CRITICS’ PICKS

Carina Chocano

‘Michael Clayton’

Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton” stars George Clooney as the “fixer” for a major law firm. As depressed as Michael is about his dirty, dirty job, it’s nothing compared with the psychic toll their evil work takes on two of his associates. Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) is a litigating partner in the firm who for the last six years has been defending a chemical company that knowingly put out a cancer-causing weedkiller. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) is the lonely, insecure and single-minded head counsel for the company. Arthur’s flameout is spectacular -- Karen’s is more of a quiet implosion -- but both are something to behold.

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Kenneth Turan

‘Dan in Real Life’

There was good news at the box office last week, and it wasn’t the popularity of gorefest “Saw IV.” Rather it was the sight of the long-slumbering adult audience rousing to make “Dan in Real Life” the No. 2 movie in the U.S. Starring contemporary comedy giant Steve Carell and France’s Oscar-winning high-culture heroine Juliette Binoche -- a coupling as unlikely as it is delicious -- this is that rarest of birds, a star-driven sophisticated romantic comedy successfully aimed at certifiable adults. Directed and co-written by Peter Hedges, who made his debut in the underrated “Pieces of April.” Hedges specializes in reality-based comedy with a hidden heart, and he’s done his best work yet here.