I saw Young Adult
pretty good
I almost wanted it to end just a little bit darker. I feel bad for complaining though compared to some of the stuff that gets praised as entertainment these days this is a masterpiece.
I liked it too, with a few reservations. Jason Reitman has the makings of a real director, but there are always things that stop me from fully embracing his movies. Namely, the plots are always contrived a little too much to manipulate the audience's sympathy. This time around (SPOILER), it was the complete lack of believable motivation for Patrick Wilson's wife to string along Charlize Theron like that. It was just a way to have us feel belatedly sorry for her. But whatever, most of the movie worked anyway.
Up In The Air, on the other hand, was far worse on that count: people throughout behave in the most bizarre and inhuman fashion for no reason but to make for more on-screen drama. For instance, Vera Farmiga blatantly misleads Clooney and cruelly treats him like a sap when he falls for her, but we're supposed to believe this is a learning moment for him? And who on earth would watch his perverse 'motivational' speeches and not think him a complete sociopath? And what is the point of doing those remote firings FROM THE GLASSED-IN ROOM NEXT DOOR where the people you are firing and their co-workers can see you? And the use of real interview footage with people who have been laid off was completely tasteless in this context. I could go on... and I know Reitman doesn't write the scripts, but he still has a golden touch for fake moments.
