PRODUCT EVALUATION TEAM PET Picks Prime Videos Kirk Douglas Zsa Zsa Gabor Sophia Loren Wrong Turn 4 City of Life and Death Jeff Dunham

Clooney’s New Triple Threat
Revealed In His Latest Film

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E’S the 2lst century Cary Grant. Smooth, sexy, suave and sophisticated. And smart. But Cary never directed. Or wrote a screenplay for any of his movies.

George Clooney who parlayed his ER role as Dr. Doug Ross into superstardom　has no limits. In The Ides of March, his prescient and political drama, Clooney not only plays the slick presidential candidate, he directs himself as well as helping pen the screenplay. And he does a creditable job on screen and off as he handles a top notch line-up of costars including Ryan Gosling (who is the hot star of the year) Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giametti.

Clooney, who turned fifty this year, can virtually write his own ticket. And often does.

In Ides he’s Democratic Governor Mike Morris running for the White House, who encounters some mishaps on the way and isn’t quite as clean as he looks.

Clooney’s vast film background includes a variety of movies including Burn After Reading, the Oceans Eleven caper flicks, the voice of the Fantastic Mr. Fox and the still to be released The Descendants.

Ryan Gosling

He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, where his father Nick was a radio and TV personality. His aunt was the late singer Rosemary Clooney. After his first short-lived marriage, Clooney has avoided nuptials although he is certainly never short of gorgeous women on his arm.

Do your political leanings affect the roles you pick?
Not particularly. I didn't think of this as really a political film. I thought that this was a film about moral choices. I don't think that has necessarily any political stripe. I just thought that it was a fun moral tale. Once you put it in politics it sort of amps up all the problems and　I thought that was fun.

Can you talk about Clooney the film director?
I’m pretty much the same guy as George Clooney the actor. I'm basically the same height, same hair, pretty much the same. I'm not quite sure what you want me to say about it except that I'm lucky to work with a great bunch of actors who sort of elevate the project. That's the secret to directing, I think, working with really good people. How's that for a political answer?

How did you get such a top rate cast--and what do you expect from the actors as a director?
Listen, when you get these guys, they liked the script and they wanted the parts and you just sort of get out of the way mostly.

Going into the next presidential election what kind of message would you like this movie to offer?
You have to remember that films don't lead the way. People always want to think that films are somehow trying to lead society. In general it takes about two years at the very least to get a film made. So, mostly we're reflecting the moods and thoughts that are going on in our country or around the world.

This movie suggests great cynicism in politics.
If it reflects some of the cynicism that we've seen in recent times that's probably good. It's not a bad thing to hold a mirror up and look at some of the things that we're doing. It's not a bad thing to look at how we elect our officials in times like that. But that wasn't what the film was designed to do.

What was it designed to do?
The idea was for us to show that there isn't a person that you've ever met that hasn't been faced with certain moral questions. Every one of us has been faced with that idea of, like, 'Well, if I take this job which is better I might be screwing over my boss who I like.' Everybody has or makes moral choices that better themselves and hurt someone else along the way, and then whether or not the means justify the end. That to me is universal and it could have been literally set in Wall Street and actually probably would have been easier in Wall Street. It could have been anywhere. That was our point. That's what we were trying to do.

Which is harder—directing or dating in the spotlight?
Well, it's funny. I knew someone would do it. I'm a little disappointed that it's you. I mean, everyone in here is a little ashamed of you right now, honestly. I think it’s tremendous you asked the question. Please go back and tell your editor that you did. Good for you.

What did you see in Ryan Gosling that made you want to cast him as the ambitious but conflicted media expert?
Listen, I think he knocks it out of the park. Look, this is a very, very difficult role. You've got to be the center of a hurricane and you have to carry　everybody's point of view on your shoulders—difficult to do. It requires intelligence in an actor which doesn't always happen for some reason. I don't know. Working with Ryan was just a delight, and working with all these actors really makes it--I'm quite serious--very easy because they're so wonderful. And Ryan just gives a tremendous performance.

Did you model your character on any particular politician?
There are just so many ways to get in to trouble with that answer. Some of the speeches that I used were some of the things and ideas that my dad used to write about in the late '70s in the newspaper and then the idea of him having some of these issues that he has seem to pop up pretty much almost every week in politics. So it seemed really familiar to us in a lot of ways. People thought that it was about the John Edwards thing, but this was written long before the John Edwards thing broke. We didn't really model it after anybody. There were enough examples that we could just pick little pieces all we wanted to.

PRODUCT EVALUATION TEAM
PET Picks Prime Videos

By Tim Boxer

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HE LEGACY COLLECTION: KIRK DOUGLAS This three-disc collection of five feature films by one of the superstar legends of Hollywood consists of his debut film of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) plus My Dear Secretary (1948), The Big Trees (1952), Catch Me a Spy (1971) and The Master Touch (1972). Included are The Jack Benny Program: The Jam Session Show (1954), a Kirk Douglas biography, and several trailers charting the careers of Kirk Douglas and his distinguished son, Michael Douglas. "If I’d known Michael was going to be so successful," Kirk says, "I’d have been much nicer to him when he was young." Inception Media Group, DVD, $24.98.

DAHLING: A TRIBUTE TO ZSA ZSA GABOR Known for her multiple husbands (nine marriages) and as the ditzy blonde bombshell on the screen, Zsa Zsa is here represented in two feature films, Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971) and Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie (1984) as well as TV’s Milton Berle Show (1950) and G.E. True Theater: The Honest Man (1956). Crowned Miss Hungary in 1936, the platinum blonde sexpot became a society staple and Hollywood icon with her free spirit and perplexing accent. Inception Media Group, DVD, $14.98.

SOPHIA LOREN AWARD COLLECTION Here’s a keeper! Four films starring this eternal beauty directed by the great Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica. First we have Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow which was a 1964 Oscar winner as best foreign language film. Loren is paired with Marcello Mastroianni in three stories. Second is the 1964 Oscar nominee Marriage Italian Style in which she tries every way to win the heart of Mastroianni. Third is Sunflower, Oscar nominated in 1970 for best score by Henry Mancini, in which Loren desperately seeks her lost husband (Mastroianni) on the WWII battlefields of Russia. The fourth entry, Boccaccio ’70, is an anthology of four short pieces directed by De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti. A special bonus disc, Vittorio D, is a feature-length documentary on the life and legacy of De Sica, featuring fascinating interviews with Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and others. Kino Lorber, 5-disc set, Blu-ray $99.95

WRONG TURN 4: BLOODY BEGINNINGS You can forget the popcorn. You’ll lose your appetite watching this bloody horror. Just the message to heart: don’t make any wrong turn if you’re caught driving in a snowstorm. These college students ended up at a deserted sanatorium where the loonies years ago went on a killing rampage. With this unsuspecting group seeking shelter here, three blood thirsty cannibals pounce on their prey. The choice is clear for the kids: fight or die. Your choice: endure this thriller in all its hideous and gruesome scenes or take a turn to the kitchen. You see I made my choice. Fox, DVD, 93 minutes plus 35 minutes of extra features as if you won’t have enough.

CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH In 1937 the invading Japanese cast a reign of terror on the Chinese capital of Nanking. History calls it the Rape of Nanking. You will call it one exhausting documentary-like film from Chinese director Lu Chuan. He uses witness testimony from survivors of a wave of executions to full effect. (135 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles) The second of two discs is Matters of Life and Death (113 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles) recounts the making of the film, with interviews with the director and cast plus behind-the-scenes footage. Kino Lorber, 2-disc set, Blu-ray $34.95, DVD $29.95

JEFF DUNHAM: CONTROLLED CHAOS Here is another video from one of the funniest ventriloquists in the world. This fourth concert event, which first aired on Comedy Central, has all the demons that populate Dunham’s weird universe: Walter the grumpy retiree who’s a howl; Jose Jalapeno, billed as the spicy pepper from south of the border, who’s a riot; the awesome skeletal Ahmed the Dead Terrorist, plus a few other demonic characters including the wayward son, Ahmed Junior, who eschews the family terrorist trade to live in London in a gay halftone. It’s a hoot. Check him out at www.jeffdunham.com/controlledchaos. Paramount, 97 minutes, DVD $11.99, Blu-ray $15.99 at Amazon.com.