Juno (2008)
A wonderful movie about a teenaged girl who finds herself pregnant, and decides to give the baby up for adoption. It feels honest, heartfelt, has the same natural rhythms of late adolescence found in “Superbad” last year, and is a hoot. And having jus adopted a child, I can promise you that the emotions felt very, very real. Beautifully written and performed, well directed and I just realized that J.K. Simmons, who plays the father of the girl (and J.Jona Jameson, and Schllinger on “Oz”) is turning into one of my favorite character actors. A delicate performance by Ellen Page (“Hard Candy”) is the cherry on top. Loved it. An “A-”
##
Only a few more days, and the horrid crush I’ve been under for the last months will begin to slow down. Gawd, can’t hardly wait…
##
Fun listening to the political pundits right now. So many of them are enjoying the apparent melt-down of Hillary’s campaign I almost feel sorry for her. But I don’t, because she should have been ready for a dogfight from the very beginning. Now we get to see what she’s made of. One pundit did the Wicked Witch voice: “I’m melting…I’m melting…” and cracked me up.
Trust me: I’d never think of any politician as the Second Coming of anything. And I’d never dream of factoring race into my vote unless I saw no other differences between the candidates: never dreamed of voting for Jesse Jackson or Sharpton. Obama interests me because he seems congruent. He seems to be pretty much what he presents himself as. I have two connections to people who know him, and they assure me that we see is what we get. I like what I see. I’m having a good time. During the debate last night, Ron Paul sounded like the Republicans’ Joe Lieberman. Pretty amusing.
##
And did anyone else hear Huckabee quoting the Declaration of Independence, and forget the “All men are created equal” part? He jumped straight to the “inalienable rights” part. Frankly, I consider that a lovely little Freudian Slip, and am now watching him more closely. Something doesn’t smell right. Of course, maybe that’s just the carpet. Buster, have you been in my office..?
(Buster’s my cat.)
Monday, January 07, 2008
Juno (2008)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I wrote a piece on my blog yesterday analyzing Obama (and Edwards) populism especially with regards to the "evil lobbyists".
It got referenced in two New York Times stories about Obama and as a result I got like a thousand hits yesterday: something unheard of for my silly musings (except for the time Fark.com picked up on of my pieces)
I'm doing what the press is not doing at the moment, taking a close look at his positions and his record.
The fact that the press is not doing this can only mean one thing: They are going to try to take him down at a later date. The media is a fickle friend.
Two affable populists won in Iowa. And while affability is fine, we should leave the populism to the House of Representatives where it belongs.
I don't think the Democrats will, but I expect the Republicans to. But in case it doesn't, I will state that in a match up between Obama and Huckabee, Obama will get my vote (and I will pray for Congress to go red).
Obama will also get my vote if the Republican Party somehow goes off the deep end and nominates Ron Paul.
Other than that, it is unlikely.
If I had my druthers, I'd see Fred Thompson in the White House.
Frank -- just curious. Have you ever voted for a Dem before?
My Judo instructor Swift likes Thompson, too.
Dan asks
Frank -- just curious. Have you ever voted for a Dem before?
Sure, lots of them.
I actually vote for Patrick Leahy pretty regularly. There are lots of things I don't like about his politics, but he seems to be the only person in Congress who understands that we should be hands off the internet. And he's an old guy!
I can say, though, that I have never had the opportunity to vote for a Democrat for President. By the time I was able to vote (1972) the Democrats had already gone nuts. I just couldn't bring myself to vote for McGovern, or (for heaven's sake) Carter, or Clinton, or Dukakis, or Gore, or (god forbid) Kerry.
Actually, Obama has a much better chance of getting my vote than any of the above ever did.
I would prefer, however, that that be in 8 to 12 years. My biggest hesitation is that his resume is extremely thin.
A new President will be tested by our enemies almost immediately upon taking office....
if not sooner.
The stakes are, I'm afraid, very high.
J. K. Simmons has been one of my favorite character actors for a while now. (He also plays the Police Chief on "The Closer"), and plays (or played, probably) a recurring character on Law & Order (a psychologist). He's wonderful in everything I've seen him do.
Post a Comment