Just saw Juno

I did like the line in Ebert's review toward the end that said he wasn't going to give away any surprises. My reaction was like then why did you write the first 12 grafs?
Juno doesn't really compare to any movies, or at least the mainstream ones. It is lazy critic shorthand to compare one movie to another, so that's why people are saying that Juno is this year's Little Miss Sunshine.
Those same lazy critics are the ones lumping Juno/Superbad/Knocked Up together in their year-end lists. Three distinctly different films
I liked Juno so much, that I'm going to go see it again. I can't remember a time I went and saw a movie twice at the theater.

As far as Cera goes, he's either the greatest actor of his generation or playing himself in every role I've ever seen him in.

 

I don't mind critics comparing movies, but at least make sure it is an accurate comparison.

Ebert did avoid a lot of the actual jokes and one-liners, including the ones that have already been given away in the commercials.

 

Little Miss Sunshine was colossally overrated...

Cute film, but some people acted like it was the funniest film in a decade...

 

First, this reminded me nothing of Little Miss Sunshine. Zero.

Second, this is a tight movie. No real critcisms. The writing is tight, and funny, especially in the first 15-20 minutes. Ellen Page, by many standards, probably won't be nominated for an Oscar, but her performance is Oscar-worthy. She nailed it.

Michael Cera was fair-to-middlin' again, and I say that because I'm ready for him to stop playing the same morose guy from Arrested Development and also Superbad. Time for him to really drink 10 Red Bulls and *let loose* in the next few movies.

I don't think Garner added much to the movie, and I usually like her. Jason Bateman was good.

At one point the dialogue made me think the church had put this out, yet the lines never crept over the threshold to preacherville. The other thing that was a bugger at times is that some lines were funny, and people laughed, but the movie dialogue continued too quickly after the laugh lines, so people hadn't gone silent again and I missed the next few lines. They may have been throw-away lines, but I like to hear every line in a movie. I think writers need to consider that when they nail a great line, to not have another line so quickly afterward. Or maybe that's the director's job: to let the audience have its laugh and let that laugh subside before the next set of lines. Like, you let the audience laugh while you have characters block about the scene, just for a few extra seconds. But that's just the director in me.

Good film. And Page is a star on the rise. 4 stars out of 5.

On another note, that cute Breslin girl is in a movie comintg up called "Definitely, Maybe," and I'm really stoked to see it after the preview. Definitely, Maybe also is an Oasis album, one of the best albums ever released.

 

Yeah, I noticed that too. First time I saw it was in a jam-packed screening of 400 people, and I missed a lot. Took the missus later and the theater was still full enough that I missed the lines again.

It is only Reitman's second film, so maybe that timing is a technique he has yet to master.

 

For the record, I wasn't judging the movie or making claims. I was bringing into this discussion the concept behind other discussions I had read regarding this movie in a larger societal context.

Like I said, I can't wait to see it.

 

Maybe he wants you going twice.

The tempo of the dialogue has to be organic. If the pace isn't natural, it doesn't necessarily work.

 

Interesting thought, Simon. That said, as I watched those after-laugh lines with antennas that were suffocated by the audience noise, they seemed a bit clunky, too, as if the actors knew the previous line was reactionary funny and they were unsure how to deliver the next throw-away line.

I think you can have organic convo (great band name, Organic Convo) and still have precise blocking to make it all flow naturally.

 

I guess I simply disagree with you in this case, with the possible exception of the scene in the convenience store in the beginning.

movie was almost perfect, and its dialogue, and its tempo was not a point of critique in the least.

 

Well then, it's the damn audience's fault for laughing too long and keeping me from hearing after-laugh lines, even if they were throw-away lines, dammit!

 

Goddammit I want to go see this movie again.

 

Me too. When you wanna go?