Juno

[Jingus 0]

It got annoying after awhile when Juno would only talk in very well articulated references even when she was reacting/thinking quickly.

Oh yeah, that bugged the shit out of me. I don't understand the people saying that any kids in the real world really talk like that. I was in the Indy Artsy Geek Clique back then, and nobody spoke the way that Juno does in the movie.

 

Although, while I despised Juno herself, I really liked the rest of the movie around her. Cera is always great doing the same schtick, Bateman managed to be so creepy but in such a subtle way, and since when can Jennifer Garner act?!

 

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

ARGH. NO. I've seen Gummo, and offhand I can't think of another movie which made me feel such deep, raging, bile-filled hatred. Even worse, I knew a couple of people who worked on that movie, and they all said he was a sociopathic nutcase who was obsessed with his own "genius" while treating everyone else like shit.

[Nighthawk 0]

He is a sociopathic nutcase.

 

That's part of why I love him.

 

I love Gummo. I like Juno. I like both writers as writers, though I don't respect them as writers. But that's just my opinion. I know a lot people hate him.

 

 

And while I'm here, I want to give JK Simmons props too. He's good in everything. I met him once and he was a dick, but I don't fault him. Might have just been having a bad day.

[At Home 0]

The dialogue in Juno was far too abrasive to even be considered likable for me. It was painfully clear that Juno was a character that Cody spent years and years perfecting. The movie was trying to grab indie points left and right.

 

Take, for instance, the Sunny D.

 

Should she be drinking bottled water? No, that has far too long been associated with the higher classes. Soda? No, too commercial, too mainstream. Alcohol? No, she's pregnant, not stupid. (JUNO, STUPID? UNTHINKABLE) Orange juice? Getting there.. but too commonplace... SUNNY D. Just un-marketed and juvenile enough for Juno. Perfect.

[EricMM 0]

Jesus Christ, get over it.

 

You people seem overly obsessed with people trying too hard to be cool. Possibly because this girl is now supposed to be younger? Or a hipster? I dunno?

 

This was not the first time that a character in a movie tried to sound cool, but it was one of the first times (aside from some of the Clerks talk from earlier in the thread) that they've had some witty banter to use.

[The Niggardly King 0]

It's an alright movie, but it doesn't deserve to be pushed to holy hell. This is about as bad as when a mediocre black film gets pushed to holy hell throughout the black community like it's some great accomplishment, just because it looks seems to be good compared to the other shit that's out. It just gets annoying when a perfectly fine... average film with a mediocre soundtrack gets pushed like it's the greatest, freshest thing to have come out in years by most of the media.

 

 

[Ripper 0]

Pbone, are you serious with the sunny d thing?

 

And once again, i really really knew plenty of people that talked just like this chick and I was one of them. And I am from Alabama, its not exactly known for having overly verbose highschoolers. Maybe your schools just sucked or you didn't hang around the dorky, old rock music listening to smartasses. I don't know.

 

Movie still seems quite natural to me.

[Skywarp! 0]

I liked it, but in all honesty I felt like it was market tested to the hipster crowd. For instance,

she spends the entire movie talking about how she loves the early days of punk, yet she's playing one of those indie-rock-cum-classroom-sing-along-ditties that hipsters love in the last scene that I didn't think a punk devotee would be into, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

Or substituting quirks for character development, like constantly eating Tic-Tacs and wearing running shorts, a Nietzsche fan taking a vow of silence ("Little Miss Sunshine"), or drinking beer in your tighty-whities while admiring yourself in the mirror ("Squid and the Whale").

 

Also, perhaps times have changed way beyond me, but I found the dad's lack of anger to the news a bit unrealistic.

 

[Ravenbomb 0]

One thing that did bug me about the movie was the "I don't really know what kind of girl I am" exchange near the beginning. I could see what they were going for but the moment just seemed forced and out of place.

[King Kamala 0]

I liked it, but in all honesty I felt like it was market tested to the hipster crowd. For instance,

she spends the entire movie talking about how she loves the early days of punk, yet she's playing one of those indie-rock-cum-classroom-sing-along-ditties that hipsters love in the last scene that I didn't think a punk devotee would be into, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

 

I agree with a lot of the criticisms people have for this but this one is just stupid. People can't love more than one kind of music?

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I don't think the dialogue complaint is really all that valid. In the 50's and 60's, dialogue was just as stylized, if in a different way. Hell, shakespeare's plays were stylized to a ridiculous degree sometimes. Then it became popular to use more real dialogue, but now some movies are going back to the over the top type. I don't see it as a better or worse thing, just a style thing.

[godthedog 0]

I don't think the dialogue complaint is really all that valid. In the 50's and 60's, dialogue was just as stylized, if in a different way. Hell, shakespeare's plays were stylized to a ridiculous degree sometimes. Then it became popular to use more real dialogue, but now some movies are going back to the over the top type. I don't see it as a better or worse thing, just a style thing.

 

but then according to that model, there's no such thing as bad dialogue, it's all just "different." different historical periods obviously have different standards for what makes good dialogue, but there's still a degree of appropriateness for the material.

 

i think the harmony korine comparison is dead-on: they're both one-trick ponies masquerading as auteur writers, though cody seems more aware of her limitations and i don't think has any pretensions about being a great (or even a really good) writer. and i think 'kids' has probably done more harm to the collective indie consciousness of the 90s than anyone realizes.

 

i both love and hate the fact that juno's character is ripped wholesale from enid in 'ghost world'. it's a good, reliable template for a character, but it's really pissing me off that people are acting like the character is so original and came out of nowhere. it helps that ellen page is a much better actress than thora birch, but still.

[NoCalMike 0]

I don't think the dialogue complaint is really all that valid. In the 50's and 60's, dialogue was just as stylized, if in a different way. Hell, shakespeare's plays were stylized to a ridiculous degree sometimes. Then it became popular to use more real dialogue, but now some movies are going back to the over the top type. I don't see it as a better or worse thing, just a style thing.

 

but then according to that model, there's no such thing as bad dialogue, it's all just "different." different historical periods obviously have different standards for what makes good dialogue, but there's still a degree of appropriateness for the material.

 

i think the harmony korine comparison is dead-on: they're both one-trick ponies masquerading as auteur writers, though cody seems more aware of her limitations and i don't think has any pretensions about being a great (or even a really good) writer. and i think 'kids' has probably done more harm to the collective indie consciousness of the 90s than anyone realizes.

 

 

What about the chick who wrote the script for "thirteen" I mean when that movie came out a few years back it was hailed as the beginning of a great career considering how young she was. Now I dunno what the writer has done since and she might have a good and long writing career, and not to say the movie "thirteen" was bad, but honestly, how hard is it to write a script about a teenage girl that goes from a goodie-two-shoes to a rebelling bitch, but by the closing scene(s) she realizes how stupid she has been? I mean that isn't exactly hard subject material, to write about. Anyone who attended junior high and then transitioned to highschool could probably easily recite a similar script off the top of their head and come up with an equally as effective movie. Now of course I am exaggerating as not everyone would have the talent it takes to take a story and make it into a script/screenplay/movie but i hope you all get the point here.

[King Kamala 0]

Isn't the girl who wrote Thirteen dating Marilyn Manson?

 

 

No, wait, just looked it up. The girl who starred in Thirteen is dating Marilyn Manson. The girl who wrote it hasn't really done jackshit.

 

 

[NoCalMike 0]

Isn't the girl who wrote Thirteen dating Marilyn Manson?

 

 

No, wait, just looked it up. The girl who starred in Thirteen is dating Marilyn Manson. The girl who wrote it hasn't really done jackshit.

 

Nikki Reed wrote/co-wrote the movie, she was in the movie, she played the rebellious friend that taught the goodie-two-shoes the dark ways of the force. Evan Rachel Wood is the one dating Marylin Manson, she played the lead character.

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah my memory on it is a bit foggy as I only saw it once late night on IFC three or four years ago. Fun fact about Thirteen... the ending made my dad cry. Talk about an awkward moment!

[Nighthawk 0]

Yeah, I totally jerked off to Thirte... oh, you already know it. Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson made such a good couple. Too bad.

[Skywarp! 0]

I liked it, but in all honesty I felt like it was market tested to the hipster crowd. For instance,

she spends the entire movie talking about how she loves the early days of punk, yet she's playing one of those indie-rock-cum-classroom-sing-along-ditties that hipsters love in the last scene that I didn't think a punk devotee would be into, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

 

I agree with a lot of the criticisms people have for this but this one is just stupid. People can't love more than one kind of music?

 

Well, I was using that example more to illustrate how hipster-focus tested parts of the movie felt, and that the same forces that homogenize high-profile releases into bland, inoffensive diversions aiming for mass appeal have found a formula that works for the audience of "indie flicks." Though I'm probably reading too far into how disingenuous it was/wasn't. At least I hope I am.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

I liked it, but in all honesty I felt like it was market tested to the hipster crowd. For instance,

she spends the entire movie talking about how she loves the early days of punk, yet she's playing one of those indie-rock-cum-classroom-sing-along-ditties that hipsters love in the last scene that I didn't think a punk devotee would be into, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

 

I agree with a lot of the criticisms people have for this but this one is just stupid. People can't love more than one kind of music?

 

Well, I was using that example more to illustrate how hipster-focus tested parts of the movie felt, and that the same forces that homogenize high-profile releases into bland, inoffensive diversions aiming for mass appeal have found a formula that works for the audience of "indie flicks." Though I'm probably reading too far into how disingenuous it was/wasn't. At least I hope I am.

 

I'm with you here. Saying you like early punk, and then not listening to early punk is MAD hipsterish. Seriously. I know people who do just that.

[luke-o 0]

The complaining about stylised dialogue is something that bugs the shit out of me. Complaining about people who think it's "natural" is right on the other hand.

 

Writers write a script in the form of a World that they would like to live in. For instance, in Kevin Smith's ideal World, everyone would speak in monologues and digress pop culture to the Nth degree. Tarantino's perfect World is a place where everyone has seen (and liked) every film that he has seen. And so on.

 

The script was my favourite part of this film. Was it "naturalistic"? Not a chance. Was it awesome? You bet.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

The complaining about stylised dialogue is something that bugs the shit out of me. Complaining about people who think it's "natural" is right on the other hand.

 

Writers write a script in the form of a World that they would like to live in. For instance, in Kevin Smith's ideal World, everyone would speak in monologues and digress pop culture to the Nth degree. Tarantino's perfect World is a place where everyone has seen (and liked) every film that he has seen. And so on.

 

The script was my favourite part of this film. Was it "naturalistic"? Not a chance. Was it awesome? You bet.

 

Says you. This script bugged the shit out of me. I generally enjoyed the movie, the dialogue mellowed before too long, but when it was bad... it was so bad. It made me want to leave. I have a big thing about dialogue, I may just be the equivalent of the guy watching a sci-fi movie and saying "NO WAAAAY! AN EXPLOSION WOULDNT MAKE NOISE IN SPACE. GAAAAAAH"

[EricMM 0]

You appreciate, then, that a movie with no audio in space for any extended period of time would be a WORSE movie because of it, same here.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Well, "2001" disagrees with you Eric.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Finally got around to seeing this today. Loved it. Laughed hard many times at the dialogue (very funny), and some of the scenes were genuinely touching. Only real complaint is I didnt feel the chemistry between her and Bleeker (or whatever his name is), and her realization of love felt kinda forced. Ellen Page was just ridiculously cute and likeable. Cool movie and deserved its nominations.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Oh another thing I liked was the whole cast of the movie... Michael AND George-Michael from Arrested Development... JK Simmons (who will always be remembered as Verne Schillinger to me), CJ from West Wing, really fun cast.

[King Kamala 0]

It was good to see J.K. Simmons playing a nice guy for a change. He was probably my 2nd favorite in the movie behind Bateman's character. I liked Paulie Bleeker but how many times can Michael Cera play the same character? I'm curious to see where his career will turn out.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Only real complaint is I didnt feel the chemistry between her and Bleeker (or whatever his name is), and her realization of love felt kinda forced.

 

I agree, for getting second billing Michael Cera barely seemed to be in the movie

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Yeah, I totally jerked off to Thirte... oh, you already know it. Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson made such a good couple. Too bad.

 

Same here. The scene where they tried to double team the older dude.

[Jonathon 0]

Yeah, I totally jerked off to Thirte... oh, you already know it. Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson made such a good couple. Too bad.

 

Same here. The scene where they tried to double team the older dude.

 

 

Ah, I thought I was the only one.

[tominator89 0]

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

 

Having finally rented the flick, I completely agree with you.

 

And, yes, I felt the need to bump this thread just to say that.

[At Home 0]

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

 

Having finally rented the flick, I completely agree with you.

 

And, yes, I felt the need to bump this thread just to say that.

 

Yes, it is.