George Clooney: his best films to stream

The award of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival definitively establishes George Clooney not only as one of Hollywood’s last true stars, but also as a versatile artist equally at ease with auteur cinema, spectacular entertainment and ambitious directing projects.

From his breakthrough in the early 1990s to his recent challenges behind and in front of the camera, the American actor has built a filmography full of unmissable cult favourites. If you want to celebrate his award by rediscovering his most iconic roles or acclaimed work as a director, here is a comprehensive guide to the best George Clooney films currently available to stream on the leading global and Italian platforms.

 

George Clooney films streaming on Netflix

Netflix’s library offers a perfect illustration of Clooney’s versatility as an actor and filmmaker, ranging from major dramas and cynical comedies to explorations of science fiction.

• The Midnight Sky (2020): In this post-apocalyptic story, Clooney plays Augustine, a solitary scientist who has remained at a research station in the Arctic. Ill and isolated, he desperately tries to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning to Earth, which has been struck by a mysterious global catastrophe.
• Jay Kelly: Actor Jay Kelly and his long-standing manager Ron (Adam Sandler) embark on an intense journey filled with life-changing revelations. The experience will force them to question every past decision, their personal relationships and the legacy they have left over time.
• Up in the Air (2009): Ryan Bingham enjoys his itinerant life, flying across the country to fire employees on behalf of other companies. However, he realises that his unattached lifestyle is seriously threatened by a potential romantic interest and a brilliant young new recruit.

 

On Amazon Prime Video

Prime’s library includes some of the most commercial, adrenaline-fuelled and visually spectacular titles of the star’s career, perfect for an evening of blockbuster Hollywood entertainment.

First and foremost is the timeless Ocean’s trilogy (Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen), the celebrated series of heist movies in which Clooney plays the iconic and charismatic Danny Ocean. Alongside his eleven trusted accomplices, played by a stellar cast including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, Ocean devises ingenious and seemingly impossible plans to rob the most heavily guarded casinos in Las Vegas.

For lovers of thrills and suspense, there is also Gravity (2013), a science-fiction thriller in which the actor stars alongside Sandra Bullock. They play two astronauts who must work together to survive after a catastrophic accident in orbit destroys their shuttle, leaving them adrift in deep space.

Rounding out the platform’s selection is The Perfect Storm (2000), a tense drama based on real events. The story follows a crew of swordfish fishermen who venture too far on a fishing trip and unwittingly become trapped at the heart of a storm of unprecedented proportions, placing every sailor on board in grave danger.

 

George Clooney films streaming on Disney+

The Disney platform offers a selection that highlights the actor’s more nostalgic, period and socially engaged work.

• The Monuments Men (2014): An unlikely platoon of art experts recruited during the Second World War is tasked with rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners.
• Tomorrowland (2015): A scientifically curious teenager and a former boy-genius inventor (Clooney) embark on a dangerous mission to uncover the secrets of a place in time and space that exists in their collective memory.
• The Thin Red Line (1998): Loosely based on James Jones’s autobiographical novel, Terrence Malick’s masterpiece depicts the bloody Battle of Guadalcanal during the Second World War through a philosophical, ensemble perspective.

 

RaiPlay and Mediaset: Clooney as director

For anyone wishing to discover the artist’s more personal filmmaking side, Italy’s free streaming platforms RaiPlay and Mediaset Infinity offer a broad overview of films showcasing Clooney’s substantial and refined work as a director.

A perfect example is The Ides of March (2011), a ruthless political thriller adapted from the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon. In the film, Clooney directs and plays a Democratic candidate for the US presidency, while Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, his ambitious and idealistic press secretary. When the young aide becomes entangled in a dark web of double-dealing, blackmail and tragic betrayal, he is forced to choose between saving his career and preserving his moral integrity.

With Suburbicon (2017), Clooney turns to the 1950s to paint a bleak portrait of small-town America. The story unfolds in a quiet community where the Lodge family seems to embody the American dream, but greed and violence lurk behind the façade of well-kept gardens and polite smiles. A sudden home invasion unleashes a whirlwind of blackmail, revenge and bloody betrayal that exposes the neighbourhood’s darkest side.

Completing the selection is the more recent The Boys in the Boat (2023), a moving true story set during the Great Depression. The plot follows the University of Washington rowing team, a group of disadvantaged students who suddenly find themselves in the global spotlight and ultimately earn an extraordinary opportunity: competing against the world’s strongest crews at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.