5 best George Clooney performances (AP)

LOS ANGELES – A couple of weeks ago, we looked back on the eclectic career of Brad Pitt, and marveled at the intelligence of his choices as well as his instinct to shun his movie-star persona while still giving the people what they want.

Pitt's friend and co-star in the "Ocean's" movies, George Clooney, has shown similar tastes and daring both in front of and behind the camera. And in the process of staying true to his beliefs, he's carved out one of the most respected careers in town.

This week, he directs the political drama "The Ides of March" and plays a supporting role as a governor seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. So here's a look at his five best performances. As you can probably guess, I'd vote for him for anything:

• "Michael Clayton" (2007): Clooney gives a smart, subtly powerful performance in the title role as a "fixer" at a prestigious New York law firm. He's a man who's been around a long time and seen it all. He carries the cumulative weight of a lifetime of disappointments in his eyes, his voice, the way his shoulders hunch. And yet, Michael still responds proficiently and professionally to whatever challenge is thrust upon him. All the best of what Clooney can do is on display here: the dazzling charisma as well as the vulnerability. Writer-director Tony Gilroy gives Clooney an opportunity to do some of the best work of his career in a part that's meaty but rarely flashy.

• "Syriana" (2005): Clooney famously cast aside his dashing good looks, gaining 30 pounds in 30 days, growing a beard and shaving his hairline to play Bob Barnes, a fictionalized version of former CIA officer Robert Baer. He was unrecognizable, a crucial piece in writer-director Stephen Gaghan's dense and complicated film about the global oil industry, and the performance earned him the Academy Award for best supporting actor. Clooney was so dedicated, he severely injured his back shooting a torture scene, and was still hurt while directing and co-starring in "Good Night, and Good Luck." This is a prime example of his willingness to reject the glamour of being a movie star in favor of doing smart, challenging work.

• "Out of Sight" (1998): Trading snappy banter with a tough-but-feminine Jennifer Lopez, Clooney was sexy as hell as a career bank robber in Steven Soderbergh's funny and surprising film. The scene in which the two flirt at a hotel bar, with its warm lighting and flattering close-ups, is probably the movie's best-known and it crackles with romantic tension. But Clooney is called upon to do much more than smolder. "Out of Sight" ranges from buddy comedy to gripping suspense to sultry noir, and Clooney has the versatility to keep up with all those varying genres. He's probably a bad guy and he's most certainly unreliable, but he's also irresistible. Clooney makes that contrast work.

• "Up in the Air" (2009): Clooney is at the height of his dynamism here as a man who makes a living by firing other people. This would seem like an insurmountable contradiction, but Jason Reitman's film fleshes out the character, Ryan Bingham, with shadings and subtlety, and Clooney gets excellent support from co-stars Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. (All three received Academy Award nominations.) Ryan jets across the country, handing out pink slips without batting an eye and worrying only about increasing his frequent-flier miles. He breezes through life efficiently, and Clooney's naturally masculine energy gives the character real zing, but he also finds the soulfulness that's eventually required of the role, as well.

• "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009): Clooney's work here also appeared on my list of the five best animated performances. "Up in the Air" earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor that year, but he's just as memorable behind the microphone lending his smooth voice to the starring role of the crafty Mr. Fox. He brings all that charm in the richness of his delivery, all his signature smarts and presence to director Wes Anderson's beautifully detailed stop-motion animation. And merely the idea of this handsome man playing a furry, little woodland creature — albeit a clever one with a sly sense of humor — is enough to bring a huge smile to your face.

___

Think of any other examples? Share them with AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire.

Yahoo! News

5 best Brad Pitt performances (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Choosing Brad Pitt's five best performances was tough, but getting a chance to look back on his career was a joy.

Ever since his breakout role as the sexy and mysterious drifter J.D. in "Thelma & Louise" (1991), Pitt has repeatedly proven that he's so much more than just a pretty face. He's shown a knack for choosing meaty, intelligent films and working with the most respected directors, which has allowed him to explore every facet of his versatile talent.

This week he stars in "Moneyball" as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, a role that lets him be both charismatic and vulnerable. It's some of his best work; here are five other examples:

• "Fight Club" (1999): The first rule of Brad Pitt is, it's impossible not to talk about Brad Pitt. He's larger than life here, mythological almost, as Tyler Durden, the leader of the secret fight club and the key to Edward Norton's salvation — or so he initially thinks. Sinewy and swaggering, Pitt radiates sexy masculinity in an almost primal way. The fact that he also challenges the men who follow him on emotional and psychological levels makes him not just charismatic but downright frightening. This is one of several films Pitt has made with director David Fincher — and you might put "Se7en" or "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on your list of his top performances — but this is the one that stands out most for me.

• "The Tree of Life" (2011): Between this and "Moneyball," Pitt is having a pretty great year. But the performances come in two films that couldn't be more different. Terrence Malick's hypnotic meditation on family, memory and the origin of life itself is full of mesmerizing imagery. But it also allowed Pitt to do some of the best work of his career as a husband and father of three in 1950s Texas. Pitt makes the character an intimidating figure, a capricious mix of toughness and tenderness. His actions may seem questionable, even abusive at times, but you get the sense that he's questioning, struggling, trying to figure out how to be the best man he can be without abandoning his traditional notions of manhood.

• "Inglourious Basterds" (2009): He's pretty much doing a bad impression of George W. Bush here — campy but irresistible — and it is always such a joy to watch him let go and goof off. Pitt tops a tremendous ensemble cast in Quentin Tarantino's daring, revisionist World War II saga as the twangy Tennessean Lt. Aldo Raine. He's the leader of a band of Jewish American soldiers who hunt Nazis with the goal of not just killing them but scalping them and sometimes carving swastikas into their foreheads. He offers a rousing mix of aw-shucks earnestness and slam-bang bravado.

• "Burn After Reading" (2008): Part of the beauty of Pitt is his willingness to toy with his own beautiful image. In the Coen brothers' comedy, he steals every scene he's in — and nearly walks away with the whole movie — as an overgrown child of a gym trainer whose bungled schemes get him in way over his head. Just his name alone, Chad Feldheimer, makes him sound like a first-class doofus, and one look at his blonde-streaked pouf tells you not to take him, or the film, too seriously. But Pitt brings an innocence to the role that makes him irresistible rather than obnoxious; with the shadow of superstardom looming so large, it's easy to forget he can be funny.

• "Snatch." (2000): Pitt went even deeper to play a weird, wild comic character here, going so far as to speak in an accent that made him completely unintelligible — but that's what made the performance hilarious. Guy Ritchie's comedy is full of his typically colorful characters, assorted British low-lifes and eccentrics. But Pitt steals the show as an Irish gypsy boxer who speaks in such a quick, mangled way, even the Brits can't understand him. In a recent Entertainment Weekly interview, he said he came up with the gibberish in a panic at the last minute when he couldn't quite nail the character's accent. But as with everything else, he made it look effortless.

___

Think of any other examples? Share them with AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire.

Yahoo! News

Japan maestro Ozawa cancels China performances (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Seiji Ozawa, Japan's most famous conductor, will not take part in a music festival in China later this week, organizers said, with media reporting that he was in hospital in Tokyo for tests.

The 75-year-old former Vienna State Opera musical director, who for many years was also conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was diagnosed with oesophogeal cancer in January 2010 and completed treatment later that year.

In January, he had endoscopic lower back surgery for chronic back pain and took a six-month break from conducting. But his comeback at the Saito Kinen Festival in the Japanese castle town of Matsumoto ran into trouble last week when he was diagnosed with dehydration and a light case of pneumonia, forcing him to cancel two of four performances.

"He will not be taking part in performances in China," said a spokesperson at the Saito Kinen Festival, the organizer of the Chinese event.

She would not confirm media reports that Ozawa was in hospital for tests and unspecified treatment.

Ozawa was one of the first Asian classical musicians widely recognized abroad and has strived to revitalize the classical music scene in his native country by founding the Saito Kinen Festival.

Born the son of a dentist in 1935 in Shenyang, part of what was then Japanese-occupied China, Ozawa spent much of his early childhood in Beijing and has kept up connections with China since the late 1970s, when he was invited to work with a Chinese orchestra for a week.

Ozawa had been set to take part in four performances during the Chinese festival, which runs from Sept 1 to 11.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

Yahoo! News

Alaina, Reinhart fumble 'Idol' performances (AP)

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang, Ap Entertainment Writer – Wed May 18, 11:23 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – The lights aren't out for Scotty McCreery on "American Idol."

The deep-voiced 17-year-old country crooner of Garner, N.C., who first became known to "Idol" viewers this season for bellowing the lyric "baby, lock the doors, and turn the lights down low" from Josh Turner's "Your Man," flawlessly performed a trio of tunes on the Fox talent contest Wednesday, while his two competitors briefly botched their songs.

"You're approaching that Garth (Brooks) level," judge Randy Jackson told McCreery.

The finalists were tasked with performing tracks chosen by the show's judges, mentor Jimmy Iovine and the singers themselves. McCreery launched with his personal pick of Lonestar's "Amazed," following it up with Iovine's choice of Thompson Square's "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" then sealing it with Kenny Rogers' "She Believes in Me" from the judges.

"You put it over the top for me just now," judge Steven Tyler said after McCreery's last performance.

It wasn't as effortless for Lauren Alaina, the twangy 16-year-old ingenue from Rossville, Ga., and Haley Reinhart, the feisty 20-year-old fatale from Wheeling, Ill. Alaina missed a key change on The Band Perry's "If I Die Young" from Iovine, while Reinhart slipped on the stairs — but kept on rockin' — during her pick of Led Zeppelin's "What Is and What Should Never Be."

"It's not about how many times you fall," Tyler advised. "It's about how many times you get up."

That moment didn't seem to trip up Reinhart, who's appeared as a low vote-getter four times. She won praise from the panel for her moody, wind-swept rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" from Iovine and her energetic take on Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know" from the judges, though the panel noted that Reinhart struggled with the wordy verses.

"I think we all heard the same thing in the middle parts," judge Jennifer Lopez mildly scolded.

Alaina's flub on "If I Die Young," which Lopez dubbed "a very honest moment," didn't deter her from later taking on Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance," chosen by the judges. Lopez said Alaina, who's appeared at the bottom once, gave her goosebumps, and Tyler noted that the pop-country princess waltzed onto the stage like she "owned the Grand Ole Opry."

One of the three finalists will be eliminated Thursday with the other two advancing to next week's finale, where one will win a record contract and be crowned the 10th season "Idol." McCreery, who's never appeared at the bottom, is the presumed front-runner, likely leaving Alaina and Reinhart to duke it out to sing in the final round next Tuesday.

___

Fox is a unit of News Corp.

___

Online:

http://www.americanidol.com

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.