17/50: Up in the Air

Wow. I was totally not expecting to like this so much. It really surprised me.

I guess I just didn't understand what Up in the Air was all about. I was expecting a love story - which I sort of got - but that wasn't the heart of the story. I was just really knocked back by how much I enjoyed this film.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) fires people. I mean, that is what he does - it's his business. Companies hire Bingham's firm to lay off their employees, and steer them in their next direction.

Because of this job, Bingham is on the road pretty much the entire year. He lives on airplanes, in airports, hotels and on the road. It is what he likes. He doesn't like being tied down - he doesn't like having baggage.

On one of his trips he meets another woman, Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), who, much like himself, is constantly on the road and they strike up a friends with benefits friendship. No real strings, just meet up whenever their paths are able to cross again.

Bingham's "home" is in Nebraska, and his boss, Craig Gregory (Jason Batman), has called all of the travelers to home base for a meeting. It turns out a newly hired genius, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), has revolutionized how the company will do business. Things will now be done over the computer instead of face-to-face, saving the company tons of money - but also taking people like Bingham away from what he loves.

Apparently, Bingham has a goal he is trying to set - seventh person ever to fly 10 million miles. So, he raises a bit of a stink with his boss and he is teamed with Natalie to show her the ropes in face-to-face firing.

I am not going to give too much away about the movie because a lot actually happens with them while they are out on the road together. If you haven't seen it, I hope that you do sometime soon.

Also, Kendrick needs to get better roles from here on out. She is a fantastic actress - not to mention pretty darn cute - but her roles since this film (which she was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar) have been extremely minor. Small roles in the Twilight series and a bit part as Scott's sister in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Get her better roles.

This grade may be a bit higher than it should, but honestly I came away from this really liking it and was so pleasantly surprised that I am sticking with it.

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TV Meme: Day 22 - Favorite Series Finale

This was difficult. I have a handful of shows that I have watched over the course of their run that had great and meaningful finales.

Just in the past couple of years shows like Scrubs (the main series) and Lost ended their runs with great finishes. But, this blog has been pretty heavy on the Scrubs (thanks, Mrs. Kano) and Lost I feel has been written about to death over the past few months since it ended.

For this category, I decided to go with a show and its finale that I blogged about when it happened right here and that show is ER.


A show that can run for 15 years, more than half my life at this point, must have been doing something right. So, it had to have a great finale to usher it out the door. Over the top, right? Nope, ER played it perfectly.

The show brought back a handful of the shows original members in small storylines throughout the final season - including heavy hitter George Clooney, and a touching flashback episode of Mark Edwards' Dr. Green. A handful of the other cast returned as Noah Wyle's Dr. Carter was opening up the Carter House - but that was really all of the fanfare.

Like I said in my previous installment - there wasn't a wedding, the hospital wasn't shutting down and people weren't coming together for a funeral, or any other cliche you can come up with for a season (series) finale. These peoples' lives will go on (technically speaking) without us watching.

The final scene had the camera pulling away from the hospital as an ambulance was pulling in - a great nod to say that life goes on, and we will be here saving lives even if you aren't seeing it.

I thought it was a pretty special finale - and although I didn't stay with the show through its entire 15 year run, I did manage to stay around for most of it. And I felt the finale was fitting to a pretty groundbreaking show.

Burn After Reading

Brad Pitt in a comedic role really had me wanting to watch this movie - and I have to say, Pitt was rather impressive in this role.

Burn After Reading is a bit of a roller coaster in terms of plot. There are tons of random characters that are thrust upon you - and you don't really understand where they all fit in until the movie picks up towards the middle and end.

I guess, technically, the movie revolves around Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), who quits his job at the CIA after his superiors think he should be demoted. After quitting, Cox decides to start penning his memoirs - which his wife steals as leverage as she begins the divorce process.

Cox's wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), is cheating on him with another married man, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) - and decides to divorce Osbourne and encourages Harry to do the same with his wife so they could be together. Harry meanwhile is also having affairs with a slew of other women.

The action, and most of the laughs, pick up when we are introduced to Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) - a worker at Hardbodies Gym, an internet dater and someone who is looking for money to pay for four cosmetic surgeries. Pitt's character, Chad Feldheimer, is a co-worker friend of Litzke.

The pair of them find a lost CD, which holds Cox's memoirs (which they believe are government secrets) and Chad believes that if they return it, they should get some sort of reward. Litzke, however, decides to blackmail Cox in order to get the money for her surgeries.

The rest of the movie is pretty chaotic and fun - with some very odd suprises that I was not expecting, but I am not going to ruin it for you.

In the end, everything comes together and all the characters are connected in some way or another

I really enjoyed Pitt's character - and the small role of JK Simmons as a CIA higher up. His lines were very funny and pretty matter-of-factish.

Also pretty funny - the contraption that Harry was building in his basement. I never expected that and it almost floored me.

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