Charlie’s Cousin Adam reviews the new George Clooney political thriller:

Rated R – 1h41

George Clooney delivers what is a really weighty political thriller in his new work The Ides Of March, or as I like to call it “How to become cynical with the political process in one hour and forty-one minutes.”

The film is a fictional account of a Democratic presidential primary, set in current times, but makes use of the real news media. Is it a metaphor that the real media Is following a fake election? Probably not.

Ryan Gosling, or as I like to call him “the new George Clooney” plays Stephen Myers , a likable, suave and idealistic top political staffer for Democratic presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris ( Clooney). Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the campaign manager. Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) i s the rival democratic candidate campaign manager as both side battle in the Ohio primary.

After Tom tries to recruit Stephen to the other side, a series of events that includes more cruel intentioned double crossings and back stabbings than one could imagine happens. At times, The Ides of March becomes the type of political thriller that only happens in movies, because the details of the misdoings are just too juicy.

Clooney directs and writes the screenplay for the film that also credits Leo DiCaprio with Executive producer credits. With DiCaprio playing J. Edgar Hoover in “J. Edgar,” due out in November, this creates a little buzz. In all though, the story in The Ides of March is strong and the cast all equally deliver command performances.

The good thing about this production is that it is not really a partisan movie. I’m not sure anybody comes out looking good. This is more about strategy and the thrill of the game. I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised by the dark secrets that lurk in our political process, I just hope that someday I don’t become as cynical as some of these characters.

So.  What is it that makes a song make you want to sing along.

The hook?  The chorus?  A face melting guitar solo?  The beat? The fact that Freddy Mercury is singing it?

Some British researchers in London must like their Queen (get it?) because here’s the science they came up with behind what makes a great sing a-long song.  (Thanks to ZMEScience.com for the research)

1. Longer and detailed musical phrases. The breath a vocalist takes as they sing a line is crucial to creating a sing-along-able tune. The longer a vocal in one breath, the more likely we are to sing along.
2. Higher number of pitches in the chorus hook. The more sounds there are, the more infectious a song becomes. Combining longer musical phrases and a hook over three different pitches was found to be key to sing-along success.
3. Male vocalists. Singing along to a song may be a subconscious war cry, tapping into an inherent tribal part of our consciousness. Psychologically we look to men to lead us into battle, so it could be in our intuitive nature to follow male-fronted songs.
4. Higher male voices with noticeable vocal effort. This indicates high energy and purpose, particularly when combined with a smaller vocal range (Freddie Mercury of Queen and Jon Bon Jovi).

The determine these factors, the researchers went under-cover and observed over 1100 instances of people singing along in the real-life context of pubs and clubs across northern England, counting how many people sang along to each song. Then, after performing an extensive musical analysis and correlating with contextual variables gathered using various data mining techniques, they were able to rank a list of sing-a-long classics. Here’s how the top 10 UK sing-a-long looks like:

1. ‘We are the Champions’, Queen (1977)
2. ‘Y.M.C.A’, The Village People (1978)
3. ‘Fat Lip’, Sum 41 (2001)
4. ‘The Final Countdown’, Europe (1986)
5. ‘Monster’, The Automatic (2006)
6. ‘Ruby’, The Kaiser Chiefs (2007)
7. ‘I’m Always Here’, Jimi Jamison (1996)
8. ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, Van Morrison (1967)
9. ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, Wheatus (2000)
10. ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’, Bon Jovi (1986)

This kinda surprises me.  Here’s what Netflix says is they’re Top 10 Rentals of All Time.

Nothing from before 2005?  Seems a little suspicious that two in the Top 5 have Sandra Bullock in them too. My bucket list includes never watching another one of her flicks.

Netflix Top 10 Rentals of All Time

10. No Country For Old Men

9. Iron Man

8. Inception

7. Sherlock Holmes

6. The Departed

5. The Hurt Locker

4. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

3. The Bucket List

2. Crash

1. The Blind Side

Rated R – 1h39

I have a list of certain actors and actresses that I will see any movie they are part of, simply because they are in it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is now on that list.

Is latest work 50/50 is based on the true story of a man who is diagnosed with cancer, but still manages to keep his sense of humor. Adam (Gordon-Levitt) is a 20 something employee at a Seattle NPR radio station when he is told that the ache in his back is actually a cancerous tumor. The story revolves around Adam and his friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) and how they find the lighter side of cancer.

From the moment Adam is delivered the news from his cold-hearted masochistic doctor, he tries to keep composure while his world spirals. This all sounds like a major downer, and it is. The magic of this movie is it’s ability to balance the gut wrenching reality with the comic musings between Kyle & Adam. Kyle for one, continually tries to use his friend’s diagnosis as a successful pick up line.

Anjelica Houston plays Adam’s overbearing mother who sports a very distracting wig throughout the film. She’s not only dealing with a son who doesn’t want to talk to her, but also a husband who’s dementia makes him unable to talk to her. Anna Kendrick is Adam’s green psychiatrist that walks the doctor-patient relationship line.

It takes a serious moment in ones life to fully recognize who you are. This is a heartening story of friendship, trust and fighting for your life. For sure on my top 10 list of the year.

I find Levitt to be one of the more impressive and busy actors out there today. He stole many a scene from Leo DiCaprio in Inception and was brilliant in 500 Days Of Summer. I even liked his days as the snarky teen Tommy in the sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun. He brings out the human nature of his characters and does the basics well, such as getting you to like him.

The story is based on events from the life of screenwriter Will Reiser, who manages to reach into his emotional core and beautifully put words to his experience. Reiser is alive and in remission today.

Charlie’s Cousin Adam reviews the new baseball flick Moneyball:

Rated PG-13 – 2h6

There is not much that I didn’t love about Moneyball. As Brad Pitt says twice in the film: “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

Moneyball tells the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt). After losing three key players from the previous season, Beane takes the advice of recent Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who uses a statistical approach to winning. “Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins. ”

They set out together to form the best team they can with the limited money they have. These days, who of us isn’t used to being told to deliver higher results with fewer resources?

Ostracized by his peers, Beane’s new method proves rocky at first, until things gel and helped lead to a season that includes breaking an American League all time winning streak record of 20 games.

What’s interesting is the movie isn’t about baseball. It’s about strategy. Moneyball is best when it tries to subtract the humanity of baseball into a cold, hard numbers game, but proves itself wrong. That struggle between the pair makes this a genuinely great film. Pitt is distant, but makes you care for Beane and understand his internal conflicts. Hill is completely believable as a numbers geek who is just starting to find his way.

It is curious that Moneyball is somewhat gloomy in the way that it represents baseball as a business. Pitt’s character has several moments where he struggles with it. The fact is all professional sports are businesses first. Fans know all too well about the layers that need to be peeled back to get to the heart of it all. Moneyball does too.

Side note: Who woulda thought two hours of statistical analysis would prove to be so emotional and interesting?

Charlie’s Cousin Adam seems conflicted about a movie that involves driving around.  Seems harmless to me.  Check out what his deal is.

Rated R – 1h40

There may not be a movie this year that I am more conflicted about, other than Drive. It’s a clear metaphor that a car can sit idle at one moment, then be screaming out of control at another. That’s the feeling you get from this movie.

Ryan Gosling plays a character with no name other than “Driver.” He’s a Hollywood stunt driver by day and a hired getaway driver by night. He’s got deep emotions, but we don’t know where they come from. He plays the solitary loner. That is, until he meets and falls for his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan.) Just released from prison, Irene’s husband has a debt to pay off. In trying to protect Irene, the driver chooses to help the husband pull off a heist that spins out of control.

This movie has all the elements of greatness. There is real tension, a great cast and a relentless craving for it’s deeper meaning. Gosling and Mulligan are pros in their own right, but the additions of Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman and Christina Hendricks is near genius.
I just couldn’t get on board with the pacing of it all. We go through long portions of the film with very little dialogue or action, which is juxtaposed by moments of extreme violence and heart pounding car chase scenes.

In the moments of action, Drive is very effective in putting you right in the passenger seat, exactly where you should be. It’s fast and furious without the steroid injected bravado of the current fast car genre. This is all to say that Drive may be a better movie for what it is not. That’s commendable, but it didn’t feel complete to me.

I can also say that this movie drew out more of a internal reaction in myself than anything else I’ve seen this year. The problem is, it wasn’t always a positive reaction.

Charlie’s Cousin Adam review the new Helen Mirren spy thriller: The Debt.