George Clooney’s 10 Best Movies

It may be hard to believe, but George Clooney has been acting since the late 1970s, and throughout his 40-plus years in Hollywood he has starred in some incredible films.

Clooney’s earliest work was as an extra in various projects, but he would eventually go on to appear in B-movies such as Return to Horror High, Combat Academy, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes.

He eventually wound up getting a role on Roseanne, and then later made turned a breakout performance as Dr. Doug Ross on ER.

ER was the catalyst for Clooney’s illustrious career, which has seen him deliver numerous award-winning performances.

Scroll down for our list of the 10 best George Clooney films, and be sure to leave us a comment with your favorite!

Gravity

Released: 2013 / Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón

Also Starring: Sandra Bullock and Ed Harris.

Gravity is tense, jarring scifi thriller about two U.S. astronauts (Clooney and Bullock) who become stranded in outer space after their shuttle is damaged.

Clooney serves up a stoic performance, and works in perfect unison with Bullock to deliver this intense film carried on the weight of two powerful stars.

Three Kings

Released: 1999 / Directed by: David O. Russell

Also Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Nora Dunn, Jamie Kennedy, Mykelti Williamson, Cliff Curtis and Saïd Taghmaoui.

Clooney plays Major Archie Gates, “a career U.S. Army Special Forces officer close to retirement” in this black comedy about wartime.

The film has become somewhat notorious more for its behind-the-scenes antics, as Clooney infamously butted-heads with Russell. Their contentiousness with one another even came to blows once.

Good Night, And Good Luck

Released: 2005 / Directed by: George Clooney

Also Starring: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey, Jr., Frank Langella, Tate Donovan, and Alex Borstein.

Clooney not only appeared in, but also directed this historical drama about the “conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow (Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.”

The film specifically focuses on Murrow’s issues with “the anti-Communist Senator’s actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.”

Clooney received Best Director award nominations for the film at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.

Out of Sight

Released: 1998 / Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Also Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina and Albert Brooks.

Before the two joined forces for Ocean’s 11, Clooney and Soderbergh teamed-up for Out of Sight, a fun and funny neo-noir crime film.

The film was adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, and went on to be nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

Up in the Air

Released: 2009 / Directed by: Jason Reitman

Also Starring: Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Danny McBride, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, Zach Galifianakis, J. K. Simmons, and Sam Elliott.

Up In The Air is a dramedy that leans heavy on the drama, but creatively uses comedy to keep things from feeling to heavy.

Clooney brilliantly plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate “downsizer” who slowly begins to feel the weight that his lifestyle is taking on him.

“In one sense, it’s a movie about a man who fires people for a living. In another sense, it’s a movie about a man who collects air miles excessively,” Reitman once noted of the film. “In another sense, it’s about a man who meets a woman who’s so similar to him that even though they both believe in the idea of living solo, they begin to fall in love.”

Michael Clayton

Released: 2007 / Directed by: Tony Gilroy

Also Starring: Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O’Keefe, Merritt Wever, and Denis O’Hare.

Michael Clayton is a deeply complex legal thriller in which Clooney stars in the title-role as a “fixer” for law firm Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen.

After uncovering something he can’t turn a blind-eye to, Clayton sets off on a mission to set things right.

Ocean’s Eleven

Released: 2001 / Directed by:Steven Soderbergh

Also Starring: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Eddie Jemison, and Shaobo Qin.

Ocean’s Eleven is a comedic heist film that few people realize is actually a remake of an old Rat Pack movie of the same name.

In the updated version, Clooney played the sly and dashing Danny Ocean, a recently-released convict who has at least one more score to settle.

The film debuted in 2001, and quickly became a massive success. It went on to spawn two sequels (Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen), as well as a franchise reboot (2018s Ocean’s Eight).

The Descendants

Released: 2011 / Directed by: Alexander Payne

Also Starring: Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer and Matthew Lillard.

In this family drama film, Clooney plays Matthew “Matt” King, a man who is navigating the complicated waters of life with his two daughters while his adulterous wife is comatose from a boating accident.

The film earned Clooney many awards nominations, with the star taking home the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Drama.

Hail, Caesar!

Released: 2016 / Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Also Starring: Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Channing Tatum.

Hail, Caesar! is a ficticious comedy film that follows the real-life movie studio “fixer” Eddie Mannix (Brolin) as he tries to keep the antics and eccentricities of his film stars under wraps.

In the film, Clooney plays Baird Whitlock, “a Robert Taylor-type film star” who is kidnapped and winds up with a bit of Stockholm syndrome due to his impressionable personality.

The Ides of March

Released: 2011 / Directed by: George Clooney

Also Starring: Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright.

The final film on out list of George Clooney’s 10 best movies is another film that he directed, The Ides of March.

The film was adapted from the play Farragut North, which was written by Beau Willimon, who created the U.S. version of House of Cards for Netflix.

In The Ides of March, Clooney plays Mike Morris, the fictional Governor of Pennsylvania — and presidential candidate — who holds “integrity and dignity” at a much lower threshold than his outward persona would suggest.