The Ides of March

Rating: 8
Starring: George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Genre: Drama

This one has the numerous ingredients that make for a movie that will hold your attention throughout: political cynicism, media subterfuge, backstabbing among the candidates' handlers and a good sex scandal. Clooney is the candidate fighting for his life in the Ohio presidential primary. Although the focus is on the political process rather than policy, Clooney still manages to interject his left-wing ideology (e.g., we can avoid war if we would only eliminate our dependency on oil,) but this is not oppressive and doesn't divert the flow of the main events of the movie. The setting is mostly in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The cast is superb.