Thursday, November 1, 2007

London Film Festival: Final Update- "Juno"

Before I write my final review of "Juno", I wanted to go ahead and say thanks for reading all of my segments on the London Film Festival. I certainly enjoyed informing all of you. Thanks again.

And now...the final Oscar Obsession review of the London Film Festival

Juno: In Review


Jason Reitman's newest film, "Juno", is a force to be reckoned with. Not only is it one of the most delightful movies I've ever seen, but it screams Oscar. The acting is fantastic all around. The screenplay is inspiring. The direction is great. The title credits are amazing. The soundtrack should go with "The Graduate"'s Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack as one of the most effective ever. The only negative thing about this film is that I won't get to see it again until it comes out here...in February.

Ellen Page, once again, proves her magnificent talent. Her Juno MacGuff is witty, intelligent, and mature. She is also one of the best "heroes" to hit the screen since Marge Gunderson. Page's performance is very complex, she is, after all, a teenager about to give birth to her best friend's child. Page will, almost certainly, be my favorite Lead Actress performance of the year. She goes from, I got this quote from an IMDB user...who got it from Jason Reitman, "hilarious to heartbreaking in seconds flat". That quote is a fantastic way of summing up her performance. The amazing dialogue that Page is given, from the stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody, comes from her mouth with such ease that you honestly don't see the difference between Ellen Page and Juno MacGuff. There really isn't enough I can say about this performance. It's the best of the year.

Next to Page, we have an unbelievable supporting cast. Michael Cera, of "Arrested Development" and "Superbad", plays Paulie Bleeker, the father of Juno's baby. Cera is extremely sincere and very funny. It's a performance that I personally loved. As her father and stepmother, J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney are wonderful. Simmons plays the father role to hilarious perfection and Janney is utterly fantastic. She has a scene with a ultrasound technician after the technician insults Juno's state of pregnancy and her age. In that scene, Janney is electrifying. If she had fifteen more minutes of screen time then we would be looking at a strong contender for Best Supporting Actress. Last but not least, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are the seemingly perfect couple who Juno's baby is being adopted by. Not all is as seems, however. Bateman's Mark struggles to be married to such a conservative wife and he feels it is holding his career, he "composes" commercial stuff...like commercials, back. Garner is quite good as Vanessa, who cannot have a child no matter how hard she tries. Garner's performance is quite hard to pin down. While she has many, many scenes where she does a great job...I feel that she really didn't nail her one big "Oscar-nomination" scene. We'll see what happens with her.

The screenplay is razor-sharp. There are so many cultural references in this film and not only are we impressed that Juno knows about them, but we're extremely impressed that Cody knew about the stuff to begin with. She very accurately provides interesting, and hilarious, details about every character (Allison Janney's dog obsession will bring you to tears with laughter) as well as writing for teenagers. When "Superbad" was released, the screenplay was hailed as one of the best screenplays to really capture teenagers. "Juno" captures the other half of teenagers while still staying in the same vein. The screenplay was extremely impressive and I absolutely guarantee that it will be rewarded by numerous awards.

Jason Reitman's direction continues to impress. Undoubtabley on it's way to a Screen Actor's Guild nomination for the cast, numerous Independent Spirit Awards, and possible, and extremely deserving, Oscar nominations..."Juno" doesn't fail to impress. Led by a fantastic (which is too weak a word) performance by the rising star, and soon to be Academy Award nominee, Ellen Page, "Juno" is one of the best films of the year. And that's a fact. A

Once again, thank you very much to all that followed Oscar Obsession's coverage of the London Film Festival. Until next year, that's all folks.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great review. Thank you. I'm really looking forward to this movie.

Anonymous said...

Can you go up to A+ or is A the highest, I'm not sure...

Anonymous said...

Although people can go to A+, I guess, I prefer to make an A the highest grade I give out.

Harry said...

Aww, the coverage finished. I ADORED it. lol

Anonymous said...

im looking forward for Juno badly, great coverage btw.

So ho is better, Adams or Page?

Anonymous said...

Page. That being said, Adams is still fantastic. Page's performance is much more layered and complex. Not to mention one of the best teenage roles I've seen in a long time. Juno could very possibly be my favorite teen in film.

And than you for the compliments, Harry and Anonymous.

zgamer said...

I really want to see this film now too. It looks like it will be one of the few I can see as well (I'm not a huge R fan, so it's good to see a PG-13 movie that could be Oscar worthy). Can't wait. Great review as always Daniel.