jana-87 Reviews

Juno (2007)

cute. but try not to think too much.

[7/10 · 23 May 2008]

i watched this movie twice, my eleven years old daughter downloaded it to her ipod and loves it. and wanted me to see it. so i did.

cute and pleasant, well made little movie for a long flight. decent acting and directing. nice music. makes you feel good.

it also makes you think. which is a sigh of good art, right? wrong. i cannot believe that juno actually aspires to make you think. because if you do think about it, you come to a conclusion that this movie is actually not all that great.

the characters are totally lovable, but bizarrely unrealistic, especially juno and her supercool, down-to-earth and witty parents.

which is all fine.

but then, juno ( this very smart and sensitive teenager, hiding behind snappy and mildly obnoxious one liners) and her parents (these very wise, down-to earth, sensitive and loving people) collectively decide it is a good idea for juno to NOT have an abortion but be a "little trooper" and go through with "this thing". and give the baby to a deserving mother.

if these people are so humane and amazing, then what the f!#@ is stopping them from actually embracing the baby and raising it up as a family? they all seem to have enough love and emotion and wisdom to handle such a thing. they are not rich, but they do not seem to be too poor either... alas, juno is not ready to be a mom and her dad is not ready to be a "pop-pop." so the baby goes to a lucky yearning childless woman with an immature soon- to-be ex-husband. everyone ends up a little sad, but eventually, life is back to a sunny day and a happy song. the end.

i would really love to know what diablo cody had in mind when she came up with the story.

the movie's message about life and pregnancy is confusing at best: like, getting pregnant and giving up your baby for adoption is pretty much the coolest thing on the planet, dude. yeah, it will make you a little sad, but your loving dad will stroke your head as you lie on the hospital bed once all those contractions are finally over, and he will promise that you will be back one day. and then your boyfriend comes and hugs you and everything will be alright soon.

i happen to know a woman (a neighbor) who gave up her baby, because she had not been "ready to be a mom." she always came across as little odd, but our kids loved her and she was obviously very fond of them. one evening we invited her over for a beer in our back yard. she got tipsy and then told us her story. i will not go into details, but to sum it up - she never managed to erase her given-up daughter, who is now seventeen, off her mind. she is in touch with the adoptive mother. the adoptive father is out of the picture, divorce happened when the girl was three years old.

i know a lot of women (myself included) who had an abortion. it was emotionally taxing and very sad. you feel awful - especially if you get pregnant with someone you are in love with. i cannot imagine giving birth and then losing the baby to another mom. what's the emotional difference between that and the baby actually dying? i guess if you believe in heaven, there is no difference. theoretically.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

love both brad and angelina, but this movie is plain boring

[2/10 · 11 September 2007]

what a waste of time, talent and money. the entire movie i kept using the fast forward button, wishing i had rented true lies instead. the true lies' husband and wife are much more interesting and sexier, despite arnold, who can't act, and jamie lee curtis, who is no famme fatal.

on the other hand, angelina is gorgeous, brad is irresistible and yet - you can't get yourself to care about what happens to either of their characters. or any other character in this movie, period.

alas, watching mr and mrs smith made me feel sorry for jennifer anniston (possibly the first time ever). it was a blah of a movie. really, don't bother watching.

Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)

i wanna go there

[9/10 · 22 May 2007]

One of the most endearing movies - not just fairy-tales. Every time it is over I feel strangely empty and sad. The magic has been lifted and the world is again same old and cold. Possibly not a very healthy reaction, nevertheless - the movie is a gem.

Being from Czechoslovakia, having watched this movie at least once a year since it came out when i was a little girl, I sure am biased. But it turns out people love Popelka pretty much world over. I'm very very happy to find out.

Thank you for sharing all those nice comments, it was a joy to read.

Even the one slightly cynical reviewer from Wisconsin admits there is something to this film, despite the "awesome" effects. And there are a few of those indeed, e.g. rock stiff dead fox - that is expected to pass as fresh kill in a hunt... oh well.

I only know one person, a guy from Detroit who spent a few Christmas in Slovakia, who found this movie boring to death. But then, he hates Luis Armstrong's Wonderful World...

And yes, Popelka is available on DVD, unfortunately with horrid English subtitles (as already mentioned by a reviewer from Great Britain). Whoever is responsible for that particular translation and editing should not be fired, but buried alive.

When Time Ran Out... (1980)

so bad!!! you gotta love it...

[8/10 · 22 May 2007]

i wish this movie was available on DVD. it's one of those that makes you laugh hysterically - it is so bad. interestingly enough, airplane came out the same year - obviously, the time was more than ripe.

i've been laughing out loud just reading the forum about this catastrophic masterpiece. i almost forgot some of the gory details (including the science lab perched at the edge of the volcano lip).

i saw it as a teenager behind the iron curtain, freshly dubbed into czech in the early eighties. it was such a treat i had to go see it twice.

are you guys sure this movie was intended to be taken seriously?

(well, i used to think the independence day was a subtle spoof that made fun of self- declared u.s.a. greatness, but people are telling me otherwise. i still enjoy it, though.)

Reality Bites (1994)

sorry, gen-Xers, you were pathetic

[9/10 · 22 May 2007]

this movie captures the biting reality well. that's why it is so painful to watch. it actually rings true.

troy, the rebel philosopher, and lelaina, the artistic intellectual, are sadly realistic. like many Americans of that generation, the two are self-absorbed and narrow-minded. and they do deserve each other - at least in the time span depicted in the movie.

"reality bites" was not trying to be about coming of age. it simply reflected the fact that many gen x college graduates failed to grow up in due time because they believed to be ah so special way beyond their teen years.

i wonder if this is why so many reviewers did not like young ben stiller's take on life... they simply hate to see the similarity between themselves and the pathetic main characters.

The Unknown War (1978– )

if this ever comes out on DVD, i'm buying it

[10/10 · 8 September 2006]

I remember our entire family watching the series diligently - on communist television in former Czechoslovakia. I must have been late seventies or early eighties, I don't know anymore.

I still remember the magical words 'Hello, I'm Burt Lancaster' that opened every episode.

It was amazing (to us) to see "such a famous American actor" talking about the evens between 1939-1945 we had been brainwashed about ever since we could remember (my parents were born right after the war ended.)

We had seen many, many movies about the WW II - the government made sure of it - but, of course, none of those movies was free of communist propaganda. The invincible Soviet Union lead the world (and some insignificant allies) to victory; D-Day was, pretty much, an obscure episode; and the end of war was celebrated on May 9th. And that was that.

The Unknown War was the first documentary that didn't stink of brainwashing and yet, it was showing the same basic facts and much more. For someone, who grew up under communism, it was absolutely refreshing and amazing to watch.

Even from an adult perspective, and with the Berlin Wall down, this TV series was very well produced and would be enjoyed by any intelligent person no matter where they were born. And they don't even have to be history geeks.

I do agree with the (insuradj02) about the Soviet government controlling all the resource material at the time the series was produced; naturally - many important and atrocious events are not mentioned here, but I wouldn't go as far as dismissing the commentary as biased and inaccurate. (I mean, please, how many Americans knew of the Japanese internment camps or were even aware of what exactly was holocaust? To many of my educated and smart American friends Spielbergs Schindler's list was a revelation!)

I moved to Seattle form Prague in 2001 and have been scouting local video stores for the Unknow War without success. If it ever comes out on DVD somewhere, please let me know.