A film made for a 1st generation Ipod

The thing I noticed most about Juno was how involved the audience was, the whole audience... And given I was watching an Indie film in Chelsea I was even more taken back. From about 20 minutes in it was apparent everyone was hanging on every word any character was going to utter and expecting the unexpected except the end result of laughing.
This was tight, a really tight script, so tight that the need for pictures was rendered irrelevant, which was reassuring becuase given the hype surrounding the film the visual side of things wasn't anything special; just a typically American indie piece with echoes of Napoleon Dynamite. The main love story was a bit weak, there was nowhere near enough chemistry between Juno and Bleeker to make that element believable, but who cares for this is a piece of writing work to be enjoyed and celebrated. I haven't felt so involved in a film for ages. Without doubt a modern day classic.

There will be an acting class

There will be blood... Eventually... Unless you like a mood piece where not much happens steer clear.

Yes Daniel Day-Lewis is awesome, but as a film I found it dull. It struggles to decide what it is, whilst very definitely not being much of a story... We see that the oil industry when it emerged wasn't a nice place, and some effort to look at the still relevant Religion, Oil and Money theme but in my view it was over emphasising this to a degree that it was unclear what the point was.

Films relate differently to everyone and I am sure that there are some people who responded well to it. But in my view it was a mood piece with lots of pretty scenery centering on loneliness, and to me that's dull... hence the choice of picture...

But each to their own and Day-Lewis deserves all the awards he gets but it will be an injustice if it wins best film.

Cloverfield

Some quick thoughts on Cloverfield...

They kept a tight timeframe, nice, it kept authenticity on a the battery life of a camera, and also the amount that really would be shot in those circumstances.

Offset the main 'monster day' footage with footage previously shot on the tape that they were in fact recording over gave a great contrast to the carnage but also more importantly gave you more affinity to the characters.

In all I'm a bit dubious about JJ Abrams stuff, its just so polished and almost seems to try too hard, but I have to say I thought this was really good. A great take on a King Kong concept with some original thinking of showing a film from the point of view of those caught in the crossfire rather than the protagonists. A little homage to Alien was entertaining too...