Up in the Air

I was a little leary of this movie, considering how the recent George Clooney choice of movies has been. I wasn't a fan of Leatherheads, I fell asleep during Ocean's 13, and I wanted to throw up during Intolerable Cruelity. For me, ever since he dressed up as Batman, I've had a hard time watching his movies with an open mind. Granted, all the of the Oscar buzz for Up in the Air helped, but then again, I never saw Syrianna or Good Night, Good Luck because of George Clooney. After watching Up in the Air, I am back on the George Clooney bandwagon.

The first thing this movie showed me was that it was rated R, and for me, that is a big deal. Making a movie rated R means that you don't pull back from subject matter, material, and language. This movie was about a real guy who lived on the road, using airplanes and hotels as a place of residence. His job was to go into these corporate buildings and give hard working employees their walking papers. Instead of getting a Disney, possibly edited for TBS type movie, I saw real emotion. I also have to commend Clooney on a job well done. He was convincing as Ryan, the hired gun for fire (so to speak). I liked Vera Farmiga as the woman who meets Clooney out on road, and uses him for the escape that she feels that she needs. Anna Kendrick's character was a little bit of a beating for me, but she won me over towards the end. I'm not sure if I just didn't like her character or if I didn't like her, but in the end, her character didn't ruin the movie for me.

Having never seen the best picture, The Hurt Locker, yet, I was pleasentley surprised on how much I enjoyed this movie. In my opinion, Jason Reitman is 2 for 2 in great movies, Juno and this one.