SEPTEMBER 2010

THE AMERICAN

George Clooney, Bruce Altman, Thekla Reuten, Paola Bonacelli, Violante Placido, Filippo Timi (Directed by Anton Corbijn; Written by Rowan Joffe; Focus Features)

In the real world George Clooney is a solid, compassionate mensch, the kind of guy you know will be there when you really need him. Yet, on screen, he is arguably at his best when playing a tough, even ugly, American, a self-absorbed operator determined to chisel and strategize his way to the top of the money heap. In other words, the type of tunnel-visioned careerist he portrayed so memorably in “Michael Clayton” and “Up in the Air,” two gems in which the antihero learns, at long last, to tell wrong from right and to do something heroic about it.

Now, in “The American,” based on novelist Martin Booth’s provocative psychological thriller “A Very Private Gentleman,” Clooney plays his most dangerous villain to date. He’s an American who loves luxuriating in a drowsy little town in southern Italy, where he’s called Signor Farfalla (Italian for butterfly)--because of his conspicuous obsession with the fragile, fluttery winged one. What only Mr. Butterfly’s “clients” know, however, is that he is also an assassin. Not that he actually pulls triggers or ignites fuses himself, but he’s a godsend in the thorny process of supplying the right weapons of destruction to those who can pay the proper price.

Does Farfalla attempt to justify his lethal endeavors, particularly when it comes to the obliteration of evil politicos? Here, from the pages of “A Very Private Gentleman,” is a substantial clue: “My job is the gift-wrapping of death. I am the salesman of death, death's booking clerk, death's bellhop. I am the guide on the path toward darkness...All men want to make their mark, know upon their deathbed the world has changed because of them, as a result of their actions or philosophies...everyone carries a gun in his heart. For want of a rationale, or courage, we are all assassins."

It’s beginning to sound as if we might as well sit back, enjoy the show, and simply let George—or, rather, Signor Farfalla--do it! –Guy Flatley 0pens 9/1

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Freida Pinto, Anna Friel, Ewen Bremner, Lucy Punch, Carla Bruni, Pauline Collins, Christian McKay, Gemma Jones, Neil Jackson, Jim Piddock (Written and directed by Woody Allen; Sony Classics)

Woody’s latest flick, in which he does not appear, has its very own Facebook page. Here’s what it has to say about “Dark Stranger’s” story line. "A little romance, some sex, some treachery, and apart from that, a few laughs. The lives of a group of people, whose passions, ambitions and anxieties force them all into assorted troubles that run the gamut from ludicrous to dangerous.” Any questions? Click here for Todd McCarthy's review of "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger." --Guy Flatley Opens 9/23

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Frank Langella, Charlie Sheen, Banessa Ferlito, Donald Trump (Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff)

The fact that greedy Gordon Gekko—played here again by Michael Douglas--is finally out from behind bars doesn’t mean he’s a reformed man. Nor do his new pals, played by Shia LaBeouf and Josh Brolin, walk a straight and narrow line in their rabid quest for big bucks.  Ditto for Gekko’s former colleague Bud Fox, acted once more by Charlie Sheen.  Any similarity between the scheming depicted here and the recent real-life theft and deceit practiced on Wall Street is strictly intentional on the part of director Oliver Stone, the man responsible for the 1989 original. Click here for Todd McCarthy's review of the sequel. --Guy Flatley Opens 9/24