Juno what I'm talking about? I should get an award.

This is far from extensive. For extensive coverage, stay tuned to Channel Angelo.

The major film awards are all a-coming out in the next little while, whether they be in the form of a 1/2 hour list reading, or the lavish four hours of gala in a two-hour timeslot.

I can't help but feel as though I missed out this year. Most of the films in contention for any sort of award are not coming out here for another few weeks and anything in the foreign language category is out of consideration for yours truly, as the theatres seem to have a predisposition to show subtitles in their country's native language, instead of the more acceptable "whatever-language-Andrew-speaks." Also, movies are damned expensive to go to here. They ain't exactly cheap anywhere, but 9 euros is asking a bit much I think.

Of the ten titles nominated for best screenplay by the WGA, I have seen 2, Juno & Knocked Up, and EVERYBODY saw Knocked Up. I agree with Angelo that Juno's brash slang and awkward first five minutes of dialogue are grating and hyper-realistic (who says "Silencio" when they want someone to "shut the fuck up, Dwight"?), though I wonder if those five minutes will cost the film anything? Yes, the rest of the film is very well written, but those first five minutes are pretty out there. However, I thought that the glaring errors in continuity of editing was going to cost The Departed the well deserved Best Picture last year, so what do I know?

Also, well done to Michael Cera for his work here. He seems to be the go-to guy for mealy mouthed semi-awkward teenagers, but there is a level of vulnerability to Paulie Bleeker that I haven't seen before. His scene with Juno where he says "You would be the meanest wife ever" he is more a child than ever, yet towards the end when he feels the baby kicking he looks like he could be a genuine father.

On a "out-of-left-field" note, did anyone else notice the strange reoccurrence of paedophilia in this movie? The cheerleader who loves teachers, the strange closeness of Juno and Mark (though I would argue that it is more Mark's character grasping at any straw that isn't his wife he clearly latches onto the wrong girl). I like that I didn't know quite how to feel about Mark and Juno's relationship. In fact that's one of the main things I liked about this movie, is that there isn't only one way to think about any one character or their relationship to any other. In the aforementioned scene where Juno and Bleeker are fighting, Juno seems to be over-reacting to Bleeker's prom date (the very date Juno herself pushed him towards), until she makes the very good point that he "doesn't have to have to have the evidence [that they slept together] under [his] sweater." That would be Juno's major character flaw, being that she thinks that because she is experiencing hardship it negates all other hardships. For another example, see the scene in which she argues with Bren about whether or not she can be friends with a married man. Juno tends to miss the point because of her selfishness (who can blame her? It's hard not to be self-centered when you're a sixteen year old pregnant girl), but at least they don't reduce these flaws to hormonal surges (thus trivializing them), as in Knocked Up. She was pretty self-obsessed to begin with, which might explain the jargon/banter. She doesn't care that no one might be able to understand her. Why the convenience store clerk is motivated to rhyme all the time (ha!) remains a mystery.

In the end, I am a big fan of this movie, but I highly doubt it has a crack at anything other than Best Original Screenplay. I wish that weren't true, but the Academy never gives the best picture to the token comedy. Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Adaptation (which wasn't even nominated, shamefully). The ideas and the wit is rewarded, but the execution is generally left by the wayside.

I need to watch more movies. Yet simultaneously, I need to get more fresh air. I should pull a "The Prestige" and double my efficiency. Maybe then I can nail Scarlett Johansson as well.