Posts Tagged ‘George Clooney’

Short Take: Deftly written and directed for those who have forfeited all optimism for American politics - or are prepared to

Director: George Clooney

Screenwriters: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon; based on Farragut North by Beau Willimon

Cast: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright

Length: 1h 41m

Synopsis: Nearing the turning point to a highly contested Democratic Primary election, Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) and his chief campaign managers Paul (Hoffman) and Stephen (Gosling) are trying desperately to win out against the competing Senator and his crafty press secretary Tom Duffy (Giamatti) for the pivotal state of Ohio. Soon before full support is set to swing in either candidate’s favor, dependent upon the backing of the powerful Senator Thompson (Wright), Stephen, a genuinely fervent devotee of Morris’ politics, accidentally gets entangled in a small scandal when Duffy decides to bid for his defection. Word of the two’s meeting creates friction at the top of the Morris campaign, and from there on the dominos fall in the direction of defeat. Forced to test his loyalties by defending his personal ambitions, Stephen finds a way to play himself back into good professional standing using questionable influences and political chicanery. Although he may have started out rather green, Stephen discovers just how dirty the art of politics can really be.

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Jeff Bridges, who has four nominations under his belt, is this year's front-runner for Best Lead Actor for his powerful performance in "Crazy Heart"

Continuing our analyses of the top categories for the upcoming Academy Awards, here is an in-depth look at the nominees up for Best Actor in a Leading Role by our own Marisa Carpico. Tell us what you think!

Also see Best Supporting Actress

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges already won the Screen Actor’s Guild Award and the Golden Globe for his role in Crazy Heart, so he’s expected to win the Oscar as well.  However, he faces some strong competition from Jeremy Renner, who won an award from the National Board of Review, for his role in The Hurt Locker.  If Bridges and Renner don’t win, the next most likely candidate is George Clooney for his charismatic performance in Up in the Air.  Surprisingly, Colin Firth’s powerful performance in A Single Man gives him an advantage over Oscar-veteran Morgan Freeman, whose portrayal as Nelson Mandela is impressive, but his nomination wasn’t exactly a considered a sure thing so he is the least likely to win.
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Jeremy Renner as danger-addicted SFC William James in "The Hurt Locker"

In looking closer at some of the movies released this past year, another connection has revealed itself between two films that on the surface could not be more different. Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Hurt Locker might appear to have nothing in common, with one being an animated feature involving social relationships and animals and the other involving bomb disarming in the Iraq War, but a connection exists between the two films’ main male characters: Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and SFC William James (Jeremy Renner).

Both characters reveal that their personalities revel in danger, needing it’s presence to withhold a sense of fulfillment in their occupations (for Mr. Fox it’s stealing chickens and cider, for William it’s disarming bombs during wartime). Perhaps this need for danger is a modification of the Male Ideal offered by Charles Reich, about which he explains that a man’s value is “derived from the function he performs for society, and whose satisfaction lies in how well he performs his job. Men dominated by technique and training [take] seriously the meritocracy of ability and accomplishment, dedicated to work [towards] goals beyond the individual.” However, I would argue that both characters do not share the same sense of social pressure that Reich’s definition of the Male Ideal implies. So, the “need” for danger must be spawned internally – perhaps within the psyche? Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Full of potential, but ultimately indecisive

Director: Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking)

Screenwriters: Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Consent), Sheldon Turner (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Longest Yard); Walter Kirn (novel)

Cast: George Clooney (Michael Clayton, Ocean’s 11), Vera Farmiga (Orphan, The Departed), Anna Kendrick (Twilight Saga, Rocket Science)

Length: 1 hr 49 mins

Synopsis: Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is constantly on the move as a man who fires people for a living.  He seems at home in a world of frequent flier miles and few meaningful human connections.  During his travels, he meets Alex (Farmiga) who enjoys a similar lifestyle.  However, his way of life is threatened when ambitious new employee Natalie suggest a method of cutting costs by firing people through videoconferencing.  Bingham’s boss insists Natalie learn the business by travelling with Bingham.  At first, they don’t get along, but as they spend more time together they both influence each other for the better.  As human connections become increasingly important to Ryan, he begins to question his solitary lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Roald Dahl's signiture is there, and it's indeed fantastic

Director: Wes Anderson (Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums)

Screenwriters: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach; Roald Dahl (book)

Cast: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia), Jason Schwartzman (Bored to Death), Bill Murray (Rushmore), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), Willem Dafoe (Antichrist)

Length: 1h 27m

Synopsis: Mr. Fox (Clooney) lives in a burrow underground with his wife (Streep) and son Ash (Schwartzman) as he tries to live the legit existence after being a very successful chicken thief for most of his life. The dangerous life didn’t agree with Mrs. Fox’s plans for the family, so Mr. Fox had to swear to stay straight. That itching instinct to steal livestock never dies, however, and Mr. Fox eventually lets it get him and his entire community in serious trouble with the local farmers. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: A comedy with layers, but none so interesting as the jokes within them

Director: Grant Heslov

Screenwriter: Peter Straughan, Jon Ronson (book)

Cast: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Ewan McGregor (Angels and Demons), Jeff Bridges (Iron Man), Kevin Spacey (Superman Returns, Moon)

Length: 1h 34m

Synopsis: A journalist eager to gain entry into Iraq to cover the ongoing war on terror (McGregor), bumps into a man (Clooney) who can grant him his wish. On a secret mission of his own, it turns out this mysterious man was once part of the U.S. military. His job: to help build a superhero army equipped with psychological powers. This man’s story becomes the one really worth telling. Read the rest of this entry »

Maryl Streep as Julia Child in "Julie and Julia"

An article on HollywoodReporter.com, written by Steven Zeitchik, talks about how up to this point in time in the Oscar race very few actresses have made much of an impression. Maryl Streep will likely be nominated (yet again) for her role as Julia Child in Julie and Julia, and Zeitchik claims that only two other leading actresses (Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe for An Education and Precious) have a shot at taking home the gold statuette.

One possible reason that Zeitchik postulates deals with the kinds of roles available for women in mainstream Hollywood. Independent films (such as An Education and Precious) offer many more dynamic, “serious” leading roles for women than Hollywood does (the reasons for which are up for speculation), but being in an independent flick doesn’t downgrade one’s performance in the eyes of the award voters. The Academy is not averse to giving the Best Leading Actress award to a “new face,” so-to-speak (ex. Jennifer Hudson, Marion Cotillard, etc.). Zeitchik later argues that unless you’re the likes of Angelina Jolie or Hillary Swank it’s hard for a woman to land a “serious” part in mainstream Hollywood. So shallow is the Oscar nomination pool for leading actresses, Zeitchik says, that Sandra Bullock is getting award buzz (for her role in The Blind Side).

Those who don’t think much of this year’s lack of standout performances by leading actresses chalk the issue up to the cyclical nature of each category, while some others speculate that it relates to bigger (supposed) issues like Hollywood making less award-worthy films. Zeitchik attempts to debunk such a speculation by noting that the Best Leading Actor category is overflowing with quality nomination possibilities (ex. George Clooney, Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, etc.).

You can read the full article here, which includes other related topics such as the possibility for three women to be nominated for Best Director, which is an unprecedented feat.

Quick Opinion: I can’t be certain that the number of quality leading roles for women in Hollywood is going down, if for no other reason than because it’s a more complex issue than one might think at first. Sure, maybe this year’s crop isn’t all that extensive, but last year saw 5 great actresses in the nomination pool, which led to hugely diverse speculation before the awards show about who was going to win. And being that Hollywood is still a big supporter of patriarchal ideology (for better or worse), there is and probably always will be plenty of quality leading roles available for men. Who’s to say, though, that there simply aren’t a lot of good scripts with great leading roles for women making the rounds around Hollywood? Script ‘X’ may have a dynamite female lead character, but if its overall story stinks then it doesn’t matter. Studios don’t typically buy works-in-progress. In any case, why would they take a chance on a lousy script just to satisfy a male/female ratio of leading roles? I’m all for equal representation of the sexes in the arts, but the film industry is a business (the biggest financial risk-takers being Hollywood studios) and if it were to adopt some brand of affirmative action to assure such equality I would speculate that the industry would suffer both financially and artistically. Simply put, you can’t tell an industry dealing in creativity what to create.

George Clooney...staring at a goat.

The Men Who Stare at Goats debuted this weekend, and for those who may have missed it ComingSoon.net published an interview with the film’s director, Grant Heslov. The site makes apologies for the brevity of the interview because it was done over the phone and in a time-crunch, however they were able to squeeze in a number of interesting questions.

Overall the interview is of the same standard quality that most of the sites’ are. It has some simple, obvious questions, but for the most part it steers the interviewee into providing generally insightful responses. For anyone interested in seeing the film but hasn’t yet for whatever reason, or if you’ve seen it and would like to know more about it, I recommend reading this piece.

Also, expect to see us post our review of The Men Who Stare at Goats sometime this week.