George Clooney is the epitome of a movie star. With his daring good fortune and obvious appeal, he’s a bit of a throwback to Old Hollywood. Before playing in blockbusters such as Ocean’s Eleven, Gravity, and Michael Clayton, he worked as a humble struggling actor.
He began his career in the 1980s, playing in little parts on comedies such as The Facts of Life and The Golden Girls until landing his breakout role as Dr. Doug Ross on NBC’s ER in the mid-1990s. His star/role has only gotten brighter since then.
George Clooney has received many Academy Awards, both as an actor (Syriana) and producer (Argo). He has appeared in both big-budget blockbusters and smaller indie films. He’s also had his fair share of missteps in his career, most notably his appearance as the Caped Crusader in Batman & Robin. This film was so awful that it effectively ended the franchise for a while.
However, his successes greatly exceed his flops, so we’ve compiled a list of 10 best George Clooney movies, a couple of which you might have missed along the way. Check em out.
1. Up in the Air (2009)
Clooney received his second-Best Actor nomination for this picture. He plays a fearful company executive whose job is to fly around the country and fire people. He is really pleased with the amount of money in his frequent flyer account. Two women who enter his life transform his life. Farmiga plays a prospective love interest, while Kendrick plays Clooney’s insensitive young colleague who devises a means to fire people without being present. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards and achievements, including Best Picture/Movie. It was predicted to win Best Adapted Screenplay, but it was defeated by “Precious.” For Best Actor, Clooney was beaten by Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”).
2. Michael Clayton
Clooney received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for this film’s title role. He portrays a conflicted lawyer who is dissatisfied with his position as the person in charge of resolving court matters that have gone awry. Clooney had a tense standoff with Tilda Swinton, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, at the end of the film. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film’s sole winner was Tilda Swinton. Clooney lost the Best Actor award to Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance in “There Will Be Blood.”
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3. SYRIANA (2005)
Clooney received both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for this complex picture on several parts of the oil industry. The plot of the film is divided into four sections. Clooney portrays a CIA operative tasked with combating illegal arms trafficking in the Middle East. Clooney acquired a significant amount of weight for the film. He also suffered an accident during filming that would impair his health for a length of time afterward.
4. GOOD NIGHT AND Good Luck (2005)
When Clooney ascended the stage to claim his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2005, he joked that he assumed he wouldn’t win Best Director. Clooney had a successful year. Not only did he win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “Syriana,” but he was also nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The film depicts iconic CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow’s confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the infamous McCarthy trials. Clooney also plays Fred Friendly, the head of CBS, in a supporting role in the film.
5. Ocean Eleven (2005)
For the first “Ocean’s 11,” Frank Sinatra assembled a group of his buddies known as the Rat Pack, including Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., to pull off a Las Vegas robbery. Clooney enlisted the help of his buddies for a recreation of the story, which spawned a series of sequels, including an all-female version published last year. Clooney plays Danny Ocean, who coordinates and assembles the film’s band of crooks in the Sinatra style.
6. OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU (2000)
For this film based on Homer’s great epic poem “The Odyssey,” Looney received the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Clooney plays a man who attempts to escape from prison to get home in time to prevent his wife from remarrying him. Clooney was a bit of a surprise winner at that year’s Golden Globes.
7. THE Perfect STORM (2000)
Based on the best selling novel of the same name, “The Perfect Storm” stars Clooney as one of a group of commercial fishermen stranded on their vessel during a “perfect storm,” which occurs when everything comes together to create the worst possible sea conditions imaginable. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, one each for Sound and Visual Effects.
8. Three Kings
This comedy, set at the end of the Persian Gulf War, stars Clooney as one of four soldiers who seek to make money from Kuwait. Still, their mercenary goals are changed when they learn how many people truly need their assistance. While the picture was favorably received by reviewers and spectators, its production was chaotic. Director David O. Russell argued with writer John Ridley. The latter claimed the narrative’s conception was his (he was eventually granted a “story by” credit), and then with Clooney on site.
9. Gravity (2013)
The majority of “Gravity” is a one-woman show for Sandra Bullock. Still, Clooney does appear at the beginning as another astronaut who, to paraphrase Tina Fey at the Golden Globes that year, “would rather drift away into space and die than spend one more minute with a lady his own age.” On the other hand, Clooney makes a significant impression as the other astronaut who gives up his life so that Bullock can have a chance at saving hers. The picture received ten Academy Award nominations and won seven of them.
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10.THE IDES OF MARCH (2011)
Looney directed and reworked the screenplay from Beau Willimon’s play. Clooney has been politically involved in the past. Now he gets to put that experience to use as the governor of Pennsylvania, a presidential candidate. Ryan Gosling co-stars as Clooney’s idealistic young sidekick. Clooney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the picture.
