Is this the Juno thread?

Juno & adoptive father discuss the UK Top 50 of 1982. "I'm going with Depeche Mode of course ;-)"

Since I complained above, let me just say that I did actually like this movie! But I would have liked it more if I hadn't gone in expecting the movie of the year.

i hope you've learned your lesson about that then

I should have learned that lesson after I went "Bourne Ultimatum" believing that it was, as promised, a "taut, intelligent thriller."

And another thing:

portrayal of troubled "self-centered formerly-hip-in-the-music-biz boy yuppie / uptight and ultra-suburban but secretly vulnerable girl yuppie couple" in Knocked Up >>>>>>>>>>>
portrayal of analogous couple in Juno.

Taking down Juno because real teenagers aren't like that is sort of like taking down Sesame Street for having Big Bird as a pivotal cast member.

No, it's not. Talking birds in a kid's show that makes no pretense of being realistic =/= unrealistic, unnatural dialogue/behavior in a film being praised for its honesty and realism.

Jesus Christ, do I hate DeRo. The man is an absolute idiot.

As it's been said, teenagers don't exactly talk like they did in "My So Called Life," either.

I should have learned that lesson after I went "Bourne Ultimatum" believing that it was, as promised, a "taut, intelligent thriller."

i don't know whether this is an intentional or unintentional zing

I was a bit apprehensive at the criticism of this because A:, it seemed like all the criticisms of the movie seemed to echo each other, like they all came from the same list at whyjunosucks.com or something. And B: I took the recent backlash to be a contrarian reaction towards an obviously strong film. But I saw this last night and man did it suck.

No, it's not. Talking birds in a kid's show that makes no pretense of being realistic =/= unrealistic, unnatural dialogue/behavior in a film being praised for its honesty and realism.

Juno very obviously does not, and was not intended to take place in "the real world" and any critic who thinks it does needs to find a new fucking line of work.

Way to ruin a perfectly cute and often very funny movie (with a quality script & nice performances). So, what's the bar here for a teenage dramedy?

I think I thought about maybe laughing at the Diana Ross line but then wasn't truly feeling it.

Man, this was a bad movie. And not even in a Teen Witch or John Tucker Must Die bad/entertaining way. Every line for Juno seemed to be written for Peewee Herman. You could say all of her lines in his voice and it would have all fit.

I don't get the Gilmore Girls comparison at all. Except that they are female and not absurdly boring or tragic acting.

the "Honest to blog" line may have knocked off either the "Is it raining, I hadn't noticed." or the "Daaaad" line from Godfather 3 as the worst line in movie history.

Too bad she wasn't watching Gwar videos with Jason Bateman.

if they were going to caricature a womynist abortion clinic, they could have at least put dozens of rabid and hateful protesters outside instead of one lol cute asian girl.

This was pretty shite. If Juno's quips had been halved, it would've been tolerable.

this has just begun heavy promotion in the UK.

i don't think i've ever encoutered a film whose hype was based so much on its writer's looks.

Er, what?

Soundtrack was #3 US album last week, outselling a whole lotta howling divas and soulless overproduced pop crap.

2008: THE YEAR ANTI-FOLK BROKE

Best picture, best actress, best screenplay, best picture...

Are you fucking KIDDING me?!

(best director in there as well, I meant)

It's only the best director nomination that really chides me.

The only nomination it should have received was J.Garner and/or maybe Bateman for supporting roles.

I had resigned myself to expecting the Best Original Screenplay nomination, but figured it wouldn't go beyond a token "well you were cute, here's a little nomination for your efforts" nod, a'la Squid & the Whale/Ghost World/You Can Count on Me (not that this piece of trash comes CLOSE to any of those movies).

I already hated this movie with all my soul, but this just takes it to the next level.

You don't pay attention to Oscar buzz then. Not saying you should: there are probably better things to waste time with. But Eric's right: Jason Reitman is the only surprise nominee here.

i'm not surprised at oscars noms - i mean remember the whole little miss sunshine thing? this movie is better than that one at least tho i'm still undecided on my mixed feelings

You don't pay attention to Oscar buzz then

No Oscar buzz on "Juno" in the UK - the film's not even out here yet (I saw it over the holidays in the States).

There are websites.

A local mag here has a diaslogue between two critics on what the film means re "the commodification of indie."

I would be interested in reading that. It's one of my favorite topics of the last few years.

essentially, this movie is much better than Little Miss Sunshine, which I hated, but so, so, so much worse than Superbad

There are websites.
-- jaymc

there are probably better things to waste time with.
-- jaymc

Like I said.

A local mag here has a diaslogue between two critics on what the film means re "the commodification of indie."

I hope to God this dialogue was published no later than 1995.

http://thelmagazine.com/6/2/musicology/feature1.cfm?ctype=2

See what yr missin, bro?

As far as I’m concerned, and I think this might be an unpopular opinion, I’ve always taken the stance that “indie” is, in fact, an aesthetic sensibility. And what’s so striking about Juno is that they straight-up fucking mangled that shit in the film, with all the retardo dialogue, yet they managed to nail it on the soundtrack.

Indie's been commodified for a long time, but it's really only been in the last few years that you have things like Sub Pop albums debuting in the top 5 on Billboard.

There is no indie, never has been.

We are all boutique labels now.

Indie's been commodified for a long time, but it's really only been in the last few years that you have things like Sub Pop albums debuting in the top 5 on Billboard.

This may have less to do with an increase in sales of SubPop albums than with an overal decrease in sales of everything.

decrease in sales of everything except subpop records? check yr math

i mean, i know what you mean, but still

http://thelmagazine.com/6/2/musicology/feature1.cfm?ctype=2

lolololol

I’m afraid the backlash against things like Juno or the fucking Decemberists is causing people to abandon the ideals we’ve all grown up with, possibly just for the sake of being contrarians.

rofl

Yeah I chuckled at that line too.

it's not the 'commodification of indie' that bothers me, and wtf does that even mean anyway, i am so tired of this kind of talk, i mean jesus everything's commodified, we live in a state of constant exchange and skewed value assignments boohoohoo everything's for sale even yr childhood ohno.

how precious is this 'indie aesthetic' and, wait, is it really all that groundbreaking anyway? are they really among your favourite personal-world-shattering movies, these movies? yeah, say anything affected me bigtime when i was 18 but like die hard has arguably made a bigger impact on me. tell me your story whatever story it is, but tell me it to me with conviction and integrity and sure certainly homage to what's come before but give me something new to love and be inspired by and do new things because of.

maybe what i'm getting at is that there are a thousandx20 novels just like this, quiet little stories written by people with moderate but unexciting talent. some of them sell big, some don't, some are praised and declared 'beautifully written' and some are ignored. i think the word we really want here isn't 'commodification' - too common, too abstract, there's a reason why only 18-21 yr olds get excited by adbusters - but a word that means 'insular' and 'accepting' and 'docile' and ultimately 'boring.'

yes, i love love too and i love familiar comforts but i'm upset by insularity and self-imploding little worlds, i guess, these days. these stories are the reason i can't read past page 3 of most novels these days and why i feel the way i do abt this movie - but i've stopped feeling guilty about that because obviously what i'm looking for is a promise for something more. i'm glad you wrote a book, i'm glad you made a movie, but still it hurts me and it's forgettable. maybe because i want everything to be a little part of some kind of revolution.

i'm being a bit harsh. but a movie that had the bones or the chops or whatever to be insightful and thought-provoking but turned out to be mediocre quirky entertainment is somehow more disappointing to me than all the pointless crappy movies i'll never see this year. and while this movie is still not as sad/disheartening/depressing as idiocracy, it gets to me in a similar way. and i guess it's allegorical. all the opportunities to do something great and if not revolutionary at least evolutionary, but instead it takes the easy way out. these happy endings are the saddest/most frustrating freakin thing.

and also geez the most saleable of the new and the different have always been popularized, how is this surprising - i even think it's a good thing in some ways b/c it can have positive consequences, esp if you're not constantly on the lookout for the new and different. i mean, not all big-budget/big-studio movies (music, art, etc) are without depth and insight, and not all underground films (music, art, etc) are brilliant and shocking the world into change.

i just want to be shown the world in different/surprising ways

that's all!

and also geez the most saleable of the new and the different have always been popularized

"always" is a long time. Was Lenny Bruce 'saleable' in 1961? Velvets in '68?

but a movie that had the bones or the chops or whatever to be insightful and thought-provoking but turned out to be mediocre quirky entertainment is somehow more disappointing to me than all the pointless crappy movies i'll never see this year.

Really? Juno had the chops to be insightful and thought-provoking? It was fluff. I thought it was very well-done fluff, and I'll defend it to the end on that level, but I think you're being pretty unfair to the film if you were looking for more. That's why its Oscar noms in categories other than screenplay are so bizarre, but of course I'd have said the same thing about Little Miss Sunshine last year.

why the hell would i not look for more in anything? i have become unfair like that

always is a long time