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Another viewer loses his heart to ELIZABETHTOWN!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another review of Cameron Crowe's ELIZABETHTOWN. That bastard Harry steps foot in LA and gets to see the fuckin' thing and Moriarty got to see it, too. That's fine, I was just sitting here in Austin licking the cat's ass. Grumble-Grumble... At least Moriarty's in-person review gave me the a hope that the film will be all that I was looking for, especially after reading those iffy early test screening reviews. Now we have another review to add onto the positives stack. I can't wait for this one!
I just got back from a screening of Cameron Crowe's new film ELIZABETHTOWN at my local theatre and figured I'd send in my thoughts on the movie. First off, as a warning, I love Crowe's films. I went into this movie expecting a lot, not just from Crowe, but from Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst as well. Orlando has, to this point, not impressed me very much, and this was sort of his last chance to make up for it.
We got to the theatre almost 2 hours early to get good seats. The announcement was made that the movie is still a work in progress, that there may be technical flaws in the film (which I saw very few of) and they wanted us to stay after to answer some questions. Standard test screening babble.
So, the bottom line... This is quite likely my favorite movie of the year. If it's not my favorite, it's certainly in my top 5.
The story, if you're not familiar with it, goes something like this: Innovative hot shot new shoe designer (yes, shoe designer) Drew Baylor has created a hugely anticipated shoe, the Spasmodica, which utterly tanks. The shoe is a failure. It's costing Baylor's employer, Mercury, a lot of money. A LOT of money. He'll never work in the industry again.
What follows is the single funniest suicide scene I have EVER seen. But, before he can do the dirty deed, he receives word that his father has died. Time to head off to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where his father was visiting at the time of his passing, to make arrangements for the funeral and such. What follows is pretty standard fare - he meets a talkative flight attendant, played by Kirsten Dunst, and the story continues from there.
Okay, so what was good? The music, first of all. There's music all over in this film and it's great. I thought the performances were awesome as well, but I'm certain there will be plenty of people who argue this with me, so let me try to explain. Most of this movie was exaggerated. The characters were almost cartoony at times. But that's the wonderful thing about movies - you don't need to represent reality with a perfectly objective view. We watch this movie through the lens of Drew Baylor's mind. He's hurting, weak, and simply overwhelmed by the world. Everything is surreal, slightly odd. You get a real feel for how he's feeling. It was genuinely funny - there were times the audience was simply roaring with laughter, so it wasn't just me. But the movie had heart, too, and something to say. The central message was that failure and death can be catalysts to persevere and experience life in a new and better way. Sure, there is sadness, but we can take that and turn it around. We need those five minutes to wallow in misery, but after that, it's time to move on.
I think the biggest flaw this film has is its lack of focus. It can seem rather scatter-brained at times, quickly jumping between different threads in the story. There are a lot of secondary characters that get good screen time - and they are very important to the film - but it runs around 2 hours and 20 minutes long. I personally wouldn't cut more than 2 or 3 minutes of it (some parts right when he arrives in Elizabethtown), but your average moviegoing audience doesn't have that kind of patience. The movie isn't targetted at the artsy crowd either, but the inclusion of Orlando Bloom should make that obvious. I can see this movie not doing well simply because the target audience - teenagers and twentysomethings - are on average not well enough acquainted with the world to understand the film. And yes, that really is the worst I can say about this movie.
If you use this, call me Horselover Fat.
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Not much of an opinion, just preventing nerds from calling "it" out...
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always wanted to say that!!!
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Hope this flick is good. It's been really long in the works.
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So sorry
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is a good man. Don't let me down, CC. I think I'll go watch Untitled now. What a fun movie. Yeah... I'm really high.
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Nothing's changed. You still look foolish.
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It would have to be better than Vanilla Sky.
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I'm eagerly awaiting Elizabethtown as much as the next guy, but when Quint and Moriarty are throwing "best film of the year" stuff around, it occurred to me: None of the big AICN staffers have bothered to write up 2046, a film from arguably the best working filmmaker in the business right now. I'm wondering how these guys are reviewing films that haven't even come out yet, while 2046 has been showing on both coasts for a couple weeks, but no print here. Meanwhile, we have like 50 reviews of The Constant Gardener already. I would imagine that people totally in love with cinema would be camping out overnight to see the new Wong Kar-Wai film, and why it's not getting a mention is beyond me. It has a handful of the best Asian actors in the business. It's photographed in part by the amazing Christopher Doyle. While it's not going to be an unqualified masterpiece to every viewer, Wong fans are going to eat it up. Am I alone in my surprise? I want to read one of those orgasmic love fests that Knowles is famous for.
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Well everybodys gotta want CC to do well, hes one of the most interesting , passionate film makers out there. I just hope that Orlando can rise to it, he seems like a straight up guy but his performances feel a little too earnest and little lacking in nuance to me.
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... I'll have a 2046 review up in my next DVD Shelf column. And I didn't call ELIZABETHTOWN the best film of the year. I haven't even written about it yet. In fact, I hadn't mentioned that I've seen it yet, but Quint let that one out of the bag, eh?
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I don't care what anyone says the girl makes me horny as hell...I was watching the part in spiderman 2 near the end were Doc has her tied up and I couldn't believe how great her tits looked...more Kirsten!!! Is she nude in this movie at all??
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Surely this was done, very well, by Braff last year....
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That's right; Jumanji.
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Aug 31, 2005 7:56:20 AM CDT
Check this for Englaish Hack tabloid rumours on Dunst...
by the true priapic
...one paper says shes pregnant with Darko's kid and The Mirror(and it's vile hags the 3am slags) say she shagging Bloom......Kirsten you are a sexy doll but stop fucking about.I swear to god,if you start swapping body fluids with a Limp Biscuit frontman or an Irish drunk I'll give up.Bloom???Bloom?For fucks sake.....oh,and I saw you in The Day after Tomorrow...coughing like a little scene stealing bitch!What will I be doing The Day After Tomorrow?I'm at an interview for a job in China.YOU?Yeah,probably blowing some duff pot headed actor,you dirty little minx!PHOAR,I SAY...PHWOOAR!God,to feel those little vampire teeth nibbling awa...wha?Yes,nurse...no...I...Wha?A double dose?If you're sure.....
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I hope it does well. I so far haven't been all that excited in it. And yes I would love to see Orlando do well.
Donna A. -
...may be the nicest man to ever help an old lady across the street, but he is arguably the most overrated, cloying, manipulative, and emotionally superficial american filmmaker alive, maybe ever. all his films end with tidy happy endings and don't get below instantly trite self-involvement ("show me the $$!!"; "you complete me..."; lloyd with the boombox; etc., etc., dear g-d, etc....), in lieu of dramatic depth. lester bangs needs to haunt his sad, unrocking ass if, for no other reason, having philip seymour hoffman refer to the stooges as "iggy pop." lester was capable of much inexplicable behavior, but that would have been utterly impossible. he had me at phoebe cates' exquisite nudity and lost me not long thereafter -- i SHOULD have followed my best instincts and walked out of _almost famous_ when they started singing along to "tiny dancer". this was the LEAST believable of all "rock films," and it's based on his own life! what do you want from the teenager-turned-uh-ha-ha-ha-auteur who dismissed punk while writing the liner notes to _frampton comes alive_? please enjoy his latest, and please spare me. please, also, let me know if nancy wilson leaves him...
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I know I am being mean but will people stop and wake the *#%@ up!!
Thats the only thing wrong with spiderman the fact that they picked snagletooth Dunst to play mary JANE !!
Cameron Crowe is great but if he is using this Nasty Pasty chick then this movie is of my radar. -
...keep your padme little-boy amidala's and Save the Las Dance pan-face.You can also keep Sasquatch-feet Paris Hilton and Lindsay Burnt-out-and-smelly Lohan,Hillary puppy-fat Duff,Rachel facial-warts McAdams!The Dunst verge on normal by comparison,although The Johansson has me worried.I think the kid may have peaked with "My Brother,the Pig!"...Although there's Rachel Evan Wood slowly moving up the chart....I'd honestly rather put my dick in Traci Lords than Lohan....eurgghh...Christ,I just thought of Britney Spears!!Eurgg...uughgh.......God,she's completely fucked the idea that all pregnant women are beayiful...what a squash-faced rollerball.Christina Aquilera...you looked skanky in Dirty video but I salute your fuckability,mini-tits...
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Aug 31, 2005 12:46:07 PM CDT
Jessica Biel is in this too..but I hope she's lost the man-b
by the true priapic
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maudlin squared
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i saw _in the mood for love_ just prior to having a root canal and enduring the MOST UNBELIEVABLY PAINFUL toothache in the history of creation. i found the film, understandably, insufferable, indolent, not nearly as haunted by romance as everyone kept telling me it was. oh, yes, and very beautiful. so, you might say i was a wee bit biased by agony -- let's say, as distractions from toothaches go, mr. wong's work is not as effective as, oh, _aqua teen hunger force_, say. or bela tarr, even. _chungking express_, in a similar fashion, has made it nearly impossible to appreciate the song "california dreamin'" ever again. to that extent, that's a certain kind of artistic achievement. so, i'm not really kindly disposed towards mr. wong's work, but i did go see _2046_ , if only because the reviews have been rapturous, and to have the opportunity to look at the supernal ms. z.z. -- 30 feet tall -- in air conditioning for a while. i have to say, i enjoyed it far more than i anticipated. to me, the whole question of how much wong is this great, albeit abstract, cinematic romantic seems forced, as does much of the "romance" in his films. but _2046_ is rather compelling, for tony leung's character's lonliness, compounded by his self-ionvolvement, especially as it impacts the women who care for him and his own sci-fi take on his circumstances. also, the cgi is awesome! (first/last time i'll ever type that...) however, much like validator, when i saw it opening night on 42nd st. in nyc, there was one thugged-out audience memeber who (like others, actually) walked out about halfway through with his boo in tow. he screamed out, as he left the theater, "this movie is CORNY!!!!" well, sort of...but you have to wonder what he was expecting.
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Does anyone actually send real reviews in anymore?
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I admired Garden State in many ways, even loved it, but the second time I saw it brought some things to focus for me that seemed very apparent. The story is really very simplistic and the "deep" moments are kind of a stretch at the least. The movie survives on its soundtrack and its performances, and Braff's keen sense of a consistent tone. Elizabethtown (which, I suspect, will be a very different movie, but the comparisons are unavoidable) is directed by the King of Movie Soundtracks, who also has directed some of my favorite films in the past, and seems to have even coaxed good performances out of the two leads. Bloom hasn't really done anything set in the present day yet, guys, so give him a chance.
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Aug 31, 2005 3:16:49 PM CDT
Validator,you're right but she has the boobs of a goddess...
by the true priapic
Biel is a fine little chica but...yeah,those arms and shoulders...a tom-boy that went down the gym too much.Shame.However,there is always the goddess Jaime Pressley who has starred in a stunning run of turds but is still a fucking goddess...Even our little Brit girls have gone all yucky...Winslet?What are you doing,girl?You look like a mini-Judi Dench.Where's the sexy little Holloway Road bun seller?Kiera,oh Kiera...put some fucking weight on for gods sake,nipples like pygmys cocks....Catherine Zeta Jones!!Don't make me laugh,I'd wouldn't piss on her to put her out.Anything John Leslie has had with his ugly and weird looking cock has to have something wrong with it.Zhang Ziyi is cute but has the look of a little diva behind those eyes...The Dunst looks like the kinda girl who'd nick your fags all night then get drunk and 'fool around' by way of mock-fight foreplay.Known a few of them,you never forget the look in the eyes....I'll see this if Crowe uses another Jeff Buckley track in it so the cinema kicks out the jams.....oh,you can add Julia Roberts to the list of sex-free areas.Ughh,never got her thang.Diaz was cooky but that ran out quick smart.Drew Barrymore....nah,couldn't fuck her without thinking of Gerie...arrrrghhh.....Lucy Lui???Who THE FUCK told her she was pretty.Did she ever catch the fucker that kicked her face in?How dare she piss off the billmurray???.....oh and Kate Moss?What..are..you..playing at,lady?Dating a junkie?How cool you are.How boho.Pathetic.....I'm trying to think of more dogs....oh,my god I just thought of...blech...ughh...Sha...Sha...Shakira...ugghh..can't hold it....and om my goodness,what a difference 2 pounds of makeup made to you,Penelope Cruz,in Sahara...It's like Bette Davis said after looking at a picture of Meryle Streep,"What happened to the days when they'd hire attractive actress'!"
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He's damn good at it, but still. His movies feel like they're made by someone who makes movies to win the heart of the Cosmo-reading girl next door.
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thats all i have to say, looks just like Garden State, and i love Garden State but this is trying to be Garden State therefore i will go watch Garden State.
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yes, people, camerone crowe, director of say anything, jerry maguire, and writer of fast times is totally trying to copy that ugly sitcom actor and his affected, twee little indie film.
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God,I would murder that. And whoever mentioned Evan Rachel Wood I'm right with you.
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By murder I mean aggressive yet attentively gentle sexual intercourse and by Evan Rachel Wood I mean only after September 27 of this year. Thank you.
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But Zach Braff had a better eye for composition than Cameron Crowe has after 5 films. There were so many great shots in Garden State that I lost count, and not just from a "showing off" standpoint. The guy's got some serious talent. Yeah the screenplay was trite at times, but give the guy some credit for making his movie and having it look pretty damned good, not to mention being able to get a good performance out of the usually underdirected Natalie Portman. There
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but jaime pressly...gross. she's got that used up look.
shakira might be a but-her-face, but she has a smoking body. she does that booby dance in her new video. girl can always fall back on a stripping career at scores if music doesn't work out.
sienna miller, jennifer connelly, naomi watts, maggie gyllenhaal. more my speed.
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Sure, the genre is similar. And for those of you trashing on Garden State... i'd like to see just about anyone in the business put together that good of a film for the budget he had. What was it, like 3 million bucks? Great direction, performances... extremely watchable. I think Crowe makes really enjoyable films that oftem times miss any real emotional peaks and valleys (excepy for Maguire and Say Anything). A lot of his other movies are entertaining but bland. Bloom hasn't wowed me either. And i firmly side with the people who say Dunst looks like a snaggletoothed heroin addict. What does anyone find attractive about that?
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