Showing posts with label daniel johnston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daniel johnston. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Juno


Juno is an awesome film with a stellar script written by ex-stripper Diablo Cody. My least favourite thing about the film is Jennifer Garner. I think she was fine in Alias, but I was not really impressed with her in this film. Of course, I was constantly reminded of Arrested Development, even though Jason Bateman and Michael Cera do not share a scene.

Some of the songs on the soundtrack have a quirkiness that reminded me of Daniel Johnston, and for a while, I wondered if this was intentional, coincidental, or just me. It's a short film, clocking in at 96 minutes, but the length seemed right.

There, that's the end of my lame film review.

The only other thing to report is that I have discovered that there is a Japanese bikini model called Juno, although sometimes she doesn't seem to wear a bikini at all, if you know what I mean. I accidentally discovered her while searching for information about the film. I considered giving you a link, but I am sure you can all figure out how to find it yourself.

Oh, and one other thing. It was really refreshing to see Jason Bateman doing his thing at the Grammys. It is often difficult to determine if comedic actors are truly funny, or if it's just the scripts. I was happy to see that he is genuinely funny and a pleasure to watch.

Monday, January 22, 2007

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

If you haven't see the film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, you really should. It is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have ever seen. Johnston is a singer, songwriter, musician, and artist who suffers from "bipolar disorder with psychotic features and religious preoccupation to the point where he has had to be hospitalized intermittently..." (from Wikipedia entry).

His songs have been covered by Beck, Sonic Youth, Wilco, Pearl Jam, The Flaming Lips, etc., while people like David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, and Matt Groening have praised his work.

One thing that really fascinated me was that the man was an obsessive documenter of his life. And, the film makes good use of his old films and taped conversations. I remember taping conversations when I was a kid, and now I wish I had kept them.

Borrow, buy, rent or steal the film. OK, don't steal it, but definitely see it. If you don't like it, I'll give you your money back. OK, so I really wouldn't give you your money back, but I would commiserate with you about the money you might have spent and the time you wasted sitting in front of your TV or computer.

What are you waiting for? Go see it! Now. Run.

Technorati Tags: ,