Flickr/Martin de Witte
Not since Jude Law’s epic release of six movies in the fall of 2004 (“I Heart Huckabees,” “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Alfie,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Closer” and “The Aviator,” and yes, we saw ALL of them in the theater) have we seen a Hollywood actor so ambitious at the box office in such a short period of time. This go around, it’s our man George Clooney, and he’s riding high these days with three big name movies in theaters. Since it’s Thanksgiving week and you’re already planning on visiting the family, why not make an afternoon of it and take in a little GC? You know you love him– and even more than Jude Law.
“The Men Who Stare at Goats” (Nov. 6). Paranormal powers in the U.S. military– could it be true? Well of course it could be true; this is George Clooney we’re talking about. It’s that time of year for another politically-themed flick from GC (think: “Burn After Reading,” “The Good German” and “Syriana”), and this one’s got Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges too.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Nov. 25). When Wes Anderson meets Roald Dahl, it could never be a bad thing. Especially when you’ve got Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray voicing characters alongside Clooney. And even more especially when the flick is created with stop-motion animation; that is, the puppets are moved ever so slightly in between frames to come off like a flip book. Kudos to Anderson; we’re on board with this one.
“Up in the Air” (Dec. 25). Hm…a heartfelt and funny-ish drama? It’s not really what we tend to expect from GC these days. Give us Iraq movies or even “ER” finale appearances and we’re comfortable, but “Up in the Air” has us taken aback a bit. We’ll reserve judgment for now, but we’re at least happy to see Jason Bateman costarring. And hey, it’s a Christmas release– better this than something too heavy for Grandma.
