5Q Movie Review: Michael Clayton

Q: Who IS Michael Clayton, anyway?
A: Since you ask, he's one of those big-shot "fixer" attorneys that gets anything and everything done. Do fixers like this exist in real life or only in movies and TV? Seriously, I don't know. But Clayton is good at what he does, though he has some demons and some issues to work through. You know what, though, part of the intrigue of the film is that we don't really know all that much about him at first. In fact, with most of the characters, we get just enough info we really need to know, with a lot withheld, for plot considerations but also for the overall atmosphere.


Q: Clooney has talked about the desire of director Tony Gilroy to make a seventies-ish thriller. Did he succeed?
A: The movie does indeed play like a smart, moody adult-oriented thriller, the kind movie critics and people who see a lot of movies say they wish Hollywood produced more often. Gilroy does a fine job of creating that dark, tense atmosphere with the camerawork, editing, and use of sound. Scenes become more unsettling and realistic with long takes or silence.

Q: Ah, so Clooney didn't direct this one? Gee, the way this was promoted, you'd think he did. That's all I was hearing about with this one, is Clooney this, Clooney that.
A: Hey, he is a movie star, after all, and that's how they sell the movies. Clooney is front and center in the marketing of this picture, and by all accounts, he did play a key creative role in the making of it, so it's no big deal. Gilroy sure seems to know what he's doing, though. But isn't it interesting to note the possibility that people see the name "George Clooney" and EXPECT an intelligent film?

But give Clooney credit for a fine performance of his own--check out the way he handles a scene with Tom Wilkinson, a colleague who jeopardizes the firm's huge deal by apparently going nutso in the middle of a deposition, explaining himself. His reactions show conflicted emotions, restraint, frustration...I really enjoyed Clooney's nontheatrical but intense acting in this movie. Long way from the classic head tilt/rakish grin combo used so often on "ER."

Q: This is one of those "fracture time" screenplays, huh? Is this a convoluted, gimmicky story?

A: At this point, it takes more balls to just tell a story in order than to "play with time." At times I can't help but feel "Michael Clayton" is doing this to spice up what is ultimately a rather standard plot. The machinations of Corporate America don't provide fresh villainy here (with one exception I'll get to in a minute), and the story just doesn't grip the way you'd like to. I think the movie features stellar craft and acting, but I was disappointed by the plot and particularly the cheap denouement (though a fantastic final shot salvages the overall ambiguous tone and nearly makes you forget it).

I do give credit to Tilda Swinton, who plays a shady suit with a startling vulnerability. Kudos to the filmmakers for showing a person who does some unsympathetic things in a multifaceted light. Much time is spent, for example, showing her practicing a presentation, sweaty and anxious. Plus the character's storyline is resolved in a way that really surprised me because it's not often you see it happen to a realistic female character. Academy, are you searching for actress nominations? Here you go.

Q: Shouldn't Sydney Pollack be in every movie?
A: Yes, he should. He instantly raises the credibility of anything he's in. Here, as Clayton's boss, he doesn't even DO all that much, when you reflect on it, but move the plot forward a few times and generally be authoritative. But, oh, how he sells that authority. Very few movies could not use a touch of that. Maybe Spider-Man 4 could be redeemed by Sydney Pollack as some kind of crime boss.

This Week in DVD

Yes, just a few days before Black Friday, a day when retailers tried to lure shoppers in by discounting some recent DVDs, the studios gave us some brand-new discs, including the following:

Live Free or Die Hard: Wow, I saw less movies this summer than I have in probably over 10 years. Case in point: This fourth installment in the series, a movie which I really did want to see even though I feared it could never live up to the first two and that it could, in fact, very well suck. But I didn't see it, so I have nothing intelligent to say about this one. I can, however, report that my dad saw it last week and thought it was pretty good.

Hairspray: You know, that "didn't see many movies" excuse may not hold up because while I didn't get around to seeing the Die Hard flick...I did see this one! Hey, don't judge me. It was Date Night with my wife, OK? Besides, this was an enjoyable musical that did exactly what it set out to do: provided a few hours of feel-good entertainment without burdening folks too much with the Serious Message underneath it all. If you're into musicals, 60s dance shows, or Travolta in drag, check this one out.

Rescue Dawn: Acclaimed director Werner Herzog received fine critical notices for this gripping wartime rescue drama...but 5 years from now, it'll still probably be remembered as the movie in which Christian Bale ate bugs for real.

Love, American Style Season 1 Part 1: This will be a rental for me, not a buy, but I'm sure glad Paramount is putting it out there. I wonder how big this anthology show's profile is today, when it's not syndicated and if people remember it, it's likely for the fact that it gave us a "Happy Days" pilot and for its catchy theme song ("truer than the red, white, and blu-hoo-hoo!"). I barely remember the reruns, but I do know this: One of the episodes in this set features both Harrison Ford AND Norman Fell. 'Nuff Said!

Dr. Katz: The Complete Series: Hey, great move to get the rest of the episodes out there...except for the fans who already bought the first two seasons.

Mission Impossible Season 3: Hey, you guys know about these releases, right? The episodes look great and are uncut. Presumably they're selling well enough for Paramount to shell out for a few extra features. Come on, guys!

Things to be UNgrateful for

This week, we hear a lot of talk about the things for which should be thankful, etc. To that, I say, Bah Humbug! And if you think I'm too early with THAT one, you missed the memo, bub, because judging by the streets I drive down, Christmas Season now starts November 1.

Sure, I have many great things going on in my life, and I also appreciate many of the finer aspects of pop culture, the treasures that make my leisure time so enjoyable. But there are a lot of factors that certainly deserve griping about. Here are some items I am NOT grateful for:

*Movie ticket prices seem to rise twice a year now.
*The prospect of studios holding back on DVD content to save it for a "high-def" format.
*Studios still, in this day and age, selling movies in full-frame format that doesn't reflect the original aspect ratio.
*For that matter, TV stations showing butchered versions of movies...and getting away with it.
*The music industry still doesn't seem to know how to get its act together and just consistently give me decent albums at reasonable prices.
*The fact there are no decent record stores around anymore.
*Television networks cluttering their screens with station ID bugs, animated ads, and other garbage that prevents me from focusing on what it is they're showing.
*That despite the obscene amount I pay for cable TV, most of those channels still recycle the same crap programming all day, then fill the schedule out with infomercials.
*The continuing decline of once-great cable channels like AMC, TV Land, and VH-1 Classic.
*That there is no classic television equivalent of Turner Classic Movies: A 24-hour network devoted to showing uncut, commercial-free TV of the past.
*Comic book prices are way too high.
*The "write for the trades" system prevalent at the major comics publishers that dictates stories stretch over 5 or 6 issues.
*Websites that load up with elaborate graphics and bells and whistles--usually to support ads--as if users all had superfast Internet connections.
*The ugly threat of censorship hovering over so much of the media these days...along with the hypersensitivity of interest groups looking to gain publicity by launching a "hit" on someone who says something with which they disagree.

Cheery holiday to you, too, eh? Hey, these are just SOME of the things that bug me. Maybe you have some of your own. If so, let 'em fly. Just because it's Thanksgiving doesn't mean we have to be thankful for everything.

First Impulse: Top 50 TV Icons

OK, so last week Entertainment Weekly and TV Land unveiled their list of the top 50 TV icons in a two-hour special, with 100-51 posted on the web. As soon as the project was announced, I had a feeling the result would irritate me, yet I knew I'd end up watching it.

I was correct on both counts.

I know there are people at EW with a sense of history, and I know there USED TO BE people at TV Land that thought the same (back before "Extreme Home Makeover" was deemed worthy of their schedule), and these are supposed to be the top icons of all time. But the list seems heavy on more recent, arguably less enduring personalities and characters.

I know I'm a grumpy old man in a not-really-that-old body, so I am supposed to bitch about this sort of thing. But my wife is neither grumpy old nor not-really-that-old nor old at all, and before I even said anything to her, she saw the cover of the EW issue that contained the magazine story and told me, "I don't think JENNIFER ANISTON is one of the top 50 icons of anything."

Exactly, my dear. Exactly.

So before I looked at the mag or looked online for the list (and I still haven't done either), I watched the TV show. Number 50 was Larry Hagman. That's fine. J.R. Ewing is one of the best characters in TV history, and besides, his segment gave them a chance to run an old "Sea Hunt" clip. Of course, this had the effect of making me with TV Land would show stuff like "Sea Hunt" again instead of "Designing Women" and "Just Shoot Me."

But when I saw #49, I couldn't help but echo it with an anguished yell: "Calista Flockhart!?" Absurd. I jokingly took the remote and stopped the recording, acting like I was gonna leave the couch and stop watching. My wife and I had a chuckle, and then I restarted the special.

Cue #48. Cue me: "Jimmy Smits!?" My wife grabbed the remote before I could stop the recording again.

As the list went on, most selections made sense as significant icons, if not their placement. I'm trying to remove my own biases here, but Carson #1? I don't think so. He's overrated, for one thing, and for another, he coasted for years. His influence was undeniable, but will it endure past this generation? I'd put him top 10, but not so high.

Oprah #3? No way. Most of the top 10 was at least a little more sensible than Oprah.

I expected to see a slant towards more recent personalities, and that did happen to an extent. Eventually, though, even TV Land and Entertainment Weekly had to concede that, yep, a lot of old people from black and white TV shows were important. Lucille Ball was #2, and I am not a huge fan, but I think she should be easily in the top handful. Jackie Gleason, who had a profound historical impact on the medium, is too low at 13.

Carol Burnett above Mary Tyler Moore? Not in my book. Henry Winkler at 32? Way too low. The Fonz will be an enduring icon for decades to come. Heather Locklear is 25, but Bob Denver is nowhere to be found? Kermit but no Big Bird? Arguable, perhaps. I didn't expect old-schoolers like Ernie Kovacs or Dave Garroway or Steve Allen (who, to be fair, was mentioned in the David Letterman segment), but how about Bob Hope? I wouldn't expect nods for acclaimed pioneering writers like Paddy Chayefsky or Sterling Silliphant, but how about a writer who became a TV star himself--Rod Serling? Barbara Walters but no Mike Wallace? What about Merv Griffin?

Where the heck is David Janssen? George Clooney seems included only because of his movie fame. His ER run wasn't even as long as one might think.

I could gripe for pages and pages, but the point is that the list reflects the decline of TV Land. At the risk of taking this basically frivolous two hours of light entertainment wayyyy too seriously, I have to complain. TV Land used to stand for TV history and heritage. Even if it was a marketing gimmick, it lived its gimmick and lived it well. Now it's a shell of itself, and we can't even count on it to provide a list-type show with integrity. Granted, there were some big nods to history on this list, but the overall package doesn't do justice to the medium.

I expect better from you, Entertainment Weekly, even though you seem to gradually be dumbing down your magazine. I've pretty much given up on TV Land.

5Q Movie Review: Gone Baby Gone

Q: Ben-Lo is directing a movie? Puh-leez. What does that lunkhead know about directing a movie?
A: Hey, the guy hasn't dated J-Lo for years. He's moved on, married Jennifer Garner, and had a child with her, and I suggest you do the same. At least the moving on part.

Affleck is an easy target due to all the crap movies he's been in, but if he is pretending to be the sincere filmmaker he comes off as in interviews and in shows like the late, lamented "Project Greenlight," then he's one hell of an actor. With "Gone Baby Gone," Affleck creates a fine movie, guiding a veteran cast to great performances, successfully navigating a complex story, and providing vivid atmosphere. I'll look forward to seeing what he directs next.

Q: This sounds like a pretty dark movie, one in which a private dick tries to find a kidnapped baby. Is this the dark noirish thriller it sounds like?
A: I'm not familiar with the source material, Dennis Lehane's novel of the same name, but while this one starts out as that kind of gritty crime film I was hoping for, it actually transcends that somewhat. It never loses its authentic grimness, but it ultimately engages you with moral questions and becomes far more thought-provoking than you could imagine after reading a simple synopsis--unless you read something that delves into the plot and spoils it for you. I ain't gonna do that here.

Q: Did Affleck choose to adapt this particular book only because it's set in Boston? A: Maybe. But his passion for the city and for bringing it to the big screen is evident, and it validates his choice. It's that atmosphere I mentioned earlier. We've seen Boston and its sports teams and their often-insufferable fans all over the media landscape recently, but arguably not the way it is presented here. This isn't the Hah-vahd, wine and cheese, donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to John Kerry Bahstan. It's a more menacing urban environment, and in this case, it's white, not particularly "ethnic," and decidedly working class. Many of the faces you see in this movie are not the kind you normally see in Hollywood pictures. Affleck also makes good use of many small, not-so-well-lit cramped interiors to show us the confinement one can feel in a lower-class urban environment, as well as a sense of claustrophobic menace facing the characters.

Q: Well, I can at least rip on Ben for casting his brother in the lead, can't I? Come on, at least give me that.
A: Nope, sorry. I hadn't been much impressed by Casey Affleck before seeing this film, but he shines in Gone Baby Gone, giving an emotional performance that seems rooted in reality. He vividly depicts moral anguish without the twitches of, say, Giovanni Ribisi. And while your first reaction might be that Casey, who plays a private investigator hired to investigate the missing baby; and Michelle Monaghan, as his girlfriend, will be blown off the screen by heavyweights like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman...well, that's kind of the point. Their characters are young and a little foolish and in over their heads.

And even if you aren't wowed by the youngsters, you have Harris and Freeman and even John Ashton in a smaller but crucial role. And the real standout is Amy Ryan as the baby's mother. She is an accomplished pro, but someone like me who knows her mainly as Beadie on The Wire will be stunned by how she inhabits such a hard-edged character. She should be recognized come awards season.

Q: If this is so good, how come nobody saw it? It was in theaters for, like, two weeks.
A: Ah, because people are idjits?

Well, I don't know how much of a push this got, but it is a grim drama without an obvious marketing hook except to Dennis Lehane fans. Don't worry about box office numbers. Adult movie fans should enjoy this. Director Ben Affleck does a fine job, turning this movie--at about the time of a well-placed false finish--from a solid crime thriller to a meditation on morality. The overall product compares favorably to Clint Eastwood's acclaimed Lehane adaptation of a few years back--"Mystic River."

Journey into DVD: The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

Sure, this post may be a few weeks late for Halloween, but really, is it ever too late for Paul Lynde? I think not, and that's why on this Journey into DVD I report on my experience watching this 1976 kitschfest, recently extracted from the bootleg circuit and given a legit release by S'More Entertainment.

When you put this disc in, you see a disclaimer stating that the special was long thought lost, someone found it, and now you're going to see it, but it's in crummy condition, so don't write the company asking for a refund. Well, not in so many words, but since the visual quality is somewhat akin to a third-generation VHS dub, S'More is a bit defensive. I doubt this looks much better than most of those bootlegged copies that circulate, but, hey, why quibble? This is a piece of history, and whoever supposedly "found" it should be hailed as the pop cultural Howard Carter he is, not jeered because he couldn't come up with a pristine copy.

You are either willing to sit down and watch something called The Paul Lynde Halloween Special or you are not. Modern TV audiences aren't exposed to the prime time network variety special much, but back in the day, it was quite common to see a celebrity play host to musicians, comedians, and other performers, often in a winking fashion. In this 1976 ABC TV special, Paul is supposedly at his home, preparing for Halloween, when some kind of goofy plot sets him out with his housekeeper to her sister's house. Guess what? His housekeeper is Margaret Hamilton, and she and her sister are...witches! Halloween ensues.

This is not just of interest for Paul Lynde fans, but for fans of the entire decade of the seventies--all couple hundred of you. Maybe you hated the seventies and need a reminder or you relish the chance to mock that period again. If so, here's enough ammo to last you until the latest of that era's several dozen revivals goes away again.

These are just some of the Seventies Hallmarks covered in the Paul Lynde Halloween Special:

*Lynde himself: While this isn't just for Lynde fans, you sure ought to be one if you want to watch this. He's not as sarcastic as he in on Hollywood Squares, but he is--well, he's Paul Lynde. As the center of the special, though, he has to play more of a--pardon the expression--straight man. Everyone even then knew that Lynde was, as Peter Marshall puts it in a DVD extra, "obviously, um, gay," but even without that level of awareness, the sequence where he plays a Rudolph Valentino type seducing Florence Henderson is so good it's bad--even if it knows it's bad. All that irritation we jaded audiences get today at excessive irony and winking goes out--way out--the closet when seeing vintage Paul Lynde.

*KISS: This appearance is amusing on many levels. The thought of KISS fans tuning into a Paul Lynde special isn't even as funny as the thought of KISS fans, years later, actually making efforts to obtain copies of the special. It's hardly surprising, though, that a band that actively markets a KISS coffin would hustle its albums by popping up on this kind of show. And really, while for many bands it would be odd to follow a square dance number by playing engulfed in fog in a witches' castle, that's par for the course for these guys. I got to admit, though, the fact that they sit around and chat with Paul and Margaret Hamilton--yeah, that's kind of odd.

*Truckin': Any self-respecting trendwatcher who was around back in the day knows you can't Keep on Truckin' without a cool handle and a CB radio. Lynde lives up to our expectations, appearing in one segment as a truck driver named Big Red. His convoy is big enough for guest star Tim Conway, and I swear that's not meant as a euphemism.

*Roz "Pinky Tuscadero" Kelly: Those who didn't grow up in the Seventies will be hard-pressed to understand exactly what Roz Kelly's appeal was. Those who DID grow up in the Seventies will, uh, be equally hard-pressed to explain it. Well, she was sassy. She gets to sing, dance, and be sassy with Paul in this special.

*Bruce Vilanch: OK, not really a Seventies Hallmark, but I feel obligated to mention his involvement as a credited writer.

If that's not enough far-out grooviness for you, consider the references to Bugsy Malone and to something being "too much Alice Cooper, not enough Alice Faye.

We're not missing much of the Seventies here. Presumably skits about gas shortages and Vietnam were considered but didn't make the cut. Fear not, though, watching The Paul Lynde Halloween Special will not put you in a general malaise. I recommend you pick this one up, poor video quality and all, and supplement the Great Pumpkin with the Great...eh, I'm not going there.

Kudos to S'More for filling out the 50-minute special with some extras to add value to the DVD. The best is an enlightening 12-minute audio interview with Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall covers that game show, thought to be the pinnacle of Lynde's career. There's a still gallery of Paul's life for those who are into that sort of thing. It's presented as a "scrapbook," which makes the pictures a little too small and harder to appreciate than they should be.

Also on there is a selection of Lynde quotes and a "Name That Quip" challenge in which you're given the setup in the form of a Hollywood Squares question, then must choose which of 3 zingers Paul gave. This one goes on and on and on, and I eventually bailed out after about 30. For the record, I scored about 75%, and while I don't know if that's any good, I have a vague feeling I shouldn't be admitting it in public.

This is a must-see DVD for fans of Paul Lynde, fans of the 1970s, and fans of megacheesy pop culture. I imagine there's a lot of crossover among those groups. They'll all be happy with this one.