The Descendants
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The Descendants has so much going for it, not the least of which is a powerfully understated central performance by George Clooney. The script, adapted from the novel of the same name, is one of the best of 2011. Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography is gorgeous (it helps that the film is shot in some of the most stunning parts of Hawaii). Alexander Payne’s confident direction lets the dialogue and performances take center stage and doesn’t get bogged down with any needless showiness. There are few better directors at delivering grounded, human melodrama that can move audiences to laughter and tears with equal confidence.
Up in the Air
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If you’re going to be fired by someone, it might as well be by George Clooney. Few actors can thread that needle between sincere confidence and charming grift.
Up in the Air explores the world of “employment termination consulting” — something on everyone’s mind when the film was released in 2009 and the United States was still knee-deep in the Great Recession (which was not, in fact, very great at all).
Clooney and Vera Farmiga have excellent chemistry, and credit to both. Anna Kendrick also brings real humanity to a film that is ultimately quite cynical.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
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Directed by Wes Anderson and written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a delightful adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl children’s novel of the same name. The movie was made using stop-motion animation, with animal characters that look like something in between taxidermy statues and felt dolls. It’s visually unique and perfectly fits in bringing the source material to life.
Clooney’s voice has always been one of his strengths as an actor, and he imbues the titular Mr. Fox with exactly the kind of warmth and rakish charm you’d expect. Hopefully, he and Wes Anderson will collaborate again in the future.
Out of Sight
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Along with One Fine Day, Out of Sight was the film that cemented George Clooney’s status as a full-blown movie star. It is also the first of his many fruitful collaborations with director Steven Soderbergh. The film is a fun, sexy crime comedy with one of the best ensembles ever assembled on a single credit list. Clooney co-stars with Jennifer Lopez, and their on-screen chemistry threatens to burn up any scene they share.
The plot itself is immaterial — sure there are plenty of flashbacks and twists and turns — scene to scene the joy comes from watching amazing actors wield sharp dialogue and narrowly avoid (or not avoid) calamitous situations.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
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Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a criminally underrated “biographical” spy thriller starring Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney. The film is based on the autobiography of the same name, in which former iconoclast game show host Chuck Barris claims to have secretly been an assassin and spy for the United States government. The film takes these claims very seriously and uses them to both comedic and dramatic effect. It’s preposterous but makes for a great story.
The film is George Clooney’s directorial debut and he knocks it out of the park. The film is highly stylized and features some imaginative sequences that will absolutely knock your sock off.
Syriana
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Syriana is a pitch-black political thriller from writer/director Stephen Gaghan that is as compelling as it is complicated. It’s a well-written, globe-trotting maze of a film, with multiple threads that weave in and around each other, sometimes literally but more often thematically.
Among the impressive ensemble of actors, George Clooney stands out in his portrayal of a grizzled CIA operative who is doing the dirty work in the Middle East of trying to get a handle on illegal arms trafficking. It’s raw and bleak, and one or two scenes are genuinely hard to watch, but Syriana is still a powerful viewing experience worth seeing.
Ocean’s Eleven
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Who doesn’t love a good heist movie?
Directed by Steven Soderbergh (there’s that name again), Ocean’s Eleven is effectively a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, but improves upon the source material in every conceivable way.
Once again Clooney is the star of a film with an insanely stacked ensemble cast. His character Danny Ocean assembles a team to pull off a daring and meticulously planned Las Vegas casino heist. The movie is a joy to behold, with a trick around every corner and a card up every sleeve. They made two sequels plus a fun spin-off, and though they are all great, none are as perfectly crafted as the original.
Three Kings
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Three Kings is a difficult film to get a handle on. It’s a heist film smashed together with a war film. It has a dark sense of humor and showy compelling action scenes but also appears to have enough of a brain to be something of a “message movie”.
It’s also a strange relic of a different time — a film about the Gulf War, released only a few years before 9/11 and the subsequent United States military action in the Middle East that would have a massive impact on American culture.
In 1999 it was a great film. It’s still great today but for totally different reasons.
O Brother, Where Art Thou
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What makes George Clooney such a special talent is that he has that indefinable old-Hollywood star quality. He just looks like a leading man and has a real screen presence that you can’t manufacture.
It’s that very same on-camera gravity making it that much more satisfying when he makes an absolute a** of himself for our enjoyment. The Coen Brothers have used this to great effect in several films, but none better than in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(Very) Loosely based on The Odyssey, the film is a satirical comedy about three chain-gang escapees looking for treasure. It’s a silly, toe-tapping good time.
Michael Clayton
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Michael Clayton is a perfect film. It’s a tightly wound legal drama that doesn’t get bogged down with the minutiae of procedure. It instead focuses on the type of people who do the dirty work for the large, monolithic conglomerates that dominate the world today. It’s a white-knuckle thriller that doesn’t need to resort to cheap thrill to raise your blood pressure.
Clooney is at his best here, as a high-stakes fixer who wears stoicism-like armor, barely hiding his issues while he cleans up other peoples’ messes.
Michael Clayton was critically acclaimed when it was released in 2007, and like a fine wine has only gotten better with age.
