Miscellaneous Movie Musings

Strangler Lewis · 02-24-2008, 08:41 AM

Watched Michael Clayton last night, which makes me four of five on the Best Picture nominees for the first time in years. Tom Wilkinson was great. Tilda Swinton was great. The script was kind of Networky, but okay. My biggest problem was with the Michael Clayton character. I didn't believe for a second that such a person exists. I thought the loan shark bit and the gambling addiction felt tacked on to give fake grit to an implausible character. The ending left us wondering what he was going to do now not in the good way that moral dilemmas often do, but in the bad way that we had no idea who or what this person was in the first place. That said, I thought George Clooney did well enough, and I cared about his character. Of course, I cared about the characters in The Golden Compass, and none of that made a lick of sense either.

Alex · 02-24-2008, 02:50 PM

I noticed the In the Valley of Elah was available through On Demand so I swallowed my pride and watched in pan and scan.

Paul Haggis took a pretty good murder mystery movie and tried to make it a bit too socially significant at the end but then Haggis is all about slapping you about the shoulders with message.

It is a good performance from Jones, though maybe a bit too similar to his role in No Country For Old Men. Really, I can easily envision both characters as the same person. And the events of this movie feeding into how he responded to the events in No Country.

Charlize Theron was good too, but sadly just a bit too pretty for the environment she was in so it was kind of distracting.

02-24-2008, 08:41 AM	#1
Strangler Lewis Doing The Job Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: In a state Posts: 3,956	Watched Michael Clayton last night, which makes me four of five on the Best Picture nominees for the first time in years. Tom Wilkinson was great. Tilda Swinton was great. The script was kind of Networky, but okay. My biggest problem was with the Michael Clayton character. I didn't believe for a second that such a person exists. I thought the loan shark bit and the gambling addiction felt tacked on to give fake grit to an implausible character. The ending left us wondering what he was going to do now not in the good way that moral dilemmas often do, but in the bad way that we had no idea who or what this person was in the first place. That said, I thought George Clooney did well enough, and I cared about his character. Of course, I cared about the characters in The Golden Compass, and none of that made a lick of sense either. __________________ Live now-pay later. Diner's Club!
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02-24-2008, 02:50 PM	#2
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	I noticed the In the Valley of Elah was available through On Demand so I swallowed my pride and watched in pan and scan. Paul Haggis took a pretty good murder mystery movie and tried to make it a bit too socially significant at the end but then Haggis is all about slapping you about the shoulders with message. It is a good performance from Jones, though maybe a bit too similar to his role in No Country For Old Men. Really, I can easily envision both characters as the same person. And the events of this movie feeding into how he responded to the events in No Country. Charlize Theron was good too, but sadly just a bit too pretty for the environment she was in so it was kind of distracting.
	Submit to Quotes