Best Movies by Farr

Best Actor: Clooney or Pitt?

No doubt: it's been a very good year for both these stars.

And much as I admire Jean Dujardin's sublime performance in The Artist, my hunch is that the industry will favor one of its own on Oscar night.

So who will it be -- George or Brad?

I'm saving my prediction for a later Oscar piece, but for now simply want to consider these actors' respective contributions, leading up to and including 2011.

And you'll note I say "actors," because one thing this past year confirmed was that both these handsome, movie-idol type personalities can, in fact, really act.

Some will claim they've always known it, but for me this was a pretty striking discovery. Too often Pitt and Clooney have been constrained by their leading man status to playing cool, heroic protagonists who save the day and get the girl. And they appear to be playing themselves. (Sometimes even on the same screen, as in Ocean's 11.)

Of course, this approach tends to work well at the box office, but does not leave more critical viewers with a true appreciation of the stars' actual acting range.

Still, as their respective careers progressed, both men used their clout (and advancing ages) to insist on more offbeat roles that would stretch their talents on-screen.

Prior to 2011, I think Pitt was somewhat more successful in registering his versatile acting chops in his films. I've always sensed a certain sameness to Clooney -- a slick, cocky quality that was hard for him to leave behind. And when he did, it felt forced.

Example: I felt he was miscast in as producer Fred Friendly in the over-stylized Good Night and Good Luck from 2005. I'd met the real Friendly, and trust me, he was nowhere to be seen in Clooney's performance.

That's why his work in The Descendants is such a revelation. Almost for the first time, George brings off the role of a vulnerable, imperfect, struggling, suffering human being. I liked this man, and more important, I cared about him.

Whatever one may think of the film overall (I loved it), I find it harder to understand those who don't recognize this as Clooney's best work to-date.

As for Brad, personally I think he's being nominated for the wrong movie -- the one that shows him playing the movie star (the overrated Moneyball) rather than the actor (The Tree Of Life).

True, stars often win Oscars for past roles or their body of work rather than for the performance they're actually nominated for. Think Elizabeth Taylor for 1960's Butterfield 8, or nearly a decade later, John Wayne for True Grit.

Coincidentally, Clooney and Pitt are each up for two Oscars this year: in addition to their acting nods, Clooney is nominated for screenplay (The Ides Of March) and Pitt for picture (as producer of Moneyball).

Clooney has been nominated a total of seven times (four acting, one directing, two screenplay nods) and won once for his role in Syriana (2005). Pitt has received four nods, all for acting, besides this year's producer's credit. He has yet to take home an Oscar.

So which way will it go? I'll reveal my own hunch in a week's time. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear what you think.

As we all debate and wonder, here are just a few of my own favorite Pitt and Clooney titles, available on DVD.

Seven (1995)- A week before his retirement from the homicide division in an urban police department, world-weary Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) finds himself on the tail of an ingenious serial killer whose grisly murders are inspired by the seven deadly sins. Adding to his stress is cocksure newbie David Mills (Pitt), who's joined the unit as Somerset's replacement after persuading his reluctant young wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) to move back to the city. At first, neither lawman realizes how madly brilliant the sermonizing psycho is, or how much pursuing this case to the end will ultimately cost them. Crackling with suspense and an almost unbearably persistent tension, David Fincher's Seven plunges us into the murky underside of a nightmarish, rainy, unnamed city, where two detectives at opposite ends of their respective careers are drawn into the darkest corners of their own consciousness. Pitt and Freeman, representing modes of innocence and experience, arrogance and wisdom, are perfectly matched, and Fincher's neo-noir style further builds the film's psychological intensity. Edgy, bleak, and unforgettable, Seven ranks with Silence of the Lambs as one of the most harrowing policiers of the '90s.

Out Of Sight (1998)- Handsome, suave career bank robber Jack Foley (Clooney) escapes from a Florida prison, only to be nabbed by gorgeous federal marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez). Foley's partner Buddy (Ving Rhames) intervenes, however, and the crafty convict squirms away, but not before he and Sisco have a long, overheated ride in the trunk of a car. While both fantasize about their mutual attraction, priorities prevail: Jack plans a major diamond heist, and Sisco checks up on his former associates and kooky ex-wife (Catherine Keener) hoping to smoke him out. Mining the risqué wit and edgy, intricate plotting of Elmore Leonard's novel, this cool, stylish crime-caper romance by Steven Soderbergh is designed solely for one purpose: to entertain. Clooney, trying to escape bush-league fame on TV's ER, projects all the bad-boy self-confidence and irresistible charm that would soon make him a movie star. Lopez is tough but alluring too, a sultry match for Clooney's charismatic, calculating Foley. Strong support from Keener, Rhames, Dennis Farina, Albert Brooks, Luis Guzman, and especially Don Cheadle (as a psychotic inmate) keep things rolling. Don't let this funky heist flick Out of Sight.

Snatch (2000)- Seedy British boxing promoters Turkish (Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham) team up with Irish Gypsy pugilist Mickey (Pitt) to throw a fight organized by crazed mobster Brick Top (Alan Ford). Their paths eventually cross with Franky Four Fingers (Benicio del Toro), a Jewish gangster who's transporting a stolen 84-carat diamond to New York, and dangerous Russian hoodlum Boris the Blade (Rade Sherbedgia), for whom Franky's placed a bet on the fixed fight. Guy Ritchie's kinetic, ultra-stylish heist film is an amalgam of all the best caper films, rolled out with a punk attitude and bristling Cockney accent. The plot is outrageous but loads of fun (wait until a certain dog swallows a squeaky toy), and the ensemble cast -- Statham, Graham, Del Toro, Ford, and Sherbedgia -- may not all be household names, but their fiercely funny performances will stay etched in your mind. Nearly stealing the show is Pitt, playing a crooked bruiser whose Gaelic brogue is hilariously incomprehensible to everyone. Snatch this punchy, black-humored romp through London's criminal underbelly-before someone else does.

O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)- In Depression-era Mississippi, three convicts -- smooth-talking con man Everett (Clooney), anxious nutcase Pete (John Turturro), and dim-witted rube Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) -- manage to escape a chain gang, then go on a soul-running, picaresque quest for $1.2 million in hidden cash. Keeping ahead of the law, they encounter bible salesmen and Klansmen, prophets and river sirens, and even manage to record a hit song, all while Everett tries to win back his soon-to-be-remarried wife (Holly Hunter). A wacky cross between "Ulysses" and "Sullivan's Travels," the Coens' stylized slapstick adventure is packed with loopy dialogue, smart visual gags, and plenty of sly cultural references (legendary gangster Baby Face Nelson and sold-his-soul-to-the-devil blues musician Robert Johnson are among the colorful Southern characters the fugitives meet on the road). O Brother is a comic caricature of 1930s Mississippi and its milieu seen through a mythic lens. Terrific support from John Goodman, Charles Durning (as a Southern politico), and Hunter round out a superbly offbeat cast, while Alison Kraus and T-Bone Burnett provide the grace note with their old-timey soundtrack.

Michael Clayton (2007)- New York City lawyer Michael Clayton (Clooney) is a "fixer" for a big firm, cleaning up the dirty messes his high-paying clients leave behind, but lately he's been feeling burned out and disillusioned. Things come to a head for Clayton when his guilt-ridden friend, ace lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), decides to blow the whistle on a corporate client's massive wrongdoing, thereby threatening his career, his sanity, even his life. One of the thorniest and most celebrated legal thrillers in years, Clayton marks the directorial debut of Bourne trilogy screenwriter Tony Gilroy, whose film is distinguished by intelligent dialogue, meticulous pacing, and plenty of riveting tension. A-lister Clooney adopts a quieter, less showy pose as a troubled lawyer torn between his loyalty to firm honcho Sydney Pollack and his pal Wilkinson, who gives an astounding performance as an erratic, manic-depressive lawyer at the breaking point. As you'd expect, the no-nonsense Swinton is superb as the offending Client's top lawyer (she won an Oscar for this). Director Gilroy handles all the intrigue -- a cover-up, then a murder -- with cold efficiency, but catharsis does arrive in the final scene.

The Tree Of Life (2011)- Terence Malick's latest film is an enigmatic, often profound meditation on nature, innocence, love and faith, experienced largely through the lens of one American family. In a 1950s Texas suburb, Mr. O'Brien (Pitt) and Mrs. O'Brien (Jessica Chastain) raise three sons, teaching them to be good, honorable Christian men. But the family has problems: Mr. O'Brien is a moody, rigid disciplinarian, burdening his sons with his fixation on ambition and masculine ideals. In particular, the eldest boy, Jack (Hunter McCracken), struggles with conflicting feelings about his powerful Dad, and finds various ways to act out and rebel. Later, the grown-up Jack (Sean Penn) embarks on a spiritual quest to understand his painful childhood, the sudden death of his younger brother, and his fractured adulthood. Book-ending the family narrative are sequences portraying both the origin of the universe, and the afterlife. Epic, ambitious, and highly unconventional, some viewers struggled with this autobiographical, long-gestating magnum opus from Malick. Though the director perhaps falls short in making his more abstract, existential sequences cohere with the central story, this barely detracts from the film's blinding impact. Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Tree is at once visually astonishing and emotionally resonant: its uncanny sense of place and stunning, sun-drenched cinematography evoke those achingly familiar, elusive small moments that give texture and flavor to our daily lives. The lovely Jessica Chastain's career was launched here, but both she and Penn feel slightly underused. Rather, it's Pitt (in the performance of his career) and the young McCracken who make this daring work of genius soar. Branch out and experience this controversial film for yourself.

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The Best Bogart Movies By Farr

Humphrey Bogart was never quite who or what he seemed to be.

Born to privilege, the son of a Manhattan physician and a successful illustrator, he would end up being known for his street-smart, tough guy roles. In real life, people assumed his cool, cocksure manner reflected confidence, but on a fundamental level he was surprisingly insecure.

Though he loved to needle people, he would do almost anything to avoid violence, including hiding under tables. And by all accounts, his surface cynicism, aloofness, and intolerance for anything or anyone "phony" served as a protective barrier to an uncommonly sensitive and caring soul.

He was also an unlikely candidate for success. Bogart was thrown out of most schools he attended for bad grades, bad behavior, or both. He fell into acting, a disreputable profession for the upper classes in those days, because he had few other options. He toiled for several years at Warner Brothers playing second fiddle to Cagney, Robinson, and Bette Davis, and in the mid-late thirties, few would have pegged him for star material. Yet today his visage, accompanied by the trademark cigarette and trench coat, may be more iconic than any other star from Hollywood's Golden Age, with the possible exception of John Wayne.

And somehow, most incongruous of all remains the fact that this scowling, sad-eyed actor, whose very being screamed rebellion, was born on Christmas Day. And yet it is so.

Bogart's film career was born largely due to Leslie Howard's generosity in pushing for him at a crucial juncture; his eventual stardom was attributable to George Raft's poor judgment in choosing (or rather, not choosing) roles, coupled with Warner production chief Hal Wallis's hunch that the forty year old supporting player could make the leap to star. Thankfully for us all, Raft was wrong, Howard and Wallis right.

What follows are my favorite under-exposed Bogie picks. I'm consciously omitting what are arguably his most famous "landmark" films: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, Key Largo, and The African Queen, featuring Bogart's only Oscar-winning role, and a title which remains stubbornly unavailable on DVD.

The Petrified Forest (1936) -- A penniless, drifting writer (Leslie Howard) stops by a remote Arizona café run by the owner's restless daughter (Bette Davis). The two promptly fall in love over poetry, which only stimulates the girl's desperate desire to flee her dead-end existence. Then, all too suddenly, they and their motley group find themselves held captive by escaped killer Duke Mantee (Bogart). Reprising his role from Robert E. Sherwood's smash Broadway play, Howard plays the anguished intellectual to the hilt, especially in his scenes with the menacing, monotone Bogart, who modeled his Duke Mantee after celebrity criminal John Dillinger. Jack Warner had no interest in casting Bogie in the role that would solidify his screen career, but was convinced -- or perhaps blackmailed -- by Howard, who had played it with Bogie on Broadway, and owned the rights to the story. Davis also glows in an early role as the chipper, wide-eyed dreamer. Their spirited performances make this "Forest" anything but wooden.

Dead End (1937) -- Disguised by plastic surgery, wanted gangster Baby Face Martin (Bogart) returns to his old Manhattan neighborhood to look up his mother and former girlfriend. Living in the slum are Martin's old pal Dave (Joel McCrea), an out-of-work architect, and Drina (Sylvia Sidney), an impoverished beauty raising her kid brother. When Martin starts teaching the brother's local gang (the Dead End Kids!) some professional tricks, Dave intervenes, hoping to keep Drina's brother square with the law. Based on a hit play and scripted by Lillian Hellman, William Wyler's compelling fable of tenement life in the 1930s clicked as a hard-hitting social drama about class tensions and the origins of crime. Bogart scores a direct hit as the rotten Martin, though a scene with his disapproving mother shows a vulnerable side, too. McCrea and Sidney also carry their weight as the moral heart of Wyler's mean streets.

High Sierra (1941) -- Weary, aging gangster Roy "Mad Dog" Earle (Bogart) is enlisted in a hotel-robbery scheme after a close mobster friend springs him from prison. On his way to a rendezvous point, he meets and falls for farmer's daughter Velma (Joan Leslie). Meanwhile, Marie (Ida Lupino), his colleague's tough-as-nails girlfriend, develops a soft spot for Earle. Once the heist goes down, however, the attachments he's formed with the two women could bring about his downfall. Bogart was given a juicy breakout role here as a killer with a compassionate side. Young Lupino stands out too as Earle's feisty, loyal protector who can't win his love. Co-written by a young John Huston, High Sierra is a solid, flavorful entry for "Bogie-as-bad-guy" fans, boasting a slam-bang finish.

Sahara (1943) -- In the Second War, after the fall of Tobruk in Libya, Sgt. Joe Gunn (Bogart) and his remaining men retreat in their tank across the blistering desert, picking up more straggling allies and two POWs along the way. Finally, they reach a fortress which holds a limited quantity of that most crucial substance: water. When a superior German force arrives, the enemy is desperate enough to offer an exchange of food for water. Gunn's challenge is to hold them off until British reinforcements arrive. This gutsy WWII actioner vividly evokes the particular risks and hazards of desert warfare, while showcasing Bogie in his prime, on the front lines of battle. Suspenseful and smart, "Sahara" is a distinctive, overlooked war film that makes you thirsty for more.

To Have And Have Not (1944) -- Harry Morgan (Bogart), an American skipper in Martinique during the World War II, seems like the self-interested type, but ultimately shows his true colors by aiding the Free French. Still, this risky bit of intrigue feels like mere pretext for the smoldering romance that ignites between Morgan and alluring chanteuse Marie (Lauren Bacall, then just 19).Reportedly, director Howard Hawks bet Ernest Hemingway he could make a great movie out of his worst novel. The author took the bet. Once you watch To Have, you'll know Hawks won. The film remains a gripping adventure tale with stand-out performances from the stars and supporting players Walter Brennan and Hoagy Carmichael. But above all, it's very much a romance: don't miss that famous "Just Whistle" scene. (Bogie and Bacall fell in love on-set, and married soon after the production wrapped).

The Big Sleep (1946) -- Private investigator Philip Marlowe (Bogart) gets tangled in a seedy web of murder and vice when he's hired by a wealthy scion to investigate a pornographer with incriminating photos of his daughter, Carmen (Martha Vickers). Marlowe finds the man dead, and eventually teams with the general's other daughter, Vivian (Bacall), who assists him in some highly unpleasant detective work. Scripted by William Faulkner from Raymond Chandler's complex detective novel, The Big Sleep is a Hollywood puzzler of the highest order. Bogart famously cemented his gritty persona tackling the role of Chandler's shamus protagonist, Philip Marlowe, co-starring again alongside young wife Bacall. "Sleep" piles up so many twists, turns, and bodies that ultimately you can't tell who killed whom -- neither, apparently, could Chandler -- but the Bogart-Bacall star wattage and Howard Hawks's expert direction make it so you really don't care.

In A Lonely Place (1950) -- Volatile screenwriter Dixon Steele (Bogart) finds himself in hot water, needing to clear himself of a murder. Sultry Gloria Grahame is Laurel Gray, the fetching helpmate and love interest in a story that exposes the darker, rougher edges around Tinseltown. Nicholas Ray's tingling drama defines what a great whodunit should be. The anger within Bogart's character melds perfectly with the actor's own dark persona. And Grahame is always fascinating to watch, both for her unique allure and nuanced acting. Probing, literate and atmospheric, this is one "Place" worth seeking out.

The Caine Mutiny (1954) -- Based on Herman Wouk's sprawling novel, Mutiny tells of the neurotic, inflexible Captain Queeg (Bogart), a career officer whose men relieve him of command when he supposedly falters in guiding his ship through a perilous typhoon. Once on terra firma, Queeg ensures the men get court-martialed for mutiny. Then, as the trial progresses, the sad truth is gradually revealed. But in the end, is justice done? This stunning production stands as one of our finest war films - and courtroom dramas. A trio of memorable performances keep it afloat: an Oscar-nominated Bogart in one of his best turns as the embattled Queeg; Jose Ferrer, who almost steals the picture as a whip-smart defense lawyer; and finally, Fred MacMurray, superb in the unsympathetic part of a cowardly lieutenant. All hands on deck for this smart, salty classic.

Note: See this piece at The Huffington Post: The Best Bogart Movies By Farr.

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See John's latest piece at The Huffington Post: The Best Sean Connery Movies By Farr.

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