Up in the Air

I realized a few days ago that I had not seen any of the Oscar nominated movies. I probably won't see most of them, but there were a few on the list that sounded like movies I would enjoy. Yesterday was a snow day for me, a first since high school. There are in fact a few upsides to being a teacher. I decided to take advantage of my unexpected freedom and went to the movie theater. We decided to see Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes. I know Sherlock is not on the Oscar list, but it still sounded pretty interesting.

Up in the Air is a story about a lot of things, but I think what it boils down to is a look at the life of the modern businessman. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer, his company comes in and conducts the exit interviews for companies who have to downsize. Essentially he fires people for a living. In order to do this he travels 270+ days out of the year. Through this lifestyle he has developed a philosophy that he lectures about, essentially teaching people to free themselves of all attachments.

There are two ladies that I would refer to as leading ladies in this film. They have both been nominated for the Supporting Actress category. Vera Farminga plays Alex, a fellow world traveler. She bonds with Ryan at a hotel bar while they compare company loyalty cards. Anna Kendrick plays Natalie a fellow downsizer who is trying to pitch the idea of firing people via video conference.

The film takes a quick but poignant look at life for the average person in the rough economy over the past couple of years. They had real people speaking after they have just been fired. From someone who has made the call to let people go in the past, it was definitely a difficult part of the film to watch. They try to make it light hearted by throwing in a few funny moments of the people being fired, but you never feel quite right laughing at people at their weakest.

The movie never really came to an end for me, I guess thats why its on Oscar movie. Maybe I am just not deep enough to get what the point of the movie was. What I took from it was that it is OK to form attachments with people, and its ok to just live a life free of commitments and attachments. Also I learned that a swivel suitcase is the only luggage to invest in, and it takes 35 minutes per flight to check bags and pick them back up.

I am glad I went to see this movie, I enjoyed it. There were some truly lovely moments, and to me a few great scenes can make a movie. Clooney can truly wear a pair of pants, even though he is way to old for me, it is still a pleasure to watch him on screen. Maybe you are deeper than me and will be able to appreciate the movie for its more artistic statements and the truth about life that it speaks to. I just enjoyed an interesting story about three people who live in a world that is relatively unknown to me.

The Time Traveler's Wife

You may notice as you follow me through the blogo-sphere that my taste in films tends to lean towards films that are based on books. Stories I have heard of that are translated onto the silver screen hold a certain special magic in my heart. While I have not read this book, which I will soon remedy, this movie is no different.

The Time Traveler's Wife stars Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I have loved Rachel McAdams since her Mean Girls days. She is a talented actress, and proved yet again what talent she has while acting alongside Bana. I have never been a big fan of Eric Bana, his portrayal in Munich was creepy and moving, but aside from that I have never felt a particular affinity for him as an actor. His portrayal as a time traveler was adequate, although to be fair the movie really isnt about him. Though the plot actually follows Eric Bana's character through time, the real story lies in his wife.

I have a big issue with time travel movies. As an engineer I am big on continuity in time travel. When a movie creates a loop of events that lead to each other, where every event is the cause of the next and the final event causes the original, it bugs the mess out of me. This movie does that in the introduction of the two titular characters. Aside from that I was actually ok with the sequence of events in the movie. They made logical sense, as far as time traveling movies can make logical sense.

The story itself is pretty evident from the title of the movie. Eric Bana plays a time traveling man. He has no control over when and where he travels to, but big events in his life tend to draw him back time and time again. He meets a young woman and they fall in love. The kicker is that she never knows when he will leave her, whether its carrying dinner to the table or on their wedding night. She loves him nonetheless. The story follows the formulaic route of problems that would arise from such a situation. The brilliance of the story again lies in the strength of Rachel McAdams character, to be her own person, chasing after her dreams, while still being the constant in a wild man's tumultuous life.

All in all I would call this movie a renter. It is a nice love story, and while a movie like this is bound to be a cryer, it definitely leaves you with a note of hope. It is a great rental for a rainy day when you want to believe in love. There is nothing ground breaking in this movie, but it is a solidly entertaining film.