Up In The Air

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who spends most days of the year on the road. He's single, alone, and he's pretty convinced he likes it that way. He loves his job - he fires people for a living. Employers hire the company he works for to go in and do the dirty work of letting their employees go. He's a "termination facilitator".

Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick, is Ryan's 23 year old co worker. She's a recent grad, young and optimistic, and is ready to climb that corporate ladder. She's got a new idea, which she presents to their boss, Craig(Jason Bateman). She believes that they could save a lot of money if instead of traveling to terminate employees, they could do it via video conference. Not only does this sound like a cold, impersonal, and ridiculous idea to Ryan, but it also threatens the very lifestyle he loves.

So the boss insists that Ryan take Natalie with him on his assignments so she can learn what he does and see if this new idea of hers is gonna fly. Ryan is good at what he does - he "knows" people and their reactions, and he understands that this is one of the worst days of their lives. He believes that he does what he does in a humane way - something that can't be replaced with a web chat. (It's almost like being dumped via text message!). This is evident when Natalie fires someone via the computer, using all the canned lines that she's learned, but doesn't really know what to say when the 56 year old man begins to cry on the screen, after being fired from a Detroit factory that he's worked at for decades.

There are plenty of side stories here as well. There's Natalie and her boyfriend. And there's Ryan and his two sisters, one of whom is getting married soon. Another major character here is Alex, which seems to be the female version of Ryan. They are both always traveling and meet up every so often for a "casual relationship".

When the video conference terminations seem to be a certain future of the company, Ryan has to face the fact that he may not be able to distract himself from his lonely existence once he's home for good. Suddenly, the single life...actually, not really even the single life, but rather the emotionally isolated life...doesnt seem quite so attractive to him anymore. And even though he tries to tell himself he's not alone - since there are people all around him at the airport, at the restaurant, at the hotels - he's starting to realize that he is actually lonely. He even decides to take a chance on Alex. you'll have to watch it to see if the risk is worth it for him.

Clooney does a great job, which isn't surprising. Kendrick is great as the arrogant young person climbing the corporate ladder without much regard to anything else but her own advancement. While Jason Bateman's role isn't very big, he is a fine actor.

I really liked this movie - it grabbed you right from the beginning. Surprisingly, it put a high value on marriage. This makes perfect sense, since director Jason Reitman was married and had a child in the six years that he was working on the script.

And by the way, some of the people you see in the movie that are reacting to being fired, are actual people who have just been fired in real life. Reitman asked them to say what they had said when they were fired. I wondered that when I watched the movie.

Up in the Air has a few nominations for a Golden Globes as well as the Screen Actors Guild, which will probably lead to some Oscar nominations. Good movie - recommended.

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM

Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorite actors - so I was glad to buy this DVD for my son! It didn't really hold his attention all that much, but I enjoyed it! I had already heard from a couple of people that it was "a nice, believe-in-yourself" kind of movie. And that's exactly what it was.

Hoffman plays Mr Magorium, who runs the Wonder Emporium, a "magical" toy store. I mean, it's not just a cool toy store, it really is "magical", with live fish mobiles, a door with a dial that changes which room you're about to step into, and a store book that contains the specific toy a customer is looking for...no, not a picture of that toy, the actual toy! (Mr. Magorium has been running it for over a century, if that helps drive the point across!)

Natalie Portman plays Molly Mahoney, the store manager, who is also an aspiring musician, but feels like she just doesn't have the "sparkle" to do anything really great. But she loves Mr. Magorium and believes in the magic of the Emporium.

Zach Mills plays Eric, a hat-collecting little boy who doesn't make friends too easily, but enjoys hanging out at the Wonder Emporium.

Jason Bateman plays Henry, the accountant who is hired to get Mr. Magorium's affairs in order, because he is ready to move on. To die. And he wants to leave the Wonder Emporium to Mahoney. (Henry, by the way , does not believe the toy store is "magical".)

But Mahoney isn't ready for Mr. Magorium's departure. (And neither is the store, we discover, because it's throwing a "tantrum"!) So she sets out to show Mr. Magorium that he cannot just leave! She shows him all the things he'll miss if he leaves. He thinks she's just giving him a great "last day".

He talks about departing for heaven, but it's handled in a simple enough way for kids to understand. (rated G) And he departs happily, knowing he has lived a wonderful life. Mr. Magorium says its time for his story to end, and time for the next one to begin.

One of the cutest parts was when Eric decides to try to make friends and he goes to Henry, who is busily "accounting" in the glass office. Eric holds up a sign that says "Hi". Henry replies with a wave. They continue to show each other "notes" back and forth until finally Eric asks if Henry wants to play checkers when he's done working, to which Henry replies, "I never stop working".

It's a cute story, one that says that magic will happen when you believe it exists, and when you believe you can make it happen. MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM didn't make me laugh out loud nor did it make me cry. But it was a nice, cozy movie to curl up and enjoy with my family!