Up in the Air (2009)
Directed by Jason Reitman
Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman who causes him to rethink his transient life.
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31 films that influenced Up in the Air
What critics say influenced Up in the Air
Clooney and the absolutely first-class Farmiga project the kind of understated sexual chemistry and easy intellectual rapport reminiscent of Nick and Nora in " The Thin Man ," Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in " The Awful Truth ."
That "Election" reference leads to another observation, and that is the many parallels between "Up in the Air" and "Election's" writer/director Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt."
A scenario reminiscent of Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, it's as glib and false as Bingham's spiel to stunned, newly canned ex-employees.
So he set his aim higher, wanting to make a film with the kind of complex, seriocomic humanity he admired in Billy Wilder, Hal Ashby, James L. Brooks, and the contemporary director he most reveres, Alexander Payne ( Sideways , About Schmidt , Election ).
Rolfe Kent (ah, the Alexander Payne connection!—for his scores on Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth) does a masterfully complimentary score, with additional songs picked by music supervisor Randall Poster including Crosby, Stills & Nash and Charles Atlas.
So he set his aim higher, wanting to make a film with the kind of complex, seriocomic humanity he admired in Billy Wilder, Hal Ashby, James L. Brooks, and the contemporary director he most reveres, Alexander Payne ( Sideways , About Schmidt , Election ).
In particular, Anna Kendrick, who charmed in "Camp," enters a pantheon of smart young indie actresses with a breakout resembling Reese Witherspoon's in "Election."
Rolfe Kent (ah, the Alexander Payne connection!—for his scores on Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth) does a masterfully complimentary score, with additional songs picked by music supervisor Randall Poster including Crosby, Stills & Nash and Charles Atlas.
Rolfe Kent (ah, the Alexander Payne connection!—for his scores on Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth) does a masterfully complimentary score, with additional songs picked by music supervisor Randall Poster including Crosby, Stills & Nash and Charles Atlas.
Rolfe Kent (ah, the Alexander Payne connection!—for his scores on Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth) does a masterfully complimentary score, with additional songs picked by music supervisor Randall Poster including Crosby, Stills & Nash and Charles Atlas.
Clooney and the absolutely first-class Farmiga project the kind of understated sexual chemistry and easy intellectual rapport reminiscent of Nick and Nora in " The Thin Man ," Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in " The Awful Truth ."
"Up in the Air" bears comparison to Preston Sturges ' " Sullivan's Travels ," that dark, dark comedy about Hollywood and Depression America.
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Given that director Jason Reitman’s father, Ivan Reitman, is best known for making movies like “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters” and “Kindergarten Cop,” there was no reason to think that Jason Reitman’s comedies would be anything more than disposable entertainments.
Director Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman ( Ghostbusters , Stripes ), shows his chops in this analogue to his feature debut, Thank You For Smoking , also about a dedicated pitch-man with a conscience-devouring job.
While it may be only Reitman's third feature (after Thank You for Smoking and Juno) the 32-year-old son of producer/director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes) has a firmer command of star and story than many veterans twice his age and experience.
He’s the son of Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”), but his DNA is closer to James L. Brooks, the master of comic tearjerkers such as “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment.”
Given that director Jason Reitman’s father, Ivan Reitman, is best known for making movies like “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters” and “Kindergarten Cop,” there was no reason to think that Jason Reitman’s comedies would be anything more than disposable entertainments.
Director Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman ( Ghostbusters , Stripes ), shows his chops in this analogue to his feature debut, Thank You For Smoking , also about a dedicated pitch-man with a conscience-devouring job.
While it may be only Reitman's third feature (after Thank You for Smoking and Juno) the 32-year-old son of producer/director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes) has a firmer command of star and story than many veterans twice his age and experience.
The movie is directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, who made Ghostbusters (yay!) but also Junior (boo!).
Given that director Jason Reitman’s father, Ivan Reitman, is best known for making movies like “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters” and “Kindergarten Cop,” there was no reason to think that Jason Reitman’s comedies would be anything more than disposable entertainments.
A scene loaded with double entendres in which George Clooney and Vera Farmiga discuss Clooney’s impressive frequent-flier mileage is intended to evoke the risqué flirtations between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in “To Have and Have Not” and “The Big Sleep.”
A scene loaded with double entendres in which George Clooney and Vera Farmiga discuss Clooney’s impressive frequent-flier mileage is intended to evoke the risqué flirtations between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in “To Have and Have Not” and “The Big Sleep.”
That was what Katharine Hepburn did to the ossified Cary Grant in “Bringing Up Baby.”
He’s the son of Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”), but his DNA is closer to James L. Brooks, the master of comic tearjerkers such as “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment.”
Contemporary Hollywood has steadfastly avoided the workplace—unless the jobs are particularly glamorous ( Broadcast News , The Devil Wears Prada ), or the workers unfairly exploited ( Silkwood , North Country ) or the fodder for gallows humor (the Mike Judge oeuvre).
He’s the son of Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”), but his DNA is closer to James L. Brooks, the master of comic tearjerkers such as “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment.”
However, Clooney's charm and ability to convey goodheartedness despite his words mean that while he may slightly evoke Tom Cruise's magnificently unpleasant carefree singleton in Magnolia, he nevertheless always has your sympathy.
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Clever little Juno was the Christmas cherub of 2007 and Bingham is a spiritual creature as well—a sad one, like the seraph in Wings of Desire who yearns to be human.
Natalie’s cruel scheme for online firing suggests an updated gag from Chaplin’s Modern Times but it’s hardly outlandish.