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movie review // 'UP IN THE AIR'
Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
Coming from acclaimed director of Juno and Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman brings us another unique tale and delves into the soul of quirky man in the 2009 Golden Globe-nominated Up in the Air.
Meet Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who's sole purpose is to fire people for a living. He is alone and quite proud of that fact. Firing people allows him to travel along the Midwest and rake up flyer miles. His goal? An undisclosed mileage.
In conjunction with Bingham's lonely island style, in comes the stunning Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga) who, like Bingham, racks up miles through her own corporate ventures. Bonding in a dimly lit hotel bar, they play a charismatic game of "who has more miles" and discuss what airline clubs they hold cards to. It's sexy—in an airline kind of way. But don't get too excited about hot love affairs in this smart comedy, for Reitman is known for subtlety with onscreen romances.
What's different about this film is that it
reflects modern America down to its core. We see the immediate effects Bingham's job has on its victims. Both J.K. Simmons and Zach Gilafianakis (The Hangover) give powerfully humorous and emotional reactions to the sudden loss of their jobs, which truly reflects the current American rate of job loss.
But Anna Kendrick, who plays the tightlywound new college grad Natalie Keener, truly steals the show. Attempting to completely restructure the company Bingham works for, she illustrates our generation's shift toward the sometimes-impersional relationships we have with technology. Furthermore, Kendrick proves her worthiness for Golden Globe buzz unlike her previous performance of ditty Jessica in Twilight and New Moon.
Through an intricate story of the relationships we have with one another, Bingham, Goran and Keener go on a journey both internally and externally and find something about themselves that they never would have expected. Plus, a few side plots are laugh-out-loud kind of funny.
⭐⭐⭐ // MIA IVERSON
movie review // 'SHERLOCK HOLMES'
Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
Who knew that Sherlock Holmes formidable intellect was matched only by his mastery of the roundhouse kick?
Director Guy Ritchie and star Robert Downey Jr. give Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master sleuth an action hero gloss in Sherlock Holmes, a scrappy, brazen holiday thrill-ride that manages the difficult feat of skillfully modernizing one of literature's most iconic and oft-portrayed characters with a remarkable convergence of innovation and reverence. The result should please both long-time Holmes fans and any relative newcomers eager to witness Downey's latest and perhaps most endearing high-wire act.
The basic plot revolves around Holmes and his heterosexual life partner, Dr. Watson (Jude Law), as they attempt to unravel an elaborate murder plot surrounding the megalomaniac Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), whose mastery of the occult has apparently allowed him to return from the grave to kill again.
Events are further complicated by Watson's announcement that he is engaged and will soon be moving out of 221 B Baker Street permanently.
This shocking revelation is offset by the arrival of perennial femme fatale Irene Adler (a woefully miscast Rachel McAdams), a former Holmes love interest turned adversary who may have devious designs on the Blackwood case.
If all these plot points seem a bit daunting, fear not. Sherlock Holmes is an action movie first and foremost, closer in spirit to Raiders of the Lost Ark than The Hound of the Baskerrilles. Martial highlights include a ship-yard brawl, an underground boxing match and a climactic duel on the unfinished edifice of Tower Bridge.
In Richie's world, Holmes is still an unrivaled practitioner of deductive reasoning. But he is also an accomplished street fighter, a habitual drug user and a psychosomatic mess in between cases. These tendencies — ostensibly edgy modern accoutrements — are surprisingly more faithful to Doyle's original creation than many previous incarnations have dared to be.
Downey's performance, which blends a spot-on Basil Rathbone impression with the foppish charisma of Captain Jack Sparrow, is truly wondrous to behold. His back-and-forth banter with Law's prudish-but-loyal Watson has been honed to comic perfection. It's rare to see two actors having this much fun. But then again, it's rare to find a movie as uniquely entertaining as Sherlock Holmes. Case closed.
LANDON MCDONALD
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