i wanted to turn this off within the first thirty seconds of hearing tarantino speak. the plot could barely keep my interest and the acting was unimpressive, but i loved the sets and wardrobe. things finally started to pick up during the last half of the film and tarantino ended up giving me the biggest laugh of the film (i laughed uproariously at his, "i guess i'm just an anime otaku at heart" line!). i thought momoi kaori was awesome and iseya yusuke gave a decent performance too, though some parts were just too silly. ultimately i don't think this was anything fantastic, it was a jumbled spectacle...somewhat disappointing.

philip seymour hoffman is the only actor that made this film watchable.

anderson and elswit are fantastic at utilising natural light; there is an amazing shot of sandler hovering over his newly found harmonium while the shadows swell on the walls and engulf half of his body. there were just as many great shots in there will be blood, they seem to serve as somewhat of a litmus test. moreover, it seems p.t. anderson can get amazing performances from anyone, sandler's meltdown is certainly a sight to see.

i will agree with most, ellen page did give a great performance, and this was jason bateman's least annoying role, but i despised a lot of juno's annoying not quite funny, but apparently hip talk. nonetheless she was playing a sixteen year old so it's to be expected that i'm not quite up on what the duck kids are hip to these days. i also couldn't stand any of those kimya dawson songs, it just sounds like brain damaged whimpering to me. i also thought this was a great role for j.k. simmons whom even though i'm so used to seeing him as schillinger, was a great dad. finally, what i think i enjoyed most was not in the film, but in the special features, the "gag take" where rainn wilson and jason reitman are shouting back and forth...not as intense as david o. russell and lily tomlin's i heart huckabees meltdown (and i am assuming this juno take was farce), but it certainly is comedy.

i love films of this subject and i adore hirofumi arai! he played won-su and is actually zainichi, as well the author of the story (the film is based on ), kaneshiro kazuki. the film begins with a grand bang of action, but it does slow down considerably, dragging a bit in the middle. nonetheless i thought the acting was great and portrayed so many realistic identity issues zainichi youth grow up with. finally, while this may be less appealing to some, i never get tired of see the full body takedown (incredibly popular in korean gangster films) - i thought the basketball court brawl was great.

much to my surprise i didn't hate this film intensely, though i could barely sit through the first ten minutes. indeed much of the crude humour is not my taste and i found the portly sir a bit too obnoxious, but i really liked cera (it seems i am never shot of the awkward nice guy character) and mclovin. i also found rogen to be mildly humourous and loved the small appearances by mousa kraish and joe truglio (anyone else badly miss the state?). i don't think i would watch this again, but it certainly was good for a few laughs.

an interesting plot (though rather technophobic correct?), quite predictable, but i was really amazed by some of ally sheedy's strange lines: "yeah, kill 'em!" and "is that him? wow, he's amazing looking!"

i loved performances by sir kingsley and aghdashloo, but connelly while i
generally adore her, i found to be rather tiring. the landscape shots were beautiful, though overall i believe the film was drawn out for entirely too long. also, the climax of the film gave me horrid flashbacks of crash, blerg.

i can't really say much about this film that hasn't already been said. top notch cinematography and performances from lewis & dano. ...i found quite a few of their scenes quite humourous as well. this is my favourite film of 2007.