Michael Clayton
Went and saw Michael Clayton with George last night. I’ve now seen three of the nominated films and I liked this one the best so far. The performances were wonderful, the direction excellent and the script was a perfect little clockwork piece where everything was set up in advance so nothing came out of left field.
I am fascinated with structure — how books and movies and television series fit together, how one wrong piece can undermine an otherwise good piece of work, so when I see it done well it makes me want to stand up and cheer. I had that feeling last night. The first season of VERONICA MARS is another example, as is season five of BUFFY
The studio sent me NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, but I haven’t been able to face something so downbeat. I don’t think I can make it through THERE WILL BE BLOOD. I’ll wait for George to give me his report and then I’ll have several points of feedback.
Now we just have to wait and see if the strike gets settled and we actually have an Academy Awards.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I’ve also seen 3 of the 5 Oscar-nominated Best Pictures, and while Atonement is a classic best picture movie, I liked Michael Clayton very much. Clooney, Swinton and Wilkinson were just terrific, and I completely agree with you on the structure.
Juno was fun, but it’s very overrated. And Jason Reitman for Best Director…jeesh. What were they thinking?
I have little tolerance for bloody movies (Eastern Promises and American Gangster filled my quota) so I won’t see There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I’m glad to see someone else who likes season 5. It’s my favorite season of Buffy, closely followed by season 2 (which seemingly just about everyone likes).
Though I must say, now that I’ve watched season 6 all the way through, in chunks of two episodes at a time in close succession, I’m a lot more favorably impressed by it than I used to be, because I can see that it does have a continuing focus all the way through: the tragic working out of Willow’s act of hybris in the first episode. When I thought of Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew as the Big Bads of the story, as they imagined themselves to be, it held together a lot less well, despite having a couple of brilliant single episodes (”Once More, with Feeling” is the obvious one).
February 9th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Michael Clayton started strong but then blew the suspension of disbelief. Expert hit men — like the ones who make the first death look like an accident, which was very good — don’t blow up a guy’s car when they’re tasked to AVOID DRAWING ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES.
When you blow up a car, it sort of draws the eye. Nor can it be mistaken for an accident. If he’d been in the car, his body would have been identifiable. A burning car doesn’t destroy the corpse; it just makes it crispy, so you have to identify it from the dental work and/or DNA.
If you’re really desperate to kill someone, you “disappear” them. No body is ever found. That may look real suspicious but nothing can be proven — like Jimmy Hoffa.
And top-flight corporate lawyers don’t get attacks of nerves. They don’t -have- nerves.
Nor do they -suddenly discover- that they’re expected to do skanky stuff; if the company does that crap, they’re going to have been in on it for years.
Nor do they look like her. They look like 50+-year-old white guys who went to expensive schools.
And scuzzy corrupt fixers don’t suddenly have a road-to-Damascus conversion. They stay scuzzy and corrupt. By the time you’re 30, your personality is pretty well set.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I don’t agree. Everything was set up in for his conversion. He opened the restaurant because he wanted an escape hatch. He was clearly unhappy with his work before the movie started.
He had borrowed money from the Mob to open the restaurant, and he had a gambling problem which was well known. The Mob would blow up a guy who had failed to pay. It was widely known Clayton had gotten in Dutch with the Mob and not widely known that he had paid them off.
That’s why I liked the script so much. Everything is set up and put in motion in the first fifteen minutes. I liked the out of sequence structure of the movie and it worked better here than it did in ATONEMENT.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Precisely. I’m not an expert on the mob, but the blowing up the car made sense.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
BTW, Melinda, if you’re going to be home on Oscar night, I’ve suggested having an IRC or Skype chat during the ceremony (heck, maybe during the pre-show too). If you’re interested, check http://lauriemann.livejournal.com just before the Oscars to see where the chat will be.