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| lady wakasa |
 Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:28 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:31 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Deleted because it's the wrong forum. |
Last edited by Marj on Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:34 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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lady wakasa wrote: Wrong place (errrg)
Me too! [errrg] |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:41 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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It's been a while since I saw "Michael Clayton," but I think the red and blue folders had a rationale--as I recall, the bad guys got all the red ones, but they didn't realize that the incriminating papers were in the blue folders as well, so they missed them.
I saw only three movies last year and haven't the time (or a working DVD player at the moment) to catch up, but I'll still be interested in seeing who win the Blanches. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:46 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| If I remember, the copy shop ran out of one color folder and switched to the other, but the bad guys didn't know that. In other words, it was sheer luck for Clayton. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:47 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Carina Chocano runs down the Best Actress nominees, "by default" (referring to the paucity of female-lead-driven films this year). Makes interesting observations about each nominee -- refreshed my faux-shame over not tossing my designated throwaway Blanche nomination to Gordon Pinsent over Frank Langella (except then, I remember Starting Out in the Evening, and I'm grateful to Befade for reminding me by default, tee-hee)
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/env-ca-criticscarina24feb24,0,2312481.story |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:06 am; edited 1 time in total
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:16 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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gromit wrote: I also didn't see the need for the opening scene and then a flashback to 4 days earlier. Anyone have insight on why they chose that structure?
I actually liked this part, because it brought you right into the movie without having to tell the story leading up to it. Then the flashback told how he got to that point. If they would have told the story, that might have lagged some without the "how did he get to this point?" intrigue that kept me watching to see how the story unfolded.
SLIGHT SPOLIER
As for Clayton himself. he didn't actually work for the law firm. He was a clean up guy. The contract guy that came in, took care of the mess, then collected his fee. His gambling, divorce, single dad status made him just a vulnerable as the corrupt business guys he dealt with.
END SPOILER
The final scene outside the deposition area with Karen and Michael was well done and exciting to watch. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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| Chilly - You've got a PM! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: gromit wrote: I also didn't see the need for the opening scene and then a flashback to 4 days earlier. Anyone have insight on why they chose that structure?
I actually liked this part, because it brought you right into the movie without having to tell the story leading up to it. Then the flashback told how he got to that point. If they would have told the story, that might have lagged some without the "how did he get to this point?" intrigue that kept me watching to see how the story unfolded.
SLIGHT SPOLIER
As for Clayton himself. he didn't actually work for the law firm. He was a clean up guy. The contract guy that came in, took care of the mess, then collected his fee. His gambling, divorce, single dad status made him just a vulnerable as the corrupt business guys he dealt with.
END SPOILER
The final scene outside the deposition area with Karen and Michael was well done and exciting to watch.
Michael Clayton is a superb movie in every way. It's beaufifully structured, gorgeously photographed, incisively written, strikingly directed, and magnificently acted.
IMO it's the best movie of this astounding year. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:41 pm |
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Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Definitely, Maybe is an odd film, a romance beginning with the marriage we're expecting ending in divorce. The marriage has resulted in a likable daughter (Abigail Breslin, good as always), who asks her father about how he met her mother and about other women he might have married. So, he makes a bet with her: there were three women who he came close to marrying, and he's going to change the names and see which one became her mother.
So we get the main part of the movie, which tells how his attraction to three very different women turned his life into an emotional pinball machine. This is set against the Clinton presidency, during which he gradually becomes disillusioned about Clinton (he started out as a campaign worker) and more practical about love. And since his daughter is very smart (but not annoyingly precocious), she detects things he didn't mean to let slip.
I did guess who the wife was before it was revealed, but it turns out that not really the point of this romantic mystery. The real point is surprisingly moving, and pretty well told. Ryan Reynolds doesn't have much charisma as a leading man, but Breslin is fine, and I really liked Isla Fisher as April, who is alternately a romantic interest and sparring partner, and Kevin Kline as a journalism professor who initiates his female students into journalism in his bed.
This isn't actually a romantic comedy, although it starts off looking like it's going that way. There's really quite a bit of pain and a lot of romance. It's not entirely successful, but it does overcome it's awkward premise and ultimately does work. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:17 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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chillywilly wrote: gromit wrote: I also didn't see the need for the opening scene and then a flashback to 4 days earlier. Anyone have insight on why they chose that structure?
I actually liked this part, because it brought you right into the movie without having to tell the story leading up to it. Then the flashback told how he got to that point. If they would have told the story, that might have lagged some without the "how did he get to this point?" intrigue that kept me watching to see how the story unfolded.
SLIGHT SPOLIER
As for Clayton himself. he didn't actually work for the law firm. He was a clean up guy. The contract guy that came in, took care of the mess, then collected his fee. His gambling, divorce, single dad status made him just a vulnerable as the corrupt business guys he dealt with.
END SPOILER
The final scene outside the deposition area with Karen and Michael was well done and exciting to watch.
Ditto. I also share its director's regret over the deleted scene between Michael Clooney and Rosemary Harris Jr. as Clayton's secret intra-office affair du charge, which drove the point home without underlining it.
billyweeds wrote:
Michael Clayton is a superb movie in every way. It's beaufifully structured, gorgeously photographed, incisively written, strikingly directed, and magnificently acted.
Uncle Kenneth agrees with you:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-ca-turanoscars24feb24,1,5200723.story |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:01 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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[quote="chillywilly"]gromit wrote: I also didn't see the need for the opening scene and then a flashback to 4 days earlier. Anyone have insight on why they chose that structure?
I actually liked this part, because it brought you right into the movie without having to tell the story leading up to it. Then the flashback told how he got to that point. If they would have told the story, that might have lagged some without the "how did he get to this point?" intrigue that kept me watching to see how the story unfolded....
Re: opening scene --
It's better to start a film with a BANG, not a whimper! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:04 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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[quote="chillywilly"]
SLIGHT SPOLIER
As for Clayton himself. he didn't actually work for the law firm. He was a clean up guy. The contract guy that came in, took care of the mess, then collected his fee.
END SPOILER
No, it seemed that he wasn't a regular employee in terms of job function and being retained long-term without being made a partner (law firms have an up-or-out ethos), but Pollack's character talks about Clayton as an employee, Clayton talks about transferring to a normal dept, and the U-North company finds Clayton as a member of the law firm in a computer search (which I took to be a search of the law firms website or other company info).
I guess it's possible that he was working/getting paid case-by-case, though if he was that valauble (and busy from what we see), he would most probably be salaried or on a retainer. Especially since he should be able to get a high-salary position elsewhere.
Not a big sticking point, just $75K for a high-powered long-term employee of a top firm seemed like peanuts. I understood the gambling and bad business investment was supposed to explain his lack of funds, but if it's only one or two month's salary ...
As for the folders, maybe I missed something, but Clayton at the end has a red folder, so who cares about the blue ones? |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:13 am |
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Location: Salt Lake City
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gromit wrote: ..but Pollack's character talks about Clayton as an employee, Clayton talks about transferring to a normal dept, and the U-North company finds Clayton as a member of the law firm in a computer search (which I took to be a search of the law firms website or other company info).
Yes, that is true. I forgot about that conversation he had towards the end, where he goes to pick up the check. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:01 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Michael Clayton is the most over-rated movie of the year, a tinny legal thriller full of familiar elements with a slick coating of message pic gravitas. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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