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05 / 11 / 2008
Review: After the gruelling James Bond press junket tour, I bet Daniel Craig could use a Quantum of Solace.

02 / 11 / 2008
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Japan are in - just one rally to go and still the lead keeps changing! See how your team fared or see the Japanese rally results. Any of the top ten could still claim overall honours!

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Brad Pitt steals the latest from the Coen brothers: Burn After Reading.

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Simon Pegg learns How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Ben Stiller directs stars aplenty in Tropic Thunder.

12 / 10 / 2008
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Death Race,
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,
Space Chimps,
Stuck,
The Babysitters,
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder,
Son of Rambow,
Jack and Jill vs the World,
Made of Honor,
Meet Dave,
Doomsday,
Pathology.

15 / 08 / 2008
Review: You can mess with Adam Sandler, but You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

15 / 08 / 2008
Review: Mike Myers tickles some chakras in The Love Guru.

14 / 08 / 2008
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14 / 08 / 2008
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31 / 07 / 2008
Review: Batman Began and now continues in The Dark Knight.

24 / 07 / 2008
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23 / 07 / 2008
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22 / 07 / 2008
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09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Jet Li and Jackie Chan team up in The Forbidden Kingdom.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Will Smith keeps the streets safe and smelling of booze in Hancock.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: M Night Shyamalan's latest, The Happening.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Spanish creepy-creepy The Orphanage.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: A quick catchup of movies that don't get the full treatment:
Be Kind Rewind,
Street Kings,
What Happens In Vegas,
Superhero Movie,
The Ruins and
Teeth.

08 / 07 / 2008
Review: Bend that bullet Angelina! Wanted.

01 / 07 / 2008
Review: Those cats were fast as lightning - Kung Fu Panda.

24 / 06 / 2008
Review: Don't make Ed Norton angry - The Incredible Hulk.

24 / 06 / 2008
Review: Carrie and Big's wedding, it can only be Sex and the City.

11 / 06 / 2008
Review: Everyone's favourite pot-addicts are back in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

04 / 06 / 2008
Review: Harrison Ford returns in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

04 / 06 / 2008
Review: Tube driver seeks suicidal man in Three and Out.

18 / 05 / 2008
Review: CGI fantasy motor racing in Speed Racer.

18 / 05 / 2008
Review: Your creases will fly away with Iron Man.

18 / 08 / 2005
Sudoku! Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

Plenty more
See the rest of the reviews here.

Juno

Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, JK Simmons, Allison Janney, Olivia Thirlby. Directed by Jason Reitman. Story: Sixteen year old gets pregnant. Running Time: 1hr 36 minutes. UK Certificate 12A.

Another Best Picture Oscar contender - Juno is the obligatory leftfield entry. It won't win it, endearing though it is, because it has significant weaknesses.

Juno is a sixteen year old who gets knocked up by Superbad's Michael Cera. The movie follows her relationship with the couple lined up for adoption of the little embryo - Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. It's totally character-driven, and mostly driven by Juno. She's one of those disturbingly self-confident people you only see in America, much like Miles in Sideways. It's just not normal to be that comfortable with yourself, particularly when you're sixteen, that time when you constantly feel like you're about to play a violin solo in the Albert Hall and you suddenly realise you never learned to play it. Actually I'm not sure that feeling ever quite went away...

Anyway you don't want to hear about my freakish neuroses. Ellen Page, playing Juno, despite having a grating nasal whine, is fortunately excellent in the role, enough to net a Best Actress nomination in fact, and Jason Bateman and Michael Cera (both from Arrested Development) are similarly impressive. Jennifer Garner never quite matches her co-stars, but she's more than compensated for by the zingy script, though there's more than one jaggedy edge in the plot that really pokes a hole in the bubble - yet unfortunately it can't burst the bubble of pretentiousness that looms like a saturated cumulonimbus (sorry, a bit of the pretentiousness rubbed off on me there). The soundtrack is the same - right up its own arse and VERY intrusive - but at least it fits the movie.

Bit of a mixed bag, then. The script really is top-drawer and the main performances are great, and this will be enough for many people - in fact it's likely to jump into a few people's top ten. It really shouldn't be up for Best Picture though, because it's not polished enough and is a touch ... smug.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 3/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 0/5

To enjoy this film you should be: a regular dinner party guest.