Review: Up in the Air (Theatrical)

I know I had to see this one before the award season goes absolutely insane (which to me, starts after this week's Golden Globes), and since this movie is/was/will be a front runner for the Best Picture win, it is a must-see on the list of movies to must-see.

So does it hold up? Is it really that good?

Yes. I hearted this movie. More than I thought I would. I knew the basic premise, Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who works for a company that is hired by other companies to fire their employees. He spends his whole life disconnected from others, up in the air (duh name of movie), flying from one city to another with no connections with his family and no friends, despite being surrounded by people all the time. On one trip he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga) a woman who though we don't find out what her job is (it doesn't matter to the plot), is just like Ryan - always on the go, disconnected from life and the two start a romance, meeting each other when they can. Along comes a young person from Ryan's company, Natalie (played by Anna Kendrick - be back to that) who thinks instead of flying to places to fire them, doing it online via video from their home office would be cheaper and more productive. Ryan thinks she's wrong and brings her on a trip across the country with him to fire people. I won't ruin the rest of the movie, but it's a buddy movie, romantic comedy, and drama rolled into one with an extreme dark edge to it.

The darkness comes from the fired employees who react in both comical and awful ways (turns out many of those were played by real people who had been fired in the months before filming - it was quite effective regardless) as well as some very unexpected twists that dropped my jaw in shock. It has a quite unhappy ending, something I didn't expect from watching the previous hour and half, but it was a proper way to end a movie this dark.

A couple of things I really liked was how the writer and director, Jason Reitman (of Thank You For Smoking and Juno fame - two movies I really liked), made these very unlikeable characters likeable and relatable, just as he had done in his other movies. I especially identified with Anna Kendrick's character, and not just because she was in CAMP. Seriously, she stole that movie with her beyond her years version of "Ladies Who Lunch" from Company. What up rest of cast of Camp? Oh yeah, the main girl got fat and starred as Sharpay in a Baltimore production of High School Musical. True story. Kendrick will be Oscar nominated for this one for sure. But Kendrick's recent college grad was at a crossroads in her life, in a job she doesn't want to settle in, but might be, something I've been experiencing as of late.

I can't speak too highly of this movie, or frankly much more, because you need to see it for yourself and not get spoiled by me. Right now, it's between this movie and Avatar for Best Picture and the movies couldn't be more different. Equally good, YES. But where Avatar used film to bring you to a vivid new world, Up in the Air uses film to force you to see, up close and personal, the realities of living in the world today.

Patrick Approval Raiting: 10/10

Up in the Air @ imdb

Review: (500) Days of Summer (DVD)

This was one of those movies that I had heard so much about and piqued my curiosity, but somehow got lost in the shuffle of 2009. Finally Netflix delivered the goods and I mean that in more way than one.

I had heard about the comparisons between this and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is one of my favorite movies ever, and the only thing they have in common is the way the stories are told out of order. But whereas Eternal Sunshine should have multiple viewings to fully understand which piece goes where and how they all fit together, (500) Days of Summer has it laid out for all in title cards that come up in between scenes saying which part of the relationship the scene takes place in.

Having an out of sequence plot certainly makes it Not-Your-By-The-Numbers-Romantic-Comedy. Between that and the fact they tell you right from the beginning that the movie is NOT a love story, makes this a romcom for everybody, not just the swoony ladies. And even though it's an indie movie, the film doesn't feel too "indie" like The Science of Sleep, a movie I couldn't even get all the through because it was so WAH? But this movie is smartly written, well acted, wonderfully directed, and walks a tight line between comedy and drama, hipster flick and classic love story.

Basic plot rundown: Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, obviously of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel, who has too many O's in her first name) work at a greeting card company (a plot point I found very funny since I think greeting cards tend to be a bit ridiculous) and Tom's love for Summer lasts 500 days right from the moment they meet until he meets someone new. They breakup right at the beginning of the movie, but then go to the moment they meet at work. See? Out of order.

The most inventive pieces of filmmaking in the movie was the splitscreen for a good 5 minutes between Tom's expectations and reality when he attended a party thrown by Summer around day 440 or so. This was after they had broken up, and Tom had all these ideas of what will happen, as opposed to what did happen. I couldn't decide which one to watch - the happy scene where he sweeps her off her feet and they fall back in love, or the real life scene where Tom spends most of the evening alone and depressed. But how true is something like this to real life? I know I've had expectations and reality is something totally different. That's why I enjoyed the movie as much as I did, because despite all its gimmicks, which didn't even feel like gimmicks, it felt real. I know I've felt like Tom before, and I've felt like Summer before, and I related very much to the characters and the situations.

Plus, any movie that features any sort of musical number makes me giddy, especially a musical number set to Hall & Oates "You're Makin My Dreams Come True" featuring Tom and a bunch of random people wearing blue dancing through a park. It was very "That's How You Know" from Enchanted. But way more hipster-y.

Patrick Approval Rating: 10/10

(500) Days of Summer @ imdb

Review: Invitcus (Theatrical)

I was hoping for something extraordinary to see for my first movie of 2010. I started 2009 off with Slumdog Millionaire, which was just a little known movie that nobody saw or cared about. I wanted to see Invictus, but felt sort of ho-hum about the film. I've always appreciated seeing those feel good losers become winners "sports" movies, a la Friday Night Lights or Remember The Titans or hell, even The Big Green. ( I think The Mighty Ducks fits in there too, actually. Anyways, Invictus falls right in the same category, but possibly because it's directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon and is getting all sorts of buzz for those three people, the film is supposedly elevated to above those other movies that fall into the inspiration sport movie film.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but the movie was absolutely nothing special, and not even anything I hadn't seen before. Granted those movies didn't involve Nelson Mandela, or rugby for that matter, a sport which I know NOTHING about except that it's super violent and involved a lot of grunting. Morgan Freeman as Mandela was very good. I mean

1) who doesn't love anything with Morgan Freeman in it? He could narrate a documentary about penguins walking on ice and make it entertaining. Wait a second...

And 2) Who other than Morgan Freeman could play Nelson Mandela? Nobody. He was perfect for the part, and suprisingly funny!

Matt Damon, an actor who I've never fully appreciated probably because I don't really like the Bourne movies and I associate him with them, got to show off some mad rugby skills. Talk of an Oscar nom for him for this? Seriously? He was way better in The Informant!, a movie I hated (and fell asleep during in the theater) but thought he was excellent in it. But whatever.

The movie plays out exactly like you'd expect an inspirational sports movie to play out, except because it's directed by Clint Eastwood, the cinematography has a slightly blue/dark tone to the film. It's definitely a departure for him, though he did do a sports movie with Million Dollar Baby, but that was also way more of a drama and character study than Invictus. At least I thought so.

I'm glad I saw the movie as it will probably be nominated for some Oscars and I like seeing all the Oscar nominated movies, but it would otherwise be a movie I'd rather rent on DVD and watch in my own home and wipe my misty eyes at the end when, OBVIOUS SPOILER ALERT, the team wins.

Patrick Approval Rating: 7/10

Invictus @ imdb