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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 17, 2008 2:16:47 GMT 2
I wasn't sure how this offbeat "indie" film would look on the big screen. I always feel these sort of films are more suited to DVD, but that certainly didn't make me enjoy it any less.
Besides the soundtrack coming across a bit too self-conciously "kooky" (and overpowering - HOW many damn songs were played through the film?!) and the subject of teen pregnancy kinda being glossed over (moral of the story? "Get pregnant at sixteen. Make off the cuff remarks, parents make more off the cuff remarks, give the baby away, cry a bit and then continue life as normal"), it was still a lot of fun. And any film that re-unites Jason Bateman and Micheal Cera from dream sitcom Arrested Development can only be magnificent (even if they don't actually appear on screen together. Damn)
Like I said, this isn't normally the sort of film I would go to the cinema to see, but I stand corrected on that. Don't dismiss it as either a teen comedy or a chick flick - it's far more touching and funny than that.
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Post by Benjamin Haines on Feb 17, 2008 3:03:22 GMT 2
Yeah, I went to see Cloverfield for the third time with a friend a couple weeks ago and they said the reel was damaged, so we saw this instead. It really is a solidly entertaining, refreshing, and endearing achievement of a film. It's been nominated for Best Picture at the 2008 Academy Awards here in the States. I don't know if I'd go that far (I believe Gone Baby Gone deserves that award - and it wasn't even nominated), but Juno is definitely a great movie.
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Post by trashcanman on Apr 17, 2008 11:53:37 GMT 2
Spot on. Especially the soundtrack part. For a film with bad Religion stickers, multiple Sonic Youth and Stooges references, and Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains flyers the music was pretty annoying. Still loved the hell out of it though; reminded me of Kevin Smith's better stuff. I waited for the DVD for the reason you stated above and you guys need to check out the deleted scenes. God bless the director for cutting down the length of a film that could have had another quality 20 minutes. The guys who did "Superbad", "Knocked Up", and "40 Year Old Virgin" should learn from "Juno". Every one of those films were at least a half-hour too long. Comedies (dramedies included) should never be much longer than 90 minutes. New vocabulary addition: pork swords. Awesome.
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Post by Benjamin Haines on Apr 17, 2008 12:53:59 GMT 2
God bless the director for cutting down the length of a film that could have had another quality 20 minutes. The guys who did "Superbad", "Knocked Up", and "40 Year Old Virgin" should learn from "Juno". Every one of those films were at least a half-hour too long. Comedies (dramedies included) should never be much longer than 90 minutes. Actually, all three of the films you mentioned left a lot of material on the cutting room floor. While the extended cut of Knocked Up was a few minutes longer than the theatrical version and came out at 2 hours and 13 minutes, the DVD still boasted nearly an hour of deleted scenes that were left out (the majority of which were hilarious in and of themselves). I can't say that I had a problem with any of those movies breaking the two-hour mark. The Apatow Factory produces unique comedy films which I think benefit from longer runtimes than your average comedy. They're very story-oriented and character-driven, but at the same time they never cease to revel in the comedy taking place on the screen. I think they have their editing nailed down to a tee, so that humorous scenes last long enough to be totally savored and end just before reaching the point of dragging. I didn't find pacing to be an issue with any of those three flicks. Now, had the characters been forgettable and the comedic bits not been as funny as they were, then I think there'd be a serious problem, but I think Apatow and his gang have their style polished perfectly. Kevin Smith's Dogma and Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz are two other two-hour-plus comedies (albeit with action) which I'd say hold their own solidly, while Juno benefits from a more traditional runtime for a comedy. It all works in my book. |
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Post by trashcanman on Apr 17, 2008 21:12:56 GMT 2
I'll give "Dogma" a pass because the story was epic and I hadn't even noticed "Hot Fuzz" was that long. It was that good. But the rest just dragged once the unconvincing drama showed up and comedy based almost entirely on saying really profane things in inappropriate settings just can't carry a LOTR-length film for me. Good films, but not great to me. Anyways, I forgot to respond to Curmudgeon's criticism last night about Juno's "teen pregnancy is fun, hip, and whimsical" message. While it is a valid criticism, I don't think that is the film's message. Teen pregnancy is an inevitability of our society and I was truly happy to see a film that demonstrates that abortion is not the be-all-end-all answer to the inconvenience of having to deal with the obvious consequences of your actions. To me, abortion is the most vile thing a human can legally do and the logic dictating that a human inside of another human isn't human is laughable. But I do see the sociological ills of overpopulation so I, like most people, have to grit my teeth and deal with it. But people like my older sister who can't have children and want one more than any thing else in the world have to adopt "damaged goods", children already scarred for life by abusive, drug addict parents without the common courtesy to commit suicide. This is a massive hardship as the parents' endless attempts to keep the kids whose lives they are destroying are a constant nuisance and the children inevitably grow up to be just like mommy and daddy in spite of their new loving home. The formative years are just that; that programming seldom changes. The idea that affluent skanks are procuring hasty abortions at the first hint of having to take responsibility for their actions when there is no shortage of people who want and NEED a newborn baby pisses me off. The main excuses given: "I didn't want to get fat", "If I carried it to term, I wouldn't want to give it up" aka "I don't want to get fat", and -though few people will say this out loud- "I don't want people to know that I'm an idiot". People started making fun of me at 14 for being a virgin. Yet, they look down on people who get pregnant young. Do they even know what causes pregnancy? Talk about a double-standard. I never became "sexually active" until I knew I was ready to deal with having a child if that came about. It was simple, really. If you haven't seen "Idiocracy", buy it. Now there's a fim with a good message: morons continue to reproduce unchecked while intelligent people use their brains before having children and the result is comedy awesomeness. Here's the opening scene youtube.com/watch?v=upyewL0oaWA |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 29, 2008 22:27:24 GMT 2
OK, I've just found my new MUST see movie. I've never even heard of that before. Anyway, on the subject of Juno, I did actually like this film, but this "abridged script" is gold.. www.the-editing-room.com/juno.html |
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