They were so close.  Ides of March is gripping at times, somber and thought provoking at others but when the core of the film is revealed, it’s hard to find comfort or care in its primary characters.   Ok, I have to exclude Philip Seymour Hoffman from that generalization; his character and performance were the most true to life, which inherently doomed him in the film.  The others, not so much.

Ides of March follows Stephen Myers (Gosling), a charismatic, energetic campaign organizer working to win the Presidential primary for incumbent Governor Mike Morris (Clooney).  Leading such a harried campaign, there’s no time for relationships until Myers, quite surprisingly, strikes up a relationship with a staff intern, Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood).   When Molly seeks Stephen’s help with a sensitive issue from her past it only adds to the enormous pressure of leading the campaign.  Sadly when it rains it pours for Stephen – along with the Primary of the century and Molly’s angst, he’s pursued by a smart and resourceful campaign manager for the opposition, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti).  Tom is a master of subterfuge and flirts offers of a place on the other side’s administration while feeding seeds of discontent about Stephen’s own staff.    Caught between his loyalty to the Governor, his duty to help Molly and his own idealism about politics, Stephen traverses the rocky waters of the Capital Hill process while learning the true nature of the job and what he has resigned to let his life become.

Gosling (Half Nelson) is the spotlight role here.  I’m making my first Oscar pick of the year by saying that he will get a nod (but not a win).  Clooney (The Peacemaker) does average at best as Governor Morris.  He appears more to be a walking headshot than a believable candidate.  His running platform is filled with naïve public pandering which you have to attribute to the script, not necessarily to him.  Giamatti (Sideways) is ripe and passionate.  Playing a seasoned veteran of the campaign game, you really get a feel for his characters position within the film and its’ portrayal as he manipulates Gosling’s character.  Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen) gave a strong performance, but I question why she would take a role like this that only perpetuates her limited ability to play teen angst characters (even though here she’s supposedly 20).  Super hot, manipulative like a teen – I expect and want more from such a fresh faced beauty.  Marisa Tomei (Four Rooms) and Jeffrey Wright (Source Code) round out what appears to be a stellar cast on paper; the issue for them, and this film, is that the plot will cause audience rejection.  You’ve got a great string of powerful performances throughout the film, but it’s lost in the idealism within its execution.

When screening audiences are laughing during a funeral sequence that is supposed to broody and heartfelt…you know you went wrong with the characters.  ‘Ides’ gives you one solid performance to the next, but when the true nature and reality of the characters are revealed, you lose any interest in caring what happens to them and even more so about the eventual outcome of the people they play onscreen.  It’s a shame, because some great performances may get lost in the mix on this one.  Let’s hope moviegoers and Oscar voters can see through the subterfuge.

3 Stars Out of 5

The Ides of March is rated R for pervasive language.  Running Time: 101 minutes

BALTIMORE!!

YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO A VERY SPECIAL EVENT

MEET DIRECTOR JAMES MCTEIGUE (V FOR VENDETTA) AND ACTOR

LUKE EVANS (THE THREE MUSKETEERS, THE HOBBIT, IMMORTALS), THE STAR OF THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED

THRILLER SET IN BALTIMORE — “THE RAVEN”

AS THEY HONOR THE 162ND ANNIVERSARY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE’S DEATH

**THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH AT 12:00NOON – WESTMINSTER HALL**

WHERE:        WESTMINSTER HALL (EDGAR ALLAN POE’S BURIAL SITE)

519 West Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

THE EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ABOUT THE FILM

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

EDGAR ALLAN POE

Edgar Allan Poe (19 January 1809 – 7 October, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and critic. Best known for his Gothic and horror stories and poems, Poe championed the short story as a literary form, contributed to the growing science fiction genre emerging in his day, and is the inventor of the modern “detective story” as we now know it. Poe lived a brief life of continued financial hardship sparked by flares of creative and critical success. Born in Boston to David and Elizabeth Poe, working actors, his father’s disappearance and mother’s premature death forced him into a pseudo-adoption by John Allan of Virginia, where he grew to consider himself a “Southern Gentleman” for the remainder of his life. As a student at West Point, poetry captured his fervent imagination, and he became a writer, winning his first monetary prize for his writing in Baltimore, Maryland. Shuttling between Richmond, Philadelphia and New York through-out his turbulent life, jumping between newspaper and magazine editorial jobs while gaining notoriety for his Gothic short stories, Baltimore became more of a home for him than other cities. His paternal grandfather and brother lived in Baltimore, and it was in Baltimore that he lived for many years with his Aunt, Maria Clemm, whom he considered more than anything else to be his “mother”, and his child-bride, Virginia. It is in Baltimore that he died under mysterious circumstances in the autumn of 1849, and it is in Baltimore where he is buried, along-side Clemm and Virginia Poe.

THE RAVEN opens nationwide on March 9, 2012 

Download your pass here

Hey there entertainment fans!  Since I’m tapping this out just before the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards show (and am I watching the pre-game show to see the dresses?  Doees Tim Gunn make it work?) this will be super-quick.  But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of cool stuff that you may have missed last week….

* You wish the folks that YOU like would win an Emmy?  Me too!  And we’re not alone; EW has coome up with the EWwy’s, a salute to the people and shows folks wish would get a what-what from the Emmy voters.

* Joan Rivers dead?  Oh hell no.  But Betty White, Joan sees you baby…. Sleep with one eye open, she’s on to you.

* An absolutely fantastic article from The Guardian about Cameron Crowe’s look at Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam Twenty, and his huge amount of Pearl Jam tsotchke.  Nice!

* Yeah, so the Muppets have now spoofed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.   Hilarious, as always.  But you know what’s really cool?  This poster of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with Daniel Craig half-hidden by Rooney Mara.  Beautifully done!

* I have no problem admitting that American Horror Story is intriguing me, and I can’t wait to see it (though a few early peeks have been say it’s so-so, my hope springs eternal).  If you’re right there with me, check out a sneak peek of the American Horror Story house and some of it’s secrets.

* Trailer?  You bet — I’ve been looking forward to taking a peek at We BoughtA Zoo.  So here it is!

Sarah Jessica Parker proves that her cute, loveable city gal vibe can take her places beyond Carrie Bradshaw in I Don’t Know How She Does It.  But Sex and the City fans will find much in common with Ms. Parker’s latest celluloid romp; luckily a spoonful of her warmth and vivacity makes the Superwoman clichés go down smooth.

Kate Reddy is just like her name; ready to take on everything the world throws at her.  Bake sale at the last minute?  No problem — fake-bake a storebought one with a little powdered sugar and some careful “wrecking”.  Birthday party planning the week of the big meeting?  There goes sleep!  Kate wouldn’t be able to hold it together without her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear), assistant Momo (Olivia Munn) and nanny/surf betty Paula (Jessica Szohr).  Boston is a fast-paced world, however, and when Kate and Richard’s careers take off at the exact same time, something’s gotta give.  For Kate, the weak link is time spent at home, since her big break has her travelling to NYC several times a week to spend time with her client Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan).  Would that every working woman had to choose between Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. Though if singing was a requirement…sorry Pierce.  I’ve seen Mama Mia.

The story moves along thanks to asides from the female characters, each of whom has her own different take on Kate’s life.  Besides Kate, Paula and Momo, there’s Kate’s bestie Allison (Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, looking fresh faced, friendly and most definitely anti-Joan) and “Momster” Wendy Best (Busy Philipps from Cougar Town), a stay-at-home gal who seems to do everything perfectly, while poor Kate walks around with pancake batter on her Armani.  As things come to a head in Kate’s life, she has to learn to prioritize — the bane of all working women’s existence — and how to live with the decisions she makes, in work and at home.

Olivia Munn (Iron Man, Perfect Couples) gets to dust off her deadpan comedy chops she used so well on Attack of the Show as Momo Hahn, Kate’s “robot” of an junior assistant/Gal Friday.  Momo shows us what Kate may have been like if she was single and sans-kids.  Which is to say a working machine that checks sexual conquests off her to-do list like she does her boardroom meetings.  Munn’s ability to telegraph an entire conversation with the audience with one spark of disgust from Momo’s  judgemental eyes is the perfect counterpoint to Kate’s earth mother gone corporate.  Which is to say that they’re opposite ends of a crazy-extreme spectrum.  Kate tries to do it all, and she’s so friggin’ earnest in her need to be the perfect mom that just so happens to love her job.  Momo is straight out of Wall Street — with one toe in American Psycho  — she’s a gal that forgets holidays and thinks nothing of working all day and night, every day and night.  Meanwhile, Busy Philipps gets the snobby “Mom-er Than Thou” vibe down pat as Wendy, never realizing that all the time she spends at the gym/pilates/yoga class leaves her more distant from her kids than Kate has ever been.

Sound clichéd?  Of course it is.  I Don’t Know How She Does It doesn’t claim to take a new approach to the chick film, it’s here to entertain and maybe impart a Very Important Lesson to people who aren’t XX chromosomed with kids.  Kate is head over heels in love with her man, and he’s a doll that rolls up his sleeves and does his part around the house.  Jack is a guy that knows he’s spent too much time working but so far has liked it that way.  Allison is a total sweetie that is always there for Kate, even though Allison is a high-powered attorney (or at least we assume she is; her asides are in a law office where she works.)  Hot nanny Paula is a lovable flake that is always there when the chips are down.  In fact,outside of Momo and the Momsters, the entire cast is so lovable you’re forced to root for a happy ending.  Well, except for Kelsey Grammer, who plays Kate’s boss Clark.  But that’s less about his brief but competent performance and more about how I think he’s a douchenozzle after The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The storyline moves along at such a clip viewers are whisked away on Kate’s madcap race to blend family and work, but you’re laughing all the way.  Sara Jessica Parker didn’t have to look outside her own home for inspiration on how to play Kate; she’s said that in her home she’s an “air-traffic controller” when it comes to her kids schedules.  Parker’s real-life and her love of this material make Kate a gal you really wan to root for.  More than that, viewers see through her eyes how desperate she is to hold on to everything she has.  Kate-The-Mom is nothing without her job, and Kate-The-Corprate Gal is nothing without her kids.  On the surface it’s trite, but this film shows the cracks and patches everyone who decides to do it all must live with in order to find “balance”.  Plus, we get to see Pierce Brosnan bowl, and that is awesome.

The highest compliment I can give this movie is that I forgot about my snackies.  No, I didn’t decide not to munch, or think that all that candy was a bad idea.  I had completely forgotten about everything else in the theater except for this movie.  Any film that can pull me into it’s world so completely and totally that nothing else exists gets a big thumbs up from me.  And a big thank you; I really didn’t need all that candy anyway.

Too busy last week recovering from Labor Day & commemorating September 11th to keep up with the latest in entertainment news? Here’s a look at some of my favorite stuff from the news and my twitter feed so you can catch up!

* Box Office Top 5: Contagion infected the top spot (yeah, I had to go there), but The Help is close behind at number two. Warrior enters the list at number three, with The Debt and Columbiana rounding out the top 5. (Thanks Box Office Mojo!)

* The 20 Worst Lines in Movie History! Yay!!! (?)

* All the zombies, plagues and Acts of Whomever scare the body organs outta you? Wanna know how to survive the end of the world? The Baltimore Sun’s Jordan Bartel breaks it down for you. And we thank you, Jordan!

* From HufPo: Netflix shares drop after Starz decides it may not re-up their contract with the stay-at-home streaming co. And I gotta say that I feel really good about that. You double my fees and cut my service, Netflix? I blow my nose at you!

* A first-look at American Reunion! What a perfect teaser; I can’t wait for this to hit theaters next year!

* Trailers? You betcha!

The Amazing Spiderman:

And…The Avengers trailer, just in case you need it again for comparison:

Finally, a trailer for a movie that opens this year! Well, this December. Behold Justin Timberlake & Amanda Seyfried in…In Time!

Survived Hurricane Irene with dry basements and dvd’s?  Well, here’s a look at what you might have missed while heading out to buy bread, milk & toilet paper….

* If you like Team America: World Police and you don’t live in NYC?  You’re gonna wish you did; there’s a “Sing & Swear-Along” slated for the 17th of September in Tribeca.  Yeah, you wanna go.

* Zombies from World War Z!

* It’s on.  It’s off.  It’s on?  Don’t trifle with me; The Dark Tower, does it stand or fall?  Here’s the latest.

* No questions here: Ghostbusters 3 is definitely shooting next year.  What’s not definite is if Bill Murray will be a part of the team.  No Venkman?  Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! (C’mon.  I had to use it. Because I couldn’t finagle a way to use “It’s in the hole!” Unless there’s a Caddyshack sequel coming…. *shudder*)

More trailers:

* Fireflies in the Garden, starring Ryan Reynolds & Julia Roberts. It was shot back in ‘07 and is finally getting some theater play.  Hope it was woth waiting for…but then again I’ll watch Roberts & Reynolds in just about anything.

* A Hellraiser without Doug Bradley as Pinhead?  Um…  Well, judge for yourself.

* The Red Band trailer for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (be prepared to verify your age, you young’uns)

* The trailer of Disney/Pixar’s Brave (that debuted at D23):

* Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster tear it up in Carnage.  A hilarious Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  Bring it.  And I wipe my ass with your human rights!

Phew!  It was a long, fun day at Baltimore Comic-Con, but I’ll keep this quick so I can get to the best tidbits from the con.  Despite the big guns in comics (Marvel, DC, Indigo, Dark Horse) and movies (WB/CW, Universal, Fox, etc.) not having Dealer’s Room presence, there was plenty to see and do!

Comics I wanna see on the big screen (or just get my paws on Right Now):

* Sandshark Studios had a new offering with a name that’s totally cool: Adam And Eve Bizarre Love Triangle In The Zombie Apocalypse Volume 1: Post Armageddon Underground Bunker Blues.  Try saying that five times fast.  And after (pawing) looking at the dealer’s copy, it’s just as cool as it sounds.

* Kill Shakespeare.  No, it’s not the latest arthouse film or a sign I’ve lost my marbles, but a groovy new series.  Shakespeare’s characters exist, and they’re looking for a wizard…named Will.  Cool?  Absolutely.

* The Field on the Edge of the Woods.  Oooh, spooky.  But I can’t seem to be scared; I’m too busy staring at the gorgeous pencil work.  It has a bit of Song of Ice and Fire to it (a bad place beyond a great wall), but there’s a definite modern, funky twist to it.

* The hilarious Girls With Slingshots, the drop-dead gorgeousness of Vampire, PA,  and the very cool storyline (a suicidal immortal!) of The Last Mortal from ubercool Top Cow.

Panel Tidbits:

* Spotlight on Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire: hilarious, informative and the first time these three have ever been in a panel together (who knew?)  They discussed their work on Justice League, Metal Men and anything else that popped into their heads.
- On their work on the 80’s Justice League: “Never a time when I didn’t think the book would be ripped away from us.”
- “‘Til Moving Day, it wasn’t a conscious decision to add humor.”
- DC “never let off the idea of taking the humor out of it”, and was afraid they’d “spoil” Wonder Woman, and thought “humor was off-genre”.
- Who came up with “Bwah-ha-ha”?  Although they could find out by tracking down notes and drawings from that time, Keith Giffen spoke for ‘em all; “I don’t give a damn!”
- Kevin Maguire is a fan of digital artistry, and thinks in some instances comics look better on the digital page than the printed one (depending on paper stock used in printing).

* Marvel Panel: How does Marvel take to artists changing around character personalities and such?  Apparently Marvel is pretty flexible with their artists, but expect them to “put the toys back where you found them.  Everybody knows that.”
- What should you read?  “Anything Jeff Parker writes”.  “Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimates and S.H.I.E.L.D”.  “FF, X Force, Daredevil” (don’t let Ben Affleck turn you away from it.  Trust me.)

* Legendary Panel: the comics, not the movies (though they will be getting more out to fans at New York Comic-Con).
- About Frank Miller’s (300, Sin City) Holy Terror, ten years in the making?  Could be good; Editor-in-Chief Bob Schreck calls it “Frank’s version of Inglorious Basterds”.  It’s due out the third week of Septmber, and already has people clamoring for it (as you’d expect from this massive talent).
- On comics vs. movies: “The main goal for Legendary is to make good books.”  So don’t think comics are a secondary to the movie division.  It ain’t.
- On embracing or passing on digital comics: “if you don’t accept change it runs you over and leaves you for dead.”

* DC’s New 52 Panel : this was the panel that tore folks from the costume contest (though there were definitely enough fans in there so that the cheering and applause definitely carried through the walls….) But that’s no surprise; re-numbering 52 DC titles so they’e back at Issue #1?  After this panel, this is one fangirl who had her reservations (Swamp Thing!), but will head out to grab up the new Swampy #1
- “DC…is taking action to make sure comics still exist.”
- “We are not here to see you stories we don’t believe in….DC is just now allowing us to take these characters where we’ve always wanted to.”
- As far as dropping it all on us in September?  Not so fast, there’s “so much more going on outside of September!”  Unfortunately, they couldn’t give more specifics.  Guess we’ll have to wait for the New York Comic-Con to get those details, since the reveal will be in “2 to 3 months”.

* Top Cow Panel: Yeah, there will be changes in Witchblade, but not anything crazy.  But Velocity will appear in Artifacts.  Yes, you fans can squee now.

* Costume Contest: yeah, I missed most of it so I could snag some quality info on the New 52.  But pictures?  Pictures I’ve got, from beginning of the day to end.  Enjoy!

Too busy to catch up on movie news and assorted genre goodness last week? Well, here’s a peek at some of the coolest stuff you may have missed!

* Weekend Box Office Roll Call: Rise of the Planet of the Apes rose to #1 (see what I did there?  Okay, moving on.)  The Help came in second, Final Destination 5 bled into third.  The Smurfs drops two spots but still comes in at a respectable #4, and 30 Minutes or Less rounds out the top 5.

* The stars of the Hunger Games give you ideas on what to watch ‘til their movie comes out. Some great ideas here!

* Hate forking over the extra cash for 3D?  Well, you can say that you’re doing it for your health, now that a study has shown 3D can cause headaches.  So use the cash you saved for sno-caps.  Hey, dark chocolate is healthy.

* Superhero News:
- With Marvel’s Avengers coming soon, looks like the DC Universe is gearing up for a superhero mashup with Batman and Superman.  Can the Justice League be far behind?
- Doctor Strange may be teleporting to the silver screen soon. Just please, please, please, no Nicolas Cage.  Please.

* Sequel Watch:
- The Howling Reborn is coming this October.  The original scared the pants off of me, but the sequels have been less than creepy.  Howling III: The Marsupials?  Really?  So they’re really gonna have to bring it to convince me this will be anything less than Redbox-worthy.
- WOOT — Mike & Sully are gonna strut their Pixar stuff again in Monsters University!  Though it’s more of a prequel, showing ‘em in college, I’m up for it.  You know Mike was in a frat.  Which would be Beta Omicron Omicron (BOO), of course.
- More fuckwittage!  Bridget Jones 3 is officially in the works.  Though the book will have to be written first….
- If you’re like me and always wondered how we got to the point of remake-overkill, Siskel & Ebert fill you in on when it all started; 1976.

* Horror Score:
- Nicole Kidman and Dermot Mulroney are slated to star in Stoker.  The plot is rather hush-hush, but I’m sure more of this young-girl-meets-creepy-uncle film will (not make it sound like a ped-fest) be forthcoming.
- World War Z gets a start date; bolt your doors from the zombie apocalypse December 21, 2012!
- The Stand is ready to infect theaters near you.  Why not?  It’s already got books, tv and graphic novels.  It was only a matter of time ‘til Captain Trips hit the red carpet.
- Speaking of the sniffles, love these creepy-cool posters for Contagion!  Though now I think I need some Purell.

* Trailer of the week: It may be too late for Christmas in July, but one look at A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas and you’ll forgive the delay.  Neil Patrick Harris gets to poke fun at himself, and H&K are their usual “happy” selves.  Sounds good!