Fast moving, insider view of politics, very apt in current 2018 politics.

The Ides of March starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney. Though many of the trailers have been quite misleading once watching the film. This is Ryan Gosling's film (as the clear lead), he is enthralling as the PR man who, despite his shrewdness, is blinded by the boss's charm. Through the film, soon enough, the bombshell drops and it's lead actress (Evan Rachel Wood). Trouble is, she just happens to be the girl who Gosling has been getting cozy with. The pace quickens as he weighs up his loyalties to the governor and the girl, as well as getting pushed and pulled between rival campaign managers (Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman). The acting is heavyweight, as are the moral questions about the personal cost of serving the greater good, which propel the story with an unstoppable force. The film works due to several twists and turns throughout and there is great suspense.

George Clooney plays a governor who is running for President. He is one of two serious candidates for the Democratic nomination. He is a bit too good to be true. He is adamant about the standard liberal issues and won't back down on them. Ryan Gosling plays his number two man along with campaign manager Philip Seymour Hoffman. One day Gosling makes a serious error. He goes to see the campaign manager of the other candidate. This is an absolute no no. His head is on the block. During this time he has a quick tryst with the daughter of the Democratic National Committee. She gives him a bit of information that could throw things into the septic system. Meanwhile, he is fired. Wanting his job back, he acts. This is really dirty politics and probably the kind of thing that is done behind the scenes all the time. Not a great political drama, but still very engaging.

I'm a big fan of the award-winning "House Of Cards" TV series starring Kevin Spacey as the stop-at-nothing U.S. politician determined to get into the White House and so wasn't surprised to see that programme's main writer and show-runner Beau Willimon credited as one of the writers here. George Clooney stars, produces, co-writes and directs too but yet this behind-the-scenes look behind-the-scenes of the sometimes ruthless campaigning which gives on in the race for the White House had more the imprimatur of Willimon id venture to say.Which means you can expect a twisting, turning narrative, taking in the usual mix of sex, lies, morals, ambition and in particular power-games as we follow the journey of leading Democratic candidate co-campaign manager Ryan Gosling striving to get his hero, Clooney into power. To do so he has to turn a losing position in the key Ohio primary to a winning one. Along the way, as ever, innocents get hurt, victory is clawed from the jaws of defeat and in the end consciences are wiped clean all the time nothing really changes in the way the country is governed.Gosling and not Clooney is the epicentre of the film. He starts off as an idealistic and enthusiastic spin doctor for his man Clooney but comes to learn that naïveté is weakness and that to survive in the bear-pit of Washington good guys finish last. Even if some of the main events and indeed the ending were predictable, the film entertains with its realism, sharp dialogue and recognisable read-across to the American political scene of the present and recent past.Gosling is excellent in depicting his character's development from youthful enthusiast to cynical power-broker, while Clooney reminded me of another pretty-boy-with-brains Robert Redford in a similar part from a different Hollywood generation in "The Candidate" from the early 1970's. The late Philip Seymour-Hoffman is wholly credible as Gosling's there-to-be- shot-at senior colleague and rival, while the several supporting parts as one would expect are realistically portrayed. I personally think "House of Cards" depicts this sort of thing better, but concede that over 30 or more episodes, like of course "The West Wing " too, it had greater scope for deeper character and plot development. Nevertheless this well-edited contemporary political thriller is the best of its type to come out of Hollywood for some time and draws the viewer in tighter and tighter as it progresses. I'm sure that any resemblance to real-life characters particularly in the last 20 years or so, wasn't entirely uncoincidental.