Juno, The Orphanage
Oscar season is upon us, which this year seems to mean that everything out right now has a really long name (There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men) or is really depressing (Atonement, etc.). I have not seen any of those movies. I did see Sweeney Todd, which I thought was quite awesome, and recently I popped in at the Esquire and checked out Juno and The Orphanage.
Juno - Everyone loves this movie, and with good reason. Ellen Page is fantastic. She's amazing. She's totally perfect for the role, and she plays it with enough sarcasm that you actually sort of believe the storyline (16 year old girl gets knocked up by geeky boy, decides to have the baby and give it to a yuppie couple for adoption) could be plausible. But...there's something about it that just didn't sit quite right with me. The rest of the cast was good, the soundtrack was a little precious but still enjoyable, the setting in Minnesota made me happy, but...But the dialog contained slang and phrases that no human being, even a 16 year old from Minnesota, would ever use, and Juno (the character) is just a little too controlled, a little too with it. I would have liked to see a bit more emotion out of her, I think. I totally see why people love this movie, and why it's "taking the nation by storm" or whatever it is that it's doing. It's fun and cute and sweet and non-offensive. I just don't think that it would hold up for me on multiple viewings.
The Orphanage - When you say Spanish horror movie, this isn't exactly the first thing that I think of. Actually, I wouldn't call it a horror movie at all, it's really more creepy than all-out scary, and more of a ghost movie than a slasher flick. I enjoyed most of the movie, and the main kid looks like a young adorable version of Fred Savage, but it got a little weepy after a while. Not to ruin anything for you folks, but I would like to say that the end seemed sort of like a cop-out, and that if I had for some reason stopped watching the movie about halfway through I would have probably thought it was better than I do now. But, again, that's maybe just me.
Juno - Everyone loves this movie, and with good reason. Ellen Page is fantastic. She's amazing. She's totally perfect for the role, and she plays it with enough sarcasm that you actually sort of believe the storyline (16 year old girl gets knocked up by geeky boy, decides to have the baby and give it to a yuppie couple for adoption) could be plausible. But...there's something about it that just didn't sit quite right with me. The rest of the cast was good, the soundtrack was a little precious but still enjoyable, the setting in Minnesota made me happy, but...But the dialog contained slang and phrases that no human being, even a 16 year old from Minnesota, would ever use, and Juno (the character) is just a little too controlled, a little too with it. I would have liked to see a bit more emotion out of her, I think. I totally see why people love this movie, and why it's "taking the nation by storm" or whatever it is that it's doing. It's fun and cute and sweet and non-offensive. I just don't think that it would hold up for me on multiple viewings.
The Orphanage - When you say Spanish horror movie, this isn't exactly the first thing that I think of. Actually, I wouldn't call it a horror movie at all, it's really more creepy than all-out scary, and more of a ghost movie than a slasher flick. I enjoyed most of the movie, and the main kid looks like a young adorable version of Fred Savage, but it got a little weepy after a while. Not to ruin anything for you folks, but I would like to say that the end seemed sort of like a cop-out, and that if I had for some reason stopped watching the movie about halfway through I would have probably thought it was better than I do now. But, again, that's maybe just me.