Juno - $100 M, 4 Oscar Noms, And Other Acclaim

[Nehkara]

I am very happy to see Juno doing so well.

Firstly, the box office. Juno only had a budget of $2.5 million. The $100 million domestic was reached this weekend and the movie has not launched in most countries yet. Just Australia, Canada, and the US.

Secondly, the awards. Four Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director - Jason Reitman, Best Actress - Ellen Page, Best Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody.

Thirdly, the reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has Juno at 93% based on 154 positive and 12 negative critic reviews; the user rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 89% based on 1023 positive and 114 negative user reviews. On IMDb, Juno has an 8.4/10 rating based on 34,511 ratings, putting it #117 overall on IMDb.


Congrats to Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody, Ellen Page, and the rest of the cast and crew for making a fantastic movie with a small budget.

[Eastern Girl]

That's pretty good. I just saw this the other day and I was pleasantly surprised. I was dying to see it, so I figured I would watch it and be severely let down by it like most movies I am dying to see. But this was a great movie. Well acted, well written. Very entertaining movie.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Saw this yesterday... it was a great movie, really enjoyed the character Ellen Page played. I just wonder if teens seeing this movie might think "Hmmm...teen pregnancy - doesn't seem so bad..." A little more on the harsh realities would have been good (ie unsupportive parents, widerspread condemnation, etc etc...)

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Awesome flick, deserves all the praise that it gets. Jason Reitman did an awesome job, just like he did with Thank You for Smoking.

[Ozy_Flame]

Meh. There will be Blood was better.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Saw this yesterday... it was a great movie, really enjoyed the character Ellen Page played. I just wonder if teens seeing this movie might think "Hmmm...teen pregnancy - doesn't seem so bad..." A little more on the harsh realities would have been good (ie unsupportive parents, widerspread condemnation, etc etc...)

[nfotiu]

It was a good enough movie to say, "It was a very good movie, you should see it". But not good enough to justify the awards attention it is receiving, IMO. Ellen Page's performance was worthy of oscar nomination.

The funny thing is, I would bet that if it had been a big budget movie, it would not be getting the nominations it has.

[underGRADFlame]

My favorite part was Allison Janney's rant on the ultrasound tech, priceless!

[icecube]

I enjoyed the movie, the characters and everything but the one thing that almost ruined the whole movie for me was the soundtrack. The worst music i've ever heard. I don't even know what to say about it. Sounds like they gave a girl with a horrible voice a guitar, taught her a few chords and gave her fifteen minutes to write a soundtrack. I would have rather listened to Rosie O Donnel farting in to a microphone for an hour and half.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by icecube

I enjoyed the movie, the characters and everything but the one thing that almost ruined the whole movie for me was the soundtrack. The worst music i've ever heard. I don't even know what to say about it. Sounds like they gave a girl with a horrible voice a guitar, taught her a few chords and gave her fifteen minutes to write a soundtrack. I would have rather listened to Rosie O Donnel farting in to a microphone for an hour and half.

The first time I watched it caught me off guard a bit.. I didn't think it was horrible just very different. Second time I watched it, it didn't bother me at all.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by icecube

I enjoyed the movie, the characters and everything but the one thing that almost ruined the whole movie for me was the soundtrack. The worst music i've ever heard. I don't even know what to say about it. Sounds like they gave a girl with a horrible voice a guitar, taught her a few chords and gave her fifteen minutes to write a soundtrack. I would have rather listened to Rosie O Donnel farting in to a microphone for an hour and half.

That Rosie O'Donnell comment is hilarious, but I enjoyed the soundtrack. I think it added to the quicky nature of the movie.

[IntenseFan]

Some of the teenspeak dialouge was classic. It had the feel of being influenced heavily by Joss Whedon's Buffyverse dialouge for his characters.

[Got Miikka?]

This movie was like Knocked Up mixed with Napoleon Dynamite and Ghost World. I liked it well enough. Will people still be watching and talking about it in a few years' time? Likely not. But it was okay. Nice to see a movie made in Canada by a lot of Canadians getting so much recognition, that's for sure.

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by icecube

I enjoyed the movie, the characters and everything but the one thing that almost ruined the whole movie for me was the soundtrack. The worst music i've ever heard. I don't even know what to say about it. Sounds like they gave a girl with a horrible voice a guitar, taught her a few chords and gave her fifteen minutes to write a soundtrack. I would have rather listened to Rosie O Donnel farting in to a microphone for an hour and half.

I thought the music fit the "indy feel" of the movie very well. It also depends on the style of music you like. When I came out of the movie one of the comments I made to the girlfriend was that I loved the music. Different strokes I guess.

Great movie though. Well deserved of the awards.

[corporatejay]

Great movie, so clever. Has maclean's become a tabloid now? That movie didn't make teen pregnancy cool, for once it showed parents who are supportive of their child. Do you think every parents just screams at their kid and throws them out on the street?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Mayer

I thought the music fit the "indy feel" of the movie very well. It also depends on the style of music you like. When I came out of the movie one of the comments I made to the girlfriend was that I loved the music. Different strokes I guess.

Great movie though. Well deserved of the awards.

I agree.. you have to be interested in the style of music I think. I loved the soundtrack, my favourite part was the end scene with Page and Cera singing that song together. Loved it. Ellen Page was awesome in the movie, but in terms of best picture.. DEFINITELY No Country for Old Men. That movie/book is so cold blooded and the Coen brothers did an amazing job bringing it to life.

Javier Bardem is incredible in that.

[Tyler]

Good movie.

I had a hard time getting over the pretentious name dropping though. No way a broad that young likes those kinds of bands/films.

ie - "DUDE IS THAT A LES PAUL?!"

You could tell it was just the director trying to create hipster buzz for the movie. Guess it worked.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Great movie, so clever. Has maclean's become a tabloid now? That movie didn't make teen pregnancy cool, for once it showed parents who are supportive of their child. Do you think every parents just screams at their kid and throws them out on the street?

No but I'd wager that most parents would at least have a few hours/minutes of yelling. Followed but uneasy acceptance after a few weeks of alternating rage/disappointement/helplessness/acceptance. The difficulties of a teen pregnancy were kind of quickly and efficiently dealt with in the movie without any mess (IMHO).

Kind of a "Life is Beautiful" vs a "Schindler's List".

[Ro]

Fantastic article by possibly the world's premier film critic, Jim Emerson, on the recent "backlash" against Juno:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2..._juno_bac.html

Interesting article. I for one hate the notion that once an amazing indie project (be it music or literature or film) is noticed by the mainstream and hyped up so much it becomes cool no longer to like it or recommend it to your friends.

It's sort of like the bandwagon thing with the Flames in 2004- I say jump on, enjoy the ride. It's still extra special for those of us who were there from the beginning (I saw Juno at the Varsity theatre in T.O. in mid-December), but once it becomes "cool" thing to do it's not like it makes it any less enjoyable. I think that is such a snobbish, pompous attitude, especially when it comes to art. Share the wealth.

But yea, Juno. I absolutely loved it. But it has almost zero chance to win the best picture award, especially considering the four movies it's up against. Sort of like LMS last year.

Edit- just re-read that Emerson piece after I posted it, and I had forgotten that he didn't LOVE the movie like some other critics did. So here's a link to Ebert's review, who named it "the best movie of 2007."

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...IEWS/712130303

[corporatejay]

I find Roger Ebert the best movie critic around, or at least his tastes generally jive with mine. His review of There Will be Blood was spot on for me as was No Country.


re: the Les Paul comment....are you telling me that a 16 year old who's into rock music and in a band wouldn't know what a Gibson Les Paul is???? You've gotta be kidding me. Not sure how many 16 year olds you're around (easy fotze) but my 16 year old cousin is really into old bands from the 70s, it's retro cool....just like the insane amount of tweeners who have somehow managed to really "get" grunge music.