Comments on: No Concessions: “Juno”

By: ken

ken — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:35:36 +0000

I also felt the opening scene with Rainn Wislon was a bit forced but the whole thing was redeemed soon enough. Consider it like a band who didn't get to soundcheck before a gig, the first song's gonna sound bad but it'll work out just fine in the end. It's been a looong time since I've been this impressed by a movie. And everyone (and i mean EVERYONE) I've talked to about it loved it.

One thing my brother pointed out to me that I hadn't noticed was the complete absence of mobile phones in the movie, not a single one anywhere. Certainly a conscious choice and a good one at that as it won't date the movie. Very little about the movie (a few of the musical references) tipped its' cap as to when it was supposed to take place.

By: ken

ken — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:35:36 +0000

By: DwDunphy

DwDunphy — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:08:37 +0000

Although he has done much, much better work of late, I always flash back to him in the Coen remake of “The Ladykillers” as the thief with irritable bowel syndrome.

By: Zack

Zack — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:04:56 +0000

I thought this movie was terrific, with only a couple of gripes worth mentioning. The first, echoing Laith, Jeff, and Madsker, is that the opening dialogue, is absurdly inauthentic. The second is that while the music in general was great, some songs seemed to have been included just for the sake of an indie nod and getting them onto the soundtrack – Belle and Sebastian's “Piazza, New York Catcher” is the first one that comes to mind, though there were others as well.

By: DavidMedsker

DavidMedsker — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:39:11 +0000

Cody definitely overdoes it in the opening, but once she settles down, the movie is nearly perfect. It also sums up my feelings about Sonic Youth to a tee.

By: 1Py_Korry1

1Py_Korry1 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:07:47 +0000

I think I was in love with this movie from the opening scene. However, while the film seemed to resolve the conflicts with the characters, I was wondering why they didn't bother to show what happened to Jason Bateman's character.

By: Malchus

Malchus — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:10:45 +0000

I think that this is going to be one of those movies that everyone comes away from with a different favorite character(s). For me, I believe that Simmons and Janney were the highlight. The two of them seemed so comfortable on screen together. The way they were written and acted really led me to believe that they were a couple who have been married for 10 odd years. Janney, especially, proved that she is one of the most versatile character actors we have these days. From “West Wing” to “Hairspray” to “Juno” (and let's not forget her catatonic turn in “Amercian Beauty”) Janney is a gift to watch. Ditto Simmons who, in recent years, has been allowed to show his softer/comedic side in movies. After his work on “Law & Order” and especially “OZ”, you'd think that all this guy can play is creeps.

By: jefito

jefito — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:43:00 +0000

There are portions — mostly early on — that get bogged down in the type of fussy, awkward dialogue you're talking about. But I think Laith is right: the cast eventually wins you over. It's a cool little movie, well worth checking out.

By: DwDunphy

DwDunphy — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:56:16 +0000

My brother has proclaimed the movie only one of his top five films of all time.

I came across it via interviews on NPR but they managed to get all the most over-written dialog scenes for their clips and, to the ear, it sounded like a first time screenwriter either too impressed with themselves or too worried about being a first timer to let speeches 'be real'.