An easy choice, if you're trying to figure out what to see this weekend.

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2010)

As a fan of movie theatres and of the going to of them to see awesome movies, the holidays should, If I buy into the enormous marketing budgets of all the big distribution companies, be my favourite time of year. They seem to hold back all the cool movies for the days when the snow starts to fall. Why? Why now? Well, as it's been in the past and as it always shall be, the movies released during the last chunk of the year in North America that don't have ghosts or explosions in them might just be gunning for an Oscar. That's how it is, and being that it's well after TIFF, the Oscar buzz is flying free and easy, which means PR people everywhere get carried away and I start to roll my eyes. Previous to yesterday, everything I'd heard about Up in the Air seemed to confirm that it was a sure 'front-funner' in this big race that hasn't even officially started, which, for me (a cynical bastard who can't help but want in on the conversation) meant that I had to see it for myself. Prove it, Jason Reitman, director of Thank You For Smoking and Juno. Prove to me that Up in the Air is all that and a golden statuette, an important movie for smart, sophisticated folk, winter movie folk, folk who'd cross the street to avoid a summer blockbuster movie lovin' jerk. I dare you.
So anyway, as if you didn't know where this was going already, I am now definitely 100% convinced of Up in the Air's worthiness as Oscar-bait. My Oscar sense is tingling, big time, which didn't even happen after I saw A Serious Man(which was my previous favourite for 2009, but now, who knows?). I know, I know, I'm just throwing more Oscar-buzz logs onto the Oscars fire (editor's note: good one, Rajo), but this movie seems to have all the right moves: good-looking, talented actors, up-and-coming, sensitive, 2nd generation Hollywood director who knows what he's doing, a story very much set right here, right now. It's even nice to look at. But what makes it extra-super Oscar worthy is that Up in the Air doesn't even feel like it's trying that hard, which, especially at this time of year, is remarkable and refreshing. The planets just seem to have aligned for Reitman, and as a result, we movie-goers get what is basically just a great little movie, pure and simple.
Besides being beautifully crafted, fun and easy to watch, Up in the Air poses some meaningful questions about western human interaction at this exact moment in time in the universe, what with technology and isolation, and the internet and the facebook and the iPhone. It does so without going too far off the 'dated reference' deep end (with the exception of some slightly on-the-nose deux ex machina stuff - webcam technology threatens the livelihood of Clooney's character). It features maybe a few too many musical montages, but they don't do anything to diminish the well thought-out, thoroughly entertaining and sophisticated storytelling at play here. In Up in the Air George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a compassionate loner whose job it is to fire you when your boss is too much of a coward to do it him/herself. He flies across the country for 80% of the year, which he prefers to staying grounded, as he also happens to believe in a philosophy that paints deep relationships with other human beings as a burden. Naturally, because this is a movie, he bumps into other characters along the way that cause him to start questioning exactly what he wants, and where he's going. But interestingly, the film manages to handle this kind of relatively high-concept characterization and metaphor-laden story of human growth as if it's no big deal. Almost as if these people, all travelling through life in completely different directions, some with lots of baggage, some with little-to-none could actually exist, maybe. Which only endears them and their wacky little story to us even more.
Reitman, a huge fan of the ritualistic necessities of flying, poured a lot of himself into Ryan Bingham and it shows; the old saying, 'write what you know' strikes again. And besides getting the many, many details right, and casting some great actors (Clooney is charming and handsome, again, and Vera Farmiga is surprisingly good), the movie has some great music, the year's best title design and it's edited superbly well, allowing the twisty-turny story to seamlessly flow towards its satisfying if unconventional end. It basically has everything, which is why critics are going absolutely freaking nuts over it. I now have to count myself among the believers. I would gladly go see it again, and I highly recommend it to anybody who doesn't know which Oscar contenders to back, or who might just want a great night out at the movie house. It is exactly the kind of movie that is worth waiting all year for: subtle, smart and funny and sure, sophisticated. I'll just go ahead and say it: with the Best Picture nominees doubling this coming Oscar ceremony, it will not be a surprise to see Up in the Air counted among them. Deservedly so. It's that good. 8.7/10