Juno is my favorite movie of 2007. Over the last couple months I’ve talked to hundreds of people who have seen the movie and have only met a couple people who didn’t love it. There are three things that everyone always talks about after seeing this film: The incredible script by Diablo Cody, the amazing performance by Ellen Page, and the hip indie folk rock soundtrack.
The Soundtrack went on sale in stores this week, but has been available digitally on iTunes since December 11th. The Playlist reports that Juno has already reached number one on SoundScan’s Digital Album sales charts.
I’ve mentioned before that Paramount Vantage his made the screenplays There Will Be Blood, Into The Wild, The Kite Runner, and Margot at the Wedding on a For Your Consideration webpage. I just found out that Fox Searchlight is also offering the same deal, which means you can read the screenplays for The Darjeeling Limited, The Namesake, Once, The Savages, Waitress, and best of all Juno, for FREE online. Many say that Diablo Cody is going to win the best original screenplay Oscar, so it’s actually a great deal. I highly recommend that you check it out, but first see the movie on the big screen. Ellen Page’s comic delivery can’t be beat, and, well, the film is just a must see (must I say that enough?).
January 9th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
If she wins an Oscar for that crap the Oscars will finally have been proven to be truly and utterly meaningless. I already think they are anyway, but every coffin needs a final nail. See I can be clever too. I can do this all day long. But I lack tits.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
This is cool, except for the omitted scenes. I’d really like to see what they changed as there are quite a few.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
This is really cool :) I want to see the end result.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
My god this movie was overrated. I loved “Thank You For Smoking,” but this was just pure crap. Well, actually, the acting, cinematography, direction, all of that was great. But it was all crippled by an AWFUL script. Completely overwritten shit. Every character sounded like a 29-Year-Old blogger named Diablo Cody, not a real person.
For instance, no character should ever say, “You’re being shockingly cavalier!” UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
If Diablo Cody wins an Oscar, I will never trust the academy again.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
This movie is great. I didn’t know characters in a movie had to talk like they would in real life. Kevin Smith gets away with talking about “ass to mouth” for 10 min, have you ever heard a conversation like that before? No! Its a movie. The dialog is what makes Juno such a great movie.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The difference is, in a Kevin Smith film, each character sounds unique and speaks with a different “voice.” I’m not talking about realism, I’m talking about creating believable characters.
In Juno, every word any character said just sounded like Diablo Cody was talking, and it was unfunny at that. It was trying to be “quirky” and clever for the sake of being “quirky,” instead of having an actual purpose. Cases in point: hamburger telephone, tobacco-less pipe, “Honest to Blog!”
Awful, soulless
January 9th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
The difference w/ Kevin Smith movies is that people actually do talk like that and even if they didn’t it doesn’t come off as being so forced.
P.S. Might as well rename this site to /Juno.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Also, this movie screams ‘love me’. And it’s a shame. A shame for them as artists. A shame for me as a paying audience member. The only plus was Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, who gave terrific performances. Terrific and SUBTLE.. hmm maybe a link there?
January 9th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
LOL! I hate Kevin Smith too, but I agree that it is not nearly as annoying as this stuff. This is gonna sound like total bullshit, but I recently wrote a play (only my second) in which there are a trio of characters from Hollywood (which I was poking fun at) and they speak just like that because it was part of who the character are. It made sense for them to speak that way. But I have to agree with the poster who says every character in Juno sounds like the same person. And I’d put my stuff up against Diablo Cody any day of the week.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
It’s funny how the two people in America that don’t like this movie comment at any given opportunity, when clearly America has embrased this indie comedy. The film is on track to become one of the biggest independent films of all time, aiming for $120 million at the box office. And the critics love the movie too. Last time I checked, Juno was one of the top 5 most named movies on the top 10 critic lists for 2007. I understand that you guys just didn’t like it or get it, or whatever, but understand, you’re in the minority on this one.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thank you Peter for recommending this film. I thought that it was great movie. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. If people don’t like the movie why do they have to ruin the vibe for everyone else? Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, go see it.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Pete…. I gotta admit. Your gushing over this film like a schoolgirl with a crush kinda made me wanna never see it.
But I did…and you were right. and if I saw it as early as you did….I wouldnt have shut up about it either. Kinda the way I am about Chuck Palahniuk….Every person I meet I ask if they read any of his books…and then recommend every one of them with a brief plot description…and sometimes offer to lend them one of my copies. but not the hard covers…just the paper backs ( yes I buy both)
The soundtrack kicks ass too.. my wife just plays it on repeat in the car…. Moldy Peaches are our new favorite band. Wish we heard of them earlier…we woulda played them at the wedding.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I will admit that I comment on a good number of the Juno posts but I do it just so that I can counterbalance everything. But seriously, do you not think you’ve over pressed Juno on this site? I can’t think of a film you’ve had more posts on than Juno. I think you’ve even beaten The Dark Knight, which I’m sure just a few more people are looking forward to.
P.S. I love you Peter, don’t be angry at me. =\
January 9th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I’m not angry, I just don’t understand why the few are trying to ruin the film for the rest of us (the majority).
And actually, we’ve had more posts for Cloverfield, and possibly The Dark Knight (I’d have to check), Transformers, and Spiderman 3.
You have to remember, /Film is a blog, and not a news site. I write about the news and movies that I feel passionate about, and Juno is the big movie from September when I first saw it, until now. It’s the type of movie that I want to show to the whole world, and share with everyone. I don’t think any of my posts are pointless, there is always content involved. This posting actually involves three stories in one (the digital sucess of the soundtrack, the in store release, and Fox Searchlight’s screenplays being online).
January 10th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Good point about it being a blog.. I guess I too often look at it as a news site. I guess that justifies you liking a movie and wanting to post about it. If you look at most discussion sites you’ll see that the majority of people are for it and the people that don’t like the film are very vocal about why they don’t like it. Kind of you love it or hate it film. And if theres one thing about the movie that people don’t like it’s clearly the dialog. Some people (myself included) just cannot rap their head around the speech without getting sick of it within minutes of the start of the film. If you can’t stand the dialog, the film probably doesn’t stand a very good chance of winning you over.
I’ll try and be more explanational (Juno talk) in future posts so that it’s not merely me being ‘that movie sucks!’.
All of this could be avoided though if you got that message board up, btw. Then we could discuss films in there and not necessarily on the front page.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:42 am
P.S. I wish you could edit comments. Spelling and grammatical errors (rap, wrap) make me look stupid. :(
January 10th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Most of America thought Clay Aikin was the best musician in the country at one point. Most of America loved them some Brittany too. Most of America believed Saddam was behind 9-11. Popularity is the worst possible criteria by which to judge the quality of something. Period. Sorry dude, but “most of America” are unthinking morons who will consume anything you put in front of and tell them they must in order to be fulfilled. Ever wonder why in most cases the only big movie that comes out each weekend suddenly is “the number one movie in the country”? Because “most people” go see whatever comes out that week no matter what it is. I’ve never been more proud to be in the minority in my life.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Never caught this. Let’s see:
pregnant little girl? pass.
couple looking to adopt? pass.
Plotwise, just seemed to offer anything that could pull me into a theater. A female friend of mine saw it, said that she couldn’t stand the little Juno girl. Said the dialogue sounded too contrived and artificial, that you could almost imagine a 35 yr old writer with a ponytail and a beard writing the 15 yr old girl’s lines and it made her cringe.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
btw thats no bearing on the film. i know alot of folks liked it and like i said i never even saw it. It’s just like the sex n the city movie: just something I have no intention of seeing in my life.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
On a positive note, I will say that I am glad they (Hollywood-or whoever) tried it (I still believe her ex-stripper status had as much to do with it as anything-you can’t make that shit up). Honestly, the dialog wouldn’t bother near as much if not for all of the other canned, calculated quirk. Animated opening, check. Hip, “indie” soundtrack, check. 70s and 80s chic, check. And so on. Shoot, it’d probably make a decent stage play, which are stylized by default.
I know I am a total elitist, but I’m old school. From back when “elite” was a good thing. Please forgive.
But my challeng to fight Diablo Cody in the Octagon, no-holds-barred, totally still stands.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I didn’t like Juno either. I wanted to. I think I’m the target audience — sensitive yet surly outsider smart ass that can relate to the title character, sort of. Trouble is, I didn’t buy a word of it except for the narrated line early on about the mom’s cactus gifts being only slightly less prickly than the abandonment (or something to that effect). Really, there ought to have been something to mine in that character detail to give her a little more depth. I keep thinking about Enid from Ghost World: her surface arrogance and cool assuredness masking her hidden confusion and doubt about who she was becoming — that’s how I remember the teen years. No wisecracking outdated pop culture references … Soupy Sales? Her remark would have meant she had intimate knowledge of the guy’s face, and how much remarkable face time has Soupy Sales had in the past 20-30 years really? Yes, I picked every line like that apart (and there were many as so many others have noted).
Also, I did like the soundtrack, but it saturated the film too heavily. And the dialog about music between Juno and the Jason Bateman character made me cringe — again, not all that believable. A grown man in his 30’s does not assume a 16-yr-old knows who the Melvins is — and a grown man that knows what it is implied this character knows about underground music does not need to be schooled on Iggy Pop or Patti Smith. Please. It was like that Shins-will-change-your-life scene in Garden State over & over & over. Groan.