Review - Up in the Air

This will likely be one of my shorter reviews, so be happy. The more I have to criticize about a movie, or the more I feel the need to defend a movie, the more I write. Hence shorter.

As the picture above quite clearly says, Up in the Air is brought to us from Jason Reitman (and based on the book of the same name by Walter Kirn), the director behind Juno and Thank You for Smoking. I haven't seen the latter, but word of mouth is good, and I really enjoyed Juno (even Diablo Cody's dialogue, which a lot of people had a problem with). Thus, I was very curious to see what his third major film would bring to the table. It lives up to his past work.

In Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a road warrior whose job is to fire people for companies that are too afraid to do it themselves. He lives his entire life out of a suitcase and considers the airport to be his home. Anna Kendrick (sadly best known for Twilight at the moment) plays Natalie Keener, a young out of college female who is ready to change the way the world is run. The basis of the movie surrounds Ryan taking Natalie to teach her the ropes of the way he does things, so as to convince her that her fresh philosophies are not any good. On the way, he ends up struggling with some of his own philosophies and how he lives his life. Sounds interesting, right? It is incredibly interesting, and it is incredibly engaging.

The acting in Up in the Air is phenomenal. It really really is great. The script is fantastic. The cinematography is is great. The soundtrack is worth purchasing (in fact, I probably will buy it tomorrow). The opening sequence alone, an aerial tour of the united states while a remake of "This Land is Your Land" plays in the background, is almost worth the price of admission.

I have nothing negative to say about this movie. Honestly, nothing. It's philosophical, thought provoking, witty, hilarious, sad, moving, and fun. They say "fuck" pretty often, so I suppose that's a negative... but if you're getting fired you might be in a cursing mood. There's a semi-nude scene near the beginning, but it's not a sex scene and only lasts about 4 seconds. So that could be a negative for some people. It's not necessarily an incredibly uplifting movie... so for some people that could be a negative. But like I said, none of those things hurt the movie for me. I like realistic. I don't like things sugar coated. If it's not real, then it isn't as moving, and if it isn't moving, then it is unsuccessful film making. This is extremely successful film making. Jason Reitman makes me happy, and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeves next.

Up in the Air is now in the running for being my favorite movie of the year. We'll see though. That'll probably be my next post... giving you that list. That's what I get for rating two movies 10/10. I should be harsher.

But first, here's the teaser trailer for Up in the Air. I actually like it better than the main trailer. It makes me want to go see the movie again right now. Bummer I don't have the money to spend on multiple viewings!



Potential based on Preview: 10/10
Actual Movie: 10/10