comment #1

CarloDennis says ...

The Last Movie Star? Really? As much as I like Clooney, this is a little off-base. Say what you want about Will Smith, but I think it's safe to say he's dethroned Cruise and Hanks as Hollywood's safest bet, box-office-wise.

comment #2

Adonis says ...

That Time issue also has a ReOscar debate over the 1998 major awards: What a horrible year 1998 was in retrospect.

Titanic and As Good As It Gets sweeping everything, Robin Williams winning for Good Will Hunting (when for instance his work in One Hour Photo is infinitely superior).

2008 is a crazy-good year: so long as Juno doesn't win anything major, we'll be alright. Oh, and I hope Diving Bell doesn't get shut out.

comment #3

T. S. Idiot says ...

Clooney is a throwback to the days when stars were stars. He also has broader appeal than Hanks (not sexy) and Cruise (too strange). Smith makes money and has some charm, but he isn't a throwback.

comment #4

Edward says ...

Clooney reminds me of Cary Grant in that he's effective in light comedy as well as drama. Clooney trumps the great Grant by also being a terrific director.

comment #5

Rob says ...

He's too skinny now.

comment #6

squealy says ...

"I thought Daniel Day Lewis had the best performance of the year. Then I saw La Vie En Rose. ... But there is no way Daniel Day Lewis won't win. For me, it's like being Hillary Clinton. If it weren't for Barack Obama, it would have been a very good year [for her]."

Doesn't Clooney mean for himself? Day-Lewis and Cotillard aren't competing with one another.

comment #7

Chinaski says ...

Good article, Clooney's the real thing.

One thing bothered me in the article though, he says Clooney helped empty 4 bottles of wine during the night...and then he drives home. Typically casual California drink-driving (not necessarily drunk-driving though).

Off topic, but it caught my eye.

comment #8

squealy says ...

Oh, duh, I see what he's saying. Never mind.

comment #9

Walter Sobchak says ...

"then I saw Marion Cottilard..."

Damn he's good. Now THAT'S how it's done, guys. He's probably got her at his Italian villa right now...

"I meant it, baby.....now let's get this thing off of you....nice...."

comment #10

Wrecktum says ...

I'd sell my soul to be a witness to George Clooney seducing Marion Cottilard.

comment #11

the king says ...

Hilarious, Sobchak. Good one.

I hate Will Smith. Give me quality.

Smith is soft drink, Clooney is fine wine.

comment #12

Zimmergirl says ...

He's right, though, the savvy fucker. I think people forget that Clooney is very aligned with the Coen brothers; credits them as among his major influences as a director. As much as he's a part of Michael Clayton, he'd be definitely supportive of No Country as well, for that reason.

I'm rooting for and predicting Marion to win this. She deserves it.

comment #13

ZacharyTF says ...

Does anyone else think that Time cover looks odd? I'm used to their issue having a red border.

comment #14

Jay T. says ...

With the way blockbusters are churned out in the studio system, I think it's short-sighted to necessarily equate movie star with box office receipts. But I see your point about Will Smith.

comment #15

Rich S. says ...

I don't know, when I watched Will Smith in I Am Legend, I saw a movie star. The movie falls apart in the third act, but it wouldn't have held together through the first two acts without Smith.

I saw the same thing when I saw Clooney way back in From Dusk 'till Dawn. It's a silly genre film, but even then, you could see that he "had it" in a way he hadn't previously shown on E.R.

And if Clooney has Cottilard at his villa right now all I can say is, well played George, well played.

comment #16

Bart Smith says ...

"I'd sell my soul to be a witness to George Clooney seducing Marion Cottilard."

---

I imagine it'd be a lot like that scene from OUT OF SIGHT.

comment #17

T. S. Idiot says ...

Wells hasn't posted anything in 4 hours. He couldn't, I mean, you know, finally . . . ? Forget it. That's as likely as Viggo winning the Oscar.

comment #18

DavidF says ...

What I like about Clooney is that he seems real.
Maybe it's just clever marketing on his part but he seems to have a sense of humour about his past (Facts of Life, ER hunk), and have a good bullshit detector for what goes on in Hollywood.

There are so many untalented people who get success (and vice versa) that he appreciates how lucky to be where he is, picking his projects, directing and acting in good movies and he's just enjoying the ride.

I was sold on him by the time I saw Out of Sight (of course, I was also sold on Jennifer Lopez who has shown Cuba Gooding that she too can do something great and then wallow in shit for the rest of her career).

comment #19

JHRussell says ...

Clooney is a "man's man." He was very funny and charming in that Newsweek actors' roundtable last month...I think he is the real deal - a genuine good guy with a load of talent and the respect of his peers.

comment #20

Wrecktum says ...

"I imagine it'd be a lot like that scene from OUT OF SIGHT."

Too hot to handle. Best on screen chemistry of the past 15 years. J-Lo and Clooney should work together again.

comment #21

Rob says ...

He definitely has a sense of humor about the failures in his past, which seems to inform his choices and personality in an interesting way. I think he's one of these actors that struggled for so long that he seems to be acutely aware about the tenuousness of his current success, and he's really smart about not squandering the opportunity. People who become really famous relatively late in life tend to have more of their shit together.

This is why you never see him take a paycheck job anymore (he jokes about Batman, but you can tell it burned him badly), and also why, when he does something like advocate against the genocide in Darfur, it seems to be coming from a genuine place.

comment #22

nola says ...

Will Smith is a big star and makes more money than Clooney but he has as much sex appeal as bag of rocks.

I agree with the earlier posters, the chemistry in Out Of Sight was incredible. Very sexy.

comment #23

MilkMan says ...

The Last Movie Star. Please.
And love him or hate him - and I veer between the two - Tom Cruise, for better or worse, is the most important and symbolically correct American Movie Star since Nicholson. Tom Cruise IS America, Tom Cruise is sui generis, and as the years roll by, and as Cruise becomes the de facto LEADER OF A RELIGION, no one, not even old Booker himself, is going to have lived a story as strange and compelling as Cruise. If you can parse the dream life of a country through the study of that country's movies, and movie stars, then social theorists could do no better than to look at Tom Cruise with clear eyes. Clooney is a throwback, retro, derivative, a copy of a copy of a copy. He is the Camden Yards of Hollywood Stars. The only thing Clooney tells us about ourselves is that we like good looking well dressed men. To that I say: And so...

comment #24

MAGGA says ...

Right on the money, Milkman. I feel the same way about Michael Jackson. Still like Clooney, though

comment #25

Jay T. says ...

So I guess I'm not the only one who feels Out of Sight was the most underrated film of 1998? I'd love to see Clooney and Soderbergh do another Elmore Leonard book.

comment #26

MarkVH says ...

I dunno, if you're going to put Clooney up there, I'd throw Denzel into the mix as well. They're fairly similar - both make studio wanks and more "important" pictures in equal measure, and I'd say they're about on par box office-wise too.

comment #27

MilkMan says ...

That's a very astute observation, MarkVH.
Clooney is the White Denzel.
I like that.

comment #28

VedaPierce says ...

Clooney certainly looks and acts the part but the only thing that's really modern about him his is self-effacing attitude towards stardom. There's nothing neurotic, contradictory, or edgy about his personality to make him fascinating. Besides, shouldn't a movie star -- if nothing else -- consistently attract an audience?

Completely with MilkMan about Tom Cruise.

comment #29

Mjs says ...

If Clooney made one sell out picture after another, sorta like Will Smith and Tom Cruise, then he would consistently attract an audience.

He makes quirky, smart, offbeat films and your average American is too lazy or stupid to go see them. They'd rather see Wild Hogs than Good Night and Good Luck.

comment #30

CarloDennis says ...

I too would like to see a Clooney and Lopez reunion. (Here they are looking terrific together in '06 http://www.jlo.net/images/bennett06/bennett0629.jpg) Maybe in a To Catch a Thief remake. Just don't let Andrew Davis or Van Sant direct. Or Demme (I have a habit of lumping Charade in with Hitchcock.)

comment #31

CarloDennis says ...

Shave the ) off and the link works.

comment #32

T. S. Idiot says ...

"Clooney is the White Denzel." Clooney has more of a sense of humor and is self-effacing.

comment #33

MilkMan says ...

Clooney wants you to think he's self-effacing & wants you to think he has sense of humor. Denzel could give a shit what you think. So I guess that analogy might be strained after all. But still, as far as honky avatars go, you could do a lot worse in finding one for Denzel. They're both smooth and have absolutely no range whatsoever as actors. But whoops, they're not actors, they're movie stars, to paraphrase Peter O'Toole.

comment #34

BurmaShave says ...

Joel Stein does know Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cottilard aren't competing for an Oscar, right?

comment #35

Rosebudsthesled says ...

George Clooney is the best movie star around right now because he's such a throwback to Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. He can do it all.
Except BATMAN AND ROBIN. But that's not really his fault.