So let's talk movies. As per usual at this time of year, there are waaay too many prestige pictures coming out in a very short span of time. This coming weekend alone, we've got Invictus, the Lovely Bones, and The Princess & The Frog. And between next week and the end of the year, there's Crazy Heart, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Nine, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Yikes. I'm only semi-interested, at least right now, in The Lovely Bones and Nine, but the rest I'm eagerly anticipating.
The one everyone is speculating on is Avatar. Some are already predicting that it will flop and collapse under the weight of its own hype. Considering the costs of the movie, a Watchmen-style box office that is decent, but consists mostly of pre-sold fanboys, will not really be sufficient for success. It's hard to say how it will do, but I think it's going to have a really hard time being a Dark Knight-level blockbuster. I mean, TDK was unusual in that it managed to attract a sizable female audience that went well beyond the target demo. I wonder if Avatar will just come off as too sci-fi-ish to really attract a mainstream audience. I know that, anecdotally, all of my film geek friends are super-excited for the movie, but everyone else seems kind of "meh." That said, the x-factor could be kids. I could see a lot of younger boys going to see this one and, hey, if it's good, it could be the same kind of badass yet formative film experience that something like, say, T2 was to kids of my generation. You never know. Then again, it could be the next Titan A.E. Okay, I don't think it will be that bad (and I *like* Titan A.E.). Personally though, I remain optimistic. At the end of the day, it's about having a great story, and few others in cinema have been able to marry cutting-edge f/x with epic stories like James Cameron.
My other big hope is that, as people start thinking about Oscar picks and Best of The Year lists, they think back to some of the great movies that came out earlier this year that may not have had quite the hype machine as some others. I mean, people are already talking about how the Oscar race this year is boring. Why? Because the best movies of the year weren't huge, splashy Oscar-bait pics? If THE HURT LOCKER wins best picture, for example, it will be well-deserved, and same goes for Kathryn Bigelow if she were to win for Best Director. But also, I hope that people check out and acknowledge movies like MOON, ANVIL: THE STORY OF ANVIL, OBSERVE & REPORT, and A SERIOUS MAN.
But anyways, one of the early favorites for Oscar gold this is the movie I'm about to review, the latest from Jason Reitman ...
UP IN THE AIR Review:
- As I've been increasingly immersed in the corporate world over the last few years, I've become more and more familiar with the type of guy that George Clooney plays in Up in the Air. Clooney's character, Ryan Bingham, is someone who thrives in a way of life that most of us would never embrace. He spends his days flying from city to city, taking great pleasure in mastering the nuances of air travel. I mean, how does anyone like air travel? I guess the experience is better if you're flying first-class, but still - you immediately wonder what kind of sadist loves airports, lives for accumulating frequent flyer miles, and keeps his whole life neatly folded into a carry-on suitcase. Ryan Bingham is that guy. The guy that to most of us, we look at him and think "I don't care if he has nice suits and flies first class ... I *never* want to be *that* guy." But that's not all. Bingham's up-in-the-air, minimal-human-connection lifestyle would be depressing enough if he were just some corporate stooge. But his job is the kicker. He is a guy who flies to random companies across the country, and is essentially a hired hatchet-man who breaks the news to employees that they've just been laid off. Because for some reason, their own bosses didn't want to tell them, so they've hired Bingham's firm to do their dirty work for them. And this, my friends, is Up in the Air - a funny, thought-provoking, and well-acted film that nonetheless makes it hard to ever fully connect with its characters. That said, I do think that this is likely among the year's best - it's a movie that feels very current, very relevant, and one that is another testament to Jason Reitman as one of the more talented directors working today.
Up in the Air is a really high-quality film, but it's one that may prove tough to talk about. Let me try to explain ... this is one that, as the credits rolled, I was thinking "wow, great movie." My immediate reaction was very, very positive. I was impressed with the fine acting and the overall progression of the storyline. But for a while there, I was shaky. Because as it goes on, Up in the Air threatens to devolve into a pretty by-the-numbers sort of romantic comedy. And the thought of that made me slightly cringe, because for its first half the movie is anything but formulaic. It's darkly funny, and also refreshingly unapologetic about its lead character. But as the movie went on, it seemed to be going down a pretty questionable path towards typical Hollywood schmaltz, and then ... well, I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a twist that righted the ship and declared that all that apparent sunshine and roses stuff had, in fact, just been a clever ruse. The way the movie wrapped affirmed my faith in it as a great character study and as a critique of a certain way of life. Like I said, when the credits rolled, my immediate reaction was that I had just seen a damn fine film.
The more I thought about it though, the more some things about Up in the Air didn't quite sit right with me. I wondered if the twist really made sense or if it just came out of nowhere. I also wondered about the tone of the movie. At times, it is dark - a black comedy. It can be moving too, because the pain of all the nameless people who lose their jobs resonates in these tough times. But the movie can also be bouncy and light, and sometimes it does seem to glamorize its characters rather than deconstruct them. It's also hard to know quite what to think of George Clooney in this movie. It's an enjoyable and even iconic performance, sure, but I also wondered if Clooney could really convey the dark side of his character. The thing with him is ... do we ever really feel that bad for Clooney when he fails at love and life in a movie like this? You can't help but think that his next romance is just around the corner, and that if he really wants to, he can quit his job, find a new one, and basically be a happy, successful guy. It's why I wonder if the movie could have been harsher, darker, more extreme in its portrayal of Ryan Bingham. If it had gone that route, it could have been more than just very good, but truly great.
As it is though, this is a really good turn from Clooney, up there with movies like Michael Clayton as one of his best dramatic roles to date. To his credit, Clooney's movie-star charisma puts an interesting twist on the Bingham character - because it forces us to look past that and see what's on the inside. Clooney also makes a great sparring partner for Anna Kendrick as his fresh-out-of-college protege. If anything, this movie is a breakthrough for Kendrick. Her character, Natalie, just felt real and authentic. She reminded me of people I know and work with. As a twenty-something still relatively new to the working world, I really enjoyed seeing the rare character on-screen who actually reflected some of the real conflict and clash of ideologies that Gen Y is faced with in the workplace. Vera Farmiga is also pretty excellent as Bingham's frequent-flyer, would-be-soul-mate. Even when the relationship between her and Clooney starts getting a bit cliched, it's still entertaining because the two do have that old-school, old-Hollywood sort of chemistry.
Honestly though, some of my favorite moments in the movie - the moments that really put the film over the top for me - came from the great supporting cast. Jason Bateman (who covered some similar ground in Mike Judge's Extract) shows up as Clooney's boss, but the real scene stealers include J.K. Simmons as one of the men Clooney is forced to fire, Danny McBride as his soon-to-be brother-in-law, and the great Sam Elliot as, well, I don't want to spoil it. Suffice it to say, Elliot has his most smile-inducing role here since The Big Lebowski.
Meanwhile, Jason Reitman does a fine job directing, and he remains a director who is at the short list of accomplished new talents to come out of this decade. I was a fan of Thank You For Smoking, a big fan of Juno, and am also impressed with Up in the Air. I guess my worry is how much sentimentality seeps into what is really a pretty unsentimental story. I'm not saying that Up in the Air should have been the modern version of There Will Be Blood, but still ... the tone sometimes seems to take a safe middle ground rather than going all the way.
Like I said, Up in the Air is a tough one, and as you can probably tell, I'm using this review, to some extent, to sort out how I feel about it. I want to sing its praises unequivically, but a couple things ultimately bug me about it. Still, I feel pretty willing to overlook those complaints, because at the end of the day this is a movie whose central message has stuck with me. Even if the tone is somewhat safe, there's still a resonant and somewhat poignant message about the world we live in today - where corporate culture has dehumanized us and made us forget how to actually act and think like human beings. I appreciate that sentiment, and think about it daily. In fact, I think this is a central question and concern for Gen Y - in an age where so much individuality can be expressed and encouraged, how then do we fit into a stifling corporate culture as established by previous generations? In the end, Up In the Air is an effective cautionary tale of one man from the old generation's failings, and the lessons that the new generation can learn from his mistakes. Despite some reservations, I still rank this movie very highly for the fact that it exists to comment on this big generational issue. So I'll have to stick with my initial reaction - that being: "great movie."
My Grade: A-
- And with that, I'm out. Stay tuned for my BEST OF THE DECADE series, coming soon!
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