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George Clooney is no stranger to sizzling up the screen and with Up in the Air, he’s at his best as Ryan Bingham, a management consultant who specialises in firing people for companies looking to downsize (well, if we were going to get fired, we’d want it to be done by someone ‘memorable’ at least). Bingham’s work requires him to travel around the world and he’s set himself a personal goal: to travel ten million miles using his frequent flyer account so that he’s granted entry into an elite club. His plan seems to be unfolding nicely until new recruit, Natalie (Anna Kendrick) enters the picture with a revolutionary plan: to introduce video links destined to squash Bingham’s past and future flying work. Desperate to deter Natalie from carrying out her long-term plans, he talks his way into one last trip where he intends to show her the ropes and persuade her to ditch her plan. Along the way, he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), a beautiful fellow traveller that captures his attention. Up in the Air relies a lot on the fact that Clooney is just so likable and handsome and witty and… you get the picture. Now that we were in a bit of a Clooney zone, we thought we’d better brush up on our Clooney movie history.  One Fine Day combines two of the most beautiful people ever seen on the big screen: Clooney (of course) and Michelle Pfeiffer. Melanie Parker (Pfeiffer) is a career-minded single mother in New York. Her job as an architect is very demanding and she finds herself spread thinly between her job and her son, Sammy (Alex D. Linz). Meanwhile, Jack Taylor (Clooney) juggles his job as a newspaper-columnist working on a massive story about City Hall around his need to spend some quality time with his daughter, Maggie (Mae Whitman) when she’s with him on weekends. When Melanie and Jack’s worlds collide on one fateful day, the only things they seem to have in common are their ringing mobile phones and their dislike of one another. But when they begin to put aside their differences, they soon find that their lives are far more similar than they first thought. Both are single parents trying to maintain a relationship with their children while also having careers. After a disastrous day together, they might just be coming to their senses. Sure, this may be one of those lovey dovey rom-coms, but sometimes, it’s just what you need!  Intolerable Cruelty sees Clooney team-up with another beautiful leading lady, Catherine Zeta Jones. Clooney plays Miles Massey, a divorce attorney that believes only one thing is a certainty when two people are getting married: they must have signed a pre-nup. Miley manages to prevent notorious gold-digging queen Marylin Rexroth (Zeta-Jones) from walking away from her marriage to Mr Rexroth (Edward Herrman) with his entire fortune (given that her husband’s proven cheater and liar, we sort of thought she had a point but oh well…). In retaliation, Marylin plans to exact her revenge on Miles while also trying to lure oilman Howard Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton) into marrying her. To say that Miles is fascinated by Marylin’s ways is an understatement. Who would have thought that all you needed to attract some men was to be a schemer (although, we don’t think her beauty is harming her chances any)? Soon, the two begin to develop ‘fuzzy’ feelings for each other and one thing leads to another eventually resulting in talk regarding marriage. But Miles isn’t willing to walk down the aisle unless he has Marylin’s signature on his famous ‘Massey pre-nup’ agreement. Sporting a top notch cast, Intolerable Cruelty is one of those cheeky flicks that boasts a heap of charm.  In Michael Clayton, Clooney once again dons a suit to play a lawyer but unlike Intolerable Cruelty, this is no playful comedy. Clayton is employed to take care of his law firm’s dirtiest work. Meanwhile, his personal life is riddled by his gambling problems, a messy divorce and a failed business venture. This flick revolves around one potentially life changing case for all of those involved concerning an agrochemical company called U/North. If there’s someone who’s even more ambitious than Clayton, its U/North’s in-house lawyer Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton). The case involves a multi-million dollar settlement over the company’s actions potentially harming humans. Clayton’s team seems destined for victory until its top litigator Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has a breakdown and tries to sabotage their good work. As Clayton tries to save his firm and his career, he’s forced to face the truth about what’s he’s become while also dealing with Karen (and can we say, could Swinton’s performance get any icier?).  Wasn’t that an enjoyable afternoon spent watching Clooney in action? The Done Dirt Cheap DVD crew certainly thinks so. We should do this more often…
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