Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Elizabethtown (2005)

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-13-2005, 01:16 PM:

I just love when a movie comes on and you actually enjoyed the trailers more.
The plot was of course rediculously predictable. Down to the dialog.
And how about the length of this baby?
More than it being dragged out all throughout the feature it felt like it was over about 40 minutes before it actually was.
And you guys know I hate montages, but guess what! They did it!
They had to put in a couple montages!

Overall:
1.5/5

Posted by Amanda Jones (Member # 3326) on 10-13-2005, 01:29 PM:

I enjoyed it but probably because I enjoy Cameron Crowe's work. I agree that the movie was way too long and predictable. Everyone is saying it is just like Garden State. Having never seen that movie I can't compare the two. With Elizabethtown there was some stuff they could have cut out and some stuff I felt needed better explaination. The highlight of the movie for me was when the builder mispliced between the 5th and 6th reel and I had to run upstairs to fix it. Overall it is one of those movies you see once and then maybe you'll watch again someday if it happens to be on cable again.

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 10-25-2005, 01:08 PM:

I loved this movie. Probably the best movie that I have seen so far this year. I completely fell in love with Kirsten Dunst's character.

4.25/5

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-28-2005, 03:40 PM:

Good....in a chick flick it is imperative that the chick be loveable. (Think of Sleepless in Seattle; You've Got Mail; Maid in America, etc.) It is not even be necessary that she be a good actress: early Cameron Dias.

Yes, I like Kirsten Dunst, too. Louis

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-29-2005, 08:24 PM:

CINEMA: Century 20 at Jordan Creek, West Des Moines, IA
AUDITORIUM: 6
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

WARNING: Friends don't let friends drive spoilers

We open with a shot of the Fremont bridge over Portland and I practically hyperventilate. Portland! YAY! Tragically, that's the last we see of my hometown, because we're off to Kentucky.

Drew Baylor invented some shoes that cost a fictional company about a billion. As he is about to kill himself, his sister calls with news that Dad is not only dead, but dead in Kentucky. He flies out to pick up the body, have it cremated in a blue suit, bring it back, and proceed with killing himself.

The Kentucky side of the family includes Food Network's Paula Deen, the most annoying woman alive. Thankfully, she has little to do. From here, the movie is a compilation of monologues backed by one of the worst musical soundtracks I have ever heard. But everything changes for the better with Susan Sarandon's monologue, and the road trip that happens after it.

The road trip was just brilliant.

Everything about it.

Brilliant.

Even the music.

Aside from that, yes, this is a "Garden State" clone in a different setting. But these characters are much more mainstream. Their quirkiness doesn't feel nearly as forced, and they're a whole different kind of people.

I didn't like "Garden State". This wasn't too bad.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 04-04-2006, 02:35 PM:

Light & full of itself. Just having that Cameron Crowe attitude wouldn't normally have been enough for me, but the road scenes & local flair stood out well above the corniness. More like Singles having a perspective of life crisis, really.

It's just so hard to believe Kirsten Dunst's character was real, though. She's that impossible girl who's flirty, not clingy; full of adages & advice less than full of herself; and pretty, but not going out of what seems to be her way. Yes, she interacts with others in the film, but she still seems to be Orlando Bloom's fantasy. Then again, so does the rest of the film. [Smile]

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 04-04-2006, 02:48 PM:

Just goes to show....it's hard to make a movie about one's hometown. Louis