00s Movie Review - Michael Clayton

Director: Tony Gilroy
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Skipp Sudduth

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 48: A FILM FROM AN ACADEMY AWARD WINNING/ NOMINATED DIRECTOR
 
Description: A law firm brings in its "fixer" (George Clooney) to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.

Review: “Michael Clayton” is the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy. It’s a prestige film that is praised by the American critics.

In “Michael Clayton”,  immoral selfishness of big companies is being dealt with. Michael Clayton is a fixer and the right man to stop those people, who do whatever it takes to keep their power and status.

“Michael Clayton” is good especially because of the acting. Clooney is fantastic in the title role, as well as Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack. They paid a lot of attention to the development of the characters and that is pleasant. The story is somewhat conventional, it’s nothing like we haven’t seen before. In the end, the film doesn’t leave he impression you would have hoped for. But “Michael Clayton” is definitely a good film, mostly because of George Clooney.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Random Hearts

Director: Sydney Pollack
Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Mystery
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 1999
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charles S. Dutton, Bonnie Hunt, Dennis Haysbert, Sydney Pollack, Richard Jenkins, Paul Guilfoyle, Peter Coyote, Dylan Baker, Bill Cobbs, Kate Mara

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 46: A FILM FROM YOUR TEEN YEARS
 
Description: Police Seargeant Dutch Van den Broeck (Harrison Ford) and U.S. Representative Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) lose their spouses in a plane crash, and they soon discover that their partners were having an affair with each other.

Review: The wife of tough Internal Affairs Sergeant Dutch was killed in a plane crash, as was the husband of politician Kay. Kay and Dutch find out that their spouses were sitting next to each other on the plane, but were also having an affair. Dutch wants to find out why.

On paper, this film sounds interesting. But in practice, it doesn’t work. Mainly because it does not really know in which direction it wants to go. At first, it’s a drama. Two people losing their other half in a tragic accident. Then it turns into a mystery, when they are trying to discover why they were on that plane and why Dutch’s wife didn’t use her real name. And eventually some romance is sprinkled in as well. And it has some strange side-plot of this case that Dutch is working on, that has nothing to do with the actual plot. It just feels very messy. And it’s also very boring, especially given that this film is over two hours long.

Great cast, making the best of it. But really a dull film with little to interest me.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 105: Eyes Wide Shut

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Genre: Drama/ Thriller

Runtime: 159 minutes

Year: 1999

Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Madison Eginton, Sydney Pollack, Todd Field, Jackie Sawiris, Leslie Lowe, Peter Benson, Michael Doven, Sky Dumont, Louise J. Taylor, Stewart Thorndike, Randall Paul, Julienne Davis, Lisa Leone, Thomas Gibson, Leelee Sobieski

Description: New York City doctor Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), who is married to an art curator (Nicole Kidman), pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.

Review: Almost thirty years before “Eyes Wide Shut” premiered, a befriended journalist of Stanley Kubrick bought the rights to the book “Traumnovelle” by Arthur Schnitzler. So Kubrick had the idea for this film for almost three decades. This shows how much of a perfectionist he is. And when he started filming, it took him another two and a half years to finish the project.

Stanley Kubrick managed to create an oppressing atmosphere, and it’s not so much because of the sex scenes that are included. It’s the mystery of the story, you start out with having no idea where the story is heading. Slowly it enfolds.

For instance the meeting between Bill and his former college friend Nick Nightingale. At first it looks like just another scene, but later that moment turns out to be a crucial moment in the film. The scenes in the mansion are bizarre and a bit macabre, but it fits the style and atmosphere of the film.

The movie is a bit slow and it has a long running time. You feel this sometimes.

It’s a fascinating film, that you won’t forget easily.

Rating: 4/ 5