Spending The Weekend With Juno, Homer and Six Different Dylans

Just for a change, I decided to go to my local video store (I'm not telling you which one) to rent a few movies. Having left the multiplexes to the teenagers and film geeks years ago, I figured there's no movie out there that couldn't wait until the DVD release. Roger Ebert I'm not, but here's what I thought of these movies anyway.

There Will Be Blood (R) Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor playing an independent oil man in early 20th century America, partially based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. In the story, we follow Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) as he seeks his fortune in California in spite of a greedy preacher and a hearing-impaired son, whom he hoped would take over the business someday. The movie is stylishly produced and acted, and worth sitting through two and a half hours. And you'll also learn what's behind the catchphrase "I drink your milkshake".

Juno (PG-13) This is what might have happened if Daria Morgendorffer were a pregnant teenager. Ellen Page plays Juno MacGuff, a wisecracking 16-year old who gives up the child she clearly wasn't ready to take care of to surrogate parents portrayed by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. Diablo Cody, for all her hipness, wrote a surprisingly conservative screenplay that sends a pro-life message to teenagers, which may or may not ring true in real life. For this, she won an Oscar for best original screenplay. Hey, adoption's a big deal in Hollywood these days--as long as the kids come from a Third World country.

I'm Not There (R) is, quoting the box the DVD came in, "inspired by the life and songs of Bob Dylan". In other words, it might look like a biography or a documentary, but it really isn't. Six different people, including Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett, play various versions of Dylan during his life and career. The film is as enigmatic as Dylan himself, but do watch Blanchett's performance as the mid-60's era Dylan, for which she was nominated by the Motion Picture Academy for Best Supporting Actress.

The Simpsons Movie (PG-13) is based on the long-running Fox animated sitcom. Homer Simpson, just like on TV, is a big fat idiot who creates an environmental disaster that endangers the city of Springfield and forces his family to go on the run. Unlike TV, it takes an hour and a half to tell. As a longtime Simpsons watcher, I thought the animation (it was done on computers!) and the writing were an enormous improvement over the TV show, which has seen better days.

The movies go back tomorrow. Oh well, I guess it's back to Deadliest Catch.