Reviews

Up In the Air
Let’s start by saying this is probably Clooney’s best role as an actor yet and who would have thought a 32year old director could bring it out of him. By no means am I saying Clooney’s other roles haven’t been good for him, but this was a great chance as an actor to prove to everyone who thought he was only good for Rom-com’s to prove them otherwise.
The character Ryan that Clooney portrays every emotion in the film, despair, love, anger, arrogance confusion and realisation which is pulled off well in the film. It’s the story of a man that travels around America firing people for companies that don’t have the audacity to do so themselves. He spends over 300 days a year on the road...or up in the air so he has slowly become very detached from the real world. Then comes along Anna Kendrick’s character, the young educated business woman who aims to save the company a lot of money and put Ryan back in an office. Naturally Ryan disagrees because he’s forgotten how to cope on the ground in reality. Thus the story begins of self actualisation. Clooney’s love interest Vera Farmiga pulls off a convincing performance and you won’t see the plot lines coming, I tell you that now. Kendrick too has an amazing performance for her first real adult role although she’s already a Tony award winner and now has her time to shine and does it brilliantly. This will do wonders for her career especially after that whole sullen New Moon fiasco of a film.
For anyone (like me) who didn’t like Juno but loved Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking, you’ll probably like this too. Why? Because he wrote it and is a much stable film than Juno was. It’s also hard to believe he started writing this in 2002 before the economic downturn when he was just 24. Who says Hollywood produces no talent anymore? You’ll probably fall for Clooney and Farmiga’s undeniable chemistry so much so you’ll wish they were one big happy family in real life, but don’t be fooled by the extreme belated writings of Reitman, There are also crass realisations of how the world really is. Sad and ironic. To create reality Reitman included workers who’ve actually lost their jobs to make the film more authenticated through these sad stories. Truth be told it’s a relevant film for society and the world today teaching us about the harsh beings of the current state. This will be one of those films we’ll all look back on to relate to in some form or another and go “yeah that definitely deserved an Oscar back then”.
Drag Me to Hell
I have a big problem with anyone who says this film is “crap” or “rubbish” or whatever colloquial term’s you undistinguished people use. You’ve probably never seen Evil Dead or any Hitchcock films. Because that what this film is, the perfect equilibrium to Sam Raimi’s early Evil Dead series and influences such old British horror cult films and suspense that would make Mr Alfred turn in his grave. But if you did like this film, then good on you.
I watched this film with my respective partner, him being a make and me being female so stereotypically you’d imagine I would be the one jumping my ass off and screeching however the roles were reversed and I came out with grip marks on my jeans from where his hands were clenching out of anticipation and uncertainty as to when the next “jumpy” sequence would come in. Okay so maybe it wasn’t a terrifying film such as the stuff Hollywood churns out but there’s enough thrilling moments to give you an anxiety attack, name me one film that has made you do that in the last ten years? I dare you.
This film also throws at you wit and sarcasm which makes you feel slightly better after jumping to the moon and back in-between that anxiety attack you just had because the old woman with no teeth made you jump. Alison Lohman’s blissful ignorance plays well off Justin Long’s charm as well as an abundance of quirky characters that will make you chuckle all the way through. This is going to be a cult film so not everyone will like it, but I suggest if you don’t like Raimi’s work on this, you’re probably more suited to watch Spiderman 3.