Saw this last night at one of the local independent theaters in town. I swear it only stayed a week or two at the big theaters back in October.

I thought it was a great flick. Good to know that the intellectual thriller is alive and well. I've read reviews that say it's a throwback to 70's paranoid thrillers like "All the President's Men" and "Three Days of the Condor", etc, but it's very much of today. Even though it's written and directed by Tony Gilroy, it seems to me that Steven Soderbergh's(exec producer) fingerprints are all over it.

Themes of man vs the corporate machine, morality/ethics vs immorality/greed, and examining where ethical corruption can lead. I loved the grey areas that it deals with and the open-ended ending.

I think this sucker will be recognized come Oscar time. Maybe not Best Pic but I think Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton could be up for Best Supporting Actor nods, especially Wilkinson, who steals every scene he's in. It should also at the very least be up for, and favored, to win Best Original Screenplay.

Finally, George Clooney. This guy just can't miss these days it seems. FemDerris and I were talking about his performance and we can't decide if he is merely an okay actor who makes genius role/project choices or if he has brilliantly carved out his niche as the everyman with understated performances. Much like Cary Grant who always seemed to be the same guy. Both give understated performances that, even though they are the lead role, only serve to help the story and put focus on the supporting characters. We tried to think of some movies where he was something other than either "smooth George Clooney" (Oceans 11-13, Intolerable Cruelty) or "dark George Clooney" (Syriana, Michael Clayton) or both (Good Night and Good Luck). The only one we could think of was "O Brother..." . We compared his acting to Javier Bardem in "No Country For Old Men". I completely forget that it's Bardem in that role and I just see the psychopath he's playing. I never seem to forget that it's George Clooney.

Anyway, just some shit I was thinking about. Regardless, well worth the $7.50 I spent to see it.

Yeah, it was good. I wish Hollywood would make more movies like this. Intelligent, entertaining, etc. Not every movie needs to make $300 million at the box office. Isn't it all about profit margin?

Haven't caught it yet but I'm a huge fan of how Clooney has managed his career. He makes a film for the box office taking advantage of his celebrity draw, then turns around & sinks the profits into a project that otherwise would never get made. He's stealing from the masses & giving to the filmies. Unlike Sean Penn, George knows in order to be the anti Will Smith, sometimes you have to be Will Smith.

Wilkinson always delivers.

Best supporting actor is going to be rather crowded this year, though -- Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild), Andy Griffith (Waitress), & as you mention, though I don't quite see it in the same league as the two aforementioned performances, Tom Wilkinson. Griffith might fall behind Wilkinson, though, since I see Waitress getting the awards nod for Keri Russell's lead portrayal, & possibility either a posthumous director nom for Adrienne Shelly or best original screenplay win for same.

Best supporting actress is Patricia Clarkson's to lose. Lars & the Real Girl should finally earn PC the award she deserved for Pieces of April and should well have gotten for The Station Agent.

I'm glad to hear this is worth seeing. From one of the adds I saw, it looked more like a male Erin Brockovich, sans push-up bra.

Smith's people gonna push him for an Oscar for I Am Legend.
Which surprises me. Maybe it means the movie is darker than the suits wanted so PR is switching to "powerful performance by" gameplan.

Neither Clooney's Michael Clayton nor Will Smith's John Legend will factor into Best Actor. Christian Bale has that locked-up with his performance in Rescue Dawn.

Probably, but Clooney will be a presidential candidate sometime in the next 20 years.

George "Grandpa Munster" Clooney??

I just watched that and his performance was good but the movie as a whole was kind of boring. It's like Missing In Action with better actors. Also, it's a bit misleading as to how the other P.O.W.'s were portrayed.

Gosh, timmy, that's Cadillac. I hope you meant:



If Grudent just knew how to use him.

Roy Williams says the same thing.

I didn't even check the number, it just came up on the google image search.

And you wonder why your posts get deleted.

Good job adding to the thread though.

I'm still waiting on your "Thoughts on Wild Hogs" thread.

Really interested in seeing this. I am, of course, years behind on acclaimed films, but...

Are you a dick in real life, or do you just let your balls hang out in the internet?

you have got to be shitting me


What is the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air doing that's so great in this rehash of 28 Days Later. This movie looks fucking terrible.

lol. now thats funny.

Not for nuthin', but my company created the logo and commercial that is shown in the movie.

That scene in Times Square? I was there for the filming as a consultant to make sure that the logo aspect ratio looked correct.

And fucking be nice to timmyjoe.

Don't like Clooney much, but I'll be seeing this tonight. Hopefully it won't be a huge disappointment like that piece of shit American Gangster was.

great movie, imo

this seemed like my kind of movie

but i got a little bored in parts, and it didnt live up to my expectations

it was still good, just not great