Up in the Air

I saw Up in the Air at a Stars & Strollers screening a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to writing about it. I had to give in to the award buzz and see if it was any good. I was pleasantly surprised.

Written and directed by Jason Reitman, the film stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a "termination specialist" and aspiring motivational speaker. Ryan travels the country for work and loves his life constantly flying from place to place to fire the people working for the company that hires Ryan's firm. The film doesn't quite fall into just one genre. As with one of Reitman's other directorial films, Juno, the film is a comedic drama with a little bit of romance.


As with most every narrative film, the story begins when the protagonist's life is thrown out of balance by the inciting incident. The inciting incident being that Ryan is called into head office with the news that with the help of a new, young go-getter, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), the termination specialists will be working from the main office with the help of new technology. This panicks Ryan as he considers the airports, airplane cabins and hotels that he frequents home. He convinces the head boss to let him take Natalie on the road to show her why they can't fire people via webcam. Ryan also meets a woman named Alex (Vera Farmiga) who lives his jet setting lifestyle as well and begins a casual affair. Ryan has always liked his solitary life, sees no value in being tied down to the usual familial obligations and responsibilities and has based his motivational speaking philosophy on this. While attending his sister's wedding and with his affair with Alex becoming a little more than casual, Ryan begins to question his choice of lifestyle. One that Natalie deems a "cocoon of self-banishment".


I really like this film a lot not just because of the great writing, but because George Clooney is awesome and shows a side that I've never seen before, a vulnerable one. Also, the cast is great with Clooney, Farmiga and Kendrick all nominated for Golden Globes, Oscars and numerous other awards for their roles in this movie. There are a lot of great actors who appear even for a short amount of time that add so much to the film, like Jason Bateman as Ryan's quick witted, sarcastic boss, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliot, Danny McBride and more. The character transformation with Ryan was subtle and well done. Reitman did a great job directing and illustrating Ryan's life up in the air while making his story a touching one. I highly recommend this one. Ending with a quote from Ryan's "motivational" talk about the amount of things in your figurative backpack when you add more relationships......

"Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks. "

More ramblings to come.......

Rifftrax!

I have been a super nerdy fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 since I first laid eyes on it on the Sci Fi network sooo many years ago. I'm always really impressed when people can make great, funny things on a small budget and really pull it off. This was one of those shows. Mike Nelson, and his robot friends Tom Servo and Crow are forced to watch crappy Sci Fi movies. So in order to keep their sanity, they crack jokes and make smartass comments thoughout the whole movie. Created by the original crew member, Joel Hodgson, I actually caught this show later in its run, so I was only familiar with Mike Nelson. I couldn't miss this show when it was on Saturday afternoons or Talk Soup when it was hosted by hilarious cheesemeister John Henson. I was able to watch some of my favourites on YouTube, and I discovered through a friend last year that the guys were still at it with RiffTrax. They're downloadable mp3 tracks of the guys riffing the movie to play at the same time as the DVD. You can also download the rifftrax player, so you put the DVD in the computer and they automatically play together. Although it's not quite the same as MST3K, I'll take what I can get! If you watch tv shows or flicks on the pute, I would recommend a few of my favourite episodes, such as Time Chasers, Hobgoblins, The Final Sacrifice and Space Mutiny. They've helped make some crappy movies watch-able and given us a lot of laughs on a Friday night. These guys are too freaking funny. Enjoy......



More ramblings to come.....

Valentine's Schmalentine's

So for the Valentine's Day post, I thought, do I try to pick from a billion crappy rom coms to write about? I decided against that and thought for a change I'll make a post about Winter Olympic themed flicks. It being Winter Olympics time and whatnot, especially since it's taking place this year in my lovely country. Sooo, happy Olympics, everybody!

Blades of Glory
I really like this one a lot. Cheesy comedy? Yes. Guilty Pleasure? Most definitely. Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as two rival men's skating champions who get banned for life from skating. Ferrell is Chazz Michael Michaels, the bad boy of skating while Heder is Jimmy MacElroy, a wholesome, picture-on-the-Wheaties-box type champion. They discover they can still compete if they team up and skate as a pair, much to their reluctance. Odd Couple hijinks ensue. Also starring Will Arnett and Amy Poehler as their pairs skating nemeses, plus many more great comedic talents.

Cool Runnings
This film is a comedic story about the real life challenges of the Jamaican Bobsled Team that competed at the winter Olympics in Calgary in '88. Starring the late, great John Candy as a disgraced, former bobsled coach who reluctantly takes on the four men who wish to go to the Olympics as Jamaica's first bobsled team. Classic underdog story, as well as fish out of water story, being that well, there's no snow in Jamaica (duh). Very funny and another reminder that we lost John Candy much too soon.

The Cutting Edge
I admit I saw this once a longgg time ago and remember it vaguely, but hey, it fits. Moira Kelly stars as a temperamental pairs figure skating champion in need of a partner after a bad fall. After trying out several partners who are unable to deal with her attitude, her coach and her father stumble onto an ex hockey player (played by D.B. Sweeney) with no figure skating experience that may be a possibility. Classic rom com with a figure skating twist. Kate (Kelly) and Doug (Sweeney) are oil and water who often butt heads, but somehow end up having feelings for each other.

Better Off Dead
Okay, so this one might be reaching a little bit. Although not Olympic themed, it involves alpine skiing, so give me a break! In all honesty this one is a favourite winter movie of mine. John Cusack stars as Lane Meyer, a high school guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend, Beth. Lane decides that the only way to get Beth back is to beat the captain of the high school alpine ski team on the slopes, since he was the one who stole her away. Lane gets help training for the race from the French foreign exchange student hottie who's staying across the street and from his hilarious friend, Charles de Mar (Curtis Armstrong) who has one of the most classic lines in this flick. "Lane, I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy!"

So if you'd rather hit yourself in the head with a big chocolate heart over and over again than watch another predictable romantic comedy on Valentine's Day, curl up with one of these instead. Can't make it to Blockbuster or can't find it at the video store? Here's Cool Runnings and The Cutting Edge both in full on YouTube. Enjoy!





Happy Valentine's Day, dear readers........more ramblings to come........