treszoks

I can't believe my city wasn't part of the wide release. It doesn't look like I'll get to see it until the dvd unless they expand some more.

PopcornTreeCt

Well, I think it's pretty much like that for every couple. I thought he did a good job of feigning excitement.

Geofferson

Caught this today -- what a gem. Deserving of the praise it's been receiving, imo.

Doughboy

I saw it this evening and enjoyed it. Not as great as some folks are making it out to be(kinda like how I felt a year ago about Little Miss Sunshine), but still a charming little flick. Ellen Page should get a much deserved Oscar nod.

The only problem is the idiot dude at the ticket counter rang up our tickets for National Treasure 2, so 19 bucks will be going towards the box office tally for that piece of crap instead of this movie.

Brack

I enjoyed it. I didn't love it, but liked it a whole lot. Like others have already said, the soundtrack got annoying, and there were some characters who weren't developed enough, and it seemed to try too hard to be funny sometimes, but I laughed more than I didn't, and I think everyone gave solid performances.

Why are people comparing the quirkiness of Napoleon Dynamite to Juno? Talk about movies that are completely different in every fashion.

Brent L

Woohoo! I just noticed that Juno is going to open here in upstate SC this weekend, finally! We're finally getting Atonement also, and hopefully other films of the sort as well. Only a select few theaters have anything listed just yet.

Regardless though, Juno is the one that I care about the most.

FantasticVSDoom

Saw this again today (didn't plan on seeing it twice, but the MIL wanted to and was paying) and the scenes between Cera and Page are some of the best Ive seen in a long time. These 2 have my hopes up that we have some great young talent in the future. This is definitely one of my favorites of the year by far.

BravesMG

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated Brian Orndorf's half-star review of Juno. I saw this a few days ago and thought I was the only one who wanted to strangle Ellen Page until her trachea exploded just so she would shut up and stop spewing "clever" retorts and idiotic banter.

She might have been the single most unlikable character I have ever seen, and certainly at least that I can recall right now. I'd go on and on about how much I hated this movie, but Brian said it far more eloquently than I could. I especially agreed with the section on Diablo Cody's self-conscious and pretentious writing. It was one of the more unpleasant movie experiences of the year for me.

I realize that the both of us are in the vast, VAST minority on this one, and I'm not trying to disparage anyone else's opinions that did like this flick. I just wanted to send out some respect to Brian for going vastly against the grain in his review, probably knowing full well about the tremendous buzz Juno has had for months. I'm actually surprised I couldn't find a thread on this review already.

Huge on the review from me, and it's one of those reviews that so matched my own opinions that I will certainly weight his opinions more favorably in the future.

DullandWitless

darkside

I was shocked a bit by these being this low.

Juno - half star
Water Horse - 1 and a half stars

I thought both of these were really good, but I also like that a reviewer can be honest and tell you why a certain movie with critical praise was terrible for them.

As long as he doesn't start giving shit like National Treasure 2 a recommended rating I can deal with him not liking the occasional art house darling.

illennium

As I stated in the main Juno thread, I think that in this case the reviewer and others turned off by the dialog did not quite get the point of it.

GreenVulture

How would him liking National Treasure 2 invalidate his opinion of Juno? Two totally different movies that can be liked/disliked for totally different reasons.

Anyways, I haven't seen Juno yet (and I will, but there are other movies to watch before it), but speculating from the trailer, clips and reviews, it looks to be this year's Little Miss Sunshine, a thoroughly average film that everyone inexplicably latches onto because it's "indie" and because everyone loves a scrappy underdog (that has millions of dollars in constant advertising).

darkside

Liking a movie like that and disliking a great film like Juno could cause me to question the reviewers sanity, but I agree their opinion is valid in either case. I really wasn't being that serious with the comment.

BravesMG

I see that the thread has been moved to the Movie Talk forum, I was going to post this in the existing thread but I wanted to highlight Brian's review more than the merits of the film.

I also didn't want to jack the thread with the normal "I hated it, so you're wrong" kind of sidetrack, but no issues for me with a second thread here.

Regarding the fact that some non-fans of Juno might not understand the point of the dialog, I would seriously disagree. I've seen more than my share of folks who think that ironic detachment and horrifically biting sarcasm works to hide their own insecurities and true character. I just think it's bullshit. Those folks always seem to think they are so unique and special that it's the rest of the world that doesn't understand them, and cannot possibly comprehend that we absolutely understand them, and just can't stand their company.

PopcornTreeCt

The movie worked. The dialogue fit the characters and the music fit the movie. Sure, it may not be your style but it all worked.

Drop

I understood the point of the dialogue, to show her maturity level, but it could've been done, as I stated before, without being so grating. It would be as simple as changing a few words here and there.

I did enjoy the movie a lot, but the first 20 minutes really felt like the film itself was trying to find its groove, not the characters.

Mr. Salty

You do yourself no favors by ascribing ulterior motives to other people's opinions.

GreenVulture

Huh?

illennium

See, I think the movie largely agrees with you, except it doesn't reduce people to stereotypes.

BravesMG

I don't see how it is reducing anything to a stereotype if I say that I don't like her specifically, and those are my thoughts as to why. She's just insufferable to me, whether or not you want to/can attribute certain motivations to her actions. You can pick an underlying reason for her need to make everything into some kind of pop culture joke or deflect any notion of seriousness to a Thundercats reference, but it never felt real. It felt like a pure manipulation to make a terribly annoying and arrogant character sympathetic.

What springs to mind immediately is her collecting discarded furniture. What purpose at all did that addition add to the movie, aside from feeling terribly forced and making her more artificially quirky.

Mr. Salty

Some people "latched onto" "Little Miss Sunshine" because they thought it was a good, enjoyable movie, not because it was the hip "indie" thing to do. Same with "Juno."

GreenVulture

And I thought Little Miss Sunshine was mediocre and wondered what all the fuss was about, and feel it'll be the same with Juno, though I'd like to be pleasantly surprised (and hope I am).

And because Sunshine was released through Fox's independent film division, it's considered an indie movie.

The Bus

So how come I liked Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, even though I saw both either opening day or early through screenings? What did I latch onto?

GreenVulture

A mediocre movie? (Sunshine, dunno about Juno yet.)

illennium

Well, that is fine. I was responding to this:

It certainly sounded from that like you were talking about an entire class of people. And I think one of the points the movie makes is that, yes, people hide behind facades for any number of reasons (age, immaturity, insecurity), but that people are complex and can change and grow and meet tasks that might seem too difficult for them.

Well, here we really disagree, because I thought Juno's character was eminently likeable and super cool. In fact I thought she was one of the most sympathetic characters in recent memory, and she felt very real to me. She had her own aesthetic and her own views (the way she handled the abortion issue, her opinion of Sonic Youth), but she still seemed like a real teenager (albeit a pretty smart one).

Well, you are right that quirks have become de rigueur ever since filmmakers started taking pages out of the Wes Anderson playbook, but sometimes the quirks serve no purpose (Napoleon Dynamite) and sometimes, as in Juno, they are in service of the characters. The music in the film was the sort of music she would listen to, and collecting discarded furniture is the sort of thing she would do. I never felt like the quirks were overkill; rather, I felt like they helped flesh out the characters.