Directed by Jason Riteman
Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman
There is something so irresistible about the film's titular character- smart, witty and engaging, this is a movie that wraps around your head with pitch perfect dialogue and all-natural performances.
Juno, the film's titular character, finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy after a night with her boyfriend Paulie Bleeker.
I always thought that for a movie of this caliber to really capture its audience, it needed a great plot. This movie scoffs chewed popcorn kernels at that concept and steps on it like a half-dead cockroach. Throughout the span of the film, one tends to get lost in the fluidity and magic of the film's magical scenes, one then tends not to realize that as a story it was really plain out simple.
It's not to say it isn't good, if anything the simplicity and straightforwardness of the plot helps establishes the natural feel of the film, each character feels alive and human and every actor delivers their line as the cinema equivalent of a pitch-perfect Opera Singer.
Which leads us to Ellen Page who, like that little kid that belly, popped out of nowhere. Last I saw of her was in X-men The Last Stand as the invisible Kitty Pryde, and she was exactly that- invisible. No one had any idea how much talent she had and in this movie she plays with the character so much, I half expected to find Juno right beside me scoffing at the silly kids on the screen. She has a big future ahead, and the Oscar nomination is well deserved.
This movie is the gentle, sweet and just plain honest movie everyone has been talking about and no wonder too, this movie is the dark horse of this year's Oscar race and Juno is swinging out some really fast punches, just like her quick one-liners.
Oh and the soundtrack rocks. Really, I've never heard music so enchanting yet charmingly unique.
9 out of 10
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bohman Carter and Alan Rickman
Boy am I glad we get these tiny little razors these days.
This bloody spectacle of a musical has been pulling off heads for quite some time now and it encompasses this year's great musical achievement. Hairspray had spunk, but Tracy doesn't hold half a meter against Johnny Depp's spectacular turn as the throat-slitting Sweeney Todd.
After watching several Tim Burton films, one tends to catch on the style pretty quickly. The dark quirky sets, the playfully grim characters and the funny morbidity of just plain everything. This movie takes a turn though for old Tim Burton, for while the movie does have quirky fun with itself from time to time, this is a movie about pure vengeance and murder. The cinematography just screams such with the nearly black and white vision with huge splashes of bright crimson blood spatter; the film produces a daringly twisted vision of Stephen Soddenheim's 1976 musical.
You won't see fun dance numbers here, instead you get sweeping spectacles of blood, gore, drama, riveting melodic sequences of human tragedy and evil. All these are set in some of the best set designs I've seen in quite some time. The grandeur of the sets and costume alone are worth the ticket price. Add in Johnny Depp's best character since Jack Sparrow and you have Tim Burton's best film since Edward Scissorhands, which ironically starred Johnny as well.
The actors are not the best singers in the world, but their presence carries well on screen and they demand attention with each scene, from nostalgic solos to quirky musical conversations. This movie fills itself with enough blood and gore to put the blood bank out of commission, and the darkness of the film vibrates with every line.
This movie is Burton film-making at his finest and already I'm disappointed at just how snubbed it was in the Oscars. This is a masterpiece, and by far the best Musical yet since Chicago.
9.3 out of 10
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