Up in the Air
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Tamala Jones, and Chris Lowell.
Not a few critics are calling Up in the Air a film for our times while at the same time comparing it with the classic romantic comedies of the '30s and '40s by Billy Wilder, Leo McCarey, Garson Kanin, Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitch and Preston Sturges. They're also predicting Oscar nominations for its star, George Clooney, and its writer-director, Jason Reitman. And several have designated it best picture of the year. (Indeed it is being released on the same day that the National Board of Review, the group that traditionally opens the awards season, named it the year's best.)
In the movie, George Clooney plays a "transition specialist" whose job is to fire people for corporation executives who don't have the stomach for such business. It marks "the high-water mark in George Clooney's career," says Peter Howell in the Toronto Star. At the crosstown Toronto Globe and Mail, Rick Groen commented, "Clooney is made for this role." Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post judges Clooney to be at the peak of his career. "He operates not just as an actor but also as a finely machined screen object," she writes. But Reitman garners even more rapturous reviews. Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal says that Up in the Air, Reitman's third feature (after Juno and Thank You for Smoking) shows him to be "a filmmaker of rare distinction." Claudia Puig in USA Today calls him "a bona fide filmmaking talent ... a modern-day Frank Capra." Several critics call attention to the fact that Reitman is the 32-year-old son of producer-director Ivan Reitman, whose credits include Animal House, Meatballs, Ghostbusters, Twins, and Junior. In his review of the movie, Roger Ebert notes that Reitman has said that one of the questions he is most often asked in interviews is, "How does your father feel about your success?" Comments Ebert: "Bursting with pride, is my guess."
RATING: R for language and some sexual content
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Starring Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sam Elliot, Mary Steenburgen, Elisabeth Moss, Michael Kelly, and Wilford Brimley.
Did You Hear About the Morgans? is receiving one of the worst critical receptions of the year. "The world would be a happier place if we'd never heard about the Morgans," Claudia Puig concludes in USA Today. Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News writes that the film's "loping pace, inconsistent tone and lack of imagination are all deadly." How deadly? Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle writes. "Sometimes it's unpleasant, sometimes it's insincere, and for long stretches it's boring." Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls it a "mirth-free comedy." And Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe comments: "Most bad comedies plod from scene to scene. This one plods from sentence to sentence."
RATING: PG-13 for some sexual references and momentary violence.
The Tooth Fairy
Starring Dwayne Johnson , Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Stephen Merchant, and Ryan Sheckler.
Derek Thompson is a hard-charging hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster's dreams, he's sentenced to one week's hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek "can't handle the tooth" - bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers' homes...doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams.
RATING: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action.
The Book of Eli
Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Frances de la Tour, Michael Gambon, and Evan Jones.
In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It's not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by this commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive--and continue. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity. Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own: Carnegie.
RATING: R for some brutal violence and language.
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