If there has ever been a role more suitable for George Clooney, I'm not aware of it.  “Michael Clayton” is gritty, slick, and above all else, ruthless, and Clooney plays it brilliantly.  It’s his look, his acting, everything about him screams this movie.  No, it’s not overly flashy, but isn’t that how we see Clooney anyway?   Something happened to this man a long time ago.  He’s not your typical A-lister.  He’s gruff and old, yet he has that flicker in there that makes him a great actor.
            “Michael Clayton” stars George Clooney as a lawyer whose specialty is outside of the courtroom.  Despite working for one of the largest law firms, his job, as far as anyone can tell, is to clean up messes.  In fact, he hasn’t been in a courtroom in years despite an early promising career.  Instead he finds himself cleaning up the mess of his long-time friend Arthur Edens.
            The movie opens with the frantic voice of Edens, played by Tom Wilkinson, who is explaining his reasoning to Michael Clayton for stripping down nude and running across a busy street in the middle of a deposition.  You see parts of it later, and thank God for cutaway shots!  Clayton is dispatched by his boss Marty Bach, played by Sydney Pollack, and from there the movie takes several twists and turns including an interesting path of starting the story and than retelling the story from the beginning.
            The acting is brilliant and makes this movie.  We learn that Clayton has essentially no social life.  He’s a part-time dad, licking his wounds from a failed business venture with his drunken brother.  This means Clayton needs to make 75-thousand that he doesn’t have to pay off to debt collectors, since most of his money was lost to high-stakes poker.  Clooney plays this role brilliantly.  And it doesn’t hurt that the man is in a suit almost every scene.  At one point my girlfriend asked, “Why is he always in a suit,” to which I replied, “Michael Clayton is a badass… oh yeah and he’s supposedly a lawyer too.”
            But Clooney wasn’t the only one turning in an all-star performance in this movie.  I really like the parts by both Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack as well.  Pollack really shined in his role, despite not showing up a lot in the script.  And Wilkinson, for his part, brilliantly portrayed a confused man with everything to lose and no care of losing it.  Tilda Swinton does her part as a legal executive at the firm that Arthur Edens was involved with before his strip tease.  She, like Clayton, is always perfectly groomed in public.  She comes across as almost obsessive with her looks, and constantly works on her appearance.  Between the four main characters you really have a wealth of talent which makes this movie what it is.
            The movie never resolves any of the major storylines.  It movie centers on Michael Clayton’s character but we never learn much about him.  We see a little bit of his family, as well as his failures in both the legal world and business world, but we don’t ever get that close.  All we see is his friendship with Edens and his scrambling to fix people’s problems.  I don’t think this movie is for everyone.  I loved it though, and because of that I must give it…

Rating: 4 bananas

 

On the Rack: “The TV Set" Runtime: 1h28m Rating: R

Genre: Comedy

            I’ve watched a lot of television over the years.  I’ve always wondered why some of the best shows can get so bad.  What seems like a promising sitcom turns into drivel by week 3, and now I know why.  In one of the better comedies of the season, Jake Kasden, an up-and-comer in the comedy realm, tells the story of a writer struggling with changes the network demands.
            Mike, played by David Duchovny, has written a very personal script about his life.  It deals with life and death, all mixed in with a little comedy.  The network loves it, his agents love it, even the new guy in charge of fall programming Richard McCallister, played by Ioann Gruffudd, loves it.  So its mind boggling to Mike why they want to change it so much.  Lenny, the top executive at the station, played by Sigourney Weaver, seems to love the script and hate Mike.  Once she puts her hands on the script things start to tumble for Mike.  First with actor selections, then with script details, and before long what started as a carefully crafted script about his personal life is being pushed into something that he never wanted.
            David Duchovny was by far the best actor in this movie.  He’s depressed, he’s aging, he hates everything about his life and he’s great at it.  Others would call it sad, I call it amazing.  It’s almost as if the movie is meant to be what Mike’s pilot wasn’t.  Sigourney Weaver is easy to hate in this movie-but then again you’re supposed to.  She comes across as an evil executive who kills pilots because she doesn’t understand what people want in a show.  Or maybe she does, and that’s why television is so horrible. 
            Outside of Duchovny and Weaver the acting gets a little weak.  I wasn’t a big fan of Ioan Gruffudd, although I believe it had more to do with the character than his acting.  The same could be said for Judy Greer in her role.  She plays it great, but the role just wasn’t good enough.  But unlike Gruffudd, Greer’s role as Mike’s agent Alice is much more comical.  She’s always trying to please Mike, but she never has good news for him. 
            I liked this movie a lot.  It reminds me in a way of “Thank you for Not Smoking,” another favorite of mine.  The reason I like these movies is because it’s not a group of comedians just thrown on the screen to be funny, but rather a group of actors who are good at what they do.  I don’t imagine Duchovny will be hopping on stage and telling jokes anytime soon, but this movie proves that a good actor can be just as funny as Will Ferrell.

Rating: 3 bananas

 

From the Vault: “Halloween” Runtime: 1h31m Rating: N/A

Genre: Horror

           It's Halloween time (Editor's note: I recieved this article from Max at 9:10pm on October 31st, so it's Halloween time for another two hours and fifty minutes) and that means I’m watching one of the most horrifying movies of all time, “Halloween.”  Made in 1978, it’s the kind of stuff that would even make Alfred Hitchcock’s skin crawl.  That’s some serious shit.
            “Halloween” is the story of Mike Myers (the non Garth, Austin Powers, or even Steve Rubell Mike Myers) who has come back to his childhood home twenty-some years after committing his first murder at the age of 6.  After years of being locked up with the key thrown away, Michael breaks free and seeks revenge.  His Doctor, Loomis, tries to warn police of the danger but he’s too late.  Michael starts a killing spree on Halloween night, forcing Loomis and local police to track Michael down amid children trick-or-treating, and baby sitters… well... babysitting.
            The most enjoyable parts of “Halloween” are all of the loose ends.  We know very little about Myers; in fact what we do know are just tiny bits and pieces from Loomis.  We do learn a little about his family through flashbacks but nothing that really explains what made this young man so miserable that he wants to kill everyone.  All we know is it's dark, it’s scary, and if we’re watching it on Halloween it could happen to us.
            The acting isn’t wonderful in this movie, but than again, does it really have to be?  All that matters is we learn roughly 5 ways to kill a person, and apparently (*spoiler alert*) none of those work on Myers.  Jamie Lee Curtis does a really good job, and in hindsight we see why she was in so many horror movies (that girl can really belt out a scream).  Loomis, played by Donald Pleasance, is quite annoying, but I like his accent so I give him a pass.  For the most part, everyone else is killed so they don’t really matter.
            For those reasons, and many more, I recommend you pick up Halloween this weekend.  Sure it’s a few days after Halloween, but maybe Mike Myers screwed up and lost his calendar.  If you watch it late enough at night I’m sure your nervous side will convince you a masked, slow-walking, knife-wielding mad man is after you for no apparent reason.  Seriously. (Another editor's note: In 1978 Halloween fell on a Tuesday, so I doubt Mr. Myers will be a threat in the week to come.)

Rating: 3 1/2 bananas

 

     Don't forget that you can always drop me a line, by emailing me Maxpower@arabianmonkey.com.  I'd love to hear what you think, or get recomendations on what movies you would like to see reviewed. 

 

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