Lots of buzz and nominations surrounding the latest movie from Jason “Juno” Reitman, who not only directed this but he was partly responsible for writing it as well. So is Up in the Air worth your air miles?
Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is the downsizer. Bingham is the guy that turns up in your work place and figures out who isn’t needed anymore.When he has that sorted, he goes about handing out the pink slips. This is the guy you don’t want to see in the car park. He executes his job with obsessive like precision. Tears, screaming, swearing are all part of the norm for Bingham. And his downsizer job takes him all over the country for which he not only gets paid, but he get’s air miles! And man, is he obsessed with the air miles. Secretly, he has a goal of accumulating 10 million of them. So that’s his gig. Essentially, living out of a meticulously packed suitcase!
Enter Natalie, the new girl. And like any new girl, they want to make an impression. So she figures out a way to save the company a fortune. The new girl creates a video conferencing system, which basically allows the downsizers to do their downsizing from one, central location. This means they are all grounded. No more flights. No more airports. And worse for Bingham, no more air miles. Bingham is opposed to all of this, and manages to take the new girl on the road with him for a while so she can get a proper feel for the business and see that the video P45 isn’t the way to go. And it’s on this journey that Up in the Air throws everything from love interests, self discovery to cardboard cut-outs into the mix.
Jason Reitman has really arrived. Juno started the fire and now it has exploded into an inferno. Reitman is indeed now hot property thanks to this wonderful movie. The nominations are well deserved as is the Oscar buzz. Clooney brings an incredibly watchful and rock solid performance to the screen. Whether or not it’s Oscar winning material remains to be seen though. The rest of the cast also bring solid rocks to the table. But it’s Clooney who lights up the screen, in a role that he was meant to play. It’s hard to envision anyone else playing the role of Ryan Bingham to be honest.
Pacing wise Up in the Air is also solid and moves along quite well, but somehow it feels longer than its 109 minute running time, but not in a negative way, if that makes any sense! Up in the Air is very steady as she goes. There’s no great peaks of excitement and no deep dips of boredom. It is a very consistent movie, in all respects. That said, it maybe a little too bland for some people, but for the rest of us, it is a rock solid, entertaining and at times very sweet and funny movie. 2010 has got off to a flying start!
Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is the downsizer. Bingham is the guy that turns up in your work place and figures out who isn’t needed anymore.When he has that sorted, he goes about handing out the pink slips. This is the guy you don’t want to see in the car park. He executes his job with obsessive like precision. Tears, screaming, swearing are all part of the norm for Bingham. And his downsizer job takes him all over the country for which he not only gets paid, but he get’s air miles! And man, is he obsessed with the air miles. Secretly, he has a goal of accumulating 10 million of them. So that’s his gig. Essentially, living out of a meticulously packed suitcase!
Enter Natalie, the new girl. And like any new girl, they want to make an impression. So she figures out a way to save the company a fortune. The new girl creates a video conferencing system, which basically allows the downsizers to do their downsizing from one, central location. This means they are all grounded. No more flights. No more airports. And worse for Bingham, no more air miles. Bingham is opposed to all of this, and manages to take the new girl on the road with him for a while so she can get a proper feel for the business and see that the video P45 isn’t the way to go. And it’s on this journey that Up in the Air throws everything from love interests, self discovery to cardboard cut-outs into the mix.
Jason Reitman has really arrived. Juno started the fire and now it has exploded into an inferno. Reitman is indeed now hot property thanks to this wonderful movie. The nominations are well deserved as is the Oscar buzz. Clooney brings an incredibly watchful and rock solid performance to the screen. Whether or not it’s Oscar winning material remains to be seen though. The rest of the cast also bring solid rocks to the table. But it’s Clooney who lights up the screen, in a role that he was meant to play. It’s hard to envision anyone else playing the role of Ryan Bingham to be honest.
Pacing wise Up in the Air is also solid and moves along quite well, but somehow it feels longer than its 109 minute running time, but not in a negative way, if that makes any sense! Up in the Air is very steady as she goes. There’s no great peaks of excitement and no deep dips of boredom. It is a very consistent movie, in all respects. That said, it maybe a little too bland for some people, but for the rest of us, it is a rock solid, entertaining and at times very sweet and funny movie. 2010 has got off to a flying start!
