POSTER: Up In The Air...

So it comes as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I don't care to much for Jason Reitman at this point in time, and it's all due to one name. Juno.

For reasons I don't feel like getting into (it's an overwritten schlock fest that is every mainstream person's meal to feed their appetite to feel "hip" and "indie" in a similar way to that of Little Miss Sunshine. Yeah, I'm looking at you, 20 something who calls me homeskillet. Go to hell.), I just find not only the script of that movie to be awful, but the direction behind it to be very standard and basic when taking it in the realm of independent dramas. It's just not a good movie, at least not until the characters actually go through some sort of drama, so about 2/3rds of the way in, or near the start of the third act.

That said, he HAS made a truly brilliant piece of comedic cinema, in the form of Thank You For Smoking. It's a film that I truly treasure as one of the better modern comedies, and features a star making performance from Aaron Eckhart. It's both well made and written, and leaves me even more dumbfounded as to how Reitman could then turn in something less than stellar, in Juno.

However, Up In The Air, which premieres at this years Toronto International Film Festival (which I am no longer attending), a film based on Walter Kim’s novel of the same name. Here's a plot description:

Up in the Air stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. The movie also stars Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride and others.

Well, thanks to /Film, we have a chance to see the first theatrical trailer for this hotly anticipated film. It's not my biggest film of the rest of the year, but it IS getting huge Oscar buzz, due to Reitman's involvement AND the new 10 rule for Best Picture Nominees, so who knows what will happen when this film hits theatres in Decemeber.

I personally think Reitman can be a top notch director, when his screenplays are well written, so I'm not worried in that realm. Also, the cast is great, as not only do I love Clooney and Farmiga, but Anna Kendrick is easily one of my favorite young actresses, and is herself getting a lot of Oscar buzz for a possible Best Supporting Actress nod. So there's no reason to worry there, but still, Juno has left a bad taste in my mouth, so before I get excited, I need to actually see something, and this poster doesn't really do anything for me. What about YOU?

Go see something good!