Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Up in the Air

How do you go about making a good movie about a guy who flies around the country firing people? Well, you start by getting George Clooney, one of the few actors around today with some old-fashioned movie star charm, to play him. Give him a good supporting cast, and a script with some witty (but not really laugh out loud funny) lines. Even with all that going for it, though, I’m not sure I liked UP IN THE AIR all that much. I didn’t care for the ending at all. Had it been more satisfying, I think I would have rated the movie as okay. Not nearly as good as most of the critics found it, but still okay. As is, I still think it’s worth watching for the performances, and because the ending is a choice made by the screenwriters that some viewers might like more than I did. Lord knows my tastes don’t agree with the majority a lot of the time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We also didn't like the ending and agree that George Clooney made for a charming corporate hatchet man.

Ed Lynskey

Suresh Ramasubramanian said...

Funny thing is, if you're a frequent flyer like the guy is (though nothing like on his scale!) .. you end up laughing at a totally different set of jokes (and comparing notes on stuff like how to pack a suitcase, what brand of suitcase to buy).

And then other stuff like pointing out how American Airlines doesn't have the kind of seats they show inside the plane, on the planes that they show in the movie.

Poke around the threads about this on flyertalk.com for more of that :)

Chris said...

I really liked this movie. It was definitely one of my top three or four movies of the year, easily.

Juno said...

In the last couple of years, I have noticed that the new "brat pack" of clooney, pitt, damon are always nominated in the oscars.
You have - syriana, jesse james, babel, benjamin button, up in the air, good night and good luck, and some other films.
Question is are they any good? For me I only liked Syriana & it is a bit boring at that too. babel & jesse james zzzzzzzz big time.

what is up with hollywood nominations now?