Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Juno (2007)

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Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 12-31-2007, 08:53 AM:

Wow. It may be the most akward of experiences when asked by customers, "did you like Juno?" I explain that I thought it was great and was easily one of the funniest and smart movies I have seen this year. The follow up question is trickier to answer, "what is it about?"

You never can find a comfortable way to say, "it is a comedy about out of wedlock teenage pregnancy."

Despite the potential for overdone drama or after school special, Juno keeps it very light and suprisingly honest. The dialogue is fun to listen to, (a very small but memorable turn by Rainn Wilson), and keeps the story moving along.

Ellen Paige proves that her performance in Hard Candy was just a start as she shows great comic timing in her portrayal of Juno. She give Juno the heart that lets you believe the same girl that is fascinated by a yard-strewn living room set would also be facinated enough by the idea of her fetus having fingernails to flee from the local abortion clinic.

My complaints are few. That smart, snappy dialogue and light approach that I touted earlier moves into grating territory half way in. However, Diablo Cody's screenplay kicks into the third act bringing some needed grounding. I also felt like Michael Cera was underused. He has proven himself very capable of playing it up with dead pan comedy that would have felt right at home here, (one of the biggest reasons I miss Arrested development), but his character feels underdeveloped.

All in all, I give it 5-for-5 orange Tic Tacs. [Wink]

It is the only movie I wanted to start up as soon as it was done unspooling.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 12-31-2007, 09:39 AM:

I enjoyed this movie as well - and my only complaint was the music/score. I am sure there are fans of this particular artist, but I am not one of them. I'd have preferred they went in a different direction.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 01-05-2008, 08:13 PM:

CINEMA: Cinemark Movies 12, Ames, IA
AUDITORIUM: 7
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Mystery Meat Digital
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Sound leakage from Auditorium 6
RATING: Four stars (out of four)

LET'S PLAY THE CONCESSION GAME! If the satellite stand is open, we buy popcorn and soda! If not, we save money! HOORAY! I SAVED MONEY!

THE PLOT: A teenager gets knocked up. Wackiness ensues.

I want to say it's funny in a Napoleon Dynamite way, but it's far more intelligent. Yet it kind of has that vibe. In any case, it's funny, witty, and there isn't a bad performance in the movie.

Freaking awesome.

Cinemark managed to find 17 minutes of trailers for crappy cliche romantic comedies to tack onto this thing. A seemingly endless sea of crap. Fortunately, they also showed the awesome WALL-E trailer.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-06-2008, 07:18 PM:

2:45PM today at Cinemark 17 in Springfield, #17. Not very steady, soft focus, and the right-front channel is either dead or at minimum there's a MAJOR imbalance across the front. Seats probably about 80% sold, nice crowd. Shame about the presentation, esp. in a movie where there's lots of music but it plays from the left-front only.

The movie is very good, cute, warm and fuzzy, etc. I liked it.

Posted by Paul Burt (Member # 3743) on 01-07-2008, 12:04 PM:

My favorite film of the year so far. Haven't seen the serious biggies yet (like No Country..), but this is the funniest film I've seen in years. A solid 5/5.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-14-2008, 12:53 AM:

I liked it. The 'message' is a bit too warm and fuzzy for the kiddies who are seeing it, but hey we're not parents, we're entertainers.

I was wondering what year this story is set in. It seems like "the present," yet nobody in the film has a cellphone, an iPod or a computer. And the two girls talk on "cord" phones. Truly odd.

Other than that weirdness, I give it a solid 3 out of 5. Would have been 4 but I had to deduct a point for the music, which got pretty grating in the last couple of reels.

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 03-14-2008, 01:01 AM:

It was filmed in Canada or something... they are not as advanced... [Razz]

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 03-14-2008, 03:08 PM:

Juno was filmed in and around Vancouver, BC