Odds and ends (2), or George Clooney can do no wrong

More catching up on winter viewing:

Up in the Air: An Oscar nominee and a success at the box office, this seems like a real oddity in today's movie marketplace: a movie that is so old-fashioned mainstream (and not ironically like Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven) that it's almost avant-garde. Now that I think about it, another thing that makes it avant-garde is that, despite a strong narrative and well-developed characters, it works mostly as a sustained mood piece. George Clooney plays a man whose job--getting hired by big companies to come in and fire long-time employees--keeps him on the road most of the year, and that's the way he likes it. When a nervous young employee (Anna Kendrick) proposes that the firings be done from the Tulsa home base via laptop, Clooney worries that his free-floating life of casual relationships and few responsibilities will change, so he takes her on the road to test her new method and to show her what firing in person is all about. As expected, both characters undergo change, but not necessarily how you think they will.

Clooney makes his character a likable, non-mysterious enigma; we never quite get under his skin, but we can feel how comfortable he is spending so much of his life in airplanes and having casual sex with similarly inclined women. Kendrick is unable to make her character stand out, but Vera Farmiga is very good as Clooney's current sex buddy. Clooney has become one our best actors, in the same unassuming way that Cary Grant and James Stewart did. He can take on a wide range of roles, make his characters fleshed-out and feel lived-in, and do it effortlessly--as opposed to Pacino or Nicholson who, good as they are, show the effort (and intend to, I think). This seems to be a mood piece because, even thought the narrative is not static--things happen, people change, emotions are expressed--the whole thing feels very calm, like a smooth cross-country flight; even though there may be a bit of turbulence, nothing mars the smoothness for long. I mean that here as a compliment.

The Men Who Stare at Goats: My other Clooney movie of the season, this one is not as good but Clooney shines anyway. Based loosely on a true story, this focuses on a reporter (Ewan McGregor) who discovers the existence of a small Army unit devoted to developing new-agey techniques, one of which is the ability to affect a living being with your mind--the men stare intently at goats and hope that they will drop dead. The previews made me think of the Coen Brothers doing Kurt Vonnegut, but the film lacks their off-kilter sensibility, despite the fact that the plot is rather off-kilter. Individual performances are solid, including the deadpan McGregor, Clooney as an intense acolyte of the founder of the unit, Jeff Bridges playing that founder in laid-back hippie mode, and Kevin Spacey as the military bad guy. It just doesn't come together; tone and mood are all over the place, even though a consistent tone would seem to be called for (see the Coen Brothers and Vonnegut). But Clooney, who carries much of the movie on his shoulders, is a joy to watch, as always.