Just saw Juno

I haven't seen too many movies this year, but if Ellen Page doesn't get a best actress nominee, it'd be criminal (in an entertainment world kind of way).

Great acting all around. My image of Michael Cera will always be his moment in Arrested Development when he imitated Charlie Brown's sad walk.

Should we call this movie a "dramedy" - even though I despise that word.

And by the way, J.K. Simmons always nails his role, whatever it may be.

 

Not really. That was much darker and not as funny.

 

I liked American Beauty a lot more than Little Miss Sunshine. I laughed a lot more. The acting in the latter was good but the plot was stupid.

 

God, I love Ebert's reviews. I just wish there were a few things in there he hadn't given away.

 

Haven't seen the movie, but I'd like to.

What's interesting is this movie, along with "Knocked Up", "Waitress" and the whole Jamie Lynn Spears debacle, have stirred up an interesting line of conversation in the blogosphere.

These movies, and now the praise Jamie Lynn is receiving (even from Mike Huckabee) for choosing to be a teen mom, all seem to gloss over the harsh realities of pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing. There's concern that girls and young women may get the mistaken message that pregnancy is the new symbol of "Hollywood cool."

Not to take away from what seems to be a very good movie, but even a year-in-review show I saw tonight hyped the "pregnancy is hip" theme in recent movies.

 

I disagree, and I think you'll see that when you see this. Now, I haven't seen Waitress. But to me, Juno is about the real struggles of deciding the aftereffects of being pregnant. Sure, finding the adoptive parents in the first couple you pick might be unrealistic, and I'm not sure the movie really dealt that much with any bond Juno might have formed with the child during the pregnancy.

But I do think Juno deals much more with it than if she had just been like "Well I'll raise it and it will be fine."

 

Mrs. T. and I just saw it today - mindblowingly good. I just want to hand Ellen Page the damned Oscar now and be done with it.
I was very relieved that the dancing scene didn't end with her and JB getting busy. I just kept saying to myself, please, no...
I would love to know how our old buddy William Donahue reacted to the abortion clinic scene. It's a very pro-life movie when you think about it.

 

Ebert's print reviews (which I guess will be his only ones from now on) usually read like they were written for someone who has already seen the movie. I really like his perspective and the fact that he's the rare critic who isn't overly cynical and doesn't seem to revel in ripping things, but it's dangerous to read him before you've seen something.

 

The casting of Janney and the small aspect of Bateman's character are the only connections' to AB.

It's a pretty damned unique film.

 

Fixed.

 

No offense, Cadet, but you should probably see the movie before making that suggestion. It's not like the whole film was about the physical and mental difficulties the character faced, but those elements were there....including some wonderfully understated moments at the hospital near the end.

And as far as child rearing, the movie doesn't get that far because it really is Juno's story and she is out of the baby's life after the birth, but Janney does have one line in a scene with Garner that seems appropriate.

 

That's why I'm not reading it... That's my only criticism of his reviews...