Serious Movie Lover

UP IN THE AIR (IN THEATERS/2009) Loads of great reviews have been written about Up in the Air, which boasts a 91 rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is already an award winner, and now is up for no less than 6 Golden Globes and 3 SAG awards. The GG nominations are for all the big ones: Best Picture, Best Director (Jason Reitman), Best Screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner), Actor (George Clooney), Actress (Vera Farmiga) and Supporting Actress (Anna Kendrick). And the Oscar noms will be coming. Kudos to Reitman who based his screenplay on a book of the same title written back in 2001 by Walter Kim — who, according to Wikipedia, wrote the book after meeting a fellow passenger in a first class cabin who enjoyed being on the road more than 300 days a year and was literally living out of an airport locker. Though Reitman began working on the screenplay in 2002, he is ironically fortunate to have brought the film out in 2009—when the theme of corporate downsizing really hits home with the audience. But the bigger theme involves the main character’s philosophy of life—cleverly presented in his “What’s in Your Backpack” corporate seminars. I will not detail the plot of this movie (it’s covered everywhere, literally) but SPOILER ALERT: if you have seen the film and want to discuss the near-final plot twist and the last shot of Ryan Bingham (Clooney) in the film, logon to http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/12/17/up-in-the-air-twist-ending-polls/ and cast your vote! And don’t miss Jason Reitman’s own take on that ending. It’s here ….and it’s a wonderful read.

Grade: A Excellent and worth more than one viewing for sure.