By Jared Curtis jared@dmcityview.com
‘Up in the Air’
Directed by Jason Reitman
Rated R, 108 minutes
“Up in the Air” follows Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a corporate downsizing expert. After Bingham’s company brings in a young prospective (Anna Kendrick), they tell the road warrior (he’s trying to collect 10 million frequent flyer miles) he will never travel again. But Bingham takes the whippersnapper under his wing and shows her what the road is all about, while beginning a relationship with fellow traveler Alex (Vera Famiga). I’m not really sure what all the hype was about? “Up in the Air” was an average film with a decent performance by Clooney, but it never really worked for me, and I hated both Farmiga and Kendrick’s characters. With two big talents (Clooney and Reitman), I expected more. “Up in the Air” left me stuck on the runway. CV
‘Three Kings’
Directed by David O. Russell
1999, Rated R, 114 minutes
Before George Clooney became the decade’s mega star, he made some of his best films in the ’90s, including “Out of Sight” and “From Dusk Till Dawn.” A year before “O Brother, Where Art Thou” skyrocketed him to superstardom, Clooney made one of his best films, “Three Kings,” which follows four soldiers (Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze and Ice Cube) in the aftermath of the Gulf War. They stumble across a map of Saddam Hussein’s secret bunkers, which are filled with gold, and sneak off base in search of their treasure. But they soon find more trouble than they bargained for, as their treasure hunt turns into a survival mission, and the four must decide between greed and doing what’s right. Everyone should see “Three Kings” because it does something that few films are able to do — make war fun. CV
