Best Crowe Film

Started by Banky, January 19, 2004, 08:19:52 PM

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grand theft sparrow

Quote from: Wesabeck
Quote from: ranemaka13
Quote from: ProgWRXAbout Singles : its definately worth watching IMO, even though its Crowe's "weakest" film, its still much better written and its above most of the crappy romantic comedies out there.
I must second this. Not his best, but it has a few redeeming qualities.
I just can't recall them right now.

Singles has a lot a great Crowe moments in them... it's probably his weakest film because it's his most laid back and simplistic film.  The thing that I really love about singles is that it perfectly captures a certain time in a certain place that is now lost.  It has plenty of great cameos from the grunge scene including amusing ones from the members of Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell, and also a cameo by Tim Burton.  I agree that Singles is Crowe's weakest film, but it is still pretty fucking awesome.

I have to put SINGLES above SAY ANYTHING.

Like my roommate says, "It's the grunge ANNIE HALL."

But UNTITLED (to be specific) is his best work.

Bethie

Ah yes, Cameron Crowe. My favorite director.


My favorite work of Mr. Crowe is Almost Famous. Lovely. That movie makes me feel awesome inside. Makes me want to climb up on rooftops and scream "I'M A GOLDEN GOD." Makes me want to drop out of school and become Ms. Penny Lane. Makes me smile...

The music is excellent. Beautifully done.

Almost Famous is definitely Mr. Crowe's masterpiece.
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LloydDobbler

I loved Singles, it serves me perfect...it's the time I wish I could go live in.
"That's a nice hat you're wearing and I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskell sort of way."-Cliff Poncier

modage

#33
1. Jerry Maguire
2. Almost Famous
3. Vanilla Sky
4. Say Anything
5. Elizabethtown/Singles
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

Making a bomb of epic proportions sometimes lands a filmmaker in "movie jail" unless he/she has an especially admirable resume. This is what kept Cameron Crowe, the director-writer of Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. from incarceration over the last year or so following the disastrous reception of Elizabethtown, which opened and quickly died in the fall of '05. But you can't go through a major critical and commercial calamity without having it affect you on some kind of woe-is- me, what-the-fuck-am-I-doing? level.

Elizabethtown was Crowe's Waterloo. I know that it seemed to me and a lot of other journalists like one of the worst wipe-outs ever suffered by a gifted filmmaker. Crowe was mocked, villified, ground into hamburger . And for a while, according to this and that source, he went into a big funk about it and went off to lick his wounds. (Who the hell wouldn't?) But I'm told he's doing fine emotionally these days, and that he's working on a script that Adam Sandler wants to star in when it's ready.

Crowe usually takes a few years between films, so maybe he'll be back at it next year with the Sandler film (if it comes together in the right way) maybe peeking through in '09.

I had to ask others what was up because Crowe didn't get back to me immediately when I wrote him three hours ago.

How bad was Elizabethtown? I was there at that first Toronto Film Festival screen- ing, watching this and that journalist get up and go out for very long bathroom or popcorn breaks, or leaving altogether. It averaged a 28% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it almost killed the career of Orlando Bloom, it seemed to diminish the fortunes of Kirsten Dunst, and for all I know it may have even caused a slowdown in Kentucky tourism.

New Yorker critic David Denby wrote the following in his review: "It leaves one adrift on a raft of morose questions. How could this vacuous movie have got made? Didn't anyone at Paramount, which paid for the film, read the script? And also: What in the world has happened to Cameron Crowe? At times, the movie became so boring that I experienced the uncanny sensation that I could physically feel the film passing through the projector."

Elizabethtown had some good things in it (I liked the second half just fine) and Crowe enjoys too much respect and allegiance from too many heavy-hitters to have suffered any serious career trouble because of the reception. But an agent told me today that the feeling he's been getting is that Crowe is "still feeling a little of that E-Town after-burn."

The agent explained that in the wake of Elizabethtown that Crowe's general rep was that of a guy with a reverse Midas touch. People felt a little funny about coming to him with proposals because suddenly he wasn't the guy who might make another Almost Famous or Jerry Maguire, but a director who had lost his mojo and could possibly turn this or that project into a fart heard 'round the world.

Right around the time of Mission Impossible: 3 Crowe "was attached to do a Tom Cruise romantic film at Paramount," the agent recalls, "but who knows where that's languishing these days? Has it gone to UA? Let me get back to you on that."

A filmmaker who spoke to me this afternoon believes that Crowe had such a smooth and easy ride from the days of Say Anything to Vanilla Sky that he wasn't able to cope with Elizabethtown's total failure.

"Living on that fuel of being the greatest director....getting all that postive energy from everyone and and cruising on all that adulation doesn't toughen you up," he says. "It doesn't prepare you at all for failure. Crowe should have just gotten right back in the saddle [after Elizabethtown]. I spoke to him recently and he was in a great place. Woody Allen has always had the best attitude, I feel. he didn't take it very seriously when he was applauded and he didn't take it seriously wen he was panned. He just kept working."

And that's what Crowe is back to doing. Good for him, and it's great to hear about the Sandler thing. Maybe Crowe will get back to me and say something about that, or maybe he'll just stay out it by saying nothing. But if he wants to clarify anything I've written or add to it in any way, he knows what to do.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Pubrick

under the paving stones.

The Red Vine

Quote from: Pubrick on April 11, 2007, 02:45:12 AM
what an odd exaggerated article.

That article is so over the top. E-Town wasn't perfect, but a very good Crowe movie. You can really feel his heart was in it. I can't say the same thing about Vanilla Sky.

I guess I'm alone here, but I can't wait to see what he does next.
"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

MacGuffin

Stiller, Witherspoon fly with Crowe
Duo to star in Columbia Pictures comedy
Source: Variety

Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon will star in an untitled Cameron Crowe romantic comedy adventure at Columbia Pictures.

Columbia was the winning bidder, beating out four rival studios, in landing the fully developed project, which is being produced by Scott Rudin. Crowe, who wrote the screenplay, is also producing.

Studio is keeping the logline of the contemporary-set project under wraps.

Project reunites Crowe with Columbia for the first time since the helmer's "Almost Famous" in 2000. Crowe and studio topper Amy Pascal have a long-standing relationship that dates back to the filmmaker's 1989 "Say Anything," when Pascal was an executive at 20th Century Fox. Crowe made "Jerry Maguire" -- his biggest box office success -- for Columbia and Pascal.

Film, which will begin lensing in January when Stiller and Witherspoon's schedules open, brings together Rudin and Crowe for the first time. Columbia's move is reminiscent of Pascal outbidding several other parties in February to make Roland Emmerich's pricey "2012." Once again, Columbia is ponying up a sizable sum to add an instant slot-filler to its slate.

Stiller next will be seen in the August comedy "Tropic Thunder," which he also co-wrote, produced and directed. He is shooting "Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian."

Witherspoon's upcoming projects include "Four Christmases," opposite Vince Vaughn. She is voicing characters for DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Bethie

okay.

one of my fav review sites (PAJIBA) posted this recently:

Touch Me I'm Dick


Singles / Dustin Rowles


I cannot imagine — on a site where the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson, geek culture, "Arrested Development," and Joss Whedon reign supreme — that this admission could possibly go over well, but my two favorite directors of all time, unabashedly, unashamedly, and unapologetically, are Billy Wilder and Cameron Crowe. And while Wilder still carries a certain amount of historical cachet thanks, in part, to his role in popularizing noir, Crowe — who refused to embrace what passes for cool these days, namely sardonic wit, post-irony irony, and the effervescent whimsy ushered in by Garden State, hipsteria Hollywood and a Comic-Con driven box-office — has more or less slowly faded into obscurity, either in an effort to regroup after the (massive) failure of Elizabethtown or because he's realized that his brand of cynicism-free filmmaking has no more place in today's pop-culture landscape than Lloyd Dobbler has in a restraining-order happy dating world.

Nevertheless, today I submit as the latest entry into our Pajiba Blockbusters series, not the best Crowe film (Say Anything), the most influential (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), the biggest box-office and awards recipient (Jerry Maguire), or even my favorite (Almost Famous), but perhaps the least appreciated, and the least talked about of all his films: Singles, a charming ode to dating in your 20s and an incredible love letter to Seattle. And the reason I chose Singles is simple: It is the antithesis to the modern, mainstream romantic comedy, where every Ashton, McConaughey, Heigl, and Dempsey tries to win over the love of his or her life by beating him or her over the head with a flailing, chicken-headed epic romantic gesture. Singles, and Crowe's other films to a lesser extent (see, e.g., Lloyd Dobler walking Diane Court around broken glass), are about the small gestures that blossom into a relationship. Any jackass can chase down a woman in an airport or unload two (or is it three?) months' salary on a diamond ring and bend down on one knee in a crowded public place. But relationships are made when she pulls open the lock on your car door or he simply wishes you good health when you sneeze. You want to know if you're meant to be? Don't wait for a marriage proposal, just ask yourself this: Is her leg still pressed up against you in the morning? Does he walk on the side of you closest to traffic? Or, after all these years, do you still hold hands when the lights go down in a theater? If so, you've found true love — Cameron Crowe love.

For what it's worth, Singles was also one of the, if not the first real Gen X film — predating (it's production, at least) Slacker, and eventually giving rise to other, lesser and greater imitations like Reality Bites, High Fidelity and — for better or worse — the television sitcom, "Friends." (Fun Fact: "Friends" was a second iteration of a planned television show based on "Singles" that Cameron Crowe vetoed). It's also worth noting that Crowe — the all-time youngest contributor to Rolling Stone — was well ahead of the pop-culture curve here; production of "Singles" was actually completed before "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was even released. Singles, initially, was a small film that revolved around the Seattle music scene (e.g., Mudhoney), and featured cameos from Chris Cornell, Alice in Chains, and all four members of Pearl Jam (all of whom, during filming, were obscure outside of Seattle — I'm not even sure the term "grunge" had been coined yet). Prescient as hell, by the time Singles was released two years later (the studio had no idea how to market it), grunge was in full-bloom, which is why the movie was largely overshadowed by its soundtrack (if you were over the age of 12 in 1992, you almost certainly owned it and you've probably had the relentlessly catchy "Dyslexic Heart" stuck in your head the second you saw what film was being reviewed here); it's also why the style of the film's characters was so oddly mixed between 80s fashion (see, e.g., the bangs on both Bridget Fonda and Sheila Kelley) and grunge (to wit: the attire of Matt Dillon or the soul patch on Jim True-Frost, or Mr. Pryzbylewski to fans of "The Wire.") And, like Dazed and Confused, released a year later, Singles had a lot of faces in it that wouldn't have meant anything to you at the time, but who are jarringly recognizable if you watch it today (in addition to Jim True-Frost, there is also a very young Christopher Masterson, Victor Garber, Paul Giamatti, and Jeremy Piven (pre-hairpiece)). Even Tim Burton made a small, but memorable cameo as the next Martin Score-sees.

The film deals, mostly anecdotally, with five characters — Janet Livermore (Bridget Fonda) is an insecure 23-year-old infatuated with one of her neighbors, Cliff Poncier (Matt Dillon), the self-absorbed, talent-deprived lead singer of Citizen Dick, a role that Kevin Dillon's character in "Entourage" must have pulled a lot from. Janet's insecurities led her briefly to consider a boob job to satisfy Cliff's hourglass syndrome. Debbie Hunt (Sheila Kelly) is looking for the perfect man via a video dating service ("Come to where the flavor is, come to Debbie country"). And then there is Campbell Scott, the twenty-something, less idiosyncratic version of Lloyd Dobbler, a traffic engineer trying to build a Supertrain in Seattle ("you give the people coffee and great music, they will park and ride"). He falls for Linda (Kyra Sedwick), an environmentalist with trust issues, and the two spend most of the film completely sabotaging their relationship. It's beautiful.

There's not really much of an overarching narrative in Singles; mostly, Crowe uses his characters to explore how small, isolated moments can affect a relationship. There's a certain sitcomy feel to the movie, but in the best kind of way — it's lightweight, but deceptively substantive, a thousand different pop songs distilled into an hour and a half. (It's also the perfect Hangover Theater flick if you fell in love with someone the night before.) But what I appreciate most about Singles is that the big, dramatic speech never works, nor does the name written out in rose petals — and in real life these gestures never do (desperation, after all, is the "world's worst cologne.") Instead, it's the small things — a single broken plate or a sneeze — that brings couples together.

Everything else is just an act.


:yabbse-thumbup:

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©brad

yeah that was awesome.

MacGuffin

Pearl Jam Taps Cameron Crowe For Documentary Feature
Published by MTV Movies

We've seen a lot of bands get the bigscreen treatment over the last few years, including the Rolling Stones, Metallica, U2, CSNY, the Jonas Brothers and most recently, Anvil. Now, it seems Pearl Jam is ready for its close-up, courtesy of director Cameron Crowe.

The "Almost Famous" filmmaker and former boy wonder reporter for Rolling Stone is prepping a documentary that will chronicle Pearl Jam's 20 years as a band in 2011.

Guitarist Mike McCready told Seattle's "Ron & Don Show" that the group is "trying to do a movie with Cameron Crowe with all of our existing footage." The plan is for the film to consist of existing concert, backstage and studio footage.

While his music credentials speak for themselves, Crowe would seem to be the perfect fit to direct a Pearl Jam doc having previously worked with them on "Singles," which included two Pearl Jam songs on its soundtrack and featured Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard as members of the fictional band Citizen Dick.

Crowe's record label Vinyl Films recently helped the band repackage the reissues for its debut album "Ten," and Crowe also exec produced "Pearl Jam: Single Video Theory," a short making-of documentary about the group's 1998 LP "Yield."

Pearl Jam is pretty much the Last Band Standing from the heyday of the Seattle grunge scene (R.I.P. Nirvana and Soundgarden), so an in-depth look at the quintet is long overdue.

The band, which has sold an estimated 60 million records worldwide, will self-release its ninth album before the end of the year.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Today's guest VJ: Cameron Crowe's favorite musical movie moments
Source: Los Angeles Times

No one has a better ear for using music in movies than Cameron Crowe, so it's a delight to see that Empire magazine cajoled Crowe into picking his Top 10 movie music moments, though after his old rock writer genes kicked in, Crowe got started and couldn't stop--ending up with his Top 36 music moments  (the "Sorry I Couldn't Stop List"). You'll have to go to his post on Empire to see the whole gallery of choices. But let's just say that he leaves few stones unturned, not only giving props to Wes Anderson for using the Rolling Stones' "She Smiled Sweetly/Ruby Tuesday" in "The Royal Tenenbaums," but making room in the Top 10 for everything from Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into the Fire"  (from "GoodFellas") to Cat Stevens' "Don't Be Shy" from Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude."

There are plenty of other inspired choices--only Cameron would remember how great Cheap Trick's "Downed" sounded in "Over the Edge" as well as what a shrewd choice Paul Thomas Anderson made by spotlighting Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" in "Magnolia." But for me, the highlight of the gallery is reading Crowe's fan's notes-style explications of his choices. Here, just as one example, is his mini-essay on Wes Anderson's adept manipulation of our pop music memory banks in "Royal Tenenbaums":

It's said that Jackson Browne, watching ''The Royal Tenenbaums," was so transported watching the "These Days" sequence that he thought wistfully, "This guy plays like I used to play." And then he realized--it is me. Wes Anderson's brilliant use of the Nico original galvanized and reinvented the song even for Jackson Browne, who now plays the song in its original mode at his live performances. All this, because Anderson picked the right song, the right camera speed and the perfect actors to play Margot and Richie Tenenbaum. It aches. And there is another stunning music-in-movies moment just around the corner in "Tenenbaums," when Anderson busts out the Rolling Stones. Margot and Richie have finally escaped to be alone under a tent with a record player. Their music choice is a vinyl copy of "Between the Buttons." Anderson lets the album track in the long unrequited love scene between the two. (Sadly, they're adoptive siblings) ... Many a director has tried to use "Ruby Tuesday," the evocative Brian Jones/Stones classic, and failed. Wes solves the problem by letting you hear it the way you'd hear it in life--devastating and random in the way it pops up, innocently requiring you to remember the moment forever.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/cameron-crowe-greatest-music-moments/default.asp
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Bethie

Thanks. It's been a long time since Almost Famous, and I've grown up a lot, in general and as a fan of cinema, but Cameran Crowe will always have a little piece of my heart.
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MacGuffin

Cameron Crowe May Direct We Bought a Zoo
Source: NY Mag

Vulture has learned that Cameron Crowe, who hasn't directed a film since 2005's Elizabethtown, is circling a script based on the best-selling Benjamin Mee memoir We Bought a Zoo. Back in 2006, Mee — then the do-it-yourself columnist for the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper — moved into a run-down twelve-bedroom mansion in the southwest English countryside with his wife, two children, brother, and 76-year-old mother. The catch? Their old manse also included the 30-acre Dartmoor Wildlife Park, a dilapidated preserve that was home to 200 wild animals. Poignantly, the Mee family's successful efforts at rehabilitating the zoo's menagerie of ailing beasts was juxtaposed with the steady decline of Mee's wife, Katherine, who received a terminal-cancer diagnosis.

From what we hear, Zoo already had a great script from Oscar-nominated Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. But if he signs on, Crowe will be doing a little rewriting before directing it, presumably to insert dialogue that zookeepers will repeat for the rest of their lives, much as any high-school student from the late eighties continues to quote "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Bethie

mish. how are you going to put music in that?


Quote from: MacGuffin on March 03, 2010, 01:47:25 AM
Crowe will be doing a little rewriting before directing it, presumably to insert dialogue that zookeepers will repeat for the rest of their lives, much as any high-school student from the late eighties continues to quote "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen."

hahhaa. i always chuckle when say anything is referenced. recently in an episode of modern family the young girl's boyfriend is holding up his ipod to her window, and the dad comes out to get the newspaper and says "say anything" and the boy goes "good morning"

and that episode of lost. i think in the first season. 


love it
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