Up in the Air (Movie Review)

Up in the Air
2009

Ryan Bingham travels around the country, hired by cowardly managers to handle the firing of employees. A seasoned traveler, Ryan spent 322 days traveling last year, which means that he had to spend 43 "miserable" days at home in Omaha. Ryan derives pleasure from his elite status when he travels, so when he's called back to Omaha and learns that young upstart Natalie Keener has introduced the idea of virtual firing, his way of life is challenged. Ryan asserts that Natalie doesn't truly understand the nature of his business, and that you can't perform this job virtually. Ryan's boss lets Ryan have a few more weeks of travel to show Natalie the ropes of how he does his job. In the meantime, Ryan is involved in a relationship with Alex, who is also "turned on" by elite status and connects with Ryan when their layovers overlap.

One of the most poignant moments of this movie for me was a conversation between Ryan and Natalie, wherein he tells her that he doesn't spend any money unless it contributes to his frequent flyer miles, with the goal of reaching 10 million miles, which only six people have every accomplished before. Natalie wonders if he's planning a trip to Hawaii or somewhere to use all those miles, but Ryan says that the miles themselves are the goal, to which Natalie replies that if she had that many miles, she'd go to the airport and just pick a place and go.

That's just one example, that I probably butchered in trying to retell, but it's only one of many brilliant moments in this movie. The acting was fantastic all around - Anna Kendrick as Natalie and Vera Farmiga as Alex -- and, it goes without saying, George Clooney as Ryan Bingham ;) But more than that, the movie as a whole was well done and powerful, and my attention was captured from the beginning credits all the way through to the end. I really related to the character of Natalie, as I'm of a similar age and place in life right now, but I also enjoyed the scenes between Ryan and Alex - in fact, I think Alex might have been my favorite character, because Vera Farmiga's acting was excellent.

Coming in, I expected this movie to be good, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent this movie - I'd recommend it to anyone, period.

Alice in Wonderland (Movie Review)

Alice in Wonderland
2010

Alice is at an outdoor party, and becomes distracted by a rabbit wearing a suit, who she follows down the hole to Wonderland. However, Alice does not remember her visit to Wonderland as a child, and those around her become convinced that she is "the wrong Alice," while Alice believes that she is in a dream. Alice reignites her friendship with the Mad Hatter, and reluctantly becomes drawn into the rivalry between the Red and White Queen.

I have to admit, I'm not sure if I've ever seen the original Alice in Wonderland, and when I tried reading the book a few years ago, I got stuck on the part where she drinks the from the bottle that says "Drink Me," so I was almost completely ignorant going into the movie, having little knowledge of the original story.

 I saw the movie in 3-D, and I almost wish I hadn't. This may sound silly, but I spent a large part of the movie trying to figure out what was in 3-D and what wasn't, which means that I didn't become particularly invested in the story. For the most part I thought the movie was just ok... I was expecting something weird, as one would from the combination of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, and the movie was definitely what you would expect in that regard.

I did enjoy any scene featuring the chesire cat - I'm not quite sure why but he was definitely the highlight of the movie for me. I also thought that Helena Bonham Carter did a great job as the Red Queen. My friend that I saw the movie with absolutely hated Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, but I was more amused than bothered by her acting. Then again, I was also cracking up during the big fight scene, so go figure.

One thing the movie did was make me want to try reading the book again. I'm not quite sure what happened to the copy I was reading a while back, but I feel like now that I know more about the story and characters, I might be more motivated to keep reading. Overall, I'd say this is a movie to rent rather than see in the theaters, and definitely not worth it for the 3-D.

Almost Famous (Movie Review)

Almost Famous (2000)

Have you ever thought at a movie was all hype, and wondered what all the fuss whas about - and then watched it, and been blown away? That's what happened to me when I watched Almost Famous over the weekend, so I decided I had to post a review!

I had pretty much no desire to see this movie when it first came out, and I can't even remember why it was on my netflix queue other than out of a vague notion that I should watch it someday. When it arrived, I procrastinated on watching it, and ended up popping it in to keep myself amused while folding laundry. I was certainly in for a surprise! From the moment the movie started I was completely hooked!

Almost Famous is about William Miller, a 15-year-old high school graduate (yeah... his mother had him skip more than a couple of grades...), who decides he wants to be a music journalist and manages to grab an opportunity to write an article about the band Stillwater for Rolling Stone. William goes on the road with the band, observing them behind the scenes and befriending Penny Lane, one of the band's groupies (although she calls herself a "Band-Aide").

This kind of story normally wouldn't appeal to me all that much, but it was really well done and the acting was great - I was surprised to enjoy Kate Hudson as Penny Lane, and was thrilled when I recognized Frances McDormand (who I last saw in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) as William's mother. I also have to say that although I'm not normally a fan of the long-haired rock look, Billy Crudup definitely made it work for me ;) However, the acting was fantastic all around, and when I finished this movie I immediately decided that I needed to sing its praises and recommend it to all movie lovers. So go watch this movie!

Rebecca (Movie Review)

I've mainly been using this blog to talk about books, but I thought I'd throw in the occasional movie review, as TV/movies are my other obsession in addition to reading. I read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier last month and loved it, and Amy at The Black Sheep Dances pointed me to the 1940 Hitchcock movie adaptation staring Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.  Since I reviewed the book here, I thought it might be fun to review the movie too.

From the start, I really enjoyed the opening sequence to the movie because it starts out exactly the same way as the book does, and I loved the pairing of Du Maurier's words with a haunting view of Manderley.

The movie follows the book very closely in the beginning, and overall stays pretty true to the book for the most part, changing/leaving out some things but nothing that really affects the overall story or that I particularly missed. Also, despite the fact that this movie was made before all of the modern special effects etc., I thought it was very well done and that the camera work and other affects were very fitting to the plot.

I loved Lawrence Olivier as Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as his second wife. Both played the roles as I had imagined the characters would be and I enjoyed watching them in this movie. Lawrence Olivier isn't so bad to look at either - I'm not sure that I've ever seen a movie with him in it before.

In fact, most of the actors fit well with my imagination of the characters, with the exception of Mrs. Danvers. I didn't think Mrs. Danvers was nearly creepy enough, and I thought the movie would have played up the creepy/haunting factor a more than it did.

I thought the movie was a very good counterpart to Rebecca, and is a great example of classic film at its best. Highly recommended!