Movie Details
| Title: | Michael Clayton | |
| Director: | Tony Gilroy | |
| Year: | 2007 | |
| Genre: | Drama | |
| Times Seen: | 2 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.14.25 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (1)
- The Bourne Legacy
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.14.25 | Internet | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2025 I saw this once when it first came out and thought it was decent to good but not incredible. Since then, Tony Gilroy's become a more prominent figure in the industry and made some stuff I liked quite a bit. Everyone seems to really love this movie and it's generally regarded as one of Clooney's best performances so I felt like I should give this another viewing and see if I missed something or what. This did hit harder the second time. I remembered the basic gist of the story - a fixer gets pulled into a case by a crazy Tom Wilkinson then grows a conscience - and I remember the last scene with Clooney and Tilda Swinton but all the details were lost to time so in many ways I watched this fresh. I think the main thing is how fast the contexts switch to keep you on your toes throughout the film. I can see where someone might get more and more out of it with repeat viewings since many scenes start (and some end) with you not knowing what the hell is going on. It all makes sense in the end though and the actual story could probably be told in a few sentences but all the little details that are collected along the way make it more interesting. It does feel like the plot doesn't kick in until three quarters of the way through the movie but that's fine. By the time we come back around to the beginning stuff the asshole who hit a guy with his car feels totally insignificant. This strikes me as a deft and clever screenwriting thing? You get your cake and eat it too type deal with the flashy intro scene to set up what kind of character Clooney is then throw it away because it's really only used to set up what kind of character Clooney is. Tom Wilkinson's suicide scene was a real stand-out for me this time around. Really the whole last 30 or 40 minutes is riveting. And Clooney does give a good performance even though... I dunno man, it's movie star acting. Nobody's trying to forget that's George Clooney, so let the guy be a movie star and not worry about his performance. Really he's just in a good movie. So... anyway, yeah. I liked this a lot more this time around. Turns out people were right! Still doesn't save Andor Season Two but whatever. |
| 10.12.07 | Alamo South Lamar | Clooney plays a fixer for a law firm and gets mixed up in a big case when Tom Wilkinson goes crazy. It was good in an adult have-to-pay-attention way. The couples on either side of me were both thoroughly confused but came out at the end saying they liked it. It tinges of Oscarbaiting but whatever... still good. |
