With yet more near-unanimous praise for Up in the Air, perhaps it’s time to call it. Roger Ebert is the latest to fall head-over-heels for Jason Reitman’s third pic:
It stars George Clooney in one of his best performances, as a frequent flyer. During the course of the movie he passes the 10 million-mile mark in the American Airlines Aadvantage Program, becoming the seventh such person in history. Asked on an airplane where he lives, he replies, “Here.” He’s a Termination Facilitator. He fires people for a living. When corporations need to downsize quickly, he flies in and breaks the news to the new former employees. In a lousy economy, his business is great.
The film has a lot to say about unemployment, but it isn’t about the economy or living on the road. It’s about loneliness, a feeling the Clooney character thought he would never experience. To fellow road warrior (Vera Farmiga), he insists he never wants to get married, never wants to have children, and doesn’t own a home. He gives inspirational talks on how to empty the backpack of your life of all those people and possession you’ve been lugging around.
And of Reitman:
You can be 32 and already have three good films under your belt. Look at Spielberg. You need to find the financing, of course, but that’s not the hard part. The hard part, as wise men have said for generations, is story, story, story. Reitman’s films are not in the business of following formulas. All three have pointedly ended in ways we probably didn’t expect. All three have insights deserving consideration. All three require actors who can deliver complex and fascinating dialogue. All three make us care. That with Reitman we also usually laugh a good deal is so much the better.
I don’t know about you but I’m getting that funny feeling about Up in the Air. Is this our Best Picture winner? Many more movies yet to come: Nine, Invictus, Avatar – still, it’s looking more than likely. The movie will make a lot of money, it already “has” the internet. And Ebert. Does anyone not like it?
58 Responses for "High Praise for Up in the Air Puts it in the Frontrunner’s Spot"
Lame. Meh, bring on a good movie like The Informant!
Have you seen Up in the Air or The Informant, Afrika? I have high hopes for both, but I’d put my money on Up in the Air for a BP nod.
Afrika is this years Hitler.
off
Venice Film Festival:
Golden Lion for Best Film: Lebanon by Samuel MAOZ (Israel, France, Germany)
Silver Lion for Best Director to: Shirin NESHAT for the film Zanan Bedone Mardan (Women Without Men) (Germany, Austria, France)
Special Jury Prize to: Soul Kitchen by Fatih AKIN (Germany)
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: Colin FIRTH in the film A Single Man by Tom FORD (USA)
Coppa Volpi for Best Actress: Ksenia RAPPOPORTin the film La doppia ora by Giuseppe CAPOTONDI (Italy)
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress: Jasmine TRINCAin the film Il grande sogno by Michele PLACIDO (Italy)
Osella for Best Production Designer to: Sylvie OLIVÉfor the film Mr. Nobody by Jaco VAN DORMAEL (France)
Osella for Best Screenplay to: Todd SOLONDZ for the film Life during Wartime by Todd SOLONDZ (USA)
It doesn’t feel like a winner to me- more like a Jerry Maguire feel. Much-loved and deserving nom but not a winner. But then I haven’t seen it, and these are fantastic reviews.
Well, I don’t know about calling it just yet, but if we were basing probable outcomes on trailers alone, I’d absolutely give this Best Picture. Or Where the Wild Things Are.
I do have a slightly better filling about this one (currently), however, than I do about Nine or Invictus.
*I do have a slightly better FEELING, that should have said.
Didn’t Sideways have a similar trajectory with all the critics and festivals fawning over the film and Miles because “OMG, if a writer like Miles can get Virginia Madison, maybe I can too!”
I loved Sideways so here’s hoping Up in the Air lives up to the hype.
er, is it just me, or does “best movie of the year, so far” not necessarily equal “best movie of the year after we’ve seen them all”?
(though if the other choices are Invictus and Avatar, then yeah, I don’t need to see those before going with Up in the Air.)
How did I know Afrika would be in here already poo-pooing the movie :p
At least you’re excited for The Informant!
looks great, not sold quite yet.
I’m not sure how drastic the movie deviates from the August 2008 script, but if they are close, then the movie is certainly worth all the praise. With that said, it might be the front runner, but with so many films left to be released, I can’t say it will win hands down. It’s too early and most of us haven’t seen the finish product.
by the way, why did no one know about this movie earlier in the year? why are people only now starting to talk about it? No one figured it could be good with Reitman and Clooney involved?
Clooney hasn’t made a watchable film on any substance since Three Kinds, and Reitman hasn’t made a decent film since Groundhog Day, or are you all forgetting his other abomination Year One? Yeah, is that getting in for Best Picture? Fools.
Oh, and the onyl decent film left of the year is The Informant and Nine. Day Lewis needs a serious comeback and I thin Nine could be it.
Sasha, why do you think this movie has a better shot than Precious? Do you think Precious is too dark for the Academy?
@ Tyler
There are articles and blurbs going back to Feb discussing Up in the Air. That’s pretty typical for any follow-up to a BP nominee.
Precious and Up in the Air aren’t getting in, are you crazy? By that logic so is TF2. Pathetic.
Wrong Reitman, Afrika-you’re thinking of Ivan.
and as for Day-Lewis’s “comeback”, did you completely sleep through 2007?
I wouldn’t expect a Cameron fan to know something about cinematic facts, or did we forget about his animated Smurf movie?
@Tyler
“…by the way, why did no one know about this movie earlier in the year? why are people only now starting to talk about it? No one figured it could be good with Reitman and Clooney involved?”
Eventually, I’ll stop linking to this: (August 28, 2008) but for now I’m enjoying being on the ball.
“Sasha, why do you think this movie has a better shot than Precious? Do you think Precious is too dark for the Academy?”
I can’t speak for Sasha, but I think Precious is way too dark. More importantly, it’s way too indie to win BP. Precious is this year’s Frozen River. Screenplay and acting nods.
That’s my name, you fool. what’s more, I know how to spell it.
Precious won’t win unless everything else is undwewhelming. It just won’t. I could see it nominated in several categories, I just can’t see it winning.
No, Up in the Air (I still haven’t seen it so I have to reserve judgment completely) has it all: young, white up and coming MALE director, George Clooney and George Clooney. Oh, and it also has George Clooney.
It’s shaking people, men specifically, to their core. It seems to be timely, moving, etc. And it will make a shitload of dough.
Afrika is just a lame ignorant, poor guy, nobody loves him and the hate that he receives is these boards is the only communication wit a human being that he receives…
Reitman hasn’t made a good movie since Groundhog day, so it is a fact that Up in the Air cant do well either. Get over it. From Juno to Year One, his recent films have been poor.
There is a difference between Jason Reitman and Ivan Reitman…
Yeah, both are hacks, but how is that relevant?
yes this is pretty much a lock for a nomination, it’s just the kind of inoffensive mediocre fare that appeals to the average viewer, and they forget the next year… while real artists are snubbed year after year.
I agree Ponyo, like true directors like Steven Soderbrough go without anything, ever.
Afrika, I think you mean Stephan Söderbräu.
(winner, Best Director, 2000, for Traffrika)
@ Ryan
I stand corrected… the tone of this movie seems interesting and fresh, Clooney can make any film fly, I predict a best acting nom at the very least.
@ Sasha
I’m not completely sold on its commercial prospects. When you look at Clooney’s non-Ocean’s 11/12/13/14/15 filmography, it’s a bit bleak.
Burn After Reading – 60m
Syriana – 50m
Michael Clayton – 49m
O Brother, Where Art Thou? – 45m
Intolerable Cruelty – 35m
Leatherheads – 31m
Good Night and Good Luck – 31m
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind – 16m
And many of those films picked up nods of one degree or another throughout the award season.
That averages out to about 39m. Now, I’m not suggesting it makes that little. I think a number north of Burn After Reading is likely. But is that a shitload of dough?
I think I am going to feel dissapointed if I walk out of this movie and my core is unshaken, and I don’t feel the urge to apologise to my ex-girlfriends and my parents for all the hurt I inadvertantly caused them, and nurse a whisky in a bar by myself swapping melancholy wisdom with the barman, as I consider my place in a lonely universe.
So, what I mean is, core shaking is a very high expectation to meet in a movie.
Some of you are overestimating Clooney’s box office draw. As Loyal points out, outside of the Oceans films Clooney hasn’t been able to sell anything on his name. He isn’t the last movie star, at all.
This film will need the Juno craze in order to make a splash at the BO.
And Juno made most its massive box office gross thanks to Ellen Page, Diablo Cody, and some Moldy Peaches.
It stood at 87m before nominations were announced. It made another 43m post nom and 13m post win.
I don’t think those that helped the PG-13 Juno make 87m pre nom(tweens and teens) are going to rush out and support Up in the Air because its from the director of Juno.
Doesn’t really need more than $55-$65 mil to be Oscarnomical.
Michael Clayton, $39 mil pre-nom, and another $10 mil post-nom, for a total of $49 mil. Those numbers are easily beatable.
I don’t deny that Ryan. I’m going back to Sasha’s comment about a shitload of dough. That continues to seem unlikely given the information at hand.
ah, well, you know… $130+ is doable too. But that might require a Best Picture victory.
And that’s what this is all about, right? That’s why we’re seeing Shutter Island in February. Because Scorsese-DiCaprio are a $130 mil package, Oscar noms or not.
Considering 3 of the lowest grossing BP winners of the past 20 years happened in 2004, 2005, and 2007, BP wins aren’t worth what they used to be.
Hell with 10 nominees, we don’t even know what a BP nom is worth anymore.
Afrika, it’s becoming harder and harder to be civil around someone so appallingly ignorant, insulting and unpleasant. And so, let me put this in the most articulate and clear way I possibly can.
You are a nuiscance. Nobody wants you, nobody likes you, you never bring anything truly positive to a forum. You always nitpick and denounce the opinions of other people. I don’t mind that you have a different opinion. What I mind is that you are unruly and unpleasant in your expression of your opinion. Like Cameron’s statment, why did you have to insult him just because he shares the same name as a filmmaker you don’t like? What gives you the incentive to just insult people at random? My advice: try to be nice when people don’t agree with you. Talk WITH people, not AT them. It’s gonna work out in the long run.
It’s true Loyal, 10 nominations throw an unknown variable into the equation, but it’s not hard to figure what a BP victory is worth. For the years you mention:
Million Dollar Baby, $56 mil boost after winning (out of $100 mil total)
No Country added $24 mil after winning, (out of its total $74 mil)
Crash was already on DVD by the time it won so it only added $1.4 mil after winning. (Happy, Hollywood?)
No Country is an unfair comparison to Up in the Air, because it was released the first week of November. With a Dec 4 release date, Up in the Air will be better positioned in theaters to take full advantage of its nominations tally.
More relevant comparisons from 2007:
Juno, earning 39% of its total gross after nominations,
There Will Be Blood, earning 77% of its gross after nominations
George Clooney might not be “The Last Movie Star” but he’ll sell more tickets than Ellen Page could ever dream of.
Up in the Air is being released on November 13th (limited) and November 25th (wide) Ryan. They moved it.
No Country For Old Men also opened limited in early November (the 9th in 28 theatres) and went wide for Thanksgiving (+712)
Clooney doesn’t sell movies tickets unless said movie features a bank heist (see comment #33).
I stand corrected on the dates, Loyal.
Maybe we’re arguing two different points — or the same point from two different directions. I’m not saying George Clooney is box-office magic. (it was I who brought up Leatherheads and The Good German — $1.3 mil domestic gross, total… gulp.)
I’m saying $130 mil is easily conceivable with a Best Picture/Best Actor win for Up in the Air.
I’m never one to rule anything out when it comes to the Oscars, just too much fluidity. Is 130m possible? Sure. Is it likely? Not at all.
We’ll actually have a pretty good idea of where Up in the Air could head come mid-December, before GGs are even announced.
Between the March broadcast thanks to the Winter Olympics, The Lovely Bones going wide in January, and of course the 10 BP nominees, it’s going to be a pretty exciting season for Oscar box office tracking.
Impossible to predict. I’m in a generous mood. I’m just thinking there’s no reason Up in the Air can’t fall somewhere comfy between A Beautiful Mind ($170 mil) and Brokeback ($80 mil). Clooney appeals to the gals, the guys and the gays.
The Holy Trinity!
and where does Caster Semenya fall Ryan on the Clooney appeal scale?
The last movie star has a lot of forgettable movies. Plus based on those box office numbers, I am sure Clooney is glad he is he is not a woman. Because he would have to deal with those Nicole Kidman type articles.
Clooney appeals to the gays? I feel mildly offended by that, and also some people in that group I talk to believe that his silver fox-ness appeals to them less than the other 2 groups. I think he’s okay for an old guy. Depending on the intent, I may find Loyal’s comment extremely offensive…
From a logistical standpoint, a win could make sense.
Reitman is the only director who has built-up Oscar cachet from movies for this decade who hasn’t translated that into a Best Picture win, out of the perceived Oscar heavies (Invictus of course reunites MDB’s Freeman/Eastwood, Nine is a Marshall musical, and as for Serious Man, Old Men just won last year, Lovely Bones comes after three consec BP noms for Jackson’s films culminating in an award buffet…Green Zone would be an exception but it was moved to next year. And I’m thinking Lincoln will be a good shot in 2011 for Spielberg, and perhaps Life of Pi for Ang Lee if it comes out then. And hoping for Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere to be good next year.).
His directing for Juno was Oscar nominated (and the screenplay for that movie won) while his writing for Thank You for Smoking was WGA nominated.
And Clooney’s three Oscar-nominated roles (all this decade) have not helped those movies to get Best Picture.
Though digging back a few years before the 2000’s, Malick who was nominated for Thin Red Line is with Sean Penn who has won two Oscars this decade but who I don’t think has been in a Best Picture. But I’m biased because Tree of Life is my current Oscar pony, unless maybe A Single Man picks up a distributor and further buzz.
But if Reitman wins, I’ll choose to believe it as partially a prize for Juno which was my #1 of that year.
J, I don’t think intent means much. Loyal’s comment is just plain offensive.
Apropos of nothing, but please let’s clarify that Harold Ramis directed Groundhog Day, NOT Ivan or Jason Reitman.
HEY! SaltireFlower and j
Ryan Adams (#46) said that, no me.
I think SaltireFlower and j are referring to your remark (#48) about Caster Semenya, Loyal.
j is also bothered by my comment about George Clooney appealing to gay people. He’s apparently ok with me saying straight guys and straight gals finding Clooney charming, but he’s “mildly offended” that I would dare suggest gay people can find anybody over the age of 29 attractive. Am I understanding you correctly, j? None of your friends would fuck Clooney, so therefore you’re offended that I think gay people would be interested in seeing Clooney in a movie? (I’m gay by the way, j.)
Joolz, thanks for having a sense of humor and taking my “appeal” trifecta comment in the easy-going spirit it was intended.
Ryan, i always love when you proudly saying tht you’re gay. Make me jealous. *sniff* *sniff*
aww, that truly warms my heart, Delwyn.
:: hug ::
Oh…actually I just don’t like the use of the word “the gays”…unless someone gay uses it. The other part is completely separate, that those I know don’t find him attractive. They do love Anderson Cooper, so it’s not about age.
Though a word that does bother me, always, no matter the context and speaker and I don’t imagine I can see as reclaimed any time in the future, is the 3-letter f-word. It’s been brought up a few times in conversation for various reasons the last week, and it just makes me bristle. My friends and I connect it mostly to things being thrown and horrible people yelling out of cars.
ah, ok then, j. Mutual misunderstanding. I feel like I’m ok saying “the gays” playfully, the same way Kathy Griffin does. Sure, Anderson Cooper is hotness on a stick, but maybe his attractiveness to gay people is enhanced by the knowledge that he has sex with men…
yeah, the 3-letter f-word is the homophobe equivalent of the n-word. Good way to ask for an ass-kickin’ from some of the gay men I know.
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