Tag: George Clooney
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The chemistry only goes one way in The Coen Brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty
Intolerable Cruelty is usually found at or near the bottom of Best-to-Worst films by the Coen Brothers: #15 of 15, by David Haglund for Slate #10 of 15, by Ann Hornaday for The Seattle Times #13 of 14, by Andrew Osborne for Nerve You get the idea. But Intolerable Cruelty is the movie for you…
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Death Has No Dominion in Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris
As a huge title card reads immediately at the end of the film, Solaris was “written for the screen and directed by Steven Soderbergh.” I am a big admirer, but that seemed a bit egotistical even to me. Perhaps an overenthusiastic end-credits designer is to blame? Or maybe the studio wanted to capture some more…
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The Coen Brothers confound expectations, as usual, with Burn After Reading
Although every Coen Brothers film is unmistakably theirs alone (can the Auteur Theory apply to more than one person at once?), Joel and Ethan have a reputation for rarely making the films audiences want or expect from them at any given time. After Fargo, when everybody wanted another snowy midwestern noir, Joel and Ethan gave…
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Michael Clayton confronts Shiva the God of Death
Michael Clayton is a that rare thing: an intelligent, fictional thriller for grownups. Like any self-respecting Thriller for Grownups, it’s relentlessly grim in tone, the chronology is fractured, and a high level of detail demands your attention. It doesn’t approach impenetrability like Syriana, but it unfortunately doesn’t engage the brain as much as a good…