Usually when people talk about a movie feeling "European," it isn't exactly a compliment. It's shorthand for languid pacing, character-based drama, maybe a few casually naked boobs and a general lack of Hollywood conventionality. 'The American' feels very much like the product of people who want to make a "European"-style movie, except that they forgot to pay attention to the last word in that equation. Grade: C.  

Jason Reitman's sleek yet affecting 'Up in the Air' confirms once and for all that the 32-year-old filmmaker is more than just Diablo Cody's 'Juno' bitch or the opportunistic son of a Hollywood insider. His deft adaptation of Walter Kirn's source novel is a darkly humorous look at the life of Ryan Bingham (a never-better George Clooney), an emotionally stunted "career transition consultant."  

Don't over-think this one, folks. As awards season kicks into high gear, commentators of all stripes are going to talk about 'Up in the Air' in terms of its zeitgeist relevance, its timely attention to economic instability and the corporations that feast on the carrion of the down-sized and dispossessed. And in so doing, they will overlook how simply satisfying it is as a piece of filmmaking. Grade: A-.  

Wes Anderson is famous for his quirky sense of absurdist humor. Although he might argue against it, he seems to have finally found his forte: in animation, vis-a-vis Roald Dahl's 1970 children's book 'Fantastic Mr. Fox.' In Anderson's hands the story takes on a meta significance as a human-development coming-of-age story that applies across age groups, generations, social strata and even species. Grade: B.   

Director Grant Heslov and screenwriter Peter Straughan adapt Jon Ronson's nonfiction book, turning Ronson into reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), who heads to the Middle East in 2003 to cover the Iraq War. Instead, he finds Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who was part of a 1980s military program launched by idealistic Vietnam veteran Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) to develop "Jedi Warriors" — soldiers with psychic abilities. Grade: C-plus.  

George Clooney, Northern Kentucky University dropout turned famous actor, is discussed in detail in this unauthorized biography, a lightweight primer that forgoes deep, authentic analysis of Clooney's career and life in favor of regurgitating information from various interviews and reviews that have appeared in other places.