We knew we'd like this story of a political consultant emerging from retirement to help a Bolivian candidate and possibly win against her nemesis. Sandra Bullock's (last blogged for Gravity) performance as the heroine suggests manic depression, with the emphasis on the latter, and we thought she was great. Billy Bob Thornton (profiled in Entourage) is suitably oily as the nemesis, and Anthony Mackie (most recently Captain America: The Winter Soldier) is but one of the supportive supporting cast.
There was a 2005 documentary of the same name about James Carville's firm working the 2002 Bolivian election, and Peter Straughan (covered in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) adapted that into this script for director David Gordon Green (profiled in Prince Avalanche). Together they gave us plenty of laughs and harmed no llamas (it's Jack's favorite part of the trailer). George Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov (last blogged for producing The Monuments Men) are behind this project and it's their kind of humor. The movie was shot in La Paz, other parts of Bolivia, Puerto Rico, and Tulane University in New Orleans, among other locations.
David Wingo's (scored Prince Avalanche) music is good but not at all available online. I can't be sure if the movie's averaging 32% critics and 45% audiences on Rotten Tomatoes has anything to do with that unavailability. It's still running on big screens locally, but if you want to wait until the DVD release, it's scheduled for February 2016, as are several of my last movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment