It’s that time of the year.  On March 7th the 82nd Academy Awards will happen.  I have to say I’m not a big awards show person.  They’re boring, and to be honest I really could care less.  Although when something I like wins (very rare) I do find it to be satisfying.

 

The following are my Oscar picks for this years awards, some followed by commentary.  My first pick will be in bold, my second will be italic (if I have one).  I base this totally on personal preference.  I’m not doing any analysis of what I think will win based on historical records, etc.  I’m picking what movies I think are deserving of some praise.  I’m also skipping some categories where I either haven’t seen any nominees, feel like I’ve seen too few to have a say, or just don’t care.  Here we go.

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Up In The Air is the new film from Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking and Juno) based on the book (also available from Audible) of the same name by Walter Kim.  It’s about Ryan Bingham (Clooney) who flies around the country to fire people for companies.  He’s at home in the air and the life that surrounds it, like hotels and rental cars.  He doesn’t carry much baggage, literally and figuratively and doesn’t feel comfortable when he’s not living this life.  One day he’s called back to the home office to learn that his company is starting in a new direction, where they won’t have people flying around but instead they’ll be doing the firing through video chats from the office.  This not only upsets Bingham because it means an end to his life in the air, but the thought of firing people in this manner offends him on a whole other level.  He shows the young girl who came up with the idea that firing someone is more complex than she thinks and his boss decides he should take her on the road and show her the ropes.  So reluctantly he heads off on what might be his final trip with the young Natalie (Anna Kendrick) by his side.

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