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Thursday, January 10, 2008
Four words for this weekend: ‘There Will Be Blood’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s my indubitable list of what matters most among new movies this weekend:
1. “There Will Be Blood.” Daniel Day-Lewis is Oscar-worthy and so is director Paul Thomas Anderson, who keeps his title’s promise.
2. “The Orphanage.” Eerie, scary and rest assured: There will be ghosts.
3. “First Sunday.” I prayed and prayed and it just wouldn’t end.
4. “The Bucket List.” I don’t know what movie Morgan Freeman thinks he’s in, but Jack Nicholson is making “The Bucket Slop.”
Permalink | | Categories: Alan Smithee
Are you ready to join the ‘Juno’ Haters Club?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Tuesday, the indie teen comedy “Juno” was the No. 1 film at the box-office. As of last Friday it’s nearly doubled the number of theaters where it’s playing.
But in the last couple of weeks I’ve run into a handful of people I know, whose opinions I respect, who’ve wondered aloud why there’s all this fuss about “Juno.”
They complain of the film’s arched dialogue and overt hipness. They wonder why so many moviegoers are enchanted.
Written by former stripper and Internet blogger Diablo Cody, the film stars young Ellen Page as a pregnant high school student who searches for a couple to adopt her coming baby.
On Rottentomatoes.com, you’ll notice “Juno” has a 93 percent approval rating by critics. But there are a few howlers. One is Walter Chaw who writes, “You can’t spend this much time being too cool for school and earn a sentimental rim shot — it’s the boy who cried ‘human.’”
I guess I would nominate as president of the ‘Juno’ Haters Club the Internet blogger Lindsay Zoldaz, who roasts the film on the website Kill Film Students. About midway through the movie Zoldaz’s passive dislike turned to “active hatred.”
“The rapid-fire dialogue is so witty, so rife with obscure metaphors and clever wordplay,” Zoldaz writes, “it is downright excruciating.”
There will always be detractors. But I think my friends and these bloggers have a point. “Juno” is a good, watchable movie. But it’s not great. And it is being coddled in the warm arms of indie overenthusiasts whose sole goal is to be far beyond the mainstream.
To me, the voices in “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” sound more real than those in “Juno.”
But nothing in Cody’s film made me particularly sick. What’s irked me the most was having to listen to Quentin Tarantino recently announce the Golden Globe nominees for best screenplay. He said the first name — Diablo Cody for “Juno” — then waved his hand in the air and celebrated with a nauseating “Yeah!!”
If it’s cool to love “Juno,” I might have to side with the haters.
Are you ready to join the “Juno” Haters Club? Did you like or loathe the movie?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Bob Longino
You take the high road … and I’ll just speed up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clearly, one takes one’s chances while driving in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Here’s a video of a particularly dangerous intersection — with NO LIGHTS.
Enjoy, or rather … watch out!!!
Permalink | | Categories: Mr. Smithee's Megaplex
