Ron's Popcorn Reviews.com

I am insanely and madly in love with Up in the Air. It is the best movie of 2009 and one of my favorite films ever. I noticed a trend on Rotten Tomatoes that may indicate that Up in the Air may in fact win the Best Picture Oscar. It seems most of the Best Picture winners have an average rating of over 8.0. Before, I thought Precious was the front runner for Best Picture, but the hype has slowed down and its average rating is 7.9. Its edge over Up in the Air is the approval percentage, which is currently 91 percent. Up in the Air has an average rating of 8.1, with an approval percentage of 89 percent. However, the approval percentage for Up in the Air constantly dances between 89 and 91, and it still has a hugher average rating. Just a couple days ago (yes, I check) it was 91, now its 89, with more people seeing it and a backlash forming. In a few days, it will most likely be back in the 90’s range.

 I can’t stop thinking and talking about Up in the Air. All my readers see is my raving review. They haven’t been with me for the past month since I saw it, listening to me yap on and on abut it. I was insanely excited for it for months. This just seemed like my type of movie. The protagonist seemed like me, in the way he acts and feels (I’m not self-obsessed so don’t get the wrong idea when I say I’m like Ryan Bingham). I just tend to relate to protagonists like this, like Nick Naylor (another Jason Reitman character). They’re smooth-talking cynics who see the world in a peculiar way and have outlooks that make perfect sense to me. I can identify with them. I can picture myself in those shoes, as a Jason Reitman character. I’m not saying I’m some hot shit but, you know, I have too much self-esteem (like Nick Naylor and Ryan Bingham). I can, in a self-assured tone, talk like these characters and defend them. In my head, Jason Reitman sat down and wrote me and I’m headed for some job that requires moral flexibility (I imagine my life as a movie like Up in the Air. See, too much self-esteem). What I’ve noticed is that no critic or audience member understands Ryan. Roger Ebert wrote in his review that, “ George Clooney plays Bingham as one of those people you meet but never get to know. They go through all the forms, and know all the right moves, and you're “friends,” but — who's in there?” That’s the thing. I do know who’s in there. I understand him perfectly and I identify with him. I assume the same is in me, if I can so easily picture myself in those shoes, making those decisions, and understanding him when he’s not meant to be understood (that, or I just have too much self-esteem). I don’t understand him as a person around him, but as him. I suppose that’s why Jason Reitman’s films (excluding Juno) mean so much to me, especially on such a personal level.

I just remembered that I started the previous paragraph with a different thought. Let’s get back to that. “I was insanely excited for it for months.” Yes, I was. And yes, because it seemed like my type of movie and for everything I just wrote. So when Up in the Air was released in Manhattan on December 4, 2009, I couldn’t wait that long see it until it was in wide release. I was so excited that I was practically orgasmic the week before it came out in limited release. I saw it in its very first weekend, and it was a great experience that I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw it on December 5, 2009. I still devote most of my day to daydreaming about Up in the Air and replaying it in my head. I can’t wait to see it again. I’m saving up money and skipping school I can get it on DVD the day it comes out. That’s how much I love this movie. I can’t even begin to get over it. The moronic backlash is whatever. I don’t care. I love Up in the Air. There is no way any movie can ever substitute it. It is solidly the best movie of 2009. No other movie comes close. I’m trying to keep myself from naming it the best movie of the decade. I’m trying to convince myself that I’m so in love with it because it just came out, but the closer I get to posting my list of the best of decade, Up in the Air keeps climbing its way to number 1. Last year, I probably would have said Slumdog Millionaire is the best movie of the decade. Now, I’m just as obsessed with Up in the Air. The usual symptoms are there, and this happens every year around this time. I downloaded a lot of songs from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack to my iPod and listened to them non-stop. Now the same is happening with Up in the Air. I replayed Slumdog Millionaire over and over in my head, and now it’s happening with Up in the Air. However, I could never relate to Jamal Malik in the way I can relate to Ryan Bingham. With my lists of the best of 2009 and the decade coming out in a week, Up in the Air will stand as the movie. I’m not so sure about my list of the best of the decade, but there is no way it won’t be number 1 for the best of 2009, and there is no way that it won’t be on my list for the best of the decade as something. Maybe not number 1, but definitely in the top 5 (or maybe number 1).

If I haven’t conveyed how much I love Up in the Air by now, I’m not sure I can. When a movie is so dear and personal to me, only I can understand how much I love it. And sometimes I can’t even explain it to myself. I just get that feeling. This blog is more for me than for you. It’s sort of my way to rationalize and sort out my feeling for the movie. You may not understand what I’m saying, but try to sort of sense it. I envision my life as a Jason Reitman movie in the vein of Up in the Air, so perhaps I hold myself in great respects. After all, is any regular person as smooth talking and suave as Ryan Bingham? I like to think that I am. But we view ourselves from a perch that glamorizes us. You don’t see me from where I see myself. From where I sit, this is a poetic and philosophical blog entry to the tune of a song from Up in the Air. From where you sit, it might just be the confessions of a pretentious and lame 15-year-old. I personally think I’m hot shit . Yes, I did just type a smiley face. I’m likely to type many more blog entries about this movie, and yes, they’ll all most likely be about the same thing. I’m trying though. Right now as I’m typing this, I’m listening to “Help Yourself” from Up in the Air (told you I’m obsessed) and trying to figure out a proper way to conclude this blog entry. I don’t know how. I can guarantee you that I will see this movie many more times in theaters, even when I should probably be watching as many new movies as possible before the new year. I don’t care though. Seeing Up in the Air again is worth missing A Single Man and Crazy Heart. I’ll still see those two, but for the past few weeks, every time I’ve went to the movies (Brothers, Invictus, Avatar etc.) all I’ve thought about is Up in the Air. That does not mean I wasn’t paying attention to the movie at hand, but Up in the Air just means more to me and is better in every way. I saw Avatar at a theater where Up in the Air is playing, and all I wanted to do was go to the auditorium playing it and watch that, even if it meant I missed out on Avatar. But I forced myself to sit in my seat because first of all, I paid to see it in real IMAX 3D. And also because I have to be professional, even if I’m 15. My gooey personal feelings are meant for my blog, which you are boring yourself with right now.

I started writing this blog entry about Rotten Tomatoes and its trends. Then I got carried away into far different territory. Now I will force myself to stop typing this meandering blog entry, even if I don’t have a satisfying conclusion.