Juno, Atonement

Juno - The first 15 minutes or so of Juno are actually quite atrocious. I was almost ready to walk out of the theater, to be honest. Rainn Wilson, in a small cameo role, gives the most ridiculous performance saying the most ridiculous words. Olivia Thirbly as Juno's cheerleader best friend (I'm sorry but why would Juno be best friends with a cheerleader?) is quite possibly the most annoying character ever written in the history of movies. (No, no. There's that annoying guy in a wheelchair in Texas Chainsaw Massacre...). But, she's still uber annoying. Honest to blog. (Shoot me now!). Then there is the ultra hipster language. Screenwriter Diablo Cody has not seemingly written a cool movie. She is trying her absolute hardest to be perceived as cool. And the dialogue is a bit much at first. After 15 minutes, I thought I might be the only person on the planet who disliked Juno. Everyone seems to love it. But it was beginning to look like maybe I was on a different plain than everyone else. Maybe it was like a secret that only I understood. I was the only person in the planet smart enough to not fall under Juno's little spell. But guess what? All the kinks in the movie work themselves out and the other hour and fifteen minutes are hilarious, sweet and just plain great. (Although, I still could have done without the creepy Jason Bateman story line... but whatever). Juno is hilarious. Ellen Page is just perfect. The reason the movie suceeds is mostly because she works magic with the sometimes insane dialogue she is forced to say. But Page makes it work. She should be nominated for an Oscar, hands down. (Right now she is my runner up to win as well... after Julie Christie, of course). Michael Cera makes the world go round. He's responsible for all that is good and pure in the world. I just adore him. He is the teen king of the awkward pause. The best and funniest comic actor of his generation, bar none. Jason Bateman is hilarious as well although, again, he's too bogged down in a weird story line. Still, I love Jason Bateman and so I don't blame him. (I blame Diablo Cody who's script I most certainly did NOT love... although the great actors make it work). Jennifer Garner gives a shockingly beautiful performance. It wouldn't be upset if she somehow slipped into the Best Supporting Actress race (although I doubt it). She's seriously great in this movie. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney should officially be in every movie. That's how pleasurable it is to watch them. The ending is just perfect as well. It's sweet but not cheesy or corny in the least. So, in the end, Juno is every bit as funny and loveable as everyone says it it. It's definitely worth checking out.

Grade: B+

Atonement - There is a scene in Atonement in which the movie goes from being solid and good to becoming a beautiful masterpiece. It is a single shot - no cuts, no edits - that lasts about 5 minutes and follows solider Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) and his two cohorts across a beach full of soldiers and ships and horses and amusement rides. It entertwines between the three and shows the desperation and hopefulness of the scene. More importantly, it shows that this movie is just simply wonderful. It is a love story of the most epic variety. It starts at a very rich house where a young Briony (Saoirse Ronan) reads a letter and sees something between her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie that she doesn't quite understand. She think she does, but she doesn't. She soon tells a lie that completely devastates the lives of all around her. Robbie gets sent to jail and eventually war. Cecilia spends her time as a sort of frozen version of herself, sad and angry. Four years later, Briony (now played by Romola Garai) is busy nursing wounded soldiers instead of serving her time at Oxford to be the writer she was always meant to be. It's her way of repentence. (There is a particularly telling scene with a dying French soldier who is so delirious, he insists that he knows her and she lies again. This time to comfort him.) Years and years later, Briony grows up to be a successful writer (this time Vanessa Redgrave steps in to do fill the role) and who still regrets the lies she tells. I'm not sure the ending is cohesive with the feel of the rest of the movie (I don't want to ruin anything but I will say that it probably works better on the page than the screen). But, except for the odd-feeling ending, Atonement is a masterpiece of filmmaking. It has exceptionally beautiful shots (like the one mentioned before, James McAvoy trekking through a field of red flowers, McAvoy stopping suddenly as the camera pulls back to reveal rows and rows of dead bodies). The images are like artwork, unforgettable and beautiful in its sadness. Is the movie depressing? Absolutely and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've only read about a third of the book so far (ha!) but as far as I can tell the adaptation is just excellent. Then there is the acting. It's just amazing. Knightley is an odd actress. She comes across wooden and frigid in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean. She proved she can really act in Pride and Prejudice and here she even bests that performance. The Briony's are all superb. It's almost difficult to pick a best Briony. The character is vital and so well written and so central to the story. Ronan is a young actress who delivers a performance that is chilling and brilliant. Redgrave is superb even if she only has about 5 minutes of screentime. My personal favorite Briony performance came from Garai. I found it interesting to see the characters transformation from lively, lying young woman to regretful, silent teenager. It may not be as memorable as Ronan's performance (her performance is crucial to the plot development) but I personally find it more effective. Then there is the single stand out of the film. James McAvoy is just excellent. I'm not just saying that because I love him and because his sadly overlooked performance in The Last King of Scotland still sticks firmly in my mind. His performance here is breathtaking. His performance on the beach in Dunkirk is riveting - and he doesn't even have any lines! His character is restrained yet passionate. The scene at Cecilia's flat between Robbie and Briony (Garai) is simply Oscar worthy. McAvoy succeeds in his making his character unambiguously heroic. He conveys his character's basic decency, achieving the difficult task of making him good without making him dull. It's the perfect blend and a simply wonderful performance. Overall, Atonement is just plain wonderful - the script, the storyline, the direction, the cinematography, the score (pianos mixed with the sound of a typewriter) and especially all of those performances.

Grade: A

Coming This Week - Best and Worst Performances, Moments, and Movies!

Evening, Catch and Release (DVD)

Evening - There's one problem that most movies with flashback plots suffer from: one portion of the film is usually far more interesting than the other. Evening suffers from that same problem. Evening tells the story of a woman named Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) on her deathbed in present time. She is being tended to by her constantly fighting daughters Nina (Toni Collette) and Connie (Natasha Richardson). Connie has it all: the husband, the kids, the big fancy house. Nina is trying to get her life together. Every few years she finds herself with a new job and a new man. The two sisters struggle to rebuild their relationship while they watch their mother die. While on her death bed, Ann starts going on and on about people her daughters never met or heard of. She also starts remembering a certain weekend in her life where she learned a lot about friendship and love. The flashbacks are the more interesting story line here. It follows Young Ann (Claire Danes) who attends the fancy wedding of her best friend Lila (Mamie Gummer... Meryl Streep's daughter). While at the wedding, she finds herself in a sort of love triangle with her best friends little brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) and the good-looking doctor Harris (Patrick Wilson) who also happens to be the love of Lila's life... although she's marrying someone else. Glenn Close shows up as Lila's uppity mother and Meryl Streep makes an appearance near the end as the elder Lila (how appropriate!). The performances, of course, are wonderful. How could they not be with a cast like this? Still, for all of these amazing women, guess who gives the best performance in the entire film? Hugh Dancy! He's a revelation. Where did this guy come from and how can he play a drunk with such charm and vulnerability? If I had any weight at all with Oscar voters, I would start putting it all behind Dancy right now. I really hope they remember him come December. The film itself is a little uneven. It goes from being utterly interesting to a tad boring. Of course, Toni Collette keeps things interesting in the present tense storyline. The flashbacks are the superior part of the film. Yet, eventhough it's a tad uneven, the writing and performances and script are strong enough to not mind all that much. Plus, the movie is an emotional ride. It's a chick flick of the greatest kind. It may not be the best movie of the year... or the summer for that matter... but's definitely worth your time.
Grade: B


Catch and Release - I had a friend warn me to stay away from this movie because it was surely one of the worst movies of the year. Maybe it's because my expectations were so utterly low (I was expecting something as bad as Evan Almighty here) but I didn't think the movie was really all that bad. I mean, it could have been worse. It could have suffered from not starring two charismatic and charming actors: Jennifer Garner and Timothy Olyphant. Sure, the script was absolutely far fetched but aren't most romantic comedies far fetched? Anyway, the story line follows Grey (Garner) whose fiancee dies just before her wedding. Instead of a reception, she has to go through a funeral instead. Soon after, she realizes she can't pay her rent without him so she moves in with his friends (one of whom is Kevin Smith... playing Kevin Smith... this is either a good or bad thing depending on how much you like Kevin Smith). Soon, she finds herself reluctantly falling in love with her dead fiancee's best friend (Olyphant) eventhough she hated him in the beginning. Juliette Lewis turns up as a woman the dead fiancee slept with and she has a violent son who may or may not be his illigitmate child. The scripts not perfect, the dialogue is lacking, it's not as funny as it thinks it is and all of the romantic comedy cliches are there. Still, it's not a terrible movie. There are times when it's entertaining and it's actually enjoyable enough to not bore you to tears.
Grade: C-