U:Talk Film

Up In The Air- Review
Jason Reitman is proving to be a very exciting director. His debut, Thank You For Smoking is satirical gold in my humble opinion. If you haven't seen it I'd recommend remedying that ASAP. Then there was Juno, a film that no one saw coming in terms of it's success but a lovely film it was too. Now comes Up In The Air, a film Reitman also shares a co-writing credit on and it is simply wonderful. It's synopsis does not conjure up feelgood expectations and it's not the most happy of movies. However, George Clooney plays his professional firer with ease, bringing humanity and charisma to a job you would expect only horrible people would take pride in. Clooney's character takes pride in it because he knows how to handle people and aid them in that transition, so when Anna Kendrick's upstart recommends he himself be replaced by a webcam system he has to show her there is more to what he does than simply saying 'you're being let go'.
This is Clooney's movie, no doubt about it. His character has purposefully isolated himself from the world and loves nothing more than flying and collecting air miles. He also enjoys a fling with Vera Farmiga along the way. However, it is Kendrick who almost steals the show here playing what could have been another annoying young foil to Clooney with empathy and what she learns from him as the film progresses and vice versa is truly a delight to watch. There are even a few twists along the way that are genuinely surprising.
The ending itself is a little sad, and the whole film seems to have an additional resonance due to the current economic climate but Reitman hands this deftly and respectfully and there are more than enough comedic moments to balance it out. Perhaps the only flaw was that it seems to get a little lost towards the end, however like most things it's about the journey rather than the destination and this film is definitely worth the ride. 8/10
 

Review of 2009

At U:Talk Film the opinion is that it was a great year in film last year. There were the award heavyweights along the lines of Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionnaire. Having reached out to some of my listeners more films came to light that you really enjoyed:

District 9- fantastic special effects and a truly brilliant performance from Sharlto Copley.

The Hurt Locker- simply mesmerising.

Law Abiding Citizen- revenge thriller full of twists.

Star Trek- the best blockbuster of the summer.

Moon- the fact that Sam Rockwell has not got more awards attention for this film is truly shocking.

Inglourious Basterds- A welcome return from Mr Tarantino. Brad Pitt's performance was one of the best comedic turns of the year. And Christoph Waltz's was the most terrifying.

Paranormal Activity- it scared a lot of you. A lot.

Zombieland- just fantasitc and very, very funny.

Sherlock Holmes- Great chemistry between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.

However, U:Talk Film did name it's Film of the Year and that honour went to:

 (500) Days of Summer

This was very popular among our listeners and personally I loved it too (saw it twice in fact). It turned the rom-com genre on it's head and it's non linear narrative kept the audience on it's toes. Great soundtrack and performances too. It also had my favourite scene of the year, Joseph Gordon Levitt's dance on his way to work after finally having sex with Summer was a moment of cheesy, surreal musical brilliance that somehow didn't feel out of place. Marvellous.

Here's a link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsD0NpFSADM