"Michael Clayton" - C+

Fresh to DVD just in time for the Oscars, last year's "Michael Clayton" is a legal thriller that seeks to reset the genre's paradigm and manages to make some interesting strides in the attempt.

The case notes: George Clooney is Michael Clayton, a lawyer with a specialized practice of fixing unique problems for clients of a high-dollar firm. If you find yourself in a hit-and-run and you're a good enough client, Michael's the guy they send to solve all your troubles.

But Clayton has a lot of personal problems of his own, and they're starting to take a toll on how he sees his entire profession and what he's accomplished. Add in a highly unusual set of circumstances for one of his firm's biggest cases, and the stars are aligning for a life-altering chain of events that could even kill him.

Almost not your average lawyer: Just as Michael Clayton is not your everyday ambulance chaser, so this movie is not the total standard-issue legal thriller — it's not full of courtrooms and heavy-handed discussions of the right and wrong of the law. What this movie does deliver is a Hollywood-like character study about extraordinary outside influences reshaping someone, what they do and who they are.

There's really no easy way to explain what happens without delving too much into the minutia of the entire ploy, which really only serves as a stage for these near-spiritual transformations. But I believe you'll discover this title carries only a few new approaches before sadly resorting to the old tried-and-true methods of reaching resolution.

And yes, this is a Clooney-heavy production as you might imagine. But there are many a shining moment from Tom Wilkinson as "Arthur Edens" and the always delightfully evil Tilda Swinton as anti-Clayton "Karen Crowder." These two are solid supporters for Clooney to bounce off his usual so-so delivery.

Is this a fantastic film? No, but it's fairly good as far as mainstream releases go. It has many notes that hint at influences from producer Steven Soderbergh, but it just doesn't make a completely clean break from the typical norm.

Grade: C+ (it's just good, not great ......)