Movie reviews…

Saw Up in the Air a few weeks ago. I’m a big fan of George Clooney and this is definitely his kind of role. He plays a cocky, detached, unemotional guy who works as a consultant who is brought into companies to let folks go. That’s right, he works for a company that other companies outsource their layoffs to. Cause it’s just icky to fire people.

And of course, there’s the women in his life; the young, annoying one just out of school who has no real world experience but TONS of great ideas how to improve things and the (somewhat) age appropriate frequent flier woman he keeps bumping into (so to speak).

The beginning of the flick focuses on his life as a frequent flier and having lived in that word, let me tell you, they totally nailed it. Except I don’t carry the cards with me – I just have a list on my phone with the airline, hotel & frequent flier/guest info. I wouldn’t carry all that stuff!

It’s a sat/rom/com (where sat = satire, rom = romantic, com = comedy). If you liked Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman’s last film – he also directed Juno), you’ll like this one as well.

I’m kinda surprised that this flick is getting as many positive reviews as it is. I liked it but didn’t love it. I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars (and seriously considered giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars).

And on Christmas Eve, I went to see Invictus. This is one of those “inspirational” flicks that I generally try to avoid. But it was playing at a theatre that wasn’t in a mall (and I’m all about avoiding the malls on Xmas Eve) and there was nothing else playing there that interested me in the least (Avatar? Not for this geek.).

And I liked it. I didn’t love it, but it’s an interesting story that involves Nelson Mandela and rugby (really). I still don’t understand anything about rugby but I did learn that you can only pass the ball sideways & backwards. Also, there’s a lot of grunting in rugby. And Matt Damon really has become a good, quiet actor. He bulked up for this flick (as much as Matt Damon can bulk up – he’s not a very big guy) so that he looked (kinda) like a rugby player.

The historical content was interesting and though I can’t say that there were any huge surprises, it was an entertaining and interesting couple of hours. Again, I give this one 4 stars. I was accompanied by a man of a homosexual flavor and he really liked all the tight rugby shots. I mean rugby shorts. I mean…he liked it a lot.

Heading out to see Sherlock Holmes shortly. I hear there’s all kinds of homoerotic undertones. Teehee. I think that Robert Downey Jr. is an incredibly talented actor (if you haven’t seen Chaplin, go rent it asap cause he’s amazing in that role) and generally enjoy him in any role, so I’m sure I’ll dig this one too.

Will post a review of it later.