[Ghoulish Delight]

Continuing our unprecedented Oscar nom coverage, Up in the Air.

I really admire a film that can use the single most obvious bit of symbolism ("baggage") with so much subtlety and nuance. Reitman pulled it off by, I felt, borrowing heavily from the vernacular of the stage. The dialog, the prop symbolism, set pieces like his apartment just dripping with analogy. It felt very much like a filmed stage play, and I mean that in the very best way.

Spoiler:

Until the last half hour I was thinking, "It's Lost in Translation minus the bleak."

I had considered the possibility that they'd go the route of her having a family, but I thought they had passed the point where the reveal would have happened.

I wouldn't have voted for it for best pic, but it's yet another one that I think deserved the nomination and would have been a deserving winner. Don't know if it's due to the expanded nominee list or what, but there seem to be a lot of those this year.