This documentation of his endless press tour-which is a hideous, broken system of publicizing movies-actually makes me like Up in the Air director Jason Reitman again a bit! It's mostly meaningless, just like interviewing film directors.

There's so many different reasons to see a movie! Sometimes, you will be walking by a theater, and it will be playing A Serious Man, starting in fifteen minutes, and you'll think "What the hell!" And then, 110 minutes later, you'll be like, "Hey, that was a kickass, awesome godamned movie, why did I not see it before?" Or sometimes I, like many people in America, will go to a film just see an actor (which is why I have seen every Julianne Moore and Frances McDormand and Holly Hunter movie ever). By those standards, Up in the Air is a damn fine bit of bait. George Clooney, at 48 still outrageously sex-up-able, turns out to be great as a compulsive traveler, romance-avoider and layer-offer of people. ("A mammoth performance," gargled Rex Reed!) Vera Farmiga, equipped with what she called her post-childbirth "giant porn boobs", is not overwhelmed by that chestiness and is for real just wonderful. Pointy-faced little Anna Kendrick? Totally awesome. Like, delightful. She is a great sidekick/foil, and Farmiga is a great sexual (not particularly romantic) interest. (Also, awkward times for the Supporting Actress promotion departments, which, whatever.) But sometimes when you go to see a movie for the performances, even when you are satisfied or pleased or awed, you are left troubled. READ MORE

We have many, many things to say about Tom Ford, which we will get to over the next week. For now, we are confronted with a Times Styles profile. Let's put our concerns in order! READ MORE