Atonement is a period drama set before, during, and after World War II. It is directed by Joe Wright, based on a novel by Ian McEwan, and stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

James McAvoy plays Robbie Turner, the son of one of the housekeepers for the wealthy Tallis family, but he has grown up with the family’s children and is almost treated as one himself. Keira Knightley is the college age daughter of the family and is named Cecilia. These two have a burgeoning relationship that at first they deny, but then can no longer hide from each other.

The house is also occupied by thirteen year old Briony Tallis, Cecilia’s little sister. She is played by Saoirse Ronan. Briony is a precocious girl who writes plays and is always trying to be the center of attention.

Just as Robbie’s and Cecilia’s relationship is coming alive, Briony witnesses several key events between them that she doesn’t really understand, and then she misunderstands and misrepresents a terrible event that occurs one night among some guests of the Tallis family.

The upshot is Cecilia’s relationship with both Robbie and her family is ruined, and Robbie is sent away.

After that the film jumps a few years later to during World War II, where Robbie is now a soldier in France and Cecilia is a nurse in London. The film follows two major threads from this point on. One is the single-minded mission of Robbie to get back home to Cecilia. And the other is of, the now grown-up, Briony attempting to make amends for the misrepresentation she made as a child. She has come to the realization that she didn’t understand what was happening that night years before.

This is one of those lush period recreations. The look and feel of the film was very successfully realized. The time before the war is sort of golden and the characters are innocently spoiled. All of that is transformed in one night, and during the war the images become grey and bloody; mirroring the trauma happening within the Tallis family.

The performances in this film are good, and the movie is nice to look at. There are portions where it begins to feel a bit long; one segment that is set on the beach at Dunkirk felt a little overdone. Maybe after setting up such a lavish reproduction of the scene they felt they had to include all of it. That being said, it is still a fairly impressive sequence.

This is a very good movie. In another year I might have it at the top of my list of movies of the year. But this year there are a couple of possible masterpieces out there. Still, I’m sure it would make my top 10.

Juno is a new film from director Jason Reitman. The screenplay was written by first time screenwriter Diablo Cody who is getting lots of press recently for her colorful life, and for this big breakout.

The movie stars Ellen Page as a pregnant and immensely individualistic 16 year old high school student named Juno. The young father of the baby is played by Micheal Cera. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play a couple who want to adopt the baby when it is born.

This is one of those hyper-sharp films where the characters sometimes deliver lines that show an awareness and humorous insight into their condition that is probably all too unusual and unrealistic, but is still very enjoyable. I really appreciate movies like this. Nobody in the movie denies that a mistake has been made for Juno to be in the position she’s in, not even Juno. But they are where they are, and now they’ve got to live with it, so they act as they feel the must and as their natures dictate.

The performances are very strong. Ellen Page, for all of her petite size, is a dynamic and magnetic presence on the screen. Michael Cera delivers yet another of his quirky-likeable performances. He’s somehow cool in his un-coolness and geekitude. I don’t know if it’s just me or if what it means to be cool in high school is not the same as it once was?

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner both deliver performances outside of the confines of what we have become a little too used to seeing from them.

I think Jason Bateman may be on the cusp of becoming an interesting actor to follow. Not necessarily as a traditional leading man type, but as an all purpose character actor type; someone you can count on to deliver the goods no matter the role. Here he takes his character from at first being the really like-able cool guy, and lets him gradually transform in a way that creates real dramatic tension. I don’t want to be overly specific for fear of spoiling a portion of the film. But it’s a performance worth watching.

Jennifer Garner may deliver the most complicated performance of the film, and she does it very convincingly. At first she comes off as overly controlling, and possibly even shrewish, but as the film progresses you begin to understand the deep need she has that is unfulfilled and that drives her with such determination and fear.

And then there are a number of smaller roles that are all delivered right on target; Allison Janney as Juno’s stepmother, J.K Simmons as her dad, and Olivia Thirlby as her best friend. They all contribute meaningfully to the sense and tone of the film.

And that’s the other nice thing about Juno—the sense and tone. The movie feels like it takes place in real homes in real neighborhoods. Juno’s home is warm and full of the stuff that a family collects. It’s slightly congested with the accumulation of memories, and they’ve spilled over to all parts of the house, but you wouldn’t want to part with any of them. While the home of Bateman’s and Garner’s characters is large and a bit too sterile. All of his memorabilia (movies, guitars, comics) is stored neatly away in one room as if to lock away the past so as not to pollute to present, but can it remain contained like that? Both homes are believable and familiar.

All in all it’s a quirky-funny film with good performances, good direction, a good soundtrack, and when I left the theater I felt glad I had seen it. I expect I will be purchasing this eventually when it becomes available in disk format, and I recommend it highly to anyone reading this.