Juno

[Copper Feel 0]

I'm guessing the Velvet Underground song was either "Heroin" or "White Light/White Heat"?

 

 

[Hawk 34 0]

"I'm Sticking With You", actually.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

That was just a fantastic movie. Biggest laugh out loud moment in the theater was what Juno said when he water broke. Quality stuff all around. Kudos to everyone to them for making so much on only a 2.5 million budget.

[RepoMan 0]

I saw it on Friday and loved it. The only thing I could see some pepole complaining about is that it tried too hard to be a "hip indy movie" but it didn't really bother me.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

How refreshing was it that the step mother wasn't a total bitch? How often do we get that in movies?

[Hawk 34 0]

Both parents were great. The exchange between them after Juno revealed the pregancy was fantastic.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

The more I read about this movie, the more it just sounds like manufactured indie-chic.

[Mik 0]

I loved this movie. Some of the "Juno-isms" were a little off the mark but it was a good, touching movie. It doesn't hurt that I love anything Michael Cera does.

 

I still haven't figured out if I think the Jason Bateman character was a creep or not.

[Kinetic 0]

The reviewer for regional indie rock rag "Stomp and Stammer" thought the movie was an endorsement for abstinence-only sex education. He also opined that it would be better to abort a child than allow it to be raised by liberals. Any takers on either count?

[King Kamala 0]

The more I read about this movie, the more it just sounds like manufactured indie-chic.

 

Oh Czech. Though I must say some of Juno's lines seemed like generic indy movie wonk that nobody would really say. Other than that, it was pretty good. Not in My Top 5 of '07 but probably in the Top 10.

 

and Kinetic, does this Stomp and Stammer have a website? I'd be curious to read some of it as it sounds wildly entertaining.

[Kinetic 0]

Stomp and Stammer

[cabbageboy 0]

I wouldn't say this film was preaching abstinence exactly....it really wasn't preaching anything. I guess some would say it was anti abortion, but that was just Juno's own decision and she didn't say "OMG abortion is soooo wrong!" or anything.

 

As far as Bateman goes, I didn't think he was a creep really. Just a flawed guy who sadly kept clinging to some vague hope of being a rock star.

 

That said, if you want another "trying too hard for indie cred" moment how about his character saying his favorite song is Sonic Youth's bizarre cover of Superstar? Though it did give Juno the classic remark later of "I bought a Sonic Youth CD and they SUCK. It's just noise!" I found this funny because on a recent road trip to STL my friend Chris went out of his way to mention that he thought Sonic Youth sucked.

 

[Hank Kingsley 0]

The more I read about this movie, the more it just sounds like manufactured indie-chic.

 

Wow I did not expect this.

 

 

 

 

p.s. Loved the hamburger phone.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

Quit kickin' me while I'm down.

 

This amused me:

In the movie Hype, about the grunge explosion in Seattle in the early 90s, theres a classic scene where a reporter (Vanity Fair I believe) is calling around to the labels trying to find out what the local slang is, and trends etc. Realizing she has a complete tool on the line, this chick feeds em a line of total bullshit. All kinds of ridiculous made-up slang and shit like "wacky slacks"

 

Of course the reporter takes all this erroneous and obviously ridiculous new info and turns it into a feature in the next issue, and of course ends up looking like a moron.

 

 

Juno makes it seem like this person struck again, but this time turned it into a screenplay.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The more I read about this movie, the more it just sounds like manufactured indie-chic.

You should go see it. I actually think you'll find it refreshingly not-that. It's really good.

 

The reviewer for regional indie rock rag "Stomp and Stammer" thought the movie was an endorsement for abstinence-only sex education. He also opined that it would be better to abort a child than allow it to be raised by liberals.

The idea that there are right-wing people who would bother to write for an indie rock rag boggles my mind.

[cabbageboy 0]

I think the lingo was a bit overdone in Juno, but not to the point of being a serious detriment. 95% of the people I knew in HS didn't talk this way, but there would always be 1 or 2 girls that were enough like Juno that I couldn't say this was unrealistic.

 

Seriously, this might be the first retro grunge era flick. That's what I mean by it being the first movie to make me feel old, since I remember when stuff like that Sonic Youth version of Superstar first premiered on 120 Minutes.

[luke-o 0]

Saw it last night with my date (giggity)

 

I'm in two minds about the film. Ellen Page and Michael Cera were awesome and all the supporting cast were great (even Garner), Reitmen's direction was pretty good, the soundtrack was awesome, the script was fucking hillarious and brilliant and they mention not only the Melvins but The Wizard of Gore.

 

Yet I can't help but feel it was an average movie and I don't know why.

[Copper Feel 0]

I hated Juno. There was just something grating about it, you know, it seemed to think it was a lot smarter than it actually was.

[King Kamala 0]

I liked Juno but the more I think about it, the more I think it's probably my least favorite (and the worst) of the Academy Awards nominees. In fact, I think it's kind of outrageous that it's going up against No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Hell even Michael Clayton blows it out of the water. If Juno wins, I'll be ticked shitless.

[Mik 0]

The worst part about Juno being so successful is that the all of the writer's ridiculous and verbose scripts are going to get made.

 

How many different types of films can this overblown dialogue get squeezed in to?

 

We're about to find out.

 

I really liked Juno, by the way. But it's the kind of movie that I'd like the writer to just disappear after.

[Nighthawk 0]

I think Juno (the character) getting her pop culture references wrong several times sort of humanized the movie.

 

Diablo Cody sort of makes me think of an elseworlds Harmony Korine. I'd love to see them collaborate.

[luke-o 0]

I hated Juno. There was just something grating about it, you know, it seemed to think it was a lot smarter than it actually was.

 

That may be why I didn't like it.

 

 

The worst part about Juno being so successful is that the all of the writer's ridiculous and verbose scripts are going to get made.

 

How many different types of films can this overblown dialogue get squeezed in to?

 

It's weird, I hope it does as I'm a mark for that type of script.

[EricMM 0]

I don't understand why people don't like smart writing, why they'd prefer a movie to sound dumb.

 

What, do you want people to sing poorly in a musical?

[Youth N Asia 0]

I don't think it was smart writing really. I enjoyed the movie and everything, but quirky doesn't always mean smart

[EricMM 0]

Well, I'll conceed that point.

 

But people act like having a verbose (and yes quirky) protagonist is the most annoying thing on earth. Obviously someone enjoyed writing and saying these lines...where's the problem?

[Ripper 0]

I don't know where you all went to school, but the chick sounded like me in highschool honestly. It wasn't like Dawsons Creek or anything where all the kids, even the dumb ones were incredibly verbose. Hell, she was getting pop culture references wrong and shit. She was a chick that knew about movies and music and had a dry sense of humor. Thats not exatly out of this world weird.

 

She was smart, yet still immature about how she thought and acted. Outside of the store scene in the start where I was hoping they would cut all the slang(and they did), I didn't notice anything about the writing that was trying too hard.

[Ripper 0]

Oh, and Batemans character was a guy clinging to his past, but he clung so hard he was a creep. When he said he was leaving his wife and said "I thought you would be happy about this" he was obviously saying he wanted to fuck the 16 year old girl. And I know, some people will say some bullshit just to be different, but being his age and thinking about leaving your wife so you can fuck a High School Junior is being a fucking creep.

[Mik 0]

No - I agree. Creep city. I got that impression myself, very strongly.

 

As for the script and what EricMM said... real people often don't talk that way, unless they are trying to be pretentious and indier than thou, which I'm not sure was so much Juno the character as the script itself. It got annoying after awhile when Juno would only talk in very well articulated references even when she was reacting/thinking quickly. If you didn't notice the first time - you would watching it again.

 

I don't find it smart at all to have a script like that on the basis of it being verbose alone.

 

Now - I've already said I liked this movie a few times, so obviously I didn't hate it. But it did get on my nerves a few times watching the movie as to how unnatural some of the dialogue was.

[Ripper 0]

Thats the thing to me though. I actually know people that talk like that. I am pretty damn close to it. Only with more cursing. Its called being a smartass.

 

She wasn't overly articulate for a 16 year old honestly. Like I said, Dawsons creek, now that was over articulate. This chick was just a smartass.

 

Once the "I'm pregnant" talk to her girlfriend on the phone ended, the writing was pretty natural and believable.

[NoCalMike 0]

This is all assumption on my part, but I think maybe one of the reasons why movies like Juno or Clerks end up written the way they are is because maybe the writers themselves are relating to themselves at that age rather then the more "normal" crowds. I can personally look back on my years in highschool and remember a lot of kids that were "outsiders" or "geeks" or whatever, but the only reason they were considered "nerdy" is because that is what the high school enviornment breeds. I am sure after highschool they were considered as normal as anyone else because they went out and found plenty of other people like them. In high school if you are not part of the "normal" crowd then it doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with you, you just have different interests that might not be the same as others. Now, while my high school was not full of little Junos or Dante/Randalls running around the halls, I can easily think of people here and there that they remind me of, and maybe the writers of these scripts were those type of people in highschool and that is why they are writing scripts that tell stories from their perspective. People like Juno or Dante & Randall seem funny and like pretty cool people now, but could you imagine two guys debating Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in highschool they would be called nerds and stuffed in a locker.

 

EDIT: I am not comparing Clerks/Juno as movies, just commenting on how some people always seem to complain about quirky/witty writing in high schooler movies.