Back-to-the-Movies Season Begins

It's been a long time with no movies. I tend not to be a summer moviegoer. Too many sunny days, too many hours available to sit outside and enjoy what's going on around me, whether it's on my back porch or at Caribou Coffee. And when you don't get much rain for months in the summer, well, the movies suffer.

But The Movie Season has begun in earnest. At the moment there are at least half a dozen movies I want to get to. So last Saturday my daughter and I started our movie season by going to see George Clooney's latest, Michael Clayton. With all the good reviews the quality did not come as any surprise. It has been fun watching Clooney develop into one of our top dramatic actors. His good looks give him that Cary Grant-kind of image. But, like Grant, he is much deeper than that.

Michael Clayton is a fixer for a law firm, the troubleshooter who, for reasons unknown, left being a trial lawyer to do this. He is weary, and in trouble himself. Where are his ethics? What will he do? How will he respond to his colleague's craziness? It is an intriguing mystery plot. It is well acted. There are three Oscar-level performances- Clooney, Tom Wilkinson as his colleague/friend, and Tilda Swinton as the opposing lawyer from the chemical/ag company.

Clooney is becoming a master at facial movements and expressions. There are a number of opportunities to watch him go through a range of emotions with no words. From beginning to end you can see the changes, the pains, the concerns. At the end of the movie (no spoiler here) you will have seen many sides of Michael Clayton and you will have walked with him knowing that any choice he could have made would have made sense. But that only the final one makes any difference in the end.

The moral discussions will continue around this movie but only because it is so well made, directed, and acted!