Starring: Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Pena, Robert Patrick, Nick Nolte, Mirellie Enos, Holt McCallany

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Inspired by True Events

Run Time: 113 min
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Action, Drama
Release Date: January 11, 2013

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 34%

My Score: 5.5 out of 10

Synopsis:

Mob leader Mickey Cohen (Penn) owns Los Angeles and nothing can be done about it. That is until LAPD officer John O’Mara (Brolin) puts together a secret squad that is willing to break the rules to get Cohen and his crime out of LA forever.

Review:

Gangster Squad should have been amazing with the premise of the movie and its amazingly talented cast, but unfortunately falls to the curse of Hollywood adaptations of most true stories and a great cast: not being able to connect everything it has going for it to make it a good movie. The script gives the actors no room to act and create an interesting character which is too bad as they are all so talented, especially Emma Stone but still manages to steal every scene she is in, but leaves the characters extremely stereotypical and when its gets serious you really don’t care too much for the character which takes away from the film. The plot itself, basic and pretty predictable, which would have been fine with good performances but there isn’t enough to keep the two hour moving exciting and griping for the entire film.

Granted, Gangster Squad had some great aspects. For starters, the set design and costumes in the film were great. Felt like you were in L.A. in the 40’s and it was just great. Made the movie very visual and lots of fun on that part, especially the amazing dresses that Emma Stone wore which had the slit up the leg which teased, which was great fun! (Think Angelina Jolie but she can actually pull it off!) The movie was also quite comical at parts, which was great. Broke the tension of the movie trying to be super intense and dramatic, and made it fun and light for those few moments which helped the movie progress. Also, the action is pretty good too. I thought some of the blood was unnecessary as it wanted to be gory but didn’t go all the way, so it felt like it served little purpose. The final fight scene was very well done, exciting and a thrilling end to the movie. There is no denying that Gangster Squad is a fun movie to enjoy and forget about the world for two hours, but its after when you are left going “that was okay” and wanting it to be much better as it had that potential.

Final Thoughts: 

Gangster Squad is entertaining and fun, but is nothing to rave about and definitely missed the mark as it had the potential to be one of 2013’s great action films from its cast and premise alone. Oh well…

Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffery Wright

Directed by George Clooney

Based on the Broadway Play “Farragut North”

Run Time: 101 min
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Release Date: October 7, 2011

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

My Score: 8 out of 10

Synopsis:

Up-and-coming campaign press secretary Stephen Meyers (Gosling) fins himself in a center of a political scandal involving his boss, Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), which threatens the Governor’s chance of wining the Ohio in his run for the presidential campaign.

Review:

Before watching this movie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The movie was directed by George Clooney, produced by George Clooney, and also starring George Clooney in one of the main roles. So least I can say I was frightened that it was going to be the George Clooney show. But I was really surprised, the movie was actually very good. The acting was fabulous from every single member of the cast, but in my mind the stand out performance was from Ryan Gosling as Stephen Meyers. He was just brilliant, his lines were delivered perfectly and his just general onscreen presence was perfect for the role. He truly made the movie an enjoyable watch as his performance in the main role just shaped the rest of the movie. The rest of the movie, was just a very good political thriller. Although the huge issue surrounding the movie wasn’t anything new or drastic (actually something very imaginable for politicians), the movie was just made so well that you could easily look past the simplistic plot and see the deeper parts of the movie: mainly Gosling’s characters transformation as he is devoured by the world of politics.

Final Thoughts: 

A very well made movie, with a stellar cast led by Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March is definitely one of the better political thrillers out there!

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, James Marsden, Joan Allen, Sam Shepard, David Thornton, Kevin Connolly

Directed by Nick Cassavates

Based on the Novel by Nicholas Sparks

Run Time: 123 min
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Release Date: June 25, 2004

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 52%

My Score: 5 out of 10

Synopsis:

Duke (Garner) reads a love story to a fellow female patient (Rowlands) in a nursing home about two young lovers named Noah (Gosling) and Allie (McAdams) and their summer romance that turns into a love that will never die.

Review:

This movie was okay. I don’t really get why this is one of the most popular romance movies out there. Like, yest the lovers are put up against a big obstacle, class separation (how unoriginal, at least when they did this in Titanic the ship was also sinking too to add to the drama) and it just seemed a bit dull as it is over come with very little drama. But the plot line at present day I do say is romantic, and the ending is sad too. I guess all the hype around this movie just didn’t hold for me when I watched it, was a bit bored at parts despite thinking the movie had a great cast.

Final Thoughts: 

A true chick flick that delivers a stereotypical romance that doesn’t amount too much.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Kaden Leos, James Bebiri

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Run Time: 100 min
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Action
Release Date: September 16, 2011

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

My Score: 1 out of 10

Synopsis:

Driver (Gosling) helps out his neighbour Irene (Mulligan) who’s husband Standard (Isaac)is in jail. but when he gets out, Driver also helps him with one last job to get out of debt, but things go very wrong.

Review:

This is a good hour and forty minutes of my life I will never get back. This movie sucked!! I’m sorry to all who loved this movie, and aparrantley all other critics, but why! The acting was terrible, Gosling and Mulligan looked off into the distance for a good portion of the movie emulating a really crappy romance and made Twilight look like and Oscar worthy film! The plot…..still not sure what it was about, and then it turned extremely gory…..still not sure why. Just don’t watch, so bad!

Final Thoughts: 

Terrible movie with terrible acting and no point. Nothing else can be said.

Staring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Run Time: 118 min
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Drama
Release Date: July 29, 2011 

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%

My Score: 7 out of 10

Synopsis:

Cal (Carell) discovers that his wife (Moore) is having an affair and they begin to go through a divorce. Cal now spends his night in the local bar where he meets a young man named Jacob (Gosling) who is very good a picking up the women, and he teaches Cal how to do so to help him get back into the dating world, while Cal attempts to get over his wife.

Review:

This movie was a decent romantic comedy, and it definitely was crazy! Everyone was in love with someone in the movie and a bunch of the relationships were a bit inappropriate and had disastrous endings too!

Carell was playing his typical character that he plays in most of his movie, an akward 40-something year old who is not smooth with the women on any level. The movie, in sense, was the perfect role for him as that is one of the stereotypical roles that he is known for because of his other movies The 40-Year Old Virgin and Date Night. The comedy in this one was not the usual one liners that Carell normally has, but he was still very funny. Especially the opening scene when he asks his wife what she wants while out for dinner and she responds “a divorce.”

The movie seemed to have many little plots from a variety of characters that seemed to have little connections, but the stories eventually all mix into one, but I will no spoil it, so be aware that despite not seeing Emma Stone for almost the entire first hour of the movie, her character is a major character in the film.

Emma Stone was very good in this film, and so was Ryan Gosling. They both provided a newer generation to the film whose other stars are of an older generation, and both definitely boosted their popularity after this movie. Stone provided her usual performance which was sweet yet funny, and Gosling provided a decent performance as a womanizer who actually has a personality, which is not usually the case in these types of movies.

The one pitfall of the movie is that the laughs are separated by drama that has you bored while waiting for the next laugh, but the laughs always come and are normally well worth the wait. So pacing wise, it could have moved faster with less drama, but no major complaints there. 

Final Thoughts:

This is a good movie to watch with a date, funny but also one that the women will enjoy (and that has nothing to do with the shirtless Ryan Gosling either, that’s just an added bonus!) Don’t expect too many laughs, but do expect some very good ones that you could not have guessed and the best part the laughs are pretty original too.