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ELIZABETHTOWN review
In the last month I have only seen one new or current film coming to theaters soon. ELIZABETHTOWN. I saw it while I was briefly in Los Angeles while in the middle of my cross-country travels following the Alamo Drafthouse’s truck from one Austin to Austin with only 7000 miles between the start and stop.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, I am making a film at Paramount (JOHN CARTER OF MARS) and I do have a friendly relationship with the director of this film, Cameron Crowe. So feel free to completely discount anything I may have to say about this film, under the auspices of being “compromised” or whatever you feel like claiming about me.
I could easily just not write about this film. Nobody has “asked” me to write about it, nor have I even been “encouraged” to write about it, by anyone other than my father – and a few emails from readers asking me to please write about modern films again.
For the past 3 months or so, Cameron has been trying to set up a screening for me to see ELIZABETHTOWN… mainly due to the fact that I loved his script, when I reviewed it for the site all those moons ago and he was genuinely curious to see what I thought of the finished film. Originally he was planning to come to Austin to do a screening here with AICN – but schedules and timing got all askew and that didn’t work out. Then early in the summer I was going to be in L.A. and then that didn’t happen, so it got all askew again.
When I saw that I’d be hitting L.A. for a couple of days around the REPO MAN screening, I thought I’d take advantage of the chance to finally see ELIZABETHTOWN – one of my most anticipated films of 2005. Once I got the screening set up, Moriarty began begging me to let him see the film too. After forcing him to sign over the future recording rights of Toshiro Lucas, I consented to let him come see the film.
Father Geek, KublaKhan and I got lost trying to find the screening room and when I called Moriarty for help navigating Los Angeles – he promptly directed us into the heart of South Central Los Angeles where we fit in like me in a bikini. As soon as we figured out that when Moriarty said South he meant North and when he said right he meant left – we managed to find ourselves to the screening about 10 minutes late – and I absolutely detest being late to anything, it’s just rude.
When we got to the screening room, who should be there, but Cameron himself. Now, folks… I have to confess something here. I’ve had the great fortune of having spent hours on the phone to Mr. Crowe talking idly about music, film, politics and history. And upon finally meeting him, I tried be as nonchalant as possible – but… big heaps of adoration for this man and his work lay just beneath the surface of my skin. From FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH to the films he’s directed like SAY ANYTHING to SINGLES to JERRY MAGUIRE to ALMOST FAMOUS and to VANILLA SKY… he’s been a filmmaker that had his pulse on my perception of passion and love. He isn’t one for subtle gradual descents into mad love, but rather sudden abrupt sensations of over-whelming want and desire. He isn’t for everyone. There are sad sacks out there that can’t take seven servings of emotional overload, but I can. And it seems most of the folks I know are the same way.
They love big demonstrations of love. They love a movie that makes them groan out of a desire for someone to say that to them. That makes them want to stare blissfully into another’s eyes and say the sappiest dialogue you could think of. And for those of you out there in love, listen to what you say to the one you love – and imagine watching it on screen. Especially young love. Cameron gets the silly impractical whimsy of it.
It has been a long time since Cameron had a successful love story. That isn’t to say, he hasn’t made successful films that wrap you up in love, only to say that the characters within those films… haven’t necessarily been successful in love. ALMOST FAMOUS is very much about the one that got away, while VANILLA SKY is all about how love can destroy even the most successful amongst us. Here, here Cameron is exploring how when we are empty people at the ledge of the abyss, that love can fill us all the way back up… and make us live as we have never lived before.
That’s a big theme.
That when the world shits on you, your girlfriend betrays you, your career collapses and your father dies… that something as simply complex as an amazing woman could come along and refuse to let you slide down into the hell of self-loathing and self-destruction… but would rather lift you up and show you a world that you thought was gone to you. That you felt would never be there for you. And that makes you look at that spot you once considered the highest you’d ever be, and make you see it for the valley of your life, because only with this new love could you see the world as it really is.
Now, I’m a drunk fool in love. I love to be smacked up side the face and coo about how great I feel and how wonderful love is. I’m also one of those types that pangs for love when it isn’t there. That can see the drab grays of the brightest sunset when there isn’t a cheek to rest mine against to see those beautiful dying hues of the day with.
But – ELIZABETHTOWN is about more than even just that big theme of love filling your world. It’s also about slowing down to appreciate the world around you. It’s about appreciating the simple things in life. It’s about hitting the road to see this beautiful place you live in, instead of rushing to fly over it all. It’s about point A to point Z and hitting all the vowels and consonants in-between. It’s about trying to get more out of life than a position or a place of notoriety. It’s about seeing beauty in a washed up cousin’s band or the wonder of getting that screaming kid to appreciate the wonder of explosions. It’s about coffins vs. urns, it’s about the mortality of your parents and taking that road trip that dad wants to go on this year, instead of next. It’s about endless celphone conversations where you have to plug in the charger because you’ve talked so long the battery is running out – and about getting up pre-dawn to meet this fabulous woman for a look at the sun rising.
It’s about weird stops at Dinosaur World or the Hotel where MLKjr was killed. It’s about moving on when the worst happens… and finding a new world of options and chances.
As you can probably gather, I love this movie. I love it because in watching the film, I found I really did love Orlando Bloom as an actor without a sword and a cape. This is a film that has Orlando slow down and be a human being. Not an Elf. Not the all-powerful Blacksmith. Instead, he’s just a guy that’s never slowed down to appreciate much of anything in life. Whose cel phone has never not not ringed. He’s got a great expressive face in this film, he wears weary well. He seems a wisp of a man here, worn out too soon. He’s great in the film.
But even greater is Kirsten Dunst. To me, her Claire Colburn is my female Lloyd Dobler. She’s that sort of woman that’s just so utterly fantastically fabulous and awesome that she recognizes that though you are a silly man with a “poor pitiful me” myopic view of the world, that she sees that you’re not poor or pitiful or even completely pathetic. She’s the sort of gal that recognizes that you’re not ready to move on to the next relationship, that you’re so caught up with what’s happened to you, and where you are that you can’t even imagine a “we” anytime in your future, so she does what has to be done to get you to a point where you can’t imagine being a “me” or an “I” but desperately needs to be a “we”. And I’m not really sure if that makes 2 licks of a bit of sense… but the map she gives Orlando’s Drew… And the road trip part of this movie – it’s totally and impractibly unreal.
It’s a bit of magic – a great what if. Nobody anywhere could construct the map she makes for Drew. It’s fantasy. In 2 days – she made a multi-day moment by moment map accompanied by music, side trips and spectacles? This isn’t reality – this is the love drunk world of cinematic two fisted chest thumping love. Where the impossible is a montage away. And I loved it.
The only part of the film that felt a bit wrong for me, was the big Susan Sarandon stage moment – but ya know – the more I’ve thought on it, the more it made sense. You see – when her husband died – she went crazy knowing she’d have to see all these relatives and people that she never felt a part of – and she wanted to show them, one last time why she was the fabulous creature that took their “Mitch” away. She needed them to all be in awe of who and what she was. She needed them to accept and love her. Because all these crazy relatives… that’s all the “Mitch” she had left. And she wasn’t ready to let go.
Now, it could be argued that this scene could be cut, as it isn’t directly key to Drew’s story, but I would disagree. Because it is in this scene that you realize what an amazing woman his father married and how impractically over the top her love for him was. That made him realize that that was what was missing in his life, only it wasn’t missing. It was Claire.
Sure – I saw this movie in the middle of a road trip of discovery. Sure, just a week before I went back to the little town that I haven’t been back to in 15 years and had an amazing emotional recovery over what had transpired there all those years ago. And sure, I’ve been stopping at road stop Americana’s all over the great American West. And absolutely, I’ve done this trip with my Father and my Nephew and I’m wrapped up with family. And sure, the trip meant a slowdown of phone calls and emails, and absolutely I’m gaga over a gal right now. And yes, I’m goofy in love with life and not a cynical prick picking at a film about all of this and more. But I’ll say this, I love this movie, because to me, it’s exactly what I want and hope for every time I see “A Cameron Crowe Film”!
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I think this film will be great, that flaw Harry wrote about doesn't seem that bad to me.
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Well I had to get in this TB, before it descends into another cynical, anti-Harry, anti Crowe hate fest. If nothing else it was well written, thoughtfull and earnest review. And hopefully, it wll be an earnest, thoughtfull well crafted film. Flame on.
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Just get to the damn review already. I read three paragraphs, and it was about a trip to the theater and your friendship with Cameron Crowe. We don't care. Either review the movie or hire an editor.
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You've worked hard to justify why you love a movie that about 97% of people who've seen it thus far think is the cinematic equivalent of dog shit Harry, so I'll give you that much for the effort. The problem with Crowe's movies, and with your rationalization of your love for this film, is that it has no business in the REAL WORLD. Yes, good old reality... Crowe does not make movies that take place on planet earth. He makes movies that take place in fantasyland where love saves the day, doves coo, and every moment of your life is set to the perfect pop song. I distinctly recall loving movies like that... WHEN I WAS 12 YEARS OLD. The reason I despise Crowe so much is that this kind of outlook, which Harry you've obviously fallen for, just encourages the infantilization of our culture, our world... it's simply not realistic to treat this sugar-coated, sentimental bullshit like it means anything. I'm not saying that every movie has to be a Godardian deconstruction of pop culture's impact on reality... but Crowe pushes it to such extremes that it's like eating double chocolate frosting until you vomit. The fact that this movie is a bomb in the waiting just shows how far he's come from the early days, when he was able to balance his saccharine cuteness with a bit of a cultural edge (I'm thinking Say Anything to portions of Jerry Maguire), to now, when most of his die-hard fans are wondering what fucking planet his brain escaped to. Grow up, Harry... you're too old to be writing the reviews of a 10-year-old.
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Mad props to Shelly Mann. Hope you made it out of Rhineyville...
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Pay no attention to the ne'r-do- wells Harry, that was an eloquent piece of writing - straight from the heart.
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Hey Harry, that was a good review. I love Crowe as much as you and I really want to like this...Man, I wish I didn't have that thing in the back of mind about all of those disappointed critics and moviegoers at the Toronto Film Fest..and Orlando Bloom? I really really want him to cut it in this movie. I'll hold on to faith that you liked it and I hope that the romantic comes out in me when watching...
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So, as an adult, you're not supposed to like kid movies or sappy romances? I see, you're too cool, too intellectual and too ABOVE that.
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Yeah, I wasn't going to see this anyway, not being a fan of Cameron's, but WOW, dude. It doesn't get any cheesier. But I was entertained by the review, which is why I read it. But damn, way to describe idealized love from a dude who's never experienced true love. It ain't all shamrocks and hearts and clovers.
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Movies aren't real.
They never will be. They're fiction and you know what Cameron Crowe happens to make films about love. If you don't like love stories, don't watch it. That's fine, I think almost every romantic comedy is trash (there are exceptions, as to every genre).
My point is, you want reality, go see a documentary...or go out and live your own life. Film is not reality nor will it ever be. -
Wow, Harry... a triple negative... you've really outdone yourself this time.
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What do you think happened in that small town so many years ago? Ass rape for Harry mayhaps? How would that work? Ropes and Pullys?
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There is a place for this type of movie, and it definately will not play well to the overly-cynical. I love my movies dark, but my favorite film of all time is Say Anything. It is certainly not the most realistic depiction of love as I have come to realize it, but thats not what it is about. Its about how love should be, and can be. That film has always given me hope, and I'm looking forward to Elizabethtown for all the same reasons. Great review Harry. Moriarty... please, I've been waiting for yours for what is getting dangerously close to being forever now.
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I love Cameron Crowe films. They're filled with moments and characters that are human. They may be pop songs to some of you, but they are great pop songs. All of his characters have arcs in his films, not just the lead. I give him credit that he can get away with doing that as the studio's don't give a shit about anyone other than the star and the love interest. Crowe's films are about people and themes and love in all it's different forms and I get pumped when a new film of his comes out.
That said, I've heard the reviews from Toronto and I've heard the comment by the studio that Cameron is back editing this and that what showed in Toronto isn't what is going to be released but I will still see this movie.
What bothers me about this review is yet again, it's Harry hooking up someone he "knows" and coming right out to say it. If you tickle his belly enough he'll purr for you. In one way, it's cool since he seems to be a loyal friend/contact to people in the industry but sitting back where I am you can just see through his whole act. We all can see you through you Harry. You're not objective or relevant anymore.
I can tell when Harry is plugging and trying to change buzz. He'll trump and defend his friend's and contact's films, but will let everything else slip by without a mention. His review for Avary's Rules of Attraction was alone one of his worst offenses in trying to build buzz for a friend, not to mention how DelToro can shit on celluloid and Harry will find the corn in it and call it total genuis, something the box office has never said about a DelToro film.
In that sense, this place has become a publicity club for people Harry likes.
Show us some objectivity again Harry. Come out swinging at some new films because they suck. As a matter of fact, show some balls and come out swinging at a Paramount film that sucks (let's see an objective review of YOURS, MINE AND OURS) or are you afraid to do that because of your producing deal.
Either way, I do think that Moriarty (even though he's a star fucker/ass kisser at times) seems to be the best person writing about film on this site.
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Sep 22, 2005 3:36:18 AM CDT
'...where we fit in like me in a bikini.' *shudder* yeah
by big_bubbaloola
i'm gonna go scrub my brain now to eradicate the memory!
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Really, seeing this movie I couldn't enjoy it because the bad acting of the lead actor. I kept on thinking how great Topher Grace or Tobey Maguire would have been in the role.
And Kirsten Dunst plays the most implausibly lovable girl, who falls for a guy she meets on the plane just because is cute, despite him being really obnoxious. -
I totally agree with you... thanks for pointing all of those things out. I thought "Jerry Maguire" had THE corniest dialogue ever... "You had me at "hello"????? Whatever.
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...about introspective characters? Yikes! It's like a German musical, a British porn, or a French western movie.
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I know the feeling you're talking about. Thinking of this feeling is both hurtful and heartwarming. I belive you're mostly sincere and that makes me like reading and thinking about what you wrote. Thanks. No cynicism from me.
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Nate, movies are fantasy. You namedrop Godard, but Godard's movies are about as fantastic as they get. Breathless, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, My Life to Live...all of it is fantasy bullshit. It's a big joke, his whole mise en scene is a giant wink at the audience. Even the most austere directors like Bergman or Antonioni aren't realistic. Real-life isn't like their movies. L'avventura is just as much bullshit as Say Anything. Through a Glass Darkly is just as much bullshit as Gamera 3. So let's say reality is somewhere between Max von Sydow and Gamera. That's what film is for - not just film, but music, painting, literature, all art - those extremes of the human condition. It's just as unlikely for someone to live by a stark, sinister seashore and watch as their incestuously-inclined wife has a mental breakdown that involves a vision of God as a spider, as it is for a giant turtle to storm downtown Tokyo. That being said, just because a film is a romantic comedy doesn't mean it has to be sappy bullshit. A film can be funny, and romantic, and a lot of other things all at once. Here are some of my favorites: Jules and Jim, Chungking Express, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Notti bianche, Claire's Knee, Bringing Up Baby, Sholay, His Girl Friday...some are dramas, musicials or adventure films, but they're all also romantic and funny. Which is a pretty good combination if you ask me. We need new films from Crowe just as much as we need new ones from Tsai Ming-Liang. And that's the double-truth, Ruth.
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Reading some of the other TBers I must have obscured my point... the idea that movies are supposed to "represent" reality to the nth degree is silly... MechaTruffaut has more or less made the same point. The best art -- as in movies, music from classical to pop, painting, literature, etc. -- have something to say ABOUT the real world by echoing not by simply constructing a photographic or descriptive reality but linking to an emotional and intellectual one. That is why Claire's Knee can speak about romantic obsession in the same way that Godzilla spoke about the destruction of Japan during WWII. That is my complaint with Crowe's recent work: it's not happening anymore. Look at Say Anything or Singles... they're comedies, certainly not "realistic" yet they manage to hit chords of recognition in their awkward depiction of beginning and maintaining relationships. I really don't think Crowe is interested in that anymore... the films have become so blutly artificial that they've lost that link to anything other than my aforementioned 10-year-old mindset -- that link to the real world. That is what I am speaking against: not romantic comedies, not fantasy in movies, but movies in which said comedy or fantasy has nothing to say other than to mindlessly entertain via the maturity level of a child. I think it's funny because Crowe seemed tougher when he was younger... the older he's gotten, the more his films have regressed into pap. I guess I would expect him to get smarter as he goes along, not the other way around.
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Someone had to say it.
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Does that mean Harry has been "asked" and "encouraged" to write about certain films in the past, which then only proves how this site isn't as immune to outside influence as we're all lead to believe.
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Sep 22, 2005 1:18:34 PM CDT
Nate, I have no idea which movies of Crowe's you're talk
by wackynephews
Almost Famous was about the triumph of friendship not about love...if it had anything to say about love it's that sometmes we fall for the wrong person, we know it, but we stil see them as the one that got away. Vanilla Sky is about how what we think of as a form of love (sex) can turn on us in the worst possible way. Neither of those seem like the rose coloured version of love you seem to think Crowe has. So, besides the pap that was Jerry Maguire, what movies were you talking about?
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Good points. Didn't mean to dog you earlier. I can see looking at a Crowe movie now and seeing that he has somewhat lost his touch. Nothing like Fast Times. Almost Famous was sugary and sweet(Hell, look at the band singing "Tiny Dancer" together on the bus)But it did have that awkward and funny feeling of growing up in a different enviornment, much like you said about maintaing relationships. Which is what he's good at. So, what I think is that overall, he's a great writer/director and his only fault is Vanilla Sky. From what I saw in the trailer for Elizabethtown, your thoughts are exactly right. Sadly.
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I also vaguely remember Harry mentioning that his deal was with Revolution for Ghost Town. Revolution has no more money to produce things and that project too is in development hell.
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What the hell do you know about art or even life? If you understood art or life you wouldn't say what you say. - Anyone who seriously tries to say anything in a aicn talkbalk is just looking for someone to listen because everyone they know in person has heard the bullshit before and won't listen anymore.
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Odd - if we had stole the rights to JOHN CARTER OF MARS, surely the Burroughs Estate would have sued us. Bitter much? That's why Ehren is no longer our writer. I think you're greatly deluded about Kerry Conran, he'll definitely get a film greenlit. As for GHOST TOWN - we've just been given the go ahead to do the polish on the second draft - and we're formally approaching two actors for parts in the film as well as a director. They've had 2 drafts of the script and a great deal of pre-production art. Wow, Thrall - you sure know everything.
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He may be a little cynical, but he's not too off the mark about most of these things. Let's face it, most of Crowe's movies aren't that great...not because of their fantastic attitude, romance or "sappiness" - but because they're not all that well made! Say Anything was good, Almost Famous was pretty enjoyable, but Jerry Maguire was hit-and-miss and Vanilla Sky was awful. We need filmmakers like Crowe, but I don't like him much in particular, though I do love many directors who work in his genre: Truffaut, Kar-Wai, Rohmer, Renoir, Ozu, Hawks, Fellini - upbeat (sort of...not nihilistic, anyway) films with the perfect combination of whimsical romance and bittersweet super-reality. I don't like his movies too much, but we need filmmakers LIKE Crowe. And you can't blame Champion for getting too aggressive when Harry is so overreachingly adamant about how great the film is, when most evidence points to the contrary...
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It looks so maudlin that it's embarrassing.
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...but they're both philosophies, at the end of the day. If Crowe makes "romantic" movies that don't have much of a basis in reality, at least they're not stuffed to the gills with racism, oversexed grandmas, socially awkward friends/foils, or whatever else screenwriters insert into rom-coms these days. Maybe they don't provoke our interest in something more tangible than love, but maybe, for some people that's enough.
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...this movie is looking a little sugary for my tastes. Call me a sad-sack, or whatever, but the scene where Susan Sarandon does her little dance, even if it makes sense in the context of the movie, was just too precious. I don't know. But I'll probably end up seeing it, I hope I'll end up liking it, and if people come away from this movie feeling better about the world, great. In my opinion anyway. ******************* P.S. for Harry: so Ehren Kruger's draft for 'John Carter' sucked, eh? Doesn't seem that surprising; no offense towards you or anything, but the only movie of his I've really liked was 'The Ring' (haven't seen 'Arlington Road') and I think that had a lot more to do with Gore Verbinski than anyone else.
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Spinal Tap comes to mind.
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Sep 22, 2005 4:12:50 PM CDT
Just wrote this post, lost it, so this will have to be a quicker
by seppukudkurosawa
It seems to me that Cameron Crowe is one of the easiest guys to relate with in the whole of Hollywood. Every film from Fast Times (screenwriter, plus author or the source book) up to Almost Famous has displayed a sensitivity you just don't find in movies buy a guy, and they still hold onto their sense of humour too. I must have read every article he ever wrote for Creem, Rolling Stone a al on the cameroncroweonline website, and he also was one hell of a readable journalist; even at the age of 15. Also the let his mum take part in the Almost Famous commentary track. And still sweared. That alone should cement his reputation through the ages. He's like Kevin Smith if he directed films.
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Sep 22, 2005 4:14:53 PM CDT
that post has a few errors in it, like saying sweared instead of
by seppukudkurosawa
You just don't know what you missed out on when I fucked up the original post. That was like Orson Welles planned cut of Touch of Evil. Err, much better.
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and I used to feel like Harry did about love movies and how romantic life could be...then I lost weight, got laid and now I could give 2 shits about love...it's all about the ass.
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lose weight Harry and you'll get laid and your reviews won't come off as quite so gay anymore.
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Do you think the next time you see him you could ask him for my $19.50 back? If you saw the same film that was foisted upon us in Toronto, I can't even imagine giving it a positive review with a straight face. Let there be no mistake people, Elizabethtown is a cinematic fart in church. I've read a bunch of Toronto recaps since the festival ended and almost all of them named Elizabethtown or Revolver as the worst piece of crap there. So, I guess the glowing Revolver review is right around the corner.
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Sep 22, 2005 4:43:36 PM CDT
I swear Harry should exercise his rights as head honcho of this
by seppukudkurosawa
And edit all these pointless posts that crop-up every time he writes a review. "You're fat so probs never sat next to a woman in your life". Leave the man alone, or rather next time you see a fat person in the street call him fat to his face. Seriously, just say to the guy: "Excuse me sir, but you're fat. Ever had a girlfriend? Not likely fattie." You conjur up the cojones to do something like that and maybe you've got the right to talk shit about the guy who started this website. And frodosblueballs. Yes, fat people are by rights gay. And if you used to be as wistful and romantic as Harry is about movies and how romantic life is before you lost weight, I reccommend you hit those donuts again because that kind of attitude is worth looking-and sounding like- Dustin Diamond or that small whiney guy in Seinfeld and Pretty Woman (a film I fucking hate), James Alexander. You were probably just being sardonical and I just made an idiot of myself Frodo, but there are people like that who wish everyone were Aryan Supermen. (TIP: Hitler fucked up because he didn't realise, it ain't the look it's the attitude).
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...tell him to put a Celebrity Playlist on iTunes! Damn do I want that guy's music collection!
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I'm 9 paragraphs into this 'review' and it hasn't even started yet.
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...got a bit carried away there. But the guy *does* have a killer taste in music.
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Did you seriously just make a Hitler reference in an Elizabethtown talkback? That's genius.
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Sep 22, 2005 4:51:42 PM CDT
What's that? About 5 paragraphs from the end. I finally find
by cpt kirks 2pay
Yeah at last. Oh, and what's that Harry? You 'love' the movie? Yeah how predictable. Oh, I give up with Harry, I dunno if I can be bothered to carry on reading.
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Sep 22, 2005 4:57:06 PM CDT
Seppukus "The Musical Influences of Director Cameron Crowe part
by seppukudkurosawa
1)Led Zeppelin - That's the Way
2)Neil Young - Ambulance Blues
3)Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
4)Allman Brothers - One Way Out
5) Crosby, Stills and Nash - Almost Cut my Hair
6) Country Joe and the Fish - I feel like I'm fixin to die
7) Radiohead - Everything in it's right place
8) R.E.M - Sweetness Follows
9)Beach Boys - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
10) Van Morrison - Cypress Avenue
11)Yes - Starship Trooper
+ Some shit he wrote with his wife from heart for the fake band stillwater. -
Sep 22, 2005 5:13:00 PM CDT
Theres nothing wrong with being fat...unless you want to die
by frodosblueballs
seppukudkurosawa you must be a fat whiny bitch too....wah wah I can't get laid...go lose weight you fat fuck. Oh, and next time you want to flex your vocabulary, try using the word correctly. Sardonical is not a word, it's sardonic or sardonically.
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Sep 22, 2005 5:15:01 PM CDT
And it's a rite of passage to make fun of Harry's weight
by frodosblueballs
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Am I the only one who sees a strong similarity between these two movies? It is just too close a story.
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sardonical isn't a word. I've just rode from Brighton to London, in England. Makes a person tired. I gotta say, though it doesn't really matter, I'm not fat. Doubtful I'd have made the ride if I were. Maybe it's my metabolism, I can eat and eat and not gain any weight at all. I get your point about really fat people, you gotta wonder how they got to that point- and most of them I've come across seem to have skipped the culture and swapped it for fast food and chocolate, but the fact is I've been reading Harry's stuff on this sight long enough to know that there's nothing wrong with his psyche other than the fact that he takes that flying leap into the sea of hyperbole one too many times. So pick on that mono-syllabic Mcdonalds head instead of him.
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But the film itself really isn't that similar. For one thing, Garden State was good. Not great. But good. Elizabethtown sucked. Hard. Even the stuff Crowe usually gets right, like music, don't work. In fact, the scene where they play U2's Pride in the name of love while they're at the hotel where MLK was assassinated may be the single most cringe-inducing scene of the year. It makes me feel yucky just thinking about it.
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As an indy theater owner I hope your right on,but from what I read about the film's screening at the Toronto Film Festival it was the most disappointing movie shown
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Has anyone read that article in the new issue of "Nathan Jr." called "Harry Knowles: The Greatest Hyperbolizer in the History of the Universe"? It's a frickin' hilarious compilation of Harry's hyperbolic reviews over the years. At least with "Elizabethtown," he seemed to restrain himself.
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Sep 22, 2005 5:52:25 PM CDT
If Almost Famous didn't come out I'd have to say that
by seppukudkurosawa
that'd make a 2-film bum streak for him. And considering he doesn't churn a film out every year that's pretty bad. But Almost Famous did come out so there's always hope... I wouldn't doubt if his well's gone dry though, I think AF, or untitled, was so good because it had that autobiography factor going for it, but a lot of director's careers have gone downhill after making their most personal film. You can only mine Love and Nostalgia for so long before you've gotta hit a new topic. Vanilla Sky wasn't even his own film really, despite Writing, Directing, Producing, and even Composing for it, the original Abre Los Ojos was much better. For a start it didn't have Cameron Diaz doing here kooky homicidal thing. Chances are he only hired her for the amazing on-set anecdotes about that one time someone shouted Cameron and they both looked up.
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Sep 22, 2005 6:52:23 PM CDT
So We're Supposed To Buy That Orlando Bloom's Character
by zombiesolutions
give me a fucking break. the only problem Orlando Bloom has with women is trying to beat them away with sticks. ALL women love Bloom. have you ever met a girl who wasn't totally in love with him? i mean seriously now. heres a novel idea -- cast the romantically longing guy as the unattractive or average looking guy who actually looks like he might have trouble with women. might help with the whole, uh, "box office slump"?
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It was called The Apartment. Apparently Crowe's favourite film actually so you'd think he'd take your advice. And you're right about Bloom, even my mother's got a poster of him on her bedroom wall.
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I'm just going to type that in the talkback from now on. It's about as intelligent as almost everything else that is being said.
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There have been worse. I remember ages back there was a news item about Sly Stallone being cast as the movie version of Dr.Who. Anyone who responds to something like that in a talkback probably isn't beyond poop and pee.
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Because you're tainted. Most of the talkback crowd is deluded by the easy access this site provides into test screenings and their reviews, the rumors, the nuggets of info the fanboys and geeks live off of and live for. Where did ya'll go before AICN? Who did you have to bash in such an anonymous manner, you studly barons of original wit? Everyone here feels as if they KNOW Harry or Moriarty or Quint and why is that? Because they make it so simple for you to feel accepted by a community that is just like you? Their kindness (and trust me when I say that meeting deadlines for shit pay and shit commentary by people who probably know jack shit, and doing it with attention and diligence because THEY love what they do and who they do it for - THAT'S kindness) is rewarded generally by cynical pricks (who spend half their surfing time with one hand strategically placed on the keyboard and one, well, elsewhere) that have nothing better to say or do than bash the very review they came to read. SO Harry loves Elizabethtown. So he's in love and feels the very pull that love can create in the center of one's being and if half of you little punks had ever experianced the divine comfort of having a partner, a lover, of someone WHO CARES, who really wants to know about your life and you feelings and who just wants to make you happy, than you would identify with Harry's need to express his love for this movie. A movie never has to be the next Kane to qualify as great - in that moment, the way your heart and mind is adjusted, any movie could be the best movie,and if this man is gaga over a gal, if he's friend with the director and loves the man's work, than who are ya'll to hold him up and throw stones? He said the word love in that review over 25 times and around the second time you must have had your hands in your pockets reaching for pebbles. I am so sick of the sad cynical nature of you talkbackers who no matter what have a pre-determined cry of SAPPY! PLANT! KISS ASS! Rub his belly! Whatever. I feel sorry for some of ya'll, I truly do. Give Harry his due. He's given you a gift in AICN that has yet to be reproduced on the net and you've given him nothing but grief - you stare the gift-horse in the mouth and expect him not to bite back one day? You'll be sad if this site disappears, if Harry gives it up or if he gets worn out by you fuckers. Think about what you really want - early reviews, rumors which are discountEd the second these guys know or corrabarated that same second, cool pics, early trailers, etc? Or do you want to be chickens picking at the one bloody chicken in the pen? Sad...
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Sep 22, 2005 8:02:39 PM CDT
A non-jaded talkbacker, you must be a mirage or something.
by seppukudkurosawa
Altamuratj I agree with you 100%, but I think you'd better expect a back-lash, these brutes don't take being kicked in the head lying down. Not that you'd give a shit, you obviously don't get your rocks off mindlessly throwing mud at people, which is the average talkbacker's Methodone to living; when that gets a little too stressful why not call someone a fat virginal bastard.
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Next time you find it convenient to regurgiate your little emo whinings about the downfall of culture realize exactly what you're bitching about there brother - the, uhhh, downfall of, umm, pop cultural society because of, well, a movie? Because if your no doubt higher intelligence is geared toward such pragmatic topics than perhaps you'd would better enjoy the forums over at The Christian Coalition Web Page or maybe even over at the Hump A Republican Website which is great really. Because other than assholes like you and the republicans and the radically religous, no one seriously feels that a love story not centered around one iota of political discussion will truly signal the collpase of modern society. In fact I don't know ANYONE who has ever said that escaping reality through a portal such as film would cause any damage to anybody...ever. I mean, EVER. I guess we could all go back to snorting lines of hooker ass and driving 911's over cliff railings...yeah, sweet, that's what we'll do. So please make all my movies more realistic, take out the exaggerated joy of life only film can capture so brightly and replace it with depressing, drippy faucets, the sounds of bills being opened and the realization that love will someday burn out. Please, give me reality in that which I puruse to escape exactly that - reality. Champion - you're an ass.
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I don't think anyone's said it any better than you just did now. For what it's worth, I throw my hat in with you.
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When I said "just now" I meant your first post. That last one was a little... bizarre.
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The non-jaded become jaded by the jaded for the very reason that they never intended on being jaded...wow, now I'm jaded on the word jaded. Seriously, I am tired of anger, man, read the post by that littleprick Atomic Thumb where he had the nerve to talk about Harry's greasy cheeks and his big head and so what, you know? No one taking the time to write on Talkback on Aint It Cool News.com at 7pm when Happy Hour or work is still going on ain't exactly a male model Casanova probably. I'm not. So who am I to play the disgruntled first grader and name call a man who esstenially has given me a lot of joy through his own efforts which I never asked for? SO maybe jaded...maybe sick of the jaded.
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Sep 22, 2005 8:21:05 PM CDT
You went from being Martin Luther King to being Lenny Bruce in o
by seppukudkurosawa
Not sure which I prefer.
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Just kiddin... I actually never posted before until my first large post above and I would have stopped there and never come back until I read Nate Champion's brilliant dissection of Harry's review of Elizabethtown and his own unique views on why Crowe is crazy for having passion geared towards positive living...then I had to say something. I rather enjoy reading talk backs, might not stick around to do much posting though. I see better in the dark...
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who's spent hours trawling through crappy site after crappy site only to think, forget it why not check out aintitcoolnews instead. I don't know how many articles I've read over the years. It's gotta be deep into the thousands though if there are already 21k and counting. Long live Harry Knowles and his Hell's Angels beard.
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Sep 22, 2005 8:39:27 PM CDT
Whoever wrote that last post was a bit seedy, you could almost s
by seppukudkurosawa
PLANT!
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My, my, Altamuratj
(Yeah I'm thinkin' 'bout you)
My, my, baby blue
Yeah, you're so Jaded
And Nate's the one that Jaded you
Thank you, I'm here all week, try the squid! -
Sep 23, 2005 9:18:36 AM CDT
There are films Champion's analysis could be justly applied
by fluffyunbound
I'm the most bitter and cynical asshole on these boards. But I don't see how you can claim that "Say Anything", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Singles" and "Almost Famous" are detached from reality. To me they seem quite rooted in reality, and that's why each of them has become a signpost of memory about the times they depict. They just happen to choose to focus on those parts of reality which reveal truth to us through sentiment. You will learn a lot more about the "reality" of lost youth if you have a few beers tonight and watch "Fast Times" again than you will be reading a sociology thesis about it. I think that films of this type become most "detached from reality" when they are done on-demand, to-formula, as a marketing exercise [think "Must Love Dogs"]. And I simply don't see how we can possibly accuse Crowe of making his films that way. Even in material that I don't much care for - like "Jerry Maguire" - there's an inner core of a decent film that is undone largely because a small number of over-the-top scenes and lines of dialogue were run into the ground by repetition in the pop culture as a whole. If you take out "Show me the money!" and "You had me at hello" and make it impossible for annoying dopes to repeat those lines all over the place for five years, the movie becomes much more tolerable and much less offensive.
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I guess you either buy into Crowe's excesses or you don't. I mean, a guy holding a boombox over his head to serenade his girlfriend? That's pretty overwrought, don't you think? But in the context of the film, it's brilliant. Mostly because the way the story is constructed, that moment feels earned. It feels real. And not the least bit cheesy. In Elizabethtown, he doesn't earn any of those big moments. But he puts them in there anyway. Not surprisingly, they go over like a lead balloon. A lot of it stems from the fact that the romance in Elizabethtown doesn't feel genuine. It feels manufactured. Remember the scene in Say Anything when Lloyd was teaching Diane to drive stick? There's more truth and emotion in that one scene than in all of Elizabethtown. All 2 hours and 15 minutes of it. Not that I was looking at my watch every five minutes or anything.
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Sep 23, 2005 2:56:09 PM CDT
People sacrificed goats to the Gods quite awhile ago too...
by seppukudkurosawa
And the advent of sheep (they don't fight back) put a stop to that nasty business. I think altamuratj was just trying to break the mould after being driven over the edge. Pork grease may be what talkbacks are about, but they're not what Elizabethtown talkbacks are about. As Garbageman said, Elizabethtown talkbacks are about Hitler. Get with the program, bud.
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"Elizabethtown is easily one of the best films ever made... by humans. If Jesus Christ came down from heaven and told me that I could either join him in the eternal kingdom with all of my loved ones and become one with Cosmic Consciousness, or watch Elizabethtown once more, I would grab him by his robe and punch him directly in the sternum... and then I would watch Elizabethtown."
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Sep 23, 2005 3:13:01 PM CDT
Congratulations to Altamuratj for actually being a human being
by oisin5199
and calling people on their shit-spewing talkbacking ways. If I read another talkback about Harry's weight or mocking his opinions I'll scream. He must have the patience of a saint to put up with all the crap that most people throw around here, much of it directed at him personally, which is ridiculous, since this is ONLINE. The people behind AICN have graciously provided a means to distribute news and opinions and have provided a forum for people to discuss these things and all most of you can do is bitch and just generally be mean and petty just for the sake of doing it. As far as Crowe goes, I haven't seen this movie, but I will be disappointed if it's not good. His movies give us something to strive for - sometimes life can be beautiful. Almost Famous was a love letter to rock music. Jerry Maguire, which I refused to see for several years after it's release, surprised me. Don't confuse the movie with the endless pop culture repetitions of the catchphrases. His characters are deeply flawed but somehow they're able to stumble through. And I quite liked Vanilla Sky and its surreality. A pretty unique film. I thought it was Cameron Diaz's best performance. The air of sadness around her was palpable. I haven't seen the original, but a friend of mine did. Her first language is Spanish, and she much preferred Crowe's version. Crowe is a strong American voice in pop cinema and I'd rather see his failures then most of the crap in theatres.
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where every time a Jewish extra comes on the screen you take a shot of absinthe. I really shouldn't have picked Fiddler on the Roof last time I played that, I seem to remember being smart a long time ago. That's what pickling your brain stalk does to you.
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There are no absolutes in film. No guarantees of formula, no sure things regardless what any Harvard MBA with a Paramount badge would like to think. Fickle audiences, current events, shifting moods in society, political unrest - all of this can affect the reception a film can expect. Crowe understands this and doesn't gear his films towards any particular attitude of any particular era. Singles can be exempt because the early to mid 90's was such a time of lost identity for the US and the musical landscape was our crutch influence, so most films set in a contemporary setting at that time were soaked in what we would now consider grunge, 90's nostalgia. But Crowe for the most part shoots for the timeless effect and he does this by understanding the multi-faceted nature of film and the collaborative efforts it takes to create beautiful movies. Film isn't simply a visual experience no matter what your film professor would like to tell you. Every art form is exploited to it's best potential in film - from the costume designer who is an artist in his/her own right to the conductor to the soundtrack coordinator to the photographer/DP to the editor who must have a born knack for pacing, film is a combination of every talent a right-sided mind can muster. Crowe knows this. He appeals to your heart, to your ears, to your eyes, and if the end result seems cheapened by the films desire to please you should sit back consider just how thoroughly awash in good feelings you are. The right pop song, rock song, aria accenting the right moment of a film can bring ecstasy that one can't explain. The goose bumps you get when Elton John kicks in with Tiny Dancer during Almost Famous' bus scene and the cast sings along, swept away, that's powerful. The little kid staring Jerry Maguire down, the realization of what he has become, the music kicking in and the dolly shot of a lost Jerry running, running, anywhere, that's powerful. If it's considered cheap, so be it. Film coming together the way Crowe does it is a beautiful thing and if the movie isn
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Look the man may have started this website b/c of his love for movies, but stop sucking his dick b/c he's "gracious" enough to post on this website. If it wasn't for this website him and his buddies behind this website wouldn't get on-set visits, free screenings, interviews with celebrities, etc. So yes I love this website, but I don't need to get on my hands and knees and thank Harry for taking the time out of his precious day to fill us in on the latest movie news and it doesn't mean we can't make fun of the man. He loves the attention and there are two reasons people come to this website...one is to discuss movie related business and the second is to flame on eachother...including Harry.
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I erm got given the DVD and on the deleted scenes there's quite a few vampires and werewolves in the background. Look closely. I'm not saying that the Wachowski brothers didn't listen to Harry's comments and say in Olsen twin fashion at the exact same time, "Fuck it the man's right, but it's too late to change it what can we do now? I know, make a "deleted" scene with the werewolves and vampires "kept in". Yes. That'll keep our reputation up."
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That deserves a plaque, but there've been tons of black people in Cameron Crowe's movies. Look at Cuba Gooding Jnr for example. It's not like Cameron Crowe thought, wait have I ever put a black person in one of my movies? I know what, I'll write a substantial part for that guy in that black film where people shot each other. Forest Whitaker in Fast Times doesn't count because he didn't direct and cast that movie.
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Sep 23, 2005 6:32:10 PM CDT
We seem to be in some kind of post collegiate romantic period of
by neo zeed
How many rom-coms did this site review? I swear it's too many. What about Kurt Wimmer's Ultraviolet? I haven't heard dick about it and I heard the action was awesome.
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Sep 23, 2005 8:48:05 PM CDT
I was certain I'd seen every Eddie Murphy film ever made
by seppukudkurosawa
until you brought up Best Defence. I'll look for it at my nearest video store pronto.
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Perfect breasts on a thin girl , and cute too..great casting :)
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S'matter, "electric boog-a-loo" hurting your eyes these days? Wow Part II, dissing Orlando Bloom or ___(fill in the blank with any LoTR actor)! We get the shtick brudder, we really do...no need for the endless repitition. ** Good lord, this movie sounds even sappier than I imagined from the trailer. No thanks Harry, think I'll pass on this one though I do like most of Crowe's movies.
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Sep 24, 2005 4:54:02 PM CDT
the lower the breast size the more they've got to say
by seppukudkurosawa
and Cameron Crowe has pretty small tits if you ask me.
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It left me cold. I dont know whether or not i want to see this film. My mother two years ago next july and it will be my grandmothers first anniversary in January.
The trailer didnt do anthing for me really and for me the cruise connection is a turnoff.
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...glad you dedicated part of your Saturday afternoon to lil' ol' moi. I'll be looking for legolas doing the electric slide with Kong and the T-rex. Maybe Bloom can talk PJ into letting Kirsten have a cameo to...it could happen! Oh yeah, I got some glue for that broken cd of yours.
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Is Moriarty ever going to post his review of this movie? For fuck's sake...
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anyone know?
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i hate the normal annoying, negative, bullshitting talkbackers... but seriously, this movie is really bad. when your two leads are literally outshone by every other character in the movie, even if the characters dont have lines and are used simply in sight gags, you know something is dreadfully wrong.
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