Ranked George Clooney's 20 Best Movies Newsweek

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[size=38]RANKED: GEORGE CLOONEY'S 20 BEST MOVIES[/size]

BY DAVID SIM AND EVE WATLING ON 1/10/19 AT 7:39 AM

Clooney has regularly worked with the Coen Brothers and Steven Soderbergh, and has directed himself several times. 
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Ever since he came to the nation’s attention as the hot doctor on ER, George Clooney has transformed himself into the Hollywood man who has it all. With enough clout to only choose serious prestige pics, he’s been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.
He’s married to a stylish human rights lawyer and has side gigs for both the United Nations and the Council on Foreign Relations. If that weren’t enough, in 2018 Forbes ranked him the top of its list of highest paid actors, putting his year earnings at $239 million.
Just 20 years ago, these achievements would have been hard to predict. Clooney should be the patron saint of late bloomers—he spent most of his 20s playing small roles on TV shows. His early film resumé is full of parts like “Unnamed role” and “Lip Syncing Transvestite” (the latter was for 1993 thriller The Harvest, if you’re interested in seeing Clooney sport a gold lamé bra.)
Read more: Every Movie Directed by the Coen Brothers Ranked From Worst to Best
"I never got famous for working," Clooney told The Enquirer in 1994. "There are a bunch of people out there who do what I do… but some of them manage to get famous in one or two shows. I managed not to get famous."
It all changed for the then 33-year-old when he was cast as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER in 1994. Suddenly, the public was awoken to his smoldering good looks, and his movie career soon took off.
His first massive role was the lead in the 1997 superhero movie Batman & Robin. Although critics hated it, Clooney’s career had gathered too much steam for that to stop him. He was cast in the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, and in 2005 won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Syriana.
He didn’t stop at acting. Since his 2002 directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, he’s returned to the director’s chair five more times. He’s also made a name for himself as a producer, winning an Oscar for his work on 2012’s Argo.
Like many A-listers, he’s currently making his foray into prestige television, and is due to star in a Hulu miniseries based on Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. It will be his first regular TV role since ER.
Newsweek has collected review data from Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and IMDb users, to find out which of his movies—that he acted in—have been the most highly-rated. These are Clooney’s 20 best, according to public and critical opinion.





20. Welcome to Collinwood (2002). Total score: 60.8%. IMDb users: 6.4. Metacritic: 61. Rotten Tomatoes: 5.9.
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. Starring: George Clooney, Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Patricia Clarkson. 
Plot summary: A group of sad sacks living in a rundown neighborhood in Cleveland all have one thing in common—they need money, and aren't especially fussy about how they get it.
What the critics said: "This first-time feature by writer/director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, with its light plot, short run time and derivative script, feels like a tentative trial run in film, but the Russos are clearly ones to watch." Daphne Gordon, Toronto Star. 
WARNER BROS.



20. Welcome to Collinwood (2002). Total score: 60.8%. IMDb users: 6.4. Metacritic: 61. Rotten Tomatoes: 5.9.
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. Starring: George Clooney, Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Patricia Clarkson. 
Plot summary: A group of sad sacks living in a rundown neighborhood in Cleveland all have one thing in common—they need money, and aren't especially fussy about how they get it.
What the critics said: "This first-time feature by writer/director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, with its light plot, short run time and derivative script, feels like a tentative trial run in film, but the Russos are clearly ones to watch." Daphne Gordon, Toronto Star. 
WARNER 

19. The American (2010). Total score: 63%. IMDb users: 6.3. Metacritic: 61. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.5. 
Directed by: Anton Corbijn. Starring: George Clooney, Paolo Bonacelli, Violante Placido.
Plot summary: An assassin hides out in Italy for one last assignment.
What the critics said: "A film that speaks so softly it ends up saying nothing at all." Laremy Legel, Film.com. 
FOCUS FEATURES

18. Ocean's Thirteen (2007). Total score: 64.2%. IMDb users: 6.9. Metacritic: 62. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.4. 
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino.
Plot summary: Danny Ocean rounds up the boys for a third heist, after casino owner Willy Bank double-crosses one of the original eleven, Reuben Tishkoff.
What the critics said: "Ocean's Thirteen will please those who delight in its persistent self-mythologizing, but the thrill of the original is gone, and nothing can bring it back." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times. 
WARNER BROS

17. Solaris (2002). Total score: 64.4%. IMDb users: 6.2. Metacritic: 65. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.5. 
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Tukur, Viola Davis.
Plot summary: A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.
What the critics said: "Although it's meant to be restrained and free of emotional hysteria, the result is a movie that pretty much lies dead on the screen for an hour and a half." Desson Thomson, Washington Post. 
TWENTIETH CENTURY FO

16. Burn After Reading (2008). Total score: 66.8%. IMDb users: 7. Metacritic: 63. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.9. 
Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. Starring: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins.
Plot summary: A disk containing mysterious information from a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous and daft gym employees who attempt to sell it.
What the critics said: "The Coens are loopy stylists, and it's often amusing to watch this comedy of errors unfold. But after a masterpiece like No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading is classified as disposable." Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 
FOCUS FEATURES

15. Intolerable Cruelty (2003). Total score: 68.2%. IMDb users: 6.3. Metacritic: 71. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.8. 
Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Starring: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Bob Thornton, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer.
Plot summary: A beautiful gold digger matches wits with a shrewd Beverly Hills divorce lawyer who is increasingly attracted to her.
What the critics said: "A frustratingly sharp misfire that comes close to being hilarious but never quite clicks in its pacing, timing or tone." Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel. 
UNIVERSAL PICTURES

14. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). Total score: 69.4%. IMDb users: 7.1. Metacritic: 67. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.1. 
Directed by: George Clooney. Starring: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Plot summary: An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris, in which he purports to have been a CIA hitman.
What the critics said: "Confessions isn't always coherent, but it's sharply comic and surprisingly touching." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. 
MIRAMAX

13. Hail, Caesar! (2016). Total score: 70.2%. IMDb users: 6.3. Metacritic: 72. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.2. 
Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill.
Plot summary: A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
What the critics said: "Not one of the Coens' major works, but it's a very enjoyable lark, especially for fans of old Hollywood." Lou Lumenick, New York Post. 
UNIVERSAL PICTURES

12. The Ides of March (2011). Total score: 70.6%. IMDb users: 7.1. Metacritic: 67. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.4. 
Directed by: George Clooney. Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei.
Plot summary: An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.
What the critics said: "This is intelligent filmmaking, and a provocative moral fable. It may not be perfect, but it stands as one of the better, most realistic movies about the way we elect our leaders." Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News. 
COLUMBIA PICTURES

11. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Total score: 71.6%. IMDb users: 7.8. Metacritic: 69. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.1. 
Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Starring: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter.
Plot summary: In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.
What the critics said: "As a Coen brothers fan I hate to say this, but the movie's a collection of great bits and pieces rather than a complete work." Desson Thomson, Washington Post. 
BUENA VISTA PICTURES

10. Syriana (2005). Total score: 71.8%. IMDb users: 6.9. Metacritic: 76. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.9. 
Directed by: Stephen Gaghan. Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet.
Plot summary: A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it.
What the critics said: "This is intelligent, committed, and politically provocative, though its narrative puzzle box may prompt you to throw up your hands and let ExxonMobil go on running the world." J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader. 
WARNER BROS

9. Ocean's Eleven (2001). Total score: 73.2%. IMDb users: 7.8. Metacritic: 74. Rotten Tomatoes: 7. 
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac.
Plot summary: Danny Ocean and his eleven accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
What the critics said: "This wholly enjoyable entertainment sees Soderbergh setting himself a new challenge - the hi-tech robbery procedural - and relishing the clichés even as he freshens them with a dab of polish, wit, pace and a light touch of irony." Geoff Andrew, Time Out. 
WARNER BROS.

8. The Thin Red Line (1998). Total score: 75.2%. IMDb users: 7.6. Metacritic: 78. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.2. 
Directed by: Terrence Malick. Starring: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, John Cusack, George Clooney, Adrien Brody.
Plot summary: Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
What the critics said: "It wrestles with complexity, speaks to us in poetry, weaves multiple narrative strands into a tapestry, opens the festering wounds of war and gazes inside without blinking." Norman Green, Film.com. 
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

7. Michael Clayton (2007). Total score: 77.8%. IMDb users: 7.3. Metacritic: 82. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.6. 
Directed by: Tony Gilroy. Starring: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson.
Plot summary: A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.
What the critics said: "It has the freedom and recklessness of Oliver Stone or Robert Altman in their mad-dog days, and a visual style that hungers for impact." Roger Ebert, At the Movies. 
WARNER BROS.

6. Three Kings (1999). Total score: 78.2%. IMDb users: 7.1. Metacritic: 82. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.8. 
Directed by: David O. Russell. Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze.
Plot summary: In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, four soldiers set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help.
What the critics said: "It's George Clooney's best showcase to date—a picture that is as strong as the war itself was dubious and one-sided." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle.
WARNER BROS.

5. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005). Total score: 79.4%. IMDb users: 7.5. Metacritic: 80. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1. 
Directed by: George Clooney. Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, Robert Downey, Jr.
Plot summary: Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
What the critics said: "Clooney continues to improve as both a writer and director, showing huge advancement from his underwhelming 2002 helming debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." Peter Howell, Toronto Star. 
WARNER INDEPENDENT PICTURES

4. Out of Sight (1998). Total score: 80%. IMDb users: 7. Metacritic: 85. Rotten Tomatoes: 8. 
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle.
Plot summary: A career bank robber breaks out of jail, and shares a moment of mutual attraction with a U.S. Marshal he has kidnapped.
What the critics said: "Out Of Sight works both as a great romance and a great, unconventional crime thriller. But step back from such distinctions, and it just looks like a great movie." Keith Phipps, AV Club. 
UNIVERSAL PICTURES

. Up in the Air (2009). Total score: 80.4%. IMDb users: 7.4. Metacritic: 83. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1. 
Directed by: Jason Reitman. Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman.
Plot summary: Ryan Bingham enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, traveling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest, and a new hire.
What the critics said: "Timeliness can be tricky to pull off convincingly in movies. It's tough to capture an era while it's still happening, yet Up in the Air does so brilliantly, with wit and humanity." Claudia Puig, USA Today. 
PARAMOUNT PICTURES

2. The Descendants (2011). Total score: 80.6%. IMDb users: 7.3. Metacritic: 84. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1. 
Directed by: Alexander Payne. Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller.
Plot summary: A land baron tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.
What the critics said: "A guaranteed multiple Oscar nominee and the film that cements Alexander Payne as one of the top filmmakers of his generation, The Descendants is nothing short of a masterpiece." Mark Rabinowitz, CNN. 
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

1. Gravity (2013). Total score: 89.8%. IMDb users: 7.7. Metacritic: 96. Rotten Tomatoes: 9. 
Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón. Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney.
Plot summary: Two astronauts work together to survive after an accident leaves them stranded in space.
What the critics said: "Believe the hype: Gravity is as jaw-droppingly spectacular as you've heard—magnificent from a technical perspective but also a marvel of controlled acting and precise tone." Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com. 
WARNER BROS.

Yeah, I liked the description of Amal, too.

"Gravity" could arguably be the best movie he's been in, but IMO it certainly isn't his best performance. It's Sandy Bullock's movie and he's just there (briefly) to lend a hand.

Performance-wise I'd say he was better in several of the other films on the list. ("Michael Clayton", "Up I The Air", "Out of Sight"). And how on earth could they leave "From Dusk Til Dawn" off the list???? Really?? It's a hoot!

Yes Lizzy they seem to have lost FDTD, 
although the first time I saw it I found it quite frightening. LOL.

Having read there about some of my Fave Films
makes me want to search through my 
Clooney DVD Drawer and watch them again !

I'm really surprised that Gravity was 
number one though.

Jo, seems like they listed what they rated as the best films rather than George's best performances. You know, "the best movies George Clooney has been in", instead of George Clooney's best roles. "Gravity" was a huge hit and the technical effects blew everyone away - not to mention Sandy Bullock's performance. It was a great movie, just not one of George's best performances.

We've had a bit of a George fest here the last couple of weeks. They showed all three "Ocean's" movies (I still can't figure out how he got back in the room), "Tomorrowland", "One Fine Day" and "Gravity".

I agree about FDTD. For me the first half of the movie was scarier than all the vampire stuff. Quentin Tarantino gives me the creeps!

Yes Lizzy it was the first half that I found scary and disturbing to see George in that role 
so soon after ER  !  LOL.

Number 17 SOLARIS.....  I disagree completely
with the critics view......I LOVED that film
when seeing it in a quiet atmosphere in a cinema.
It completely drew me in and I thought that
George's performance was one of his best at the time.

When I see the list of George's films it really
does confirm to me that he's really so talented in his roles and his diversity.

I wonder if he's now reached a turning point in his life 
where he'll be behind the camera rather than 
in front  ? 
He's often said things along that line.

All good .... my number one The American....for sentimental reasons ....