mathomas-28053 This is a spectacularly good film about a character very much like Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer/fixer. I watch it at least once a year, it's that good. I can't help but wonder, as I write in 2018, whether the makers of this film knew about Michael Cohen and decided he would make an interesting character for a movie. Clooney's fixer is getting older, wondering if the dirty dealers who've used him all their lives will now stand beside him in his retirement. He knows where ALL the bodies are buried, so they'll support him. Right? And of course, their betrayal of him is a surprise to no one except him, very much like Trump and Cohen. That is not a spoiler, because in the very first half-hour of the movie Clayton is nearly killed by a car bomb , which opens up the narrative question "What's going on here?" and "Who exactly wants him dead?" Questions Michael Cohen (are the similar names a coincidence?) may well be asking as he prepares to flip on Trump and testify in the polonium-filled atmosphere of today's Washington-Moscow connection.

Richie-67-485852 Clooney can carry a movie and make us believe the character no problem. He does his work here and it is satisfying. Along the way, we get a decent story, some suspense and even a few questions but take heart it is all answered in the end leaving us content. Interesting take on being called a "fixer" which I am sure most attorneys qualify for to some degree. To be able hush something up, play it down or have it dismissed is worth paying for and there is a market for that no problem. Notice too that there is a lawsuit in this movie with the stakes being about three billion dollars and to what ends or limits people go to for that type of money is portrayed. It never fails to bring out the worse in people. So does power of which this movie demonstrates. I actually knew of attorney for a very powerful man whose son committed a murder-rape. It made all the papers and was tragic to read about. The attorney could do nothing to help his son but the man he worked for could. One day, not only did this disappear out of the newspapers after a few weeks but also went off the radar screens everywhere. It was fixed! That is what fixers do and you learn that everything in life is negotiable. Its finding that way that is daunting but doable. Have something to eat while watching and then choose a snack to offset the tension here and there at times. Include a tasty drink too. One last thing...they could have come up with a better title

classicsoncall Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a 'fixer'. He fixes other people's messes. If he can't do it himself, he knows who to get in touch with. In a gangster film, he might have been a 'cleaner', removing the stench and debris of a hit once a job took place. The movie actually has a couple of cleaners who double as electronics experts and private detectives. They're not nice guys, they can be persuaded to take out anyone if the price is right, as long as there's no ambiguity in the assignment.This is a finely woven story, intricately plotted and told in somewhat of a flashback style until prior events catch up with real time right after Clayton's car is blown up. I don't understand the reviewers who claim that they couldn't follow the story, it's actually laid out pretty well. I've said it before, sometimes paying attention goes a long way. This film is certainly not as complex as Clooney's 2005 film "Syriana", so if you had trouble with this one, don't even bother with the earlier picture.One thing I didn't get though, and I WAS paying attention, was why Michael would have sicced his eight year old son on Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) to instruct him in the Conquest role playing game. That didn't connect with anything, other than Arthur's own descent into delusion while refusing to take his medication. Also, I thought the story line could have done a better job of fleshing out Arthur's relationship with Anna (Merrit Wever), one of the U/North plaintiffs. Did Arthur see her as a romantic interest, or was he solely disgusted with the cover up of U/North's toxic culcitate and the lethal damage their clients were exposed to? In the end I guess it doesn't matter, but it might have explained his paranoia a bit better.On a personal level, what I found particularly interesting were some of the filming locations which were used in the environs outside New York City. That view of the overhead rail trestle near the spot where Michael stopped to view the horses is along a stretch of country road near Salisbury Mills, New York; it's known as the Moodna Viaduct and serves as a commuter and transport line. The house where Michael's brother Gene (Sean Cullen) lived is located in the Worley Heights section of Monroe, New York, about a ten minute drive from the trestle. And director/screenwriter Tony Gilroy slipped in a reference to Washingtonville Central as the place where Michael Clayton went to high school, but it's his own Alma mater! All are located in Orange County, New York where I've lived all my life, so that was like getting a bonus while watching a picture that was already entertaining on it's own merits.

witherby23 "Successful white men in thrillingly unique situations, starring George Clooney performing ordinary acts like pressing car alarms or having stare competitions with his costarring, monologuing actors." Is a clearer,more edited title, if there be a soul,dwelling on our shared rock whizzing through infinite dim unknowns, has a pinch of curiosity to thy above summary. A summary that, in my worthless opinion, encapsulates this two hour background nose for my grandma who can't fall asleep without a television within twelve feet of her. Bright Points! It is a interesting complex, carefully complicated, Hollywood built script; but with 2007 Hollywood comes all its districts, embarrassingly blatant jelly rolls. What I mean by this is mainly based off the films white washed cast, headed by Mr.A lister, George Clooney, as his salt & pepper sexy self, but this time he's "fixer" with some deep down feelings behind his big beautiful soul windows! For whatever reason just about every character is built with their own outer brash confidence, shown through intense star downs and hard monologues that everyone totally kills. Last words: Interesting story, if you want to get into it, but don't be in a rush to throw "Michael Clayton" at the top of your watch list.