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Not to usher in a black cloud on his 53rd birthday (with him finally settling down and everything!) but does anybody else feel their like for
George Clooney hitting a wall these days? I thought his current brand of smug was used well in
Gravity - it was a gag, how assured he was... til it wasn't - but there's something about his delivery these days that's begun to really grate on my nerves. It was especially pronounced when I watched the unforgivably tepid
The Monuments Men this past weekend - you really get the feeling that he really thinks you would be way better off if you just let Goerge Clooney help you out, and it's started to make my skin crawl.
And looking through his last several movies - again
Gravity excepted, but titles
like The Ides of March and (
ugh)
The American and (
UGH TIMES INFINITY)
The Descendants... well it's an exercise in exhausting yourself and all the goodwill you have in your body and may ever have. We're not quite to the point of none ever return we're at with
Matthew McConaughey or
Robert Downey Jr., the two former recipients of one of these posts - unlike those just-named fellas I could name more than three roles of George's that I've enjoyed here (his work on
Golden Girls is iconic), and also I'm on-board with George's political activities and/or ambitions - but things are veering towards dire-straits enough that I feel I should remind myself of me and Georgie-boy's good times together.
.
Fantastic Mr. Fox -- The bright spot from the past several years on his resume that doesn't rhyme with
Bravity - I've seen
FMF (that abbreviation makes it look like a personals ad) several times now and it's charm has legs. Long pretty legs. Long pretty legs covered with teensy little individual hairs that are being manipulated frame by frame by frame by obscenely dedicated animators. Anderson uses Clooney's voice, assured to the point of snapping, perfectly - it's as frustrating as it is freeing.
Out of Sight -- A movie so good it made us all think that there was a point to Jennifer Lopez for a hot minute. (Some people seem to still labor under that delusion, even.) That sex scene, sexless as it is, remains a high water mark.
From Dusk Til Dawn -- When I think of FDTD I immediately think of a couple things - Salma Hayek dancing in a bikini with a boa constrictor, Tom Savini's dick-gun... and those snaking tendrils of tattoo coming up George Clooney's neck make the cut every time. I don't think those things (or Tarantino, for that matter) get enough credit for every single person on Earth knowing the names of George's entire string of nobody girlfriends and the exact lake he's got a villa on.
What is your favorite George Clooney performance?
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4 comments:
I've never been a mega fan I've sort of liked him without caring much for his films but his smug quotient has increased as he has diversified into and been awarded for producing and directing. He seems like a decent man but the self satisfaction doesn't wear well.
His best three performances:
Ocean's Eleven-but not the sequels.
Good Night, and Good Luck-He's good but David Strathairn is better.
ER-I guess he goes down best for me in an ensemble, small doses are best.
I thought he was really well-cast in Michael Clayton. I just ended up really liking that movie in general, almost entirely on the power of its performances, his included.
George is neither here nor there for me. He's okay, I guess. Per the commenter above, I liked Michael Clayton also. The person for me who has become really sort of smugly self-satisfied to the point of possible no-return is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. That little smirk that seems frozen on his face at this point suggests that perhaps he likes himself far too much.
I think George should seriously consider making some lightweight movies instead of all these Oscar-baits (Descendants, Up in the air, Ides of march, etc). Boring, boring, boring. And to be fair, he's not exactly a terrific actor...just fine but absolutely not transcendent in his performance. Give me Michael Fassbender or Peter Sasgaard anytime - these actors are so much more exciting to watch...
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