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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.

No Country for Old Men is the latest film by the Coen brothers. Directors of such films as O Brother, Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and Fargo.

They seem to alternate between making perverse but silly movies that are simply entertaining, like O Brother…, and Raising Arizona, and making dark, perplexing movies like Blood Simple and Fargo. No Country for Old Men is of the later type, although it may be darker and more perplexing than either of those.

The casting for this movie is dead on perfect. Tommy Lee Jones is a sheriff who has seen much, and seems troubled by the changes in the world, and it is his voice that opens the movie. Josh Brolin is just an ordinary man who stumbles into a very complicated situation, makes a few critical choices, and stumbles out with a bag full of money. Javier Bardem is a brutal, relentless enigma with a pageboy haircut who is devoted to only a single track—recover the money, and who has no, and I mean no, compunction about killing along the way.

Each of these three actors gives an incredible performance. I wouldn’t have been surprised to say that about Jones and Bardem, in fact I would expect no less, but I never imagined I would be saying that about Brolin. This may just be the role he was born to play, and he makes the most of it. It’s a gutsy, physical performance that highlights both the strengths and failings of the character he plays perfectly.

Javier Bardem’s performance as Anton, the almost Terminator-esque killer, is every bit as incredible. He has invented yet another wholly new incarnation for evil. Perhaps the most uniquely interesting one since Hannibal Lecter first appeared in Silence of the Lambs.

And then Tommy Lee Jones is the heart of the movie. The sheriff who can’t comprehend the terrible things he sees in the world, and yet who seems to have come to terms with at least some of it.

The other wonderful thing about this film is the cinematography. Once again, the Coen Brothers, through their partnership with cinematographer RogerDeakins, have composed a visually arresting movie. There are wonderful shots of the Texas range at night and in the heat of the day, with thunderheads sparking on the horizon; interspersed with shots of dreary trailer homes baking in the Texas heat and a man drinking a glass of milk reflected in a blank television screen; and the scuff marks a dying man makes with his heels on a tile floor. This is a movie to savor visually while absorbing the plot and dialog and relating to the characters. It has it all.

The first two thirds of the film act essentially as a discovery and then a chase, but the final third takes a radical change in direction. I’m not sure what to say about that portion of the film, especially without spoiling it, and I do think it probably might cause a lot of consternation for the audience. The only things I would suggest for a potential viewer is to make note of the fact that it is the Sheriff’s voice that opens the movie. I think that is important. And also to note several conversations along the way that involve the concepts of fate and chance, opposed to the reality of the choices the characters make.

Honestly, I’m still mulling over aspects of this movie, and remembering individual scenes and bits of dialog. This is a movie that it is good to see with someone else and to discuss over coffee or beers afterwards, because there are many areas open for interpretation and you just might find it enlightening to hear how someone else viewed certain of the scenes.

I highly recommend this movie. See it soon while you can see it on the big screen and experience the full effect of the cinematography.

I myself look forward to watching it again at some point to see what other interpretations I might find for a few of the more mysterious sequences. One of my favorite films of the year.