Elizabethtown

modage · January 13, 2006, 12:18:07 PM

Further Details:
Paramount Home Entertainment has kindly provided us with some official artwork for the Cameron Crowe directed Elizabethtown which stars Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. The film will be available to own in seperate widescreen and full screen editions from the 7th February. Each will include an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Extras will include a Training Wheels featurette, a Meet the Crew featurette, extended scenes (Rusty's Learning to Listen Part 8 and Hanging with Russell in Memphis), a photo gallery, and two theatrical trailers.

crappy extras. i smell a 'it's been 10 years, time to not hate this film' double dip, with commentary etc. i wonder if this is because

A. nobody liked the movie/nobody saw the movie. paramount could care less about spending time/money for extras
B. crowe was so dejected by its performance he couldnt bear to spend the effort on them now
C. paramount knows this movie cost lots and to help recoup forced crowe into a double dip

modage · February 11, 2006, 01:25:54 PM

Quote from: modage on January 02, 2006, 05:14:12 PM
A misstep from one of my favorite filmmakers still manages to have enough moments to keep it one of my favorite experiences in the theatre this year. I look forward to being able to watch it again and see if it holds up better or worse than my initial viewing.

well, i hate to say it, but it held up worse. A LOT worse. its really a pretty collosal flop. bloom is terribly miscast and brings the movie down. though thats not crowe's only misstep, the script and some of the music is also to blame for the movies shortcomings. one of the main problems is that bloom and dunst are never believable partially because what should be completely NATURAL performances instead come off incredibly like ACTING. firstly, they're both attempting accents. dunst's southern and bloom's american. and even the superficial similarities having been covered in Garden State also hurt the film. (in Dunst's map The Shins - New Slang can even be seen as one of the songs on her mix cds. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) so part of me thinks that somehow Crowe and Braff could've teamed up with their partially good films braffs around 2/3 and crowe's around 1/3 and made a film that was actually 3/3 great. but in crowes story braff would've been wrong for that part too, though nobody could be more wrong than bloom. (maybe ashton kutcher?) in my mind, the film might've worked atleast much better with Jake Gyllenhall and Natalie Portman in the leads. and i really like kirsten dunst and have no problems with bloom, but together here, they just dont work. all of the characters seem to act inexplicably, not like any people who live in our world. the collossal failure subject had already been breached in jerry maguire and i dont see why crowe felt the need to fall back on it. mostly i feel terrible for crowe, because after a 4 year hiatus to return with THIS film its going to be hard for him to get back up again and face the world. audiences and critics alike. there were many places in the film that you could see THIS is where the CROWE MOMENT would be, IF the film worked. THIS is that line, THIS is that moment. but because the balance of the film is off it just DOES NOT WORK. I only hope Crowe will take his own advice and get back up for another round. "Fail BIG and stick around, then make them wonder why you are still smiling..." Re-Evaluation: C-

The Red Vine · February 11, 2006, 01:46:32 PM

that's disappointing to hear. but the movie was much better on my second viewing. I couldn't believe how bad it was on my first viewing. I was almost in shock. but somehow, things started to work and come together later on. this movie did for Crowe what "The Village" did for M. Night. except a lot more people saw "The Village", thus there was a lot more hatred. I'd love to see what both of them do next but I bet their movies won't do as well (meaning box office) as their previous films. it's gonna be difficult for them to recover from all this.

depooter · February 14, 2006, 07:49:25 PM

E-Town is not Crowe's best film by a long shot, but M. Night? He's a hack and I think most people here realize that Cameron has never been and never will be a hack...............

modage · February 14, 2006, 08:54:08 PM

i wish that were true, greg, but i think at this point the perception here is probably that they're about the same.

polkablues · February 14, 2006, 08:59:26 PM

Quote from: modage on February 14, 2006, 08:54:08 PM
i wish that were true, greg, but i think at this point the perception here is probably that they're about the same.

Not at all... Crowe is a guy who's made a bunch of great movies and one shitty one, while M. Night has made one great movie and a bunch of shitty ones. And then ruined any future attempts at credibility with that ridiculously ill-conceived "Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan" TV special.

So, in short, Crowe wins. No contest. "Elizabethtown" notwithstanding.

Pubrick · February 15, 2006, 09:40:32 AM

Quote from: modage on February 14, 2006, 08:54:08 PM
i wish that were true, greg, but i think at this point the perception here is probably that they're about the same.

you can't be serious. crowe has been putting out great movies since the 80s, this is his one and only terrible movie. shyamalan, like polka said, made one (sort of) great one and a bunch of crap thereafter. i applaud the latter for giving bryce dallas howard her first big gig. i'm struggling to see any basis for comparison between the two.

modage · February 15, 2006, 10:06:31 AM

oh, well thats good to hear. it was my impression around here that most people hated vanilla sky didnt think etown was worth seeing and thought that crowe never belonged with our other directors. he's still one of my FAVORITE directors but i thought that most everybody really could care less about him right now.

JG · February 15, 2006, 02:14:30 PM

I'm still undecided about Vanilla Sky, but can anyone really argue against Almost Famous?

MacGuffin · February 15, 2006, 08:55:22 PM

Well, I didn't think this film was the Hindenberg everyone's making it out to be. In fact, I thought their 'meet-cute' scenes ranked right there with some of the better romantic comedies. The problem comes from once they get together, there's no anticipation or suspended disbelief of are they going to get together. At that point, they're already together. Along with Bloom's character resolving the family issues and reconciling with his dad, the movie ended before it's running time did. And Crowe seemed to be recycling ideas already dealt with in Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous (with Dunst's character feeling like a cousin to Penny Lane).

NEON MERCURY · February 16, 2006, 11:58:24 PM

Quote from: modage on February 15, 2006, 10:06:31 AM
oh, well thats good to hear. it was my impression around here that most people hated vanilla sky didnt think etown was worth seeing and thought that crowe never belonged with our other directors. he's still one of my FAVORITE directors but i thought that most everybody really could care less about him right now.

, i was one of those poeple who thinks e-town is shit...i really cant relate to crowe anymore [i think he writes films for the TRL/mtv crowd]...out off all things crowe affiliated i like fast times the most...but i like it more for the 80's nostalgia then its criticial/thematic merits...alot of crowes material is very very cheesy...and his characters are just as annoying as the OC people...his dialogue is corny..the same feeling i get watching crowes material is the same sappy, embarassing feeling i get when i watch an episode of full house and when the "focal point" of the show arrives which cues the piano music and the typical danny tanner speech..its just pathetic..