Up in the Air (2009)

“Never get behind people traveling with infants. I've never seen a stroller collapse in less than 20 minutes. Old people are worse. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.”

“That's racist.”

“I'm like my mother, I stereotype. It's faster.”

            Getting fired sucks. The one time I got fired from a job was over the phone. I was working in New York City for a job that I really was not into but I tried my best. I was also going through some rough shit with depression and grad school and I was not really living at home during the week when I was working in the City. I went to the place where I was staying while working in the city during the week and that night I got a call from the person I was working for telling me that I was let go. I think I was more pissed because I was exhausted and I had just spent over two hundred dollars for a monthly train pass. After being let go from that job in January I did not find another job until the middle of March. As I said that was a rough time for me. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for people who are on their own and have families.

            Up in the Air deals with a guy named Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) who is hired by companies to fire employees. That kind of job has to take balls of steel and no soul. Or it just takes an incredible amount of practice and completely removing yourself from the situation when you do it. Anyway, Ryan has been doing his job for a long time. He travels all over the country all year round firing people. He does not have any solid relationships with people including his own family.

            Ryan is called back to his company’s base for a meeting. His boss (Jason Bateman) tells them all that he has hired a new person named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) right out of college and she has a new strategy for firing people over the computer through some kind of video program. Ryan is considerably pissed because he likes to travel. He wants Natalie to see what he does so he has her tag along with him to some jobs so she can fire people face to face. Natalie breaks down after her first firing since it is a lot harder than she realized.

            At one of the hotels before he came back to base Ryan had met a woman named Alex (Vera Farmiga). They coordinate when they are going to be in the same town and meet up. For years Ryan had built up walls to not fall in love or have any ideas about settling down but that of course falls apart as soon as he meets Alex. And also from Natalie talking about wanting to get married and have a family someday.

            My brothers and some friends had been going on and on about how good a movie Up in the Air was. I wanted to see it anyway because I adore Anna Kendrick as an actress and all around human being. I honestly did not have any expectations for Up in the Air even though my brothers raved about it and I am glad I did not because I would have been totally let down. I really was not too crazy about Up in the Air. Anna Kendrick was amazing she deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The direction and writing, George Clooney, and Vera Famiga were all nominated for an Academy Award as well and for the life of me I cannot understand why. There was nothing great or outstanding about the movie or the acting (besides Kendrick) or the writing. I will say that I liked the idea how there was a company used to fire people because the bosses of other companies were not willing to do so themselves. I also liked, despite it being clichéd, how Ryan started to break down and really think about what his life was after he met Natalie and Alex. It got sad and upsetting to see the people getting fired and freaking out because I somewhat know what it is liked to be fired. I was upset because these were not people in their mid-twenties working for seventeen dollars an hour organizing a onetime event for crusty rich New Yorkers they were people with real office jobs and families. A lot of the people being fired were actual people who had been fired and were told to say what they wish they could have said when they were getting fired.

            Besides my attitude of not really liking it or understanding the big deal with it, Up in the Air is worth watching at least once

Monuments Men (2014)

“You can wipe out an entire generation, you can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they'll still find their way back. But if you destroy their history, you destroy their achievements and it's as if they never existed. That's what Hitler wants and that's exactly what we are fighting for.”

            I believe as Americans we do not value culture as much as other countries do. There is Americana in the form of certain objects such as cars, surf boards, and Palisades Amusement Park, but there is no truly great symbol of American culture in art and architecture. Yes, we have the Statue of Liberty but she was actually made by a Frenchman. The Smithsonian Institute proudly displays American achievements. But ask yourself this, what or who can most clearly define our culture in terms of art, technology, and architecture in this museum? If war were to ever, God forbid, come to American like it did in Europe during the World Wars what would be most valuable to us Americans that an invading army could plunder and we would miss that part of our culture?

            Art in its various forms carries a nation’s identity. Art history teaches more social history than we here in America could ever hope to learn in classrooms growing up.  Art carries the pride of nations. It also carries emotional bonds. Have you ever stood in front of a painting by an artist from your country and felt a sense of pride and emotional attachment? It is one of the most thrilling senses to feel. I well up with pride whenever I see works by John Singer Sargent, John F. Peto, Winslow Homer, and Frank Lloyd Wright. To think Americans could create such incredible works of art is amazing because the world is always focused on European art. For me if works by these artists were to be plundered and destroyed a part of me would be missing.

            Imagine living in a European country during World War II and everything your country holds dear art wise is taken by a mad foreigner. Almost your entire cultural identity has been stolen because some lunatic believes your people are inferior and should not be in the hands of who he sees as barbarians. Imagine how that would make you feel having someone not from your own country, your own culture, coming in and taking your people’s precious objects because he deems you as inferior. Think about this scenario and how you feel if America were stripped of its cultural objects.

My heart aches for the lives lost during World War II and it aches for the art that was stolen. It aches for the art that for years was removed from its home and it aches for those works that are still missing. You may be asking yourself why I feel so deeply for art. I am an art historian and I am currently working on my MA in Museum Registration. Art moves me and museums feed my passion for cultural intellect and knowledge. My classes have discussed countless times the plundering of art in Europe during World War II. In an article I had to read for a class the author wrote that Nazi looted art is one of the greatest unresolved issues of the War. Almost eighty years later Hitler is still creating problems.

Fortunately all art was not completely lost. Thanks to a group called The Monuments Men much of the valuable and well known works of art from Europe were found and returned. These dedicated men of the arts were not soldiers they did not sacrifice their lives as other men did. They saw the importance of saving culture. They knew that without culture there would be a great sense of loss to the people when war was but a distant memory.

The movie Monuments Men loosely follows the book of the same title. Of course, I have read the book and it was utterly fascinating. Instead of me giving a long winded summary that will most likely make no sense please visit The Monuments Men website to learn more.

The real Monuments Men. James Rorimer is behind the other men

The characters in the movie are based on the real life men and women in the book but they unfortunately, go by different names. The character of James Granger is based off James Rorimer. Like Rorimer, Granger is curator of Medieval Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There was a young man named Harry Ettlinger from Germany who immigrated to Newark, New Jersey and signed up to fight against his mother country. He assisted in translating, naturally. The one character I was upset with the name change was Cate Blanchette’s Claire Simone. Claire is based off France’s hero Rose Valland. Valland single handedly saved France’s most important modern art works. She worked at Jeu de Paume where Gobbles and another Nazi would come and pick art they wanted for their own home, as if the museum was a store. Valland wrote down every detail about every painting that was stolen and where it was going. Valland is a hero to the French and to the world of art history. All the characters are forgettable because they are so one dimensional. There is so much missing to the movie characters. Their one dimensionality and what they are missing leave nothing for you to remember them by.

Rose Valland

I will say that for a movie the story was entertaining and it worked for the screen. There were several aspects that bothered me besides the name changes: the pace was way too fast the whole just jumped around and did not even give you time to really digest what was going on, there was a sort of love story going on with Granger and Claire that bothered me there was absolutely no need for that, Claire could have been a very interesting character instead she was boring and I hate to say typical, there was humor which is fine the drama needs to be broken up sometimes in dramas but it seemed more silly, there really was barely any explanation of what had been taken from France and barely went into the art itself…. Which I think was based on the aspect/issue of copyrights and reproduction which can be crazy expensive and tedious to get permission to do.

The Monuments Men as a movie was not too great. I believe it is a good way to gain interest in the actual organization and the actual men and women who saved art in Europe. I felt there was so much missing with the story along with the characters that it was almost hard to follow. There was a scene with Claire where I was left thinking what the hell is going on. It was a bit ridiculous.

 George Clooney had noble intentions with this film and I feel terrible that he fell short. I feel terrible that he could not create a better story. His character stressed how art is culturally important and what it would mean to the countries who were missing their culture but it was never explained what made these works so important to the countries and to the world of art. That is the most important part of the entire story. I will thank him for making people aware of this organization and of Nazi looted art.

I am not going to say to not see The Monuments Men. Do see it because you do not know if it will pique your interest into researching looted art during World War II and learning about actual Monuments Men, Fine Arts and Archives. I can only hope that you learn how important art history is and appreciate the culture you live because you never know if one day all the objects that give your nation’s identity will be taken away.

 

The Descendants (2011)

"I don't want my daughters growing up entitled and spoiled. And I agree with my father: you give your children enough money to do something but not enough to do nothing".

            I did not really have a desire to see The Descendents when it was released in theaters. But after it won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay I figured I would give it a shot. I did not go into this film with any expectations which helped because they were neither let down nor met.

            Matt King (George Clooney) is dealing with his comatose wife, Elizabeth, who has been in the hospital for a few weeks. She is not getting better but he is hopeful. Matt is more hopeful that she wakes up because he has two daughters that he knows barely anything about since his wife mostly took care of them. Scottie is ten and finding her own identity. She is also acting out since her mom is in the hospital and getting into trouble. Alexandra is away at college but once Matt finds out that his wife is going to die he goes and gets her. When he and Scottie get Alexandra she is playing golf outside in the middle of the night completely drunk.

            The next day Alexandra tells Matt that Elizabeth was cheating on him. So now on top of the news that she is going to die Matt now has to deal with the fact that she was cheating on him. When he takes the girls to the hospital Matt goes in first and yells at her then Alexandra has her turn and yells at her as well.

            Now Matt is on the hunt to the find the man Elizabeth cheated with. When he finds the guy it turns out that he is associated with a deal Matt and his family are working on to sell land that has been in their family for over one hundred years.

            To me this pretty much sums up the story of The Descendents. It is about reconnecting with family and holding on to strong family bonds… well that is my take.

            The whole run of the film I was puzzled as to how the screenplay won. I did not think it was anything special at all.

            The cast was really good though. George Clooney was excellent. I am not a fan of Shailene Woodley but I thought she was great. Matthew Lillard is in this movie. Yeah, remember him as the annoying self-centered guy She’s All That and Shaggy from Scooby Doo? I thought it was so random I have not seen this guy in a movie since Scooby Doo. Great casting with Judy Greer, Mary Birdsong, and Beau Bridges in small parts.

            The Descendents was alright. I was not expecting anything great and it was not. It felt like there was a lot missing. Even though the cast did some great acting at times its felt like they were all holding back. Maybe it was just the way the characters were written they all just felt really held back. The holding back took away from the movie and made it seem slow and dull.