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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Somewhere between the sharp satire of Election and the rich human comedy of You Can Count On Me lies Juno, a sardonic but ultimately compassionate story of a pregnant teenage girl who wants to give her baby up for adoption. Social misfit Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) protects herself with a caustic wit, but when she gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Michael Cera, Superbad), Juno finds herself unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. When she chooses a couple who place a classified ad looking to adopt, Juno gets drawn further into their lives than she anticipated. But Juno is much more than its plot; the stylised dialogue (by screenwriter Diablo Cody) seems forced at first, but soon creates a richly textured world, greatly aided by superb performances by Page, Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the prospective parents, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) and Allison Janney as Juno's father and stepmother. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) deftly keeps the movie from slipping into easy, shallow sarcasm or foundering in sentimentality. The result is smarter and funnier than you might expect from the subject matter, and warmer and more touching than you might expect from the cocky attitude. Page's performance is deceptively simple; she never asks the audience to love her, yet she effortlessly carries a movie in which she's in almost every scene. That's star power. -- Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
"It All Started With A Chair"
Review date: 2008-11-30 Rating: 8 out of 10
Isn't it amazing how a movie comes along and captivates your imagination? How a director can really make you think about something without even trying? You sit there and you're taken on a journey you didn't even know you were going on, and all of a sudden, you're in a world you never thought was there.
Welcome to the world of Juno, a 16 year old who's a gore loving heavy metal fan, who just likes to be cheeky and fun - and loves Bleeker, her friend, who loves athletics and, who on a fateful night, decides to take it one step further.
Juno finds out she's pregnant, and decides that the best thing for junior is for him/her to live with parents who will be able to afford, care and give it everything she can't. She finds this couple, Mark, who is a lot like her and Vanessa who's a bit uptight. She decides it's a good idea to give them the baby when she gives birth.
This movie is touching on so many levels and makes you look at your choices and what you would do if you were Juno; and where you'd go next. It's also very well done, with the light acoustic music, bright scenes and beautiful colour. The locations are wonderful too and the fact it's not over-Hollywood with it's over-the-top scenarios makes it a real treat to the ears and eyes. All the actors are amazing in this - especially Juno (Ellen Page - Hard Candy [2006]) who's so upbeat in this movie. I also enjoyed meek Bleeker's role in the movie (excellently executed by Michael Cera (Superbad (2 Disc Extended Edition) [2007])).
This blu-ray is really good too - plenty of extras like commentaries, audio description and heaps of extras like a gag reel, deleted scenes and little featurettes. The video quality is spot on with a full 1080p output running at 24MBs AVC. The audio is TruHD and is in many different languages. There are plenty of subtitles too, glad to see everyone has been catered for. The picture quality is amazing and because of the bright scenes it's never dull or washed out, and it's not overly-processed like a lot of Hollywood stuff. The sound is also very well mixed, though there's not really a moment you can say wow that really did surround me.
This is an excellent movie and is actually a joy to watch on blu-ray because of those extra bits of quality audio-visually.
Get this, worth the wait.