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EDITORIALS

Michael Clayton Being Re-Released in January

by Alex Billington
January 21, 2008

One of my favorite movies of 2007 is getting a second chance in the theaters. Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney and written/directed by first-time filmmaker Tony Gilroy, is being re-released on January 25th in approximately 1000 theaters across North America. Despite that it actually made $39 million in theaters during its October run last year, Warner Brothers has decided to push it out there again given all of the recent nominations and awards it has received. And let's take a guess and say that we might see it in the Oscar nominations that arrive this Tuesday.

Michael Clayton was originally released on October 5th last year and expanded into more theaters on October 12th. It has been named to more than 100 critics' top-ten lists, including our own Ken Evans. Writer/director Tony Gilroy has received nominations by the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America and the cast members have also received nominations by the Screen Actors Guild. In addition, Michael Clayton garnered five BAFTA Award nominations, for Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Wilkinson), Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton), Best Screenplay (Tony Gilroy) and Best Editing (John Gilroy). It also received four Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Picture - Drama, Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Wilkinson) and Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton).

Instead of listing out more random awards from around the world, I'm going to tell my own story about my experience seeing Michael Clayton. After seeing it for the first time back in September before the Toronto Film Festival, I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a brilliant legal film with great performances and an intricate plot. After I returned home from the Toronto Film Festival, I had the opportunity to see it again. Now here's where my situation had changed - at that point I was in the thick of a legal battle regarding the business end of the site. I had just met with some lawyers and was trying to figure everything out, which was all under way when I went to see Michael Clayton for the second time.

I'll tell you, the experience watching Michael Clayton with an actual legal battle on your back is vastly different. By the end of the movie I was off-edge and was a nervous wreck. It changed my mood entirely and although I still loved it because of how realistic it became, it had actually affected me in reality. I had never experienced such a drastic effect from a movie before and it still resonates with me today. This just goes to show how realistically portrayed and well-made Michael Clayton is - enough make a drastic impact on my own life.

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Tirrell

Why oh Why? Despite all the "rave" reviews Michael Clayton recieved it has a good story, BUT was an extremely boring movie. In fact I felt it was so boring that I nearly asked for my money back! What was Michael Clayton a broke ass lawyer, a firm fixer? Jaq's review of six out of ten stars on Michael Clayton in my opinion was very generous at best. There was really no guess work here, you knew he was gonna live because within the first five of ten minutes of the movie the told you. Warner Bros making a huge mistake by rereleasing such a boring film unless they add some additional footage that has Clayton brandishing some iron you won't see me there and you shouldn't either. My rating, 3.5 stars which means watch it on HBO if you get tired of watching Star Wars for the 50th time.
http://www.rowthree.com John

I'm really glad they are doing this. This movie is in my top 10. It has some amazing scenes (horse scene and end scene just two name two) and while it is a fairly straight forward story it is the characters and the feeling that just make me love it.
http://elkit.blogs.com Elke Sisco

Hooray! I'll definitely go see it again.
Young

I agree with Tirrell for the most part. The first and last quarters of the film were fantastic, but it tended to get boring and lose me during the middle. I think if some scenes were shortened, and the whole thing cut by half hour, even 20 mins, it would have been much better and definitely worthy of top-whatever lists. Despite that, the acting was brilliant and the plot was indeed intriguing. I don't think George can beat Daniel Day-Lewis for the Oscar though. Alex, I tend to like and trust your reviews much more than Jaq's, and I know what you mean by a film taking on a different and fuller meaning when one can personally relate to a film through a shared experience. Kudos!
Susan Allen

I loved this movie, but why the tacked on almost happy ending? I read several reviews after seeing it and didn't find any that found the ending a little too pat. I guess its just me. It was so wonderfully cynical and realistic that when it was all tied up in a nice bow at the end I was disappointed. I expected better. It was a excellent movie, hoever and Tom Wilkinson was wonderful. Go see it !