Wrap this (Underaged) Mother Up!

Topic: Movies

Subject: Juno

The moment my interest in Juno sparked was when Ellen Page delivers this zinger of a line to Jennifer Garner in the trailer, "Nah ... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kinds of shenanigans could I get into?"

Ellen Page deserves all the acclaim she is receiving for portraying our unlikely heroine, Juno MacGuff. Rather than playing Juno as another disaffected teenager isolated from adults, she acts mature and equal, while speaking in her own teenage tongue. Declaring lines such as, "I've taken like three pregnancy tests, and I'm forshizz up the spout." Jargon of this breed could have gone terribly wrong, rather Page remains charming and genuine, while keeping the audience wondering what she will spit out next.

Olivia Thirlby also deserves praise, holding her as Leah, Juno's best friend. Thirlby expounds hilarious one-liners, such as "Foo get Thailand!"

It was a nice change to see Allison Janney, Juno's step mother, Bren, playing a real woman, as oppose to the mother stereotypes we've seen lately. We look for some hostility between Bren and Juno at first, but as the film goes on we see that there is a mother-daughter relationship there, built on love and respect.

Jennifer Garner looked great, post-Violet Garner-Affleck. Her character, Vanessa, the uptight adoptive mother we find annoying at first, we begin rooting for as the film continues.

Michael Cera is precious as Paulie Bleeker. However, he is more or less the same character Cera played in Superbad, just a different situation. But hey, that's how Jake Gyllenhaal started out and look at him now. Cera's past casting decisions were well made (Arrested Development, Suberbad) and I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Juno is a heart warming film and the conclusion of events is a happy one. I kept struggling to predict the ending, when it came I was pleasantly surprised for all the characters involved because you end up caring for them.

 

Grade: A

-M

I Certainly Couldn't Find You

When I went to see the new Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There" I went in with an idea that I was going to see 6 actors portraying Dylan at 6 different periods in his lifetime. I thought "brilliant, what an exciting and original idea!" Once the film began  I  got lost and went searching for clues to bring me back to what I thought was the concept behind this film or a link to connect these stories, none of which I found.

What I believe I have found is that Cate Blanchett and Ben Whishaw both portray a 60's Dylan as he is recollected in our memories. Bushy black hair, Ray Ban Wayfarers and skinny suites. While Whishaw's Dylan (referred to as Arthur Rimbauld) is stuck behind a desk answering police questions. We see Blanchett's Jude Quinn deal with the backlash of changing from a folk artist to becoming accepted into the mainstream, deal with the press, and dabble with drugs. Also in Blanchett's segments we spot Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Dawson's Creek) looking her sexist ever as the Edie Sedgwick-esqe, Coco Rivington.

I am not very familiar with Dylan's life or music, which I am sure is why I reacted to I'm Not There in the manner I did. However, from what I have heard I am sure that Blanchett and Whishaw's portrayals are close to the young Dylan; especially in the crafty and irritated and way they deal with authority figures.

I guess that the rest of the cast depict characters from Dylan's songs (maybe from differ

ent parts of his career?)? I'm still not sure. As I stated since I'm not the most familiar with Dylan I'm probably not the best to trust with a response from this film, as I did leave confused. The film's most striking aspect is it's concept. Kudos to director Todd Haynes, your presentation remains engaging and unique. I'm not sure Blanchett deserves any awards for her performance. One of the best actresses of our age becoming one of the most iconic (male) musicians ever. Bold move, I get it. Still, I'm not sure that she stretched her performance as far as she could, but that's not to say it was her fault either. She's one of six actors playing leads, and is only alloted so much film time.