The Ides of March (2011)

This is the movie that got Beau Willimon the head writer gig for the American version of House of Cards. Williom adapted (with the aid of Grant Heslov and the films co-star George Clooney) from his own 2008 play Farragut North. Willimon had worked on the Democratic presidential primary campaigns of Bill Bradly in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004, so he knows something about behind the scenes politicking and can weave an intriguing and dark yarn about human frailty. The tone here is defiantly similar to House of Cards and the story is about an idealistic campaign workers fall from idealism to cynical corruption. Clooney plays a charismatic governor with lofty rhetoric while Ryan Gosling plays the idealistic number 2 man on his campaign. In the week leading up to the crucial Ohio primary vote Gosling is approached by the campaign director of a rival (Paul Giamatti), starts to lose some confidence in his own boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman), starts a relationship with a young intern (Evan Rachel Wood) and discovers a secret about his candidate that could change the campaign. This movie is not for everyone, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would think it boring, but if you like political intrigue and House of Cards you'll probably find it interesting. ***