An art dealer marries a man from backwoods North Carolina. They make a trip there to buy some art and stay with his parents. Throw in some random shots of trees and an empty country home and that’s pretty much it. Nothing happens in this movie. It’s just a slice out of the life of a rich, pretty British woman who is exposed to a backwoods American lifestyle. Like the main character, this movie tries way too hard to be artsy. Not even Amy Adams, who is the only lovable and/or interesting thing in this movie, could keep me from banging my head against the wall with boredom. Adams deserved every bit of her Oscar nomination, but she was like a daisy planted in a concrete slab.
- 5.2 arbitrary stars, but only for Amy Adams
Tags: academy-award, amy-adams, junebug, Movie Reviews, Movies, oscar, waste-of-time
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There comes a point in every man’s life when he realizes it’s finally time to grow up. There comes a time when he realizes it’s time to stop running, stop hiding, and stop avoiding careers, responsibilities, and commitments. There comes a time in every man’s life when he realizes it’s time to buy a life-size, anatomically correct … doll.
Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a man who likes to be left alone. He’s friendly and people like him, but he just wants to be left alone. His sister-in-law won’t have it, she makes it her personal mission to crack him open and integrate him into modern society. Lars does what any man would do in such a situation, he turns to the internet.
Lars and the Real Girl is a film about family. Essentially, this film is one giant Bar Mitzvah, as an entire town comes together to help Lars as he transitions to adulthood. It’s clever, well-acted, and has a heart. As far as I’m concerned, Juno robbed Lars of it’s best screenplay Oscar, and I loved Juno. In it’s own dark, twisted way, Lars and the Real Girl is about a village that comes together to raise a child; a child coming of age; a child who discovers that as scary as real life is, it is a lot more fun than any childhood fantasy.
- 1,247 arbitrary stars
Tags: academy-award, Juno, Lars-and-the-Real-Girl, Movie Reviews, Movies, oscar, Ryan-Gosling
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I feel a little sheepish writing a review about a movie that’s been nominated for an Oscar. For what it’s worth, I first wrote this before the nominations came out. I said I wouldn’t be surprised if it was nominated for an Oscar. Ellen Page certainly deserves it and the script is phenomenal. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Original Screenplay. I am officially not surprised.
Juno is about a young girl struggling to find a place in an adult world. It takes place in what could be any small town in America and centers around a bitingly sarcastic 16-year-old girl named Juno (Ellen Page, aka Kitty Pride from X-Men 3). The film begins with Juno chugging a gallon of Sunny D as she walks to the local convenience store to take what we soon learn is her third pregnancy test of the day. It’s positive. Juno is pregnant.
We then follow Juno as she goes through the roller coaster that ensues thereafter. She eventually decides to keep the baby and put it up for adoption. Looking through the PennySaver, she finds the perfect couple, played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. What happens for the remainder of the movie can best be described as Juno “dealing with things way beyond [her] maturity level,” as she uses her sarcasm to shield her from the reality of her situation. Juno’s classmates turn on her and she turns to Mark (Jason Bateman) as the only person who sees more in her than a pregnant belly, or so she thinks.
Juno is a movie with heart, but that doesn’t keep the punches from flying. This movie is hilarious without being crude. This is a very adult movie, shown through the eyes of a sarcastic 16-year-old girl. The director, Jason Reitman, is very true to those eyes and because of this, no emotion is cheapened. You feel every hit. In the end, Juno is about a 16-year-old girl trapped in an adult world who discovers that love can be “really beautiful but really mean. Like Diana Ross.”
- 432.7 arbitrary stars
Tags: academy-award, diana-ross, ellen-page, jason-bateman, jason-reitman, jennifer-garner, Juno, love, Movie Reviews, Movies, oscar, pregnant
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