Emma Stone's role feel so tacked on? And did we really need the part about the underage babysitter being in love with Carell?

If you didn't get my point, there's a whole lot of "too much" going on and none of the separate parts feels fully completed, it seems too many crucial scenes either ended up on the editor's floor or were just totally over-written. In the case of "Crazy Stupid Love" less would definitely have been more.

Don't get me wrong, the film makes for an entertaining watch, the actors give it their best shot and there are sequences that definitely work but in its entirety the movie just feels like three really good movies blended together, it never adds up to the sum of its parts.

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.

Drive (2011) Review

You know what's the worst thing that can happen to a good director? Selling out. Big time. And do you know what's the easiest way to sell out? Going to Hollywood and making a movie for a big studio. Remember Gavin Hood? His Tsotsi won an Academy Award in 2006. Then he went to Hollywood, directed the god-awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine and is now working for TV. And do you remember Oliver Hirschbiegel? He made the excellent Das Experiment and the highly praised Downfall. Then he went to Hollywood, directed the über-flop Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and is now making movies back in Germany.

That's why it's a good thing to see a European director coming to Hollywood and making a movie that still has his style and doesn't bow down to any studio executive's demands. Enter danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn and his remarkable Drive.

Drive is a crime movie with a minimal approach. The story is simple, a stunt driver played by Ryan Gosling who is also a wheelman gets mixed up in a heist gone wrong and starts going on a rampage against the people who are trying to get rid of him. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

What makes this movie so much more than just another crime thriller is the atmosphere and the top notch performances. Gosling is the epitomized coolness, a man of few words and gestures. Carey Mulligan is perfectly cast as his doe-eyed love interest and creates a nice chemistry between the two. But it's Albert Brooks who takes the cake. He is Bernie, Gosling's boss and most terrifying screen presence I've seen since Melissa Leo in The Fighter. Academy, here's a sure bet for the upcoming Oscars next February.

While the film just breathes cool with beautiful shots of Los Angeles, a dreamlike score and long-lasting shots it is the sudden bursts of graphic violence that will leave you breathless and shocked. It might be a bit early to call it but Drive ranks up there next to classics such as Bullitt, The French Connection and Vanishing Point. I honestly doubt that there's gonna be another movie this year that is as badass and cool as this one.

So what are you waiting for? Go and watch this awesome movie, give it the audience it deserves!