Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Up in the Air

Rating:

Movie: Up in the Air (2009)

Studio : Paramount

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 109 min

Website : upintheairmovie.com

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xavvdg

Review:

I once read an article in which George Clooney revealed that he sometimes sleeps in a closet with only his pet potbelly pig to keep him company. All that fame and adulation, I remember thinking, and yet he still sounds like a lonely guy. The same may well be said of Ryan Bingham, whom Clooney portrays so admirably in Up in the Air.

Bingham’s job is firing people on behalf of employers who haven’t got the chutzpah to do it themselves. An upmarket loner, he prowls the sterile airports and corporate offices of the nation, stoically clocking up as many employee scalps and air-miles as he can manage. Like any good sociopath worth his salt, he uses an expert line of bullshit to convince himself that he performs all of his duties with the utmost respect and humanity. Once he meets Alex, his soon-to-be lover and fellow traveller, however, cracks in the charming but smugly emotion-free facade begin to show.

The notion of home, and all that it entails, forms the gentle backdrop to the abrasive foreground of this movie. What is brave and refreshing about how Reitman depicts Bingham’s estrangement from ordinary life is that he does not ram it down your throat. It would have been an easy target perhaps to simply accuse Bingham of being the bad guy for firing people in recession-era America and to leave it at that. Instead Reitman builds a subtle web of choices into which Bingham treads at the same time as the viewer. How will he treat Natalie, the snot-nosed young Stanford upstart as he brings her out on the road for training? Will he ever have the balls to step up to the plate and declare his growing feelings for Alex? Thanks to Reitman’s taut and cliché-free direction, we learn the sometimes uneasy answers to these questions at the same instant as Bingham does and this keeps you on your toes throughout. In an age of predictable plots and unearned emotional resolutions this sort of approach to character – where you’re genuinely not sure what he will do in the end – is almost revolutionary.

Interestingly, the people you see being fired by Bingham throughout the movie are in fact all real-life employees who have recently been let go from their jobs. Up in the Air doesn’t lay out the political or economic reasons why this has happened – but it does successfully burrow under the surprisingly sensitive skin of the kind of character that eased it right along.

-Paul Meade

Comedy, Drama, Family, In Theaters, Reviews by Genre, Reviews by Status

A Serious Man

Rating:

Movie: A Serious Man (2009)

Studio: Studio Canal

Info: Click Here

Runtime: 105 min

Website : filminfocus.com/a_serious_man

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xadxvj

Review:

The Coens appear to be in overdrive at present, spitting out cinematic gems with phenomenal speed and style. From the intimidating and enigmatic No Country for Old Men to the anarchic and whimsical Burn After Reading, there appears to be no end to their ability to redefine both themselves and, in the process, American cinema. A Serious Man is no exception.

The story focuses on the seemingly mundane life of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a neurotic college professor with a domineering wife, two self-obsessed kids and an idiot-savant brother. Gopnik is a man who likes to live his life with precision and regularity – he is after all a mathematician. However, when the unexpected begins to muscle its way into the cosy but dysfunctional life he has created for himself, the good professor quickly starts to unravel.

Cue his cheating wife and her nauseating but hilarious suitor; cue the son who spends his time finding ways to raise cash to buy marijuana and Santana albums; cue the temptingly sexy neighbour who likes to sunbathe naked in her back yard. In search of a way to overcome his troubles, Gopnik visits a series of Rabbis, two of which offer pretty much useless advice (but the second of which provides the Coens with the opportunity to deliver one of their most dazzling cinematic sequences yet). The third, and allegedly wisest, Rabbi refuses however to see Gopnik, who becomes obsessed with the idea that, if he can just talk to the Rabbi, then his problems will be over. This desperate search for answers, as his marital and financial problems continue to mount, seems though to only lead to more questions.

Channelling the despairing spirit of The Big Lebowski’s German nihilists, A Serious Man carries forward the same brutal themes about the random nature and cruelty of life that were laid out so bleakly in No Country for Old Men. Tapping into their own Jewish upbringing, the Coens deftly manage to portray the rituals and traditions that people invent for themselves as both a perfectly worthy and a perfectly ridiculous way to spend their time. It’s as though they are saying, enjoy the show for now – but don’t forget that the big, bad wolf is waiting outside the door to devour you.

And yet, the way they tell you these cruel truths still makes you laugh and marvel at the beauty of it all.

-Paul Meade

Comedy, Drama, Family, In Theaters

Invictus

Rating:

Movie: Invictus (2009)

Studio : Malpaso Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 133 min

Website : invictusmovie.warnerbros.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xayoo0

Review:

In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison and by 1994, he became the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. One of his greatest achievements: making South Africa’s rugby team the best in the world?

There is some method in his madness. Just as Mandela recalls a childhood where booing the team was a sign of rebellion towards the Afrikaners, he sees that bringing a team that South Africa will cheer on as a nation will also bring a divided people together along the way.

You have to credit Clint Eastwood for originality. Not only did he choose a topic that is obscure, but also strangely relevant as well. Think about it: just a few months ago, Peter Jackson released a film centered on apartheid, and Morgan Freeman’s role plays a man whom the Afrikaners partially distrust for seeming more like a celebrity than a politician (a view quite a few Republicans hold in regard towards a certain politician of our own).

I should warn that this really is not a movie you see for the thrill of rugby. Matches have a tendency to be brushed over, and while you can see rules explained from time to time, I was left scratching my head wondering what was going on as the drama was edited into a handful of clips for most of the matches, likely for the sake of time and perhaps better edited out or shortened further.

I don’t think Eastwood knew where to go with this film overall, or what to keep or edit out, perhaps because he was balancing a sports movie with a political one. One plot branch that I thought was unnecessary, for example, involves a trip to Mandela’s prison. It’s significant, yes, but not necessary for Damon’s character at that point.

Freeman delivers the chilling accuracy of Mandela 90% of the time, (the other 10% of the time he sounds like himself). I have to also admit it’s impressive seeing Matt Damon go from his chubby role in The Informant!, into a chunky muscleman that could bench-press Jason Bourne. But acting-wise, undue credit should go to Tony Kgoroge, who plays a quiet, incisive, and eternally paranoid bodyguard for Mandela. When you see him crack a smile, even for a brief moment, it shows you all the inner depth that was implied despite his background role.

If you’re a Freeman fan, then you won’t be disappointed watching him in action. If you’re someone else? There’s always the DVD.

-Donald Lee

Documentary, Drama, In Theaters 2009, all blacks, clint eastwood, invictus, matt damon, morgan freeman, movie, nelson mandela, political, review, rugby, south africa, sports, springbokkes, springboks, springbox, Tony Kgoroge

The Road

Rating:

Movie: The Road(2009)

Studio : 2929 Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 111 min

Website : The Road

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9bku7

Review:

Based on Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed novel, The Road speaks like a Hemingway story. Our hero is a nameless father with a nameless son. In a world where the end finally happened and recovery never came after almost, if not over, a decade; what hope is there left? Almost as though it was defying 2012, which inherently believes in the goodness of everyone, The Road questions if people have any form of morality left.

The two travel to the sea, not so much because there is sanctuary down there as much as it is the final hopeful request of a wife and mother who committed suicide. The only other thing they can carry is the belief that “they are the good guys” and that they will not succumb to the animalistic urges of cannibalism to stifle the consistent hunger and cold.

Visually, the world is dreary, bleak, and lifeless: appropriate for this world. Forests are nothing more than fields of dead timber that crash with a simple tremor, fields are fallow, and the dead rest in nooses or in piles of fully-devoured feasts. Even something as simple as a pack of crayons seems to offer tones mostly in monochrome-inflected stains. In contrast, vivid memories from the father come around that are gorgeous with life.

The acting is great throughout (a special nod to Michael K. Williams for stealing one scene exceptionally well), and even the makeup team seemed to be phenomenal by making well-recognized actors like Redford and Mortenson appear alien from who they actually are. It took me several screenings to finally recognize some of them and even now I still find it difficult to see how they pulled it off.

With a story and execution that stands up as one of the best I’ve seen, this is hands-down one of my favorites for this year. Kudos to John Hillcoat, whom I will be crossing my fingers for next to Peter Docter and Lee Daniels come February.

-Donald Lee

Adventure, Drama, In Theaters, Thriller the road