TEEN CHOICE AWARDS 2012 | And the nominees are...

The Vampire Diaries, American Idol, and Justin Bieber have dominated the nominations for the 2012 Teen Choice Awards!

The hit CW vampire series led the pack with six – including Choice TV Actor, Actress, and Show in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi category. The show has also added two new categories this year: Choice Book and Choice Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Artist.

Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Kate Upton are up for Choice Female Hottie, while Justin Bieber, Ryan Gosling, Liam Hemsworth, Robert Pattinson, and Ian Somerhalder will vie for the Choice Male Hottie title.

The 2012 Teen Choice Awards airs live July 22 at 8 p.m. on Fox. Head on over to TeenChoiceAwards.com to vote for your favorites!

MOVIES

Choice Movie: Action

“Abduction”

“Act of Valor”

“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”

“Red Tails”

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

Choice Movie Actor: Action

Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”

Robert Downey, Jr., “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

Tom Hardy, “Warrior”

Taylor Lautner, “Abduction”

Logan Lerman, “The Three Musketeers”

Choice Movie Actress: Action

Salma Hayek, “Puss in Boots”

Milla Jovovich, “The Three Musketeers”

Paula Patton, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”

Noomi Rapace, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

Zoe Saldana, “Colombiana”

Choice Movie: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

“The Avengers”

“The Hunger Games”

“Mirror Mirror”

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

“Wrath of the Titans”

Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Robert Downey, Jr., “The Avengers”

Chris Hemsworth, “The Avengers”

Josh Hutcherson, “The Hunger Games” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”

Taylor Lautner, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

Robert Pattinson, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Lily Collins, “Mirror Mirror”

Vanessa Hudgens, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”

Scarlett Johansson, “The Avengers”

Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games”

Kristen Stewart, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

Choice Movie: Drama

“Drive”

“The Help”

“The Lucky One”

“The Vow”

“We Bought a Zoo”

Choice Movie Actor: Drama

Matt Damon, “We Bought a Zoo”

Zac Efron, “The Lucky One”

Ryan Gosling, “Drive”

Channing Tatum, “The Vow”

Justin Timberlake, “In Time”

Choice Movie Actress: Drama

Sandra Bullock, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Viola Davis, “The Help”

Scarlett Johansson, “We Bought a Zoo”

Rachel McAdams, “The Vow”

Emma Stone, “The Help”

Choice Movie: Comedy

“21 Jump Street”

“American Reunion”

“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

“The Muppets”

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

Choice Movie Actor: Comedy

Jason Biggs, “American Reunion”

Ryan Gosling, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

Jonah Hill, “21 Jump Street”

Chris Rock, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

Channing Tatum, “21 Jump Street”

Choice Movie Actress: Comedy

Cameron Diaz, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

Alyson Hannigan, “American Reunion”

Jennifer Lopez, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

Emma Stone, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

Reese Witherspoon, “This Means War”

TELEVISION

Choice TV Show: Drama

“Bones”

“Gossip Girl”

“Pretty Little Liars”

“Revenge”

“Touch”

Choice TV Actor: Drama

Penn Badgley, “Gossip Girl”

David Boreanaz, “Bones”

Ian Harding, “Pretty Little Liars”

Kiefer Sutherland, “Touch”

Ed Westwick, “Gossip Girl

Choice TV Actress: Drama

Emily Deschanel, “Bones”

Sarah Michelle Gellar, “Ringer”

Lucy Hale, “Pretty Little Liars”

Leighton Meester, “Gossip Girl”

Emily VanCamp, “Revenge”

Choice TV Show: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

“Fringe”

“Once Upon a Time”

“Supernatural”

“True Blood”

“The Vampire Diaries”

Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Jensen Ackles, “Supernatural”

Joshua Jackson, “Fringe”

Jared Padalecki, “Supernatural”

Ian Somerhalder, “The Vampire Diaries”

Paul Wesley, “The Vampire Diaries”

Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Nina Dobrev, “The Vampire Diaries”

Ginnifer Goodwin, “Once Upon a Time”

Kat Graham, “The Vampire Diaries”

Anna Paquin, “True Blood”

Anna Torv, “Fringe”

Choice TV Show: Action

“Chuck”

“CSI: Miami”

“Hawaii Five-O”

“NCIS: Los Angeles”

“Nikita”

Choice TV Actor: Action

LL Cool J, “NCIS: Los Angeles”

Daniel Dae Kim, “Hawaii Five-O”

Zachary Levi, “Chuck”

Adam Rodriguez, “CSI: Miami”

Shane West, “Nikita”

Choice TV Actress: Action

Lyndsy Fonseca, “Nikita”

Linda Hunt, “NCIS: Los Angeles”

Grace Park, “Hawaii Five-O”

Maggie Q, “Nikita”

Yvonne Strahovski, “Chuck”

Choice TV Show: Comedy

“2 Broke Girls”

“The Big Bang Theory”

“Glee”

“Modern Family”

“New Girl”

Choice TV Actor: Comedy

Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”

Chris Colfer, “Glee”

Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother”

Ashton Kutcher, “Two And a Half Men”

Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

Choice TV Actress: Comedy

Miranda Cosgrove, “iCarly”

Kaley Cuoco, “The Big Bang Theory”

Zooey Deschanel, “New Girl”

Lea Michele, “Glee”

Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”

Choice TV: Animated Show

“Beavis and Butt-head”

“Bob’s Burgers”

“Family Guy”

“Robot Chicken”

“The Simpsons”

Choice TV: Male Personality

Nick Cannon, “America’s Got Talent”

Simon Cowell, “The X Factor”

Cee Lo Green, “The Voice”

Gordon Ramsay, “Hell’s Kitchen”

Steven Tyler, “American Idol”

Choice TV: Female Personality

Christina Aguilera, “The Voice”

Tyra Banks, “America’s Next Top Model”

Carrie Ann Inaba, “Dancing With The Stars”

Jennifer Lopez, “American Idol”

Jessica Simpson, “Fashion Star”

Choice TV: Reality Competition Show

“American Idol”

“America’s Next Top Model”

“Survivor: One World”

“The Voice”

“The X Factor”

Choice TV: Reality Show

“Dance Moms”

“Jersey Shore”

“Keeping Up With The Kardashians”

“Punk’d”

“Tia & Tamera”

Choice TV: Male Reality Star

Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, “Jersey Shore” and “The Pauly D Project”

Rob Dyrdek, “Fantasy Factory” and “Ridiculousness”

William Levy, “Dancing With The Stars”

Scotty McCreery, “American Idol”

Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, “Jersey Shore”

Choice TV: Female Reality Star

Lauren Alaina, “American Idol”

Melanie Amaro, “The X Factor”

The Kardashians, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”

Tia & Tamera Mowry, “Tia & Tamera”

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, “Jersey Shore”

MUSIC

Choice Male Artist

Justin Bieber

Drake

Bruno Mars

Pitbull

Blake Shelton

Choice Female Artist

Adele

Jennifer Lopez

Katy Perry

Rihanna

Taylor Swift

Choice Music Group

Selena Gomez & The Scene

Gym Class Heroes

Lady Antebellum

LMFAO

The Wanted

Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Artist

Beyonce

Flo Rida

Nicki Minaj

Pitbull

Kanye West

Choice Rock Group

The Black Keys

Foo Fighters

Foster The People

fun.

Linkin Park

Choice Rock Song

“Lonely Boy,” The Black Keys

“Paradise,” Coldplay

“Pumped Up Kicks,” Foster The People

“We Are Young,” fun. featuring Janelle Monáe

“Somebody That I Used To Know,” Gotye featuring Kimbra

Choice Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Artist

DeadMau5

David Guetta

Calvin Harris

Kaskade

Skrillex

Choice Single by a Group

“We Are Young,” fun. featuring Janelle Monáe

“Hit The Lights,” Selena Gomez & The Scene

“Ass Back Home,” Gym Class Heroes featuring Neon Hitch

“Party Rock Anthem,” LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock

“Moves Like Jagger,” Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera

Choice Single by a Female Artist

“Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele

“Stronger,” Kelly Clarkson

“Dance Again,” Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull

“Part of Me,” Katy Perry

“Eyes Open,” Taylor Swift

Choice Single by a Male Artist

“Boyfriend,” Justin Bieber

“Take Care,” Drake featuring Rihanna

“Good Feeling,” Flo Rida

“It Will Rain,” Bruno Mars

“Give Me Everything (Tonight),” Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, AfroJack & Nayer

Choice Male Country Artist

Jason Aldean

Luke Bryan

Hunter Hayes

Scotty McCreery

Blake Shelton

Choice Female Country Artist

Lauren Alaina

Miranda Lambert

Kellie Pickler

Taylor Swift

Carrie Underwood

Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Song

“Love on Top,” Beyonce

“Take Care,” Drake featuring Rihanna

“Wild Ones,” Flo Rida featuring Sia

“Without You,” David Guetta featuring Usher

“Starships,” Nicki Minaj

Choice Country Song

“Tattoos on This Town,” Jason Aldean

“Crazy Girl,” Eli Young Band

“Storm Warning,” Hunter Hayes

“God Gave Me You,” Blake Shelton

“Sparks Fly,” Taylor Swift

Choice Country Group

The Band Perry

Eli Young Band

Lady Antebellum

Rascal Flatts

Thompson Square

FASHION

Choice Fashion Icon: Female

Miley Cyrus

Zooey Deschanel

Jennifer Lopez

Nicki Minaj

Katy Perry

Choice Fashion Icon: Male

Justin Bieber

Chris Colfer

Cee Lo Green

Justin Timberlake

will.i.am

Choice Female Hottie

Miley Cyrus

Selena Gomez

Katy Perry

Rihanna

Kate Upton

Choice Male Hottie

Justin Bieber

Ryan Gosling

Liam Hemsworth

Robert Pattinson

Ian Somerhalder

SPORTS

Choice Female Athlete

Kelly Clark (Snowboarding)

Maria Sharapova (Tennis)

Hope Solo (Soccer)

Lindsey Vonn (Skiing)

Serena Williams (Tennis)

Choice Male Athlete

David Beckham (Soccer)

Kobe Bryant (Basketball)

Albert Pujols (Baseball)

Tim Tebow (Football)

Shaun White (Snowboarding/Skateboarding/Surfing)

OTHER

Choice Book

“The Hunger Games” trilogy, Suzanne Collins

“The Giver,” Lois Lowry

“The Twilight Saga,” Stephenie Meyer

“Divergent” trilogy, Veronica Roth

“The Lucky One,” Nicholas Sparks

Choice Comedian

Ellen DeGeneres

Jimmy Fallon

Andy Samberg

Daniel Tosh

Kristen Wiig

Choice Twit

Justin Bieber

Miley Cyrus

Jimmy Fallon

Demi Lovato

Ryan Seacrest

Source: Just Jared

CAREY MULLIGAN | Dragged into the underworld in “DRIVE”

One of the most talented young actresses working today, Oscar Best Actress nominee Carey Mulligan (“Never Let Me Go,” “Money Never Sleeps”) stars opposite Ryan Gosling in FilmDistrict's critically acclaimed thriller “Drive.” 

Winner of the Best Director prize in this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Drive” will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 & Trinoma) starting Nov. 9. The film is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and adapted from James Sallis's 2005 novel of the same name.

In the film, Driver (Gosling) is a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

Mulligan had been a fan of Refn’s past films “Bronson” and “Valhalla Rising” and had even mentioned to her agent that she wanted to work with a director like Refn, but it was only after she expressed interest in the script that she learned who was helming “Drive.”

The actrees’ enthusiasm was matched by Refn's, who immediately ordered small rewrites of Irene's backstory so he could cast Mulligan. In the novel, ‘Irene’ is a Latina. Director Refn confirms, “Originally I was looking for a Latina actress. I hadn’t seen Carey’s films, but the minute she walked in the door, I knew we had our ‘Irene.’ It just cemented the love story in a much more interesting way. It made it more of a ‘Romeo & Juliet‘ kind of love story without the politics that would in this day and age be brought into it if you had different nationalities or different religions.”

Mulligan explains her interest in the part: “Irene's character was a challenge because she's really the pivot point for the film's secondary plot, which is literally about the love triangle between her, Driver and Irene’s husband Standard but dramatically is about where they'll all end up in the most meaningful sense. And it's not an easy decision for her. Driver certainly seems like Irene's knight in shining armor, but Standard is drawn very sympathetically, as someone who's made mistakes but is genuinely trying to turn his life around. Plus she's loved him since she was 17. So to be able to play those two impulses off of one another, especially after Standard and Driver form an uneasy alliance, gave me so much to work with.”

Says Refn: “Since I was a teenager, I've been a big fan of `Sixteen Candles.’ I've always wanted to remake that film one way or another and, in a very unlikely way, I've done that with `Drive.’ Carey has all the intelligence and charm of a young Molly Ringwald. The romantic scenes she has with Ryan make for a very delicate and beautiful contrast to the brutality in the rest of the film.”

RYAN GOSLING takes you for a spin in “DRIVE”

Fresh from the commercial and critical success of his first-ever romantic comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” Ryan Gosling now returns to the psychological thriller genre with the Cannes Film Festival winner, “Drive.”

Winner of the Best Director award at this year's Cannes, “Drive” will be shown soon exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 & Trinoma). The film is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and adapted from James Sallis's 2005 novel of the same name.

In the film, Driver (Gosling) is a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

“I was really intrigued by the role of Driver because the performance demanded this very complex dramatic counterpoint,” Gosling explains. “On the one hand, he's really self-contained, really laconic. There's an economy of movement in the way he carries himself, an economy of words in the way he speaks. He keeps his cards close to his chest and there's an almost poker-faced inscrutability to his reactions. All of which ties into his character, because this is the kind of mechanical self-control he achieves in the flow-situation of driving. [Director] Nic kept saying to me, 'The Driver is half-man, half-machine.'

“On the other hand,” Gosling continues, “Driver is literally psychotic, you know? A Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver-kind of character. Beneath all of that eerie outward calm, there is this reservoir of raging energy and hair-trigger violence. It's like when you're cruising in an automobile and the ride feels so smooth, so stable, so safe—then another car crosses your path. BAM. All that energy, all that mass-times-velocity momentum, is released in a flash of physical violence. And that's basically the character of Driver. He navigates around most obstacles with some very flawless trick-driving, literally and figuratively escaping without a scratch. But when the moment of impact unexpectedly arrives, it is violent and it physically slams you. The challenge is making the audience feel that tightly-coiled energy when Driver is ticking along as smoothly as a stopwatch.”

“Ryan is a real rarity,” says director Nicolas Winding Refn. “He has the charisma and good looks of a leading man and the gravity of a Method-trained, master class performer. For the role of Driver, the film needed an actor who could convey the explosive violence and emotional loneliness of that lone-wolf character, yet also make his personal transformation through love authentic and believable. Few movie stars have that range. Ryan is one of them.”

CANNES winner “DRIVE” starring RYAN GOSLING to be shown in Manila soon

Winner of the Best Director award in this year's Cannes Film Festival, FilmDistrict's critically acclaimed thriller “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling will be shown soon. The film is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and adapted from James Sallis's 2005 novel of the same name.

In the film, Driver (Gosling) is a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

Producer Adam Siegel felt the driver was a rare character – someone who has a purpose, excels at one thing and makes no apologies for it. Producer Marc Platt agreed, noting that the driver reminded him of heroes and movie characters similar to characters Clint Eastwood used to portray.

"I was very taken with this little crime story that James Sallis wrote,” Platt adds. “I felt that the way the world was presented in the book demanded that its true grit be retained in the script. The grit comes from seeing the world from the point of view of Driver in the car. It’s those elements that I felt were critical to retain to make this film a very unique cinematic experience."

Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Hossein Amini adapted the novel for the screen. He felt it was a rare book to receive from a studio because it was short, gloomy and like a poem. Because the novel does not present a linear story but has many flashbacks and jumps around in time, Amini found the adaptation challenging. He felt the non-linear structure made it "a very tricky structure" for a feature film.

“Drive” premiered on May 20, in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. At its first showing to the media, it received abundant praise and received "some of the best responses of the festival.” It was greeted with hoots and howls of joy from the media, with viewers cheering some of the scenes featuring extreme violence. “Drive” also received a 15 minute standing ovation from the crowd.

Likely, it served as a welcome relief to the press with previously serious-dramatic projects being shown earlier. Xan Brooks of The Guardian called the film his guilty pleasure of the 2011 competition, labeling it an enjoyable affair. "Over the past 10 days we've witnessed great art and potent social commentary; the birth of the cosmos and the end of the world. Turns out what we really wanted all along was a scene in which a man gets his head stomped in a lift. They welcome it in like a long-lost relation", he wrote. The festival named Refn best director for “Drive.”

Box office report: 'Real Steel' is the champion with $27.3 mil

Real Steel showed what it was made of, as the robot-boxing action drama won the weekend with an estimated $27.3 million. That’s the strongest opening ever for a boxing-themed picture, beating Rocky IV‘s $20 million debut in 1985 (when not adjusting for inflation).

DreamWorks’ $110 million film, which was released by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, scored a superb “A” rating from CinemaScore graders. That bodes well for the movie’s box-office stamina, especially since there are no other major family films hitting theaters until Puss in Boots pounces on Oct. 28.

Unsurprisingly for a movie about mechanical fighters beating up one another, Real Steel skewed male — 66 percent of the audience according to Disney. It also attracted a younger crowd, with 44 percent under the age of 25. The PG-13 movie’s respectable opening must also come as a relief to star Hugh Jackman, who hasn’t had a non-X-Men film open to more than $20 million since 2004′s Van Helsing.

In second with $10.4 million was the political thriller The Ides of March. The R-rated film — which George Clooney directed, co-wrote, and co-stars in along with Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, and Marisa Tomei — particularly appealed to older women. According to Sony, 58 percent of the audience was female and 60 percent was over the age of 35. The $12.5 million movie earned a “B” grade from CinemaScore participants, which is a bit lower than expected considering its awards buzz and positive reviews. The Ides of March will need to hold up well the next few weeks if it wants to keep its Oscar hopes alive.

The rest of the top five consisted of prior releases that all dropped around (a very commendable) 35 percent from last week. In third place, the family film Dolphin Tale slipped 34 percent for $9.2 million, pushing the film’s cumulative tally to $49.1 million. The Brad Pitt baseball drama Moneyball, a critical darling, grossed $7.5 million for a 38 percent decline. And the well-reviewed cancer comedy 50/50, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, fell 36 percent for $5.5 million.

In limited release, the why-does-this-movie-exist horror sequel The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence stitched together a decent $54,000 from 18 theaters, with most locations only offering late-night showings.

1. Real Steel — $27.3 mil

2. The Ides of March — $10.4 mil

3. Dolphin Tale — $9.2 mil

4. Moneyball — $7.5 mil

5. 50/50 — $5.5 mil

Source: Entertainment Weekly | John Young

The Ides of March (George Clooney, 2011)

The Ides of March is a political drama under the mistaken belief it's a thriller. It film hinges on a Shocking Revelation telegraphed in the first five minutes, the fallout of which wishes to throw the audience for a loop but instead unfolds in tedious predictability. Its title, which connotes portentous imagery of politics at its nastiest, fails to capture the true mood of the film. There is no sense of doom hanging over George Clooney's film, only a sad resignation. A more accurate, and no less political, title would have been CNN's perennial sign off, "We'll Have to Leave It There." In an attempt to ensure wide box office appeal, Clooney's film waters down its rhetoric and potential depth of savagery behind the scenes to come to the banal, universal truth that politics corrupts people, a maxim accepted at face value and not explored to any extent.

As such, The Ides of March embodies the same neutered centrism we see in our current president. Clooney plays his presidential candidate as the Obama of 2008 but with even more broad appeal. He's got military experience, leadership experience, and all the talking points that made Obama a symbol of change. But in breaking the clay feet of this alloyed idol, Clooney tries so hard to blame the idea of politics in general, of that commonly accepted evil, that he fatally undermines any possible belief the audience could have in the idealistic innocence of its politics-savvy protagonist.

That politico would be Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), a 30-year-old whose campaign experience and acumen gives him the chops of a politician twice his age. He is ruthless, myopically focused on humans as numbers (he throws the upcoming generation under the bus since they can't vote), and arrogant, yet we're made to believe he only throws his calculating support behind causes in which he believes. But however thin that premise is, one cannot blame him for buying into Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris (Clooney). A hardcore, passionate liberal who also balanced his state's budget and served honorably in the military, Morris can steamroll the Republicans with ease, especially as they have no remotely viable candidate (sound familiar as we head into 2012?). Unfortunately, he has to get through the Democratic primary first, and internal politics prove far trickier and harder than the big fight.

In this aspect, The Ides of March puts forward an intelligent and engaging view of the political process, in which infighting brings out the most petty and backstabbing actions. Stephen's boss, Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), has spent so much time in these trenches that he's grown completely paranoid, not of Republican spies but defections between Democratic sects. He has good reason to worry when the rival campaign manager, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), comes by looking to steal away Stephen and his genius. Beau Willimon wrote the original play about his experiences working the Howard Dean campaign in 2004, but the fever pitch of the contest between Morris and Pullman more readily recalls the downright vicious fight for the Democratic nomination in 2008. And even though Obama's victory over McCain made history, his struggle to nab the nomination over Hillary Clinton made for far more gripping politics.

But the film barely even starts to get into this side of the game before it introduces a comely young intern named Molly (Evan Rachel Wood). With a sultry, beckoning haircut she must have skipped out on five hours of canvassing to get, Molly doesn't even fully walk into frame before you know exactly where this story is going. Wood plays Molly (who is also the daughter of the DNC chairmen, because why not) as a teenage minx, so comically seductive that Stephen's lapse in judgment is simply ridiculous. Then comes the expected revelation of Molly's connection to the main plot, and Wood turns the dial from "femme fatale" to "damsel" as Gosling moves to clean up everyone's mess, including his own.

At this point, the film breaks into three unified but distinct narratives: the issue of Molly's "problem," Morris' campaign, and Stephen's attempts to handle not just those but the ire of Paul for daring to meet with Duffy. The problem is that Clooney splits his time ineffectively, and he assumes that the Molly story and how it relates to the other characters is so stunning and dark that it exudes an atmosphere of clandestine cover-ups and intrigue. It doesn't, and Clooney's pleasing classical style only further hinders the film by using shadows in such a way as to be pretty, not eerie.

For a film about the seedy side of politics, The Ides of March lacks the true level of disgust needed to articulate its own points. Clooney and Gosling do their best to communicate a knowledge—already gained or slowly dawning—of the darkest depths to which politicians and the process as a whole can go. But neither feels it. These are not people living in the immediate aftermath of Nixon, capable of producing works so dark that even a triumphant, inspiring movie like All the President's Men feels borderline nihilistic. Clooney's just working off the frustration of partisan gridlock and internal squabbling. He's made a film about the incurable poison of politics when every frame clearly communicates that he thinks this all could work if people could just get their crap together. Then again, no wonder he thinks that when the film omits the true pitfalls of politics; how can anyone expect to talk about how twisted the election process is when money doesn't get mentioned once?

In their final exchange, Duffy warns Stephen to get out of politics before it jades him, a pointed bit of advice from someone who looks and sounds like Paul Giamatti. The film, however, suffers precisely because it stops before becoming completely cynical, stopping at the tipping point that turns an ambiguous final judgment by Stephen into a final half-measure that speaks more to the movie's cowardice than an embodiment of full-on political distrust. This kind of movie just isn't in Clooney's blood; when he stages a political fight, he needs a side to lionize as he had for Good Night, and Good Luck. The Ides of March needed a director on Tom Duffy's wavelength, not Stephen Myers'.

RYAN GOSLING | An ‘outsider’ no more, says ‘he’s weird-looking’

He used to be a character actor. Now, he’s a Clooney.

Ryan Gosling is known as much as a heartthrob as is his co-star in the new film “The Ides of March.”

That’s news to Gosling, despite his lighter blonde hair and well-publicized six-pack.

“I’m not that good looking. I think I’m a pretty weird-looking guy,” he says. “Every role I got up until ‘The Notebook’ [in 2004] was the weirdo, freak, psychopath, nerd, outsider character guy.

“I think things have changed,” says the actor, who flashed abs this summer in “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and controlled the wheel like Steve McQueen in the recent hit “Drive.”

The 30-year-old is even gossip column fodder and has been linked with Eva Mendes, from his upcoming film “The Gangster Squad.”

Ask Gosling about a soul mate, and all he’ll admit to is an 11-year relationship with his dog George.

In “The Ides of March,” he plays a conflicted communications director working for a presidential candidate (Clooney, who also directed the film).

“It’s a big dilemma for him to figure out what to do when he finds out some interesting facts about his candidate,” Gosling reveals. “I can’t really say more except it’s a morality tale.”

Clooney says that Gosling was his first choice for the role.

“The part requires intelligence in an actor, which Ryan brings to every role,” Clooney says. “I found working with Ryan was a delight. He just gives a tremendous performance.”

“I think he knocks it out of the park. He’s at the center of a hurricane in this film, and he carries everyone and every point of view on his shoulders.”

The famous director worked hard to get the film he wanted.

“He would talk you through the scenes and even hum what he thought the music would be like in the final cut,” Gosling says. “It was like talking through the movie in real time."

“Then when the cameras rolled, he would give you this incredible direction. He would walk away from you when you were ready to do the scene.”

Clooney did provide some of his trademark pranks.

“When George would walk away, you’d realize he sprayed an Evian bottle on your crotch,” says Gosling. “He would expect you to do the scene with wet pants.”

In “Drive,” Gosling steps on the gas as a loner named Driver who does film stunts as well as small heists for petty criminals. He falls hard for his married neighbor (Carey Mulligan) whose ex-con husband is suddenly sprung and lures Driver into a mission that goes awry.

“I wanted you to see what motivates this guy to make what are some really bad choices,” he says. “I also wanted the film to be dreamlike, but with a dream that turns into a nightmare.”

Gosling isn’t exactly a gearhead. “Cars weren’t something I knew much about in real life,” he admits. “But it was fun. I was given the choice of any car I wanted for the film, so I picked an old 1973 Chevy Malibu. They rebuilt it for speed.”

Gosling is taking this surge of fame with a grain of salt.

“It’s great that people are liking what I’m doing,” he says. “There is the praise, which is wonderful. But I think it’s risky to believe what other people are saying about you.

“What I believe in is the people who had a belief in me when I was starting out. I’ve never changed, and neither have they. And I’ll never forget who believed in me when nobody else did.”

Source: Sun Times | Cindy Pearlman | Big Picture News Inc.

Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2011)

[Note: this review is spoiler-free but I would still encourage those who haven't yet seen the film to go into it as cold as possible.]

Having proudly managed to seclude myself from practically anything related to Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive following its rapturous reception at Cannes, I found myself surprised by the extremity of the praise that filtered through my blinders. What particularly caught my eye was one rhetorical headline (I did not read the story in my anti-hype lockdown) that asked whether Refn and his star Ryan Gosling were the new Scorsese-De Niro, a comparison I found particularly odd since this is only their first collaboration. Having now seen Drive, however, I can almost see where that writer was coming from: Gosling represents a synthesis and an embodiment of the director's goals, thematic intent and emotional frequency. Refn's previous film, Valhalla Rising, was an abstract tone poem to masculine horror, the kind codified and even encouraged by chauvinistic, barbaric religious organization. Gosling introduces feminine contours to Refn's stylized but dimmed and rough side, though the sensitive actor with the gentle eyes displays an equal capacity for brutality here that places him on the tipping point between grace and savagery.

But then, maybe the invocation of Scorsese and De Niro was just that writer's way of getting in on the  referential action. Refn, who says he modeled Bronson on Kenneth Anger films (there's a reference here, too) and Valhalla Rising on Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, here unloads a dump-truck of stylistic homages, from early Michael Mann to stripped-down car movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and The Driver to an overt reference to Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin. Hell, the most visible reference point, to my surprise, was that of Wong Kar-wai, particularly his devastating In the Mood for Love. For some, all these references will be a delight, a smorgasbord of retro cool gussied up further by the inexplicable (but fun) use of '80s synth music. For others, this is merely a sign of self-satisfied theft, a lazy repackaging of ideas. Either way, this fixation misses the true joy of Drive: watching Refn wring tension out nearly every moment, even doe-eyed, wistful stares of impossible love.

Drive's opening segment is the best I've seen in a film since the one-act play that launched Inglourious Basterds. With graceful and steady but desaturated and restless images, Refn shows the nameless Driver (Gosling) preparing and executing a job with formal fluidity. Economic editing and deliberate framing keeps our focus inside the Driver's car as he waits for the robbers who hired him to do their job. The sound design layers noises—a basketball game Driver listens to on the radio, the crackle of a police scanner, the blaring roar of an engine when Driver puts the pedal to the metal, etc.—to further ratchet up tension. Refn's judicious presentation extends to his handling of the car "chase," for want of a better word. It resembles more a game of hide-and-seek than some metal-screeching tear through city streets, with Driver losing one cop before stumbling into the searchlight of a chopper or stopping right in front of a patrol car. Refn understands suspense, and by inserting gulfs of space around a handful of thrilling, fast-edited punctuation marks, he generations enough tension and expectation to leave theater seats everywhere etched with the imprints of fingernails.

The rest of the film follows a similar approach to action, tightly handled, formalist bursts of blunt physicality amid an elegant but dark evocation of L.A.'s promises and pitfalls. The Driver is but the first stripped-down archetype. A few doors down from his apartment lives Irene (Carey Mulligan), whose perpetual cuteness is exacerbated by the young child she raises alone and given a faint sadness for the same reason. I say faint because Mulligan is, admittedly, the weak link of the film, never truly conveying much baggage beyond wisps of regret and the confusion caused by budding feelings for the Driver. Nevertheless, her cherubic giggle and empathetic face provide a nice contrast for Gosling's kind but vaguely troubled stares. If Gosling fills the shoes of the existentially bound hero, Mulligan plays her part as the woman who exists to complicate his feelings, but if she lacks any memorable presence, at least she awakens more humanity in the Driver than one can usually expect of such a taciturn protagonist, allowing him to project some form of humanity into a type stripped down to its most inhuman, objective elements, reconstructing a human being from a stereotype.

Other characters fare better with their archetypes. Oscar Isaac adds depth and conflict to Irene's fresh-out-of-prison husband that fills him with residual jealousy, fear, and genuine concern for his family. Bryan Cranston plays the Driver's mechanic and only friend (in a manner of speaking): Cranston handles the Driver's day and night jobs, getting him underpaid work as a stunt driver and gigs as a getaway man. Cranston's genial warmth, compounded by a sympathetic limp, make him so charming that when he confides to Irene that, as much as he idolizes the Driver's skills, he underpays the kid, she chuckles as if she's just been told a light anecdote. But Shannon's exploitation of the kid runs deeper, and soon he gets the kid caught up with the mob, visualized by the menace of Ron Perlman's gigantic head and steak-knife teeth and a revelatory, ingenious performance by Albert Brooks as a movie producer-cum-gangster.

Not even my self-imposed blackout could prevent hype for Brooks' performance from seeping through, and he lives up to the hype. With hair teetering on the boundary between tamed and wild and eyebrows that long ago went into Witness Protection, Brooks the brilliant, ironic comic looks like he doesn't have a funny bone in his body. He radiates such cold, horribly calm energy that when he fusses over the chopsticks with his Chinese order, one begins to fear he'll stab someone with them for not getting his order perfect. Though not as piercingly silent as Valhalla Rising, Drive still prefers to unfold with imagery instead of words, and Brooks seems to own most of the dialogue despite his handful of scenes, as if he lent out the remainder of the script to the rest of the cast. With interest, of course. Brooks doesn't overplay his hand, doesn't openly menace or even speechify despite how much chattier he is than the others. Refn's inspired casting brings out the cruel inverse of Brooks' deadpan style; as a comedian and filmmaker, Brooks follows premises to their ludicrous conclusions. He does the same here, only the endpoint is usually a corpse, which he views with exasperation. Both he and Perlman toy with the idea of Jews playing at being Italian mafiosos, but where Perlman growls about the discrimination, Brooks infuses the two ethnic types into something unwieldy and terrifying. Here is a man who will kill your whole family and make you feel guilty for taking up that 10 minutes of his time.

At some point, these separate lines begin to converge, elements of one plot bleeding into the other until everything is connected and you're not entirely sure how that came to be. As such, the film's distinct emotions of longing, fear and mounting anger crash together so each justifies and complicates the others. Refn and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel handle these conflicting yet unified emotions ably, moving dextrously between abstracted shots inside the Driver's car where the lights outside always blur and expand, grim, fluorescent underworlds, and the calming but tense arrangement of floral pastels on the walls of the apartment complex that communicate longing and tragedy so well Gosling likely could have acted off the wallpaper as well as he did Mulligan.

This collision of styles and moods also allows for Refn to explore the space between his stylistic influences; in particular, Drive feels like the missing link between Michael Mann's nihilistic debut, Thief, and his more optimistic view of the same twisting L.A. streets seen here with Collateral. As I watched Refn flex his stylistic muscles whilst standing on the shoulders of giants for greater visibility, I thought of how much he had in common with the other great imitator of modern cinema, Quentin Tarantino. Both indulge in their ultraviolence—Drive features gore so intense it punches through the barrier to absurdity, not unlike Taraninto—but both also have the ability to find fluidity and tension among their quotations and action. Tarantino's films feel more action-packed than they usually are thanks to his command of dialogue and and direction. Refn, on the other hand, likes to let silence do the talking, using his similar grasp of film technique to make the build-up to visions of unorthodox gore more grueling and unbearable than bashed brains or slashed flesh. Watching Refn pile all this together made for the most thrilling experience I've had at the movies this year, and to dismiss its inventive hodgepodge of styles as nothing more than pastiche strikes me as akin to saying green is but a mash-up of yellow and blue.

P.S. Special mention must go to Cliff Martinez's retro electronic score, perhaps the strongest argument one could have for something in this film surpassing its influences. Martinez, who already put out one engaging soundtrack this year with his work on Contagion, here mixes old-school New Wave synths with the greater nuance afforded by modern electronica. Clearly using the film work of Tangerine Dream as a jumping-off point, Martinez finds emotional contours and chilly suggestion that Tangerine Dream never came close to mining, even as he also beats them at their own game of skittish, digitized paranoia. Having never been a big fan of electronic scores (with a few exceptions, of course), I'm surprised to find that my favorite soundtracks of the last two years have both been synthesized works, and while Martinez's '80s throwback isn't as obviously compatible with its host film as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' Social Network score was, he nevertheless carries a great deal of the film's mood and never flags. The handful of synthpop songs peppered among the score are demonically catchy as well.