Before, we were talking about an exceptionally sophisticated indie film with a big star, George Clooney, in the lead. Now we are looking at Up in the Air as a wunder-film that hits the Zeitgeist just so, landing on every top ten list.
As an audience we are rooting for the well-oiled clichè of boy meets girl. What sets Up in the Air apart is its willingness to divert from the superficial and go inside to the uncomfortable truth of life.
Jason Reitman's new movie Up in the Air is a movie that's hard to dislike, though it may be hard to adore.
January is notoriously a slow month for movies. But this year, from what I've seen of previews, it looks like Hollywood's throwing in the towel for the entire month.
Once again, American film critics are slavering over the latest George Clooney movie. Some have already proclaimed, Up In the Air is the frontrunner for being named film of the year.
Opposition to the war saturates the atmosphere of many films, but it's not explicit. The focus is on the personal price that's paid -- as if the war were a condition of nature, like earthquakes.
Some marriages please parents. Others to fit in. Others, to handle an unplanned pregnancy. As reason number seven, here is a good summary of one of the things that can lead to a long term happy marriage.
When you consider the publicity that this film received for its 'groundbreaking' African American characters, I'm pretty sure Disney was hoping for a bigger opening for The Princess and the Frog.
Of course movies have long been purveyors of political views. But there's a second, subtler brand of politics in films that peddle their presumptions so subtly you barely notice.
Maybe it's time Metro took a look at Cirque's merchandizing and marketing playbook, and maybe it's time Metro asked the business community whether it wants to buy naming rights.
Janis' music has been widely reported by many throughout the world to have healing qualities. Played in dozens of hospitals with the children and adults in cancer wards, patients and families swear to witnessing various miracles.
Ronson's light touch may work better on the written page because it's harder to believe the veracity of source material when it's in the context of a George Clooney movie.
Up in the Air is based on a Walter Kirn novel. As I sit down to dinner with him, Kirn has the slightly wide-eyed look of someone who realizes that the old lottery ticket he's been carrying around in his wallet is a jackpot winner.
Ninja Assassin dropped on account of being terrible and shockingly boring for the first half of the picture. It's a bunch of ninjas trying to kill each other and James McTeigue found a way to make that unexciting and tedious.
Once we've conflated celebrity with power, it's inevitable that we will see a celebrity's errors as a betrayal. We made him famous, we imputed power to him, and then he took advantage of it.
We talked to director Jason Reitman, stars Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and author Walter Kirn about their timely Up in the Air, a beautiful film about job loss and human connection.
Up in the Air is not revolutionary and its thesis, however insightful, is not one-of-a-kind. But it is the kind of thing we used to take for granted in Hollywood. It is well-written and sharply observational.
Are there really fans out there waiting for the latest Wes Anderson film? And are there people clamoring for the mere sound of George Clooney's voice?...
I started writing a novel called "Female Kryptonite." It was about Jim - a never married, successful (in business and with the ladies), 40-something who starts to realize he's lonely.
I've been touting Up in the Air as the year's best film since I saw it in Toronto in September -- and I still haven't seen anything that has changed my mind.
It has been 12 days now since I was given the opportunity to publicly question why my central role in unearthing the remarkable true story behind The Men Who Stare at Goats was completely erased.
