...if you missed picking it up last month, now is still a good time to go snag up a copy of the DVD.
Audio:
"Juno" arrives on DVD with an English 5.1 Dolby Surround audio mix and inferior French and Spanish Dolby tracks that list at just 2.1 channels. English and Spanish subtitles are provided. "Juno" is a film that is primarily dialogue based and offers little in ambient noise or sound effects. The musical selections contained in the film are low-key acoustical numbers that do not provide much more potency to the mix. They are not sterile, but very relaxed in nature and don´t expand the sound-space by much at all. Don´t get me wrong. I love the soundtrack and purchased the CD, but "Juno" is a minimalistic exercise in sound. The Dolby surround mix is still quite clean and delivers dialogue with clarity and depth. This is a technically efficient experience that has little use for the rear surrounds or subwoofer channel, but does all that it needs to entertain its audience. Not all films need to be wall-shaking experiences and "Juno" is one such title.
Extras:
"Juno" arrives on DVD with nearly identical features as the Blu-ray release and both are billed as feature-packed "Digital Copy Special Edition" releases. Differences are detailed at the end of this section. The Digital Copy of Juno for Portable Media Players is packaged on a DVD disc contained within the 2-disc packaging. This can be transported to a laptop, Zune, iPod, Playstation Portable or other device capable of holding a digital movie. The disc has installers and formats for various platforms and requires around 600MB of storage to hold the entire film. This is an interesting marketing approach that a couple studios have been taking to combat the threat of digital distribution. Although I love my Zune, I am a physical media advocate and will support any endeavor thought up by the studios to keep producing physical media.
The film itself is contained on a dual layer DVD and features a number of nice supplements. The Commentary by Director Jason Reitman and Screenwriter Diablo Cody is a solid listen. Cody has based much of her life into this film and she goes into details about the biographical elements of the story and her and the director share information that fleshes out the story and details the making of "Juno." This is an entertaining chat and well worth watching the film again to enjoy this commentary track. I found myself very quickly watching the film a complete second time to fully digest everything said by Reitman and Cody and was never bored.
Nearly two hours of additional features are packed on the disc. The eleven Deleted Scenes (20:24) may be played individually or collectively and features an optional commentary track with Reitman and Cody. Some of these excised bits would fit very nicely into the edited film. Some were removed to help achieve a PG-13 rating, while others were simply cut for pacing or time reasons. This was a very nice collection of supplements. The Gag Reel (5:11) and Gag Take (1:57) showcase some of the tomfoolery that went on in the making of the film. They are both short, but fun. A Crew Music Video (3:12) continues the fun with the crew as a bogus music video showcases yellow running shorts and those that starred in the film.
Things get a little more serious after the collection of bonus footage. A very long collection of Screen Tests (22:35) is included and shows the stars and co-stars of the film acting out scenes from the film in hopes of getting hired. Way Beyond "Our" Maturity Level: Juno-Leah-Bleeker (8:59) finds writer Diablo Cody discussing her film, the three young characters and the story Cast and crew lend their thoughts to this series of interviews and footage and this isn´t a bad little featurette. Diablo Cody is Totally Boss (8:35) is a continuation of the first featurette and finds the director and writer talking about how her writing was based upon her blog about strippers. Jason Reitman for Shizz (8:08) is a featurette that has the producers talking about hiring Jason for the film and his efforts in bringing "Juno" to life. Honest to Blog! Creating Juno (13:01) is a promotional featurette that covers much of the same ground of the previous three featurettes, but is a little more polished and glossier.
There are some differences in the bonus materials supplied between the two releases of the film. The DVD release contains trailers that were not contained on the Blu-ray release. A Soundtrack Spot and trailers for the films "Charlie Bartlett," "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Bonneville" inhabit the third menu screen of the special features section. An Inside Look (2:08) for "What Happens in Vegas" featuring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher is included from the Main Menu. However, two features that were featured on the Blu-ray release are absent from the DVD release of the film. The Fox Movie Channel supplements "Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere… Juno" and "Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session: Juno" are not available on the standard definition media. You aren´t missing much.
Closing Comments:
I´ve now watched "Juno" a couple of times. Three and a half to be exact. While I had avoided going to the theater twice to see the film, I have found it to be a very nice little comedy and it easily transcends the incorrect tags of being either a ´date film´ or a ´chick flick.´ Much can be said about a film´s ability to entertain after repeated viewings and I find "Juno" to be one of those films that I don´t find myself watching time and time again, but it is a fun little escape every great once in a while. There will certainly be those that can enjoy it just once (or perhaps not enjoy it at all) and others that will watch "Juno" on a routine basis. I find it to be a clever and entertaining comedy. I especially enjoy the performance by J.K. Simmons. I find the film to be slightly more pleasing on DVD than Blu-ray, because the lower definition format doesn´t feel like it is being betrayed by the low-budget beginnings of the film. The sight and sound are limited, but technically efficient. The supplements are pretty good and the bonus Digital Copy has its uses. This is a good little film and if you missed picking it up last month, now is still a good time to go snag up a copy of the DVD.
"Juno" arrives on DVD with an English 5.1 Dolby Surround audio mix and inferior French and Spanish Dolby tracks that list at just 2.1 channels. English and Spanish subtitles are provided. "Juno" is a film that is primarily dialogue based and offers little in ambient noise or sound effects. The musical selections contained in the film are low-key acoustical numbers that do not provide much more potency to the mix. They are not sterile, but very relaxed in nature and don´t expand the sound-space by much at all. Don´t get me wrong. I love the soundtrack and purchased the CD, but "Juno" is a minimalistic exercise in sound. The Dolby surround mix is still quite clean and delivers dialogue with clarity and depth. This is a technically efficient experience that has little use for the rear surrounds or subwoofer channel, but does all that it needs to entertain its audience. Not all films need to be wall-shaking experiences and "Juno" is one such title.
Extras:
"Juno" arrives on DVD with nearly identical features as the Blu-ray release and both are billed as feature-packed "Digital Copy Special Edition" releases. Differences are detailed at the end of this section. The Digital Copy of Juno for Portable Media Players is packaged on a DVD disc contained within the 2-disc packaging. This can be transported to a laptop, Zune, iPod, Playstation Portable or other device capable of holding a digital movie. The disc has installers and formats for various platforms and requires around 600MB of storage to hold the entire film. This is an interesting marketing approach that a couple studios have been taking to combat the threat of digital distribution. Although I love my Zune, I am a physical media advocate and will support any endeavor thought up by the studios to keep producing physical media.
The film itself is contained on a dual layer DVD and features a number of nice supplements. The Commentary by Director Jason Reitman and Screenwriter Diablo Cody is a solid listen. Cody has based much of her life into this film and she goes into details about the biographical elements of the story and her and the director share information that fleshes out the story and details the making of "Juno." This is an entertaining chat and well worth watching the film again to enjoy this commentary track. I found myself very quickly watching the film a complete second time to fully digest everything said by Reitman and Cody and was never bored.
Nearly two hours of additional features are packed on the disc. The eleven Deleted Scenes (20:24) may be played individually or collectively and features an optional commentary track with Reitman and Cody. Some of these excised bits would fit very nicely into the edited film. Some were removed to help achieve a PG-13 rating, while others were simply cut for pacing or time reasons. This was a very nice collection of supplements. The Gag Reel (5:11) and Gag Take (1:57) showcase some of the tomfoolery that went on in the making of the film. They are both short, but fun. A Crew Music Video (3:12) continues the fun with the crew as a bogus music video showcases yellow running shorts and those that starred in the film.
Things get a little more serious after the collection of bonus footage. A very long collection of Screen Tests (22:35) is included and shows the stars and co-stars of the film acting out scenes from the film in hopes of getting hired. Way Beyond "Our" Maturity Level: Juno-Leah-Bleeker (8:59) finds writer Diablo Cody discussing her film, the three young characters and the story Cast and crew lend their thoughts to this series of interviews and footage and this isn´t a bad little featurette. Diablo Cody is Totally Boss (8:35) is a continuation of the first featurette and finds the director and writer talking about how her writing was based upon her blog about strippers. Jason Reitman for Shizz (8:08) is a featurette that has the producers talking about hiring Jason for the film and his efforts in bringing "Juno" to life. Honest to Blog! Creating Juno (13:01) is a promotional featurette that covers much of the same ground of the previous three featurettes, but is a little more polished and glossier.
There are some differences in the bonus materials supplied between the two releases of the film. The DVD release contains trailers that were not contained on the Blu-ray release. A Soundtrack Spot and trailers for the films "Charlie Bartlett," "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Bonneville" inhabit the third menu screen of the special features section. An Inside Look (2:08) for "What Happens in Vegas" featuring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher is included from the Main Menu. However, two features that were featured on the Blu-ray release are absent from the DVD release of the film. The Fox Movie Channel supplements "Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere… Juno" and "Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session: Juno" are not available on the standard definition media. You aren´t missing much.
Closing Comments:
I´ve now watched "Juno" a couple of times. Three and a half to be exact. While I had avoided going to the theater twice to see the film, I have found it to be a very nice little comedy and it easily transcends the incorrect tags of being either a ´date film´ or a ´chick flick.´ Much can be said about a film´s ability to entertain after repeated viewings and I find "Juno" to be one of those films that I don´t find myself watching time and time again, but it is a fun little escape every great once in a while. There will certainly be those that can enjoy it just once (or perhaps not enjoy it at all) and others that will watch "Juno" on a routine basis. I find it to be a clever and entertaining comedy. I especially enjoy the performance by J.K. Simmons. I find the film to be slightly more pleasing on DVD than Blu-ray, because the lower definition format doesn´t feel like it is being betrayed by the low-budget beginnings of the film. The sight and sound are limited, but technically efficient. The supplements are pretty good and the bonus Digital Copy has its uses. This is a good little film and if you missed picking it up last month, now is still a good time to go snag up a copy of the DVD.
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[release]23179[/release]