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Ryan Gosling gets a lesson in real-world, down-and-dirty politics in “The Ides of March,” a film directed by and starring George Clooney. Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman also star in the political thriller.

Updated: January 16, 2012 3:30PM

NEW THIS WEEK

BELLE DE JOUR
★ ★ ★ ★

Rated: R

Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli

Director Luis Bunuel supposedly chose to adapt this popular novel about a Parisian housewife leading a double life as a prostitute because it offered the perfect opportunity to mock bourgeois sexual mores. Still, there’s surprising warmth and humor here—and a true spirit of liberation in this transgressive classic’s celebration of fantasy. Deneuve is near perfection as the icy Severine, who loves her medical-student husband yet cannot bring herself to share his bed. Instead, she escapes into increasingly lurid sado-masochistic fantasies, until given the opportunity to bring them to life with a day job in an upper-crust bordello. “Belle de Jour” is tinged with surrealism in a way that reflects Bunuel’s earliest days as a filmmaker (and clearly made an impression on David “Twin Peaks” Lynch) but it never fails to engage the audience in a powerfully emotional (not to mention wildly erotic) manner. It’s also beautifully filmed (Bunuel used color here for the first time), consistently surprising and, while the ambivalent ending leaves the story very much open to interpretation, entirely dramatically satisfying. This Criterion Collection release features a new hi-def digital restoration of the 1967 comedy plus extras including a new interview with co-screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, an excerpt from the French TV “Cinema” program featuring Carrere and Deneuve, original and American release trailers and a 1970s interview with Bunuel.

THE IDES OF MARCH
★ ★ ★ 1/2

Rated: R for pervasive language

Stars: George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti

It might not seem especially revelatory these days for a film to make a statement about politics being a dirty, manipulative, back-stabbing business. Even so, the way “The Ides of March” takes that as a precept universally accepted as workaday reality on the campaign trail establishes a chilling moral foundation. Especially when the assumption by one of the story’s smartest political power players that there is still room for friendship, loyalty and idealism, even given that fraught state of affairs, turns out to be resoundingly false. Director/co-writer/co-star Clooney turns in a smart, finely crafted and utterly ruthless drama, and adds a solid performance as a highly presidential political progressive with a scandalous libido and a streak of rattlesnake meanness. “Ides” is Gosling’s movie, though, and he leaves a searing impression as a brilliant campaign strategist who will pull any dirty trick for a cause he believes in. A true believer whose dedication to his candidate and basic assumptions about himself are torn apart and bloodily reassembled in a way that will only be held together by scar tissue. Extras include commentary by Clooney and producer Grant Heslov,

RECENT RELEASES

MONEYBALL
★ ★ ★ 1/2

Rated: PG-13 for some strong language

Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Pitt is at his best here as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, who antagonized fans, coaches, players and scouts by re-thinking the way the game of baseball is played. Bennett Miller (“Capote”) directed the smart, funny, quietly under-stated sports drama.

THE SCORPION KING 3: BATTLE FOR REDEMPTION
★ ★

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout and for sexual and crude references

Stars: Victor Webster, Ron Perlman, Billy Zane

There’s not a whole lot for action-archeology fans to get excited about in this ho-hum fifth installment of the “Mummy” franchise. Ron Perlman, believe it or not, plays the king of Egypt, sending Scorpion King Webster to help out a buddy in some corner of the kingdom that looks suspiciously like Thailand.

ALSO NEW

ABDUCTION

After investigating a childhood picture of himself on a missing-person’s list, a young man (Taylor Lautner of “Twilight”) is drawn into the deadly world of international espionage. John Singleton (“Boyz N the Hood,” “Four Brothers”) directed the action thriller. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, brief language, some sexual content and teen partying.

BILL MOYERS: AMAZING GRACE

This Emmy-winning PBS documentary features Moyers tracing the origins of the beloved hymn along with 24 performances by singers including Johnny Cash, Judy Collins and the Boys Choir of Harlem. Extras include a 60-minute portrait of folk-singer/activist Pete Seeger.

BUCKY LARSON: BORN TO BE A STAR

A sexiness-challenged small-town guy (Nick Swardson) moves to Hollywood to follow in the footsteps of his parents — and become a porn star. Tom Brady (“The Comebacks,” “The Hot Chick”) directed the comedy. Rated R for pervasive crude sexual content, language and some nudity.

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM

An irreverent deejay (Robin Williams) shakes things up after being assigned to U.S. Armed Services Radio in Vietnam. Barry Levinson directed the comedy-drama, now debuting on Blu-ray. Extras include a production diary, mini-documentaries and a collection of raw monologues.

MERLIN: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON

This five-disc set features all 13 episodes of the BBC fantasy-adventure series about the teen years of legendary wizard (Colin Morgan). Extras include commentaries, deleted scenes and outtakes.

THURGOOD

Laurence Fishburne stars in this Emmy-nominated one-man show about civil rights pioneer and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN BLU-RAY DEBUT

A group of African-American pilots (featuring Laurence Fishburne and Malcolm Jamal Warner) overcome prejudice to become one of the finest fighter groups in World War II. Robert Markowitz directed the Emmy-winning 1995 HBO drama.

NEXT WEEK

Time to think big: Big monsters, big robots and big music. A gigantic radioactive dinosaur rocks Tokyo in the 1954 classic “Godzilla,” king-sized rock-em/sock-em robots teach Hugh Jackman how to be a dad in “Real Steel” and rock ’n’ roll makes a dramatic entrance in the blockbuster Broadway musical “Memphis.”