Blogocentric Formulations

Up In The Air

Up In The Air was easily one of my favorite movies of last year. I thought Jason Reitman was downright robbed of the Best Adapted Screenplay trophy at last year's Academy Awards, and after finishing the book, I'm even more convinced of that fact. Walter Kirn's book, while at times downright brilliant at times in its insight and turn of phrase, is ultimately about characters that I didn't particularly empathize with or even want to follow on their journey. The screenplay is vastly different and, in my opinion, much improved. It takes the best elements of the book, extrapolates from them a more endearing, more understandable character... and creates a narrative that is more compelling and more satisfying.

It isn't often that I say this, but when it comes to Up In The Air, I think the movie was an improvement over the book. It removed the elements that didn't work, enhanced the ones that did, and added content that improved the work as a whole. If that's not the definition of a good adaptation, I don't know what is.

Overall, I'd give the movie a solid A, and the book a B- for outstanding writing quality, but disappointing characters and narrative.


P.S. - For those of you who are fans of useless trivia and random milestones, this is my 100th blog entry. Hard to believe I've found 100 things to rant about. Or perhaps it's hard to believe I've only found 100 things to rant about...