Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has to constantly travel for his job but as much as most people would dislike spending most of their lives on airplane, he loves it. For him being at an airport, in a hotel or on an airplane is like being home. He has no desire to get married or have children. He doesn’t want a place to live, he just wants to travel.

It is all going perfectly well for him until a 23 year old girl, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), introduces a new idea at his work. Up until now a group of people were sent out to fire people in companies that were too scared to fire their own employees. Natalie comes up with the idea that it would be a lot more efficient to fire via internet chat. Ryan is outraged. For him this change means the end of his life as he knows and loves it. To introduce the young Natalie to the process of firing people, she is sent on a trip together with Ryan.

Something else happens at the same time… Ryan meets a woman that he can actually connect with. She is perfect for him, she loves traveling, shares his passion for collecting flight miles and she is a lot of fun. Slowly Ryan is starting to think that there might be another way of life. He can actually see himself being with this woman.

Apart from it being slightly depressing, the movie is great. Clooney is perfect for the role. He is the best example for type-casting. It seems like he is playing the same role in every movie. Maybe he is just playing himself. I had never seen Anna Kendrick in anything else (or not noticed her) but she did a pretty  good job. It just really irritated me that she looks so much like Sarah Michelle Gellar. I don’t really have much to say about Up in the Air other then watch it. It is as humorous as it is tragic, has great perfomances in it and is not your average movie story (although it is predictable).

Jason Reitman, who also directed  Thank You for Smoking and Juno, clearly loves music. Up in the Air is only as good as it is because of the music. He is definitely a very talented director and I expect to see great things from him.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Once again Wes Anderson’s lets us see a part of his fantastic imagination. What better material to use then a book by Roald Dahl, who, himself had a very fascinating creativity.

Mr. Fox gives up his job stealing chickens when he finds out that Mrs. Fox is pregnant but he can’t get the thrill of it out of his system. When their son is a teenager, they move into a tree with a view onto three farms. Mr. Fox can’t help himself, he has to raid all of them. When the farmers find out that a fox has stolen from them, they team up to find the fox to kill him. Thus begins the battle.

Some of the sets are shown as a window display at Bergdorf Goodman’s on 5th Avenue. There you can really see how much detail went into the characters and the sets. It is absolutely beautifully done. Story-wise I thought the first half was a bit slow but the pace really picked up when the farmers team up to find Mr. Fox. For me this is when the story really begins. In a rating the first part would get a 3/5 and the second part a 4.5/5. So it is definitely worth watching.

George Clooney is really the perfect man to do the voice for Mr. Fox. Although I love Meryl Streep, I think the role doesn’t really fit her voice. There was just something of about it.

2012

We snuck into this screening after watching Fantastic Mr. Fox partly because it was the only film starting at that time and partly out of curiosity of how bad it could actually be. I thought it really wasn’t that bad. Or maybe it was so bad that it was good again (kind of like Mc Donalds). It was definitely very funny. Possibly not intentionally but I was laughing a lot. Example for all of you who have seen it: At the beginning when the family flies out of the big crashing city and suddenly a train (or subway) comes flying out of nowhere and almost hits them. How funny was that?

The special effects are done really well. I am always amazed at what Computers can actually create! Alright, so the story is utterly predictable and the acting seems way over the top but its still fun to watch. Pure entertainment. But what is John Cusack doing in this movie? Seriously? I love him as all of the quirky characters he normally plays in Independent films. He must have been broke or something to accept this role. I hope this was a one time excursion into the world of mainstream Hollywood for him!

And what is up with Roland Emmerich? Why does he keep making the same film over and over again? Is he crazily paranoid about the End of the world (in whatever way it might end) or is it purely a way for him to make money? Or does he just love making these huge budget destruction movies? I am sure he liked playing with Lego and Playmobil when he was a child. Creating a hole world perfectly and then letting his cat run through or letting a tornado blow through with a big fan or something.

A Christmas Carol in Disney 3D

I know this is a beloved book and is particularly famous in the US but I have to admit that I didn’t know the story before watching the movie. It is a great story though, and it must be nice growing up listening to it around Christmas time.

The animation in the movie is outstanding. I don’t watch a lot of animated films but they have come a long way from when they started making these. The facial expressions, movements and especially the hair are so real that it makes me wonder why they would even make it an animation, it almost looks like a life action film. It will be interesting to see where this will lead. I don’t believe life action films will ever be obsolete (since I am studying to become an actress, I should hope not!) but animation is coming closer and closer to the look of life action that they might have to keep it to stories that can’t be done with life action.

Jim Carrey (voice of: Scrooge/Ghost of Christmas Past/Scrooge as a Young Boy/Scrooge as a Teenage Boy/Scrooge as a Young Man/Scrooge as a Middle-Aged Man/Ghost of Christmas Present/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) is really the right guy for the job. He is so versatile that I didn’t even notice that it was him doing all those voices until I read the credits. Colin Firth on the other hand I recognized immediately. Also because they really make the characters look like the actors.

This is turning out to be a very positive review, so I have to pause for a minute and remember that I didn’t think the movie was that fantastic. It is a beautiful story beautifully told but it really did have its lengths. Scrooge is flying through the air an awful lot and in the beginning there is too much time “wasted” on showing that he is a bitter old man. This was the second film I have watched in 3D (as a whole film) so I was still dazzled by that but without the 3D I think I might have found it slightly boring. Even though for children it must be scary. There were a couple of very young children in the cinema (why would you bring kids that can’t even speak yet to the cinema?) and they kept screaming a lot. It is a perfect film to buy for your children and show them every year around Christmas in case you are too busy to read the book to them (which I hope you are not).

The Men Who Stare at Goats

A nice contrast to A Christmas Carol, this political comedy is really only for grown-ups. I had read a few bad reviews on other blogs which made me wonder whether I should even watch this film but I actually thought it was hilarious! It is one of these films that seems like the film makers make it simply to amuse themselves. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all and I was happy to laugh along.

Ewan McGregor (Bob) is a journalist at a small paper somewhere in the US. When his wife leaves him for their editor, he decides to prove his worth by going into war. On the way he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who is part of a special army unit that tries to win wars with psychic powers. Lyn is on his way to find the leader (Jeff Bridges) of this New Age Army somewhere in the desert.

George Clooney and Jeff Bridges are particularly funny in this. The U.S. army is such a serious institution and it is interesting to see it in a different light. Surely The Men Who Stare at Goats will not be one of the films which will be remembered in a few years but it was entertaining to watch and would be fun to see with a few friends and some wine on a DVD night.