Blu-ray of the Day: Up in the Air

Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, JK Simmons, Sam Elliott.
Director: Jason Reitman.
Screenplay: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner.
Score: Rolfe Kent.
Cinematography: Eric Steelberg.

The director of Juno, Jason Reitman, teams with an unlikely collaborator, co-screenwriter Sheldon Turner (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), to land an unusually sophisticated romantic comedy with a cutting social commentary. George Clooney plays a “terminator facilitator” who loves firing people for a living because of the travel perks – until he has to confront what he does to save his own job. En route he falls for another high flyer (Vera Farmiga) who finds living out of a suitcase just as liberating. How their surprising relationship unfolds amid his showing high-strung rookie Anna Kendrick the ups and downs of what he does makes for refreshingly adult entertainment that’s funny, telling and, just as you think it’s about to nosedive into sentimental tosh, heartbreakingly grounded. The extras could have been stronger but filmmakers’ commentary is fun and informative (who knew Up in the Air contained a homage to Die Hard?) and the Blu-ray’s 13 deleted scenes number eight more than the DVD’s.

Movie: 😀 😀 😀 😀 😐
Image: 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Extras: 😀 😀 😀 😀

Anna Kendrick and George Clooney