Rita Recommends… three by George Clooney

If you are one of the many fans who swoon at the sight of George Clooney, there are plenty of flicks to get your just delights such as Michael Clayton (2007) and Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000) You can also see his smart side in his directorial debut, Goodnight and Good Luck. (2005) Let’s start with Michael Clayton, George is looking a little grizzled and haggard here. That’s because he’s burnt out from being the “fixer” for his law firm while coming to the assistance of his colleague, Arthur who has a nervous breakdown. Plus, he needs to keep the loan sharks are bay to pay off his brother’s debt. The film also stars academy award winner, Tilda Swinton, as the corrupt corporate counsel, Karen Crower. This is a solid, entertaining escapade that will keep you guessing until the ending credits.

Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? is a zany, steeped in sepia film by the Coen Brothers, one of the few movies of theirs that I can look out without averting my eyes. As usual, their film has spectacular visuals and catchy, folkloric southern songs that punctuate the film. Ever so loosely based on the Odyssey, (I should know, I had to read it in college.) our beloved George plays Everett Ulysses McGil. He is part of a chain-gang in 1930s Mississippi. He and his fellow inmates, Delmar and Pete (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) escape incarceration and among other things, face a series of eccentric characters and a KKK lynch mob. (one of the more spectacular scenes in the film) This is a wonderfully quirky movie, especially notable for its music, its historical setting, and George is funny and handsome, looking very much like a classical Hollywood actor from the golden years of film.

Last but not least, there is the stark black and white film Good Night, and Good Luck in which George directed. In it, he pays tribute to Edward R. Murrow, considered to be one of the best TV journalists. Murrow (David Strathairn) faces down Senator McCarthy, a powerful and bullying man who engaged in a witch hunt of American citizens accused of being Communists. Murrow and his CBS team expose the lies of McCarthy and bring about an end to his fear tactics.