George Clooney's five best performances

I just watched Michael Clayton again. Found this second viewing just as entertaining as the first.

My fave GC film though is Out of Sight and a lot of that had to do with the on-screen chemistry between George and JLo. Also, the direction by Soderbergh - he did some things I had not seen in film before (as he did with Sex Lies & Videotape) which was refreshing.

1. Michael Clayton - I simply love this movie, and I think George mined the character for all it was worth. Very nuanced performance.

2. Syriana - He just embodied that role; there was no "George Clooney" to be seen.

3. Up in the Air - This should actually be The Descendants, because I think the acting was excellent in that one, but the voiceover detracted from it for me. Not that it was bad, it just paled in comparison to his wonderful performance on the screen. If you're going to do voiceover, that just can't happen.

4. The Descendants - see above.

5. Three Kings - I pick this over O, Brother simply because I prefer GC in dramatic roles. But he was very good in O, Brother, and really dedicated himself to the character. In Kings, he was emotional but controlled, which is what the story called for.

My runners-up would be O, Brother... ; Out of Sight; Good Night, and Good Luck (didn't make the primary list because of the relatively small role); One Fine Day; and Solaris.

I think it's telling that the consensus seems to be that he's gotten better as he gets older.

My top five performances
1. The Descendants
2. Up in the Air
3. Syriana
4. Michael Clayton
5. O brother
My top five favorites
1. Up in the Air
2. The Descendants
3. O brother
4. Out of Sight
5. Three Kings (or Ides of March or Ocean's 11 or One Fine Day?)
Havn't seen GNGL, Perfect Storm,Solaris,Good German,From Dusk Til Dawn,MM...

Oooh, I love it, love it, love it when someone brings up the old threads so we can talk it over again.    

I'm not sure that I've changed my mind since we first discussed this in 2011, despite George's later films getting better critical reviews. What I realise that I missed is that this is for George's best performances, which I think would be different from his best films, IMO anyway.

Katiedot wrote:Oooh, I love it, love it, love it when someone brings up the old threads so we can talk it over again.     

I'm not sure that I've changed my mind since we first discussed this in 2011, despite George's later films getting better critical reviews.  What I realise that I missed is that this is for George's best performances, which I think would be different from his best films, IMO anyway.

You got the point! So I listed two different lists.
Syriana and Michael Clayton are among his best performances, since I'm not American, this two films get me hard to understand what's happening with many lines or backgrounds. Ides of March is much easier as its plot isn't that complicated, and I do know something about election in US. However I can feel George's stunning performances in them. PS: I almost can't take Syriana, just feel really bad seeing him got tortured there. Because I know he got severely injured shooting that scene. Poor George.
The Descendants is the one got the most out of me in emotions. I think it's the performance of his career. Very touching, delicate and controlled performance in there. No "George" is seen on the screen. Definitely deserved an Oscar for that role.
Up in the Air is his perfect performance. I mean too perfect to impress. That role is just George, we can't separate them, or the Ryan guy just doesn't exist right from the beginning. So the difficulty there might be lacking a bit. I truly enjoy the film most. But that doesn't make it a better film than the Descendants. Just a bit shy of the whole directing or scripting skills.

I couldn't pick a favorite performance if you held a gun to my head! I find things I like in everything he does. Every time I think I've found my favorite, I think "Oh wait, he was really great in __, too". Hell, I even liked parts of his performance in the nipple movie - even though the film sucked! And I'm such a Philistine that I get a kick out of From Dusk Til Dawn, and watch it whenever it's on tv.
 Maybe one day he'll do something that really cheeses me off and I'll say, "Oh yeah, well you really sucked in ___", but I'm not holding my breath. 

you funny Liz   

Thanks, It's Me - but it's all true. I just can't make up my mind!