Jason Reitman

“My brain hasn’t really processed it. I actually can’t believe it,” said Olivia Thirlby, via phone, early in the morning of Oscar Sunday. The 21-year-old actress, in Los Angeles, was eating breakfast (“I’m sorry for the crunching”) and about to embark upon the daylong process of readying herself for the red carpet to end all red carpets at the Kodak Theatre for Hollywood’s glitziest, puffed-up night. Ms. Thirlby portrayed Leah, Ellen Page’s braid-wearing best friend in this year’s little-movie-that-could, Juno—a film that not only surpassed expectations at the box office, but was the one bright spot in a lineup of Best Picture nominees that skewed dark and heavy.

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I strongly suspect that in the year 2007, there were more interesting pictures and, almost certainly, more interesting acting performances than I had time to see. After all, there were more than 500 films released in the New York area this year, not unlike most recent years. Hence, I apologize in advance to all the talented people I may have overlooked in my year-end rumination. Nonetheless, with all the wonders of contemporary technology, it is becoming easier to catch up, as it were, with any neglected masterpieces we may have missed during the year.  read more »

While The Golden Compass (No. 1) will be stealing headlines this morning for its lackluster performance—$26 million nationally ($420,000 of that from Manhattan) to offset its reportedly $180 million budget—this weekend’s box office receipts portended the rise of two Academy Award contenders: Jason Reitman’s Juno (No. 2) and Joe Wright’s adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel, Atonement (No. 5).

The comedy starring Ellen Page and Michael Cera averaged an astronomical $63,000 on three screens, beating out Atonement—currently, according to buzz and conventional wisdom, the Oscar forerunner for best picture—which had an impressive $55,000 average on two screens and The Golden Compass, which managed a rather respectable $42,000 average on 10 screens. So, to recap, in a town where neither Atonement, nor The Golden Compass faltered, Juno shined brightest. A Reitman hasn’t been this popular in this city, since the first Ghost Busters in 1984.  read more »

JUNO
Running time 92 minutes
Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Diablo Cody  read more »