Any thoughts on Garden State?

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Surprise there's not a thread on this yet. This movie just started its run in New York and Los Angeles yesterday, and will be hitting theatres nationwide in short order. It's a Fox Searchlight production and its trailer looked damn tasty, if not horrendously original. My assessment of the movie is about the same. It's a bildungsroman shot in suburban New Jersey which has of course been done before, but as an aimless 20-something from the wilds of that same state I can't help but feel a certain empathy with such stories. I was almost expecting something like the Rick Moody book "Garden State" and maybe it's a good thing they have nothing to do with one another. On one hand you have the good: lovely, clever little moments that are surprisingly well-captured for what I think is a directorial debut (the scene where he's standing in front of a bathroom wall wearing a shirt made out of the wallpaper, a sad and quizzical expression on his face as he blends in perfectly, is a particular triumph) and characters that are sweetly portrayed--if somewhat mildly cliched-- like the somewhat crazy girl with a heart of gold and the poor, slightly sleazy best friend who manages still to share deep insights into the cosmos. On the other hand, you have a series of self-consciously epiphanical moments set against a soundtrack of increasingly "thoughtful" and "sensitive" indie folk-pop. For God's sake, the protagonist stands screaming on the edge of an abyss. An actual abyss. A little heavy-handed, no? The movie worked for me, but I wasn't certain-- history will either consign this to the rubbish-bin of quarter-life crisis movies a la' Suburbia, Clerks, Reality Bites, and Kicking and Screaming, to place them in order of talent and originality; or it will receive the more pleasant fate of being placed alongside pretty thought-provokers like the Station Agent. Nothing fancy, nothing ground-breaking, but a nice way to spend 10 bucks all the same. I'm interested in what other people have to say about this movie-- and do forgive the rambling and tendency for over-long sentences on my part, please, I'm a long-time lurker who posts maybe once in a bright blue moon.

― justin s, Thursday, 29 July 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

par·a·graph

A distinct division of written or printed matter that begins on a new, usually indented line, consists of one or more sentences, and typically deals with a single thought or topic or
quotes one speaker's continuous words.

A mark ( ¶ ) used to indicate where a new paragraph should begin or to serve as a reference mark.

A brief article, notice, or announcement, as in a newspaper.

tr.v. par·a·graphed, par·a·graph·ing, par·a·graphs To divide or arrange into paragraphs.

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Incidentally, I can't wait to see this movie.

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The shot with the star in a paisley shirt that blends in perfectly to the wallpaper behind him bothers me a great deal.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

My girlfriend really wants to see this, so I suppose I will go. It looks interesting to me, too, but I've yet to understand how it rises above typical Sundance fare.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Salon has an interesting article on the film and on Zach Braff. The opening paragraph intrigues:

Zach Braff's "Garden State" may not be the most confident debut picture: It moves forward, pokily at times, with the tentativeness of an injured spider, and in oddly sloping directions. But there's a moseying delicacy about it that sometimes catches you off-guard: For a first time out (Braff also stars in the picture, and he wrote the script), "Garden State" is for the most part surprisingly unself-conscious. You have to be ambitious to direct yourself in the first movie you've ever directed, especially one you've written yourself. But Braff (best known from TV's "Scrubs") never comes off as a blowhard -- not even a fashionably self-effacing blowhard. His motivation feels genuine, as if he wanted to make a movie because he actually had something to say, instead of just wanting to smear his name around as a career move.

― minori, Thursday, 29 July 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'll probably end up seeing it and eating my words, but I agree with the tail end of Jaymc's post.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

the poster is so bad

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 29 July 2004 19:59 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

precious twee toothless horrible fucking movie. don't see it.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 15 August 2004 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

n. portman at one point says "it's the shins. have you heard of them? this song will change your life."

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 15 August 2004 03:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I stand by my outrageous claim that Natalie Portman will win an Oscar for this movie.

― Jimmy Mod, Man About Towne (ModJ), Sunday, 15 August 2004 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

dude that's bonkers.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 15 August 2004 03:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoever wrote that line should have been drowned at birth.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Sunday, 15 August 2004 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

well zach braff wrote that line.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 15 August 2004 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

So there you go.

― Jimmy Mod, Man About Towne (ModJ), Sunday, 15 August 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

It figures.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Sunday, 15 August 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

jesus christ!!! they shoulda just called this movie "straw man"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 15 August 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

n. portman at one point says "it's the shins. have you heard of them? this song will change your life."

A friend of mine around here who has pretty good taste was raving about this movie. But this one line alone has killed my incipient interest stone dead.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 15 August 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

i was in the apple store yesterday and they were playing the shins.

i saw the new "esqire" next door while getting some cigarettes at walgreens and natalie portman is hot, by god. but still a mediocre actress.

― |//\\| (amateurist), Sunday, 15 August 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Just saw it. It does indeed suffer from this ongoing blurring of the lines between "independent movie" and "Death Cab for Cutie video." On the plus side, it's funny and charming for good stretches of time, not to mention surprisingly well-directed; the performances are solid, and it's visually quite nice; and after every twenty or so minutes of feeling roughly like that about it, it suddenly steps in a big surprising pile of all-wrong, such as this unearned screaming-into-the-abyss thing. Biggest pile: the ending. I haven't seen The Village, but, umm, yeah. I will compliment the ending on its being extremely, laughably short, but it seems like the ending to an entirely different and much worse movie. Actually more like a TV show. Whatever, it lasts like three minutes, and to its credit it does get you 100% prepared to leave the theater.

Anyway, whatever, cute enjoyable Shins-fan movie. It's mostly about Natalie Portman's right ear, which gets more screen time than anything else except Braff.

― nabiscothingy, Sunday, 15 August 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

It does indeed suffer from this ongoing blurring of the lines between "independent movie" and "Death Cab for Cutie video."

Quote of the year.

― Jimmy Mod, Man About Towne (ModJ), Sunday, 15 August 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

You know what's weird about the Shins? I myself was foisting them on my friends about a year and a half back, but realise now that I have not the slightest clue where I first heard about them. Perhaps it's all a nefarious mind control plot.

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 15 August 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

The only possible excuse for the Shins thing is that -- if I remember right -- this film was done shooting like two whole years ago. That and it was sort of worth it to hear her say "The Shins" and then hear selected people around the theater choke up their popcorn / squirt Coke out of their noses / snort cuncontrollably.

― nabiscothingy, Monday, 16 August 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

That's right, "cuncontrollably." It's a word, look it up.

― nabiscothingy, Monday, 16 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds like a combination of fantasy story, lullaby and porn.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 August 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

just like my life then.

i need to think abt this some more. it reeeally rubbed me the wrong way but it did have some charms, peter saarsgaaaard (sp) chief among them.

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 16 August 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

both saarsgaard and his g.f. have last name that are difficult to spell. hmm.

― amateur!!!st, Monday, 16 August 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

HMMMMM

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 16 August 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

how rockin' was peter sarsgaard in shattered glass

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 16 August 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I enjoyed it, but it depressed the hell out of me, mainly because I haven't had a similar epiphany yet. The selection of music felt like an ILMer from last year had just hit shuffle on his collection.

― 57 7th (calstars), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Which Shins song is she talking about? My god they suck.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

This is really picky, but I thought it was kind of awkward how when she makes him listen to "New Slang" on the headphones, he says something that indicates he's never heard of the Shins before, but there had been a Shins song on the soundtrack earlier in the movie. Obviously, just because it's on the soundtrack doesn't mean his character is familiar with the band, but it just seemed like lazy filmmaking or something to me.

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

precious twee toothless horrible fucking movie. don't see it.
-- g--ff (gffcnn...) (webmail), August 15th, 2004 9:45 PM. (gcannon) (link)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

n. portman at one point says "it's the shins. have you heard of them? this song will change your life."
-- g--ff (gffcnn...) (webmail), August 15th, 2004 9:46 PM. (gcannon) (link)

SO OTM.

Which Shins song is she talking about? My god they suck.
-- AaronHz (aaronh...) (webmail), August 23rd, 2004 2:34 PM. (AaronHz) (link)

The scene in question is about "New Slang" which is playing on her headphones at the time. The scene is really awkward too since it serves no function except to establish that they are both douchebags. (xp)

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"I've never heard these guys before."
"Dude, this song was wafting through the air three scenes ago, keep up."

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

dean you'll be happy to know i like the shins! :)

― amateur!!st, Monday, 23 August 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew it had to be "New Slang".

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

dear amateurist, i like the shins as well but i hate pointless indie band name dropping scenes in movies.

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously, though, THE ENDING. What the hell was that?

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

If this song changes you're life, you're a schmuck:
Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth.
Only, i don't know how they got out, dear.
Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met.
I was happier then with no mind-set.
And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.
New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.
Hope it's right when you die, old and bony.
Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,
Never should have called
But my head's to the wall and i'm lonely.
And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the kind of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.
God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs,
And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away.

I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find.
Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine?
And if you'd 'a took to me like
Well i'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

yes well i like "new slang," too...

but it wasn't pointless! it was to say, "this girl here, she is a shins fan! she is damaged but also strong DO YOU SEE?!?"

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i feel like this will set the shins' career forward, but hurt their standing among ilxors.

note i have not seen the movie.

― amateur!!st, Monday, 23 August 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

that's a great song, but you have to be sheltered if it changed your life. maybe that's the point? I haven't seen the film.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess it wasn't pointless, as it taught me something. "get ready for more things like this to be included in the dialogue that would've been better communicated by hiring better actors."

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

At least it's the one good Shins song.

This kind of sucked. The funny parts were all nice, but other than that it was like a mish-mash of Wes Anderson and David Gordon Green but not as good as either.

The previews were for the new Alexander Payne, Anderson and David O. Russell films, plus the Kirsten Dunst tennis movie. I liked the four previes (in and of themselves) better than Garden State

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

that song changed the Shins' life, wasn't it the one they let McDonalds or someone use in an ad?

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

tho to up the ick factor, imagine z braff and n portman bonding over that song during preproduction, urrr it's giving me lemonade face.

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Can we not talk about the Shins and talk about the uber-crap ENDING?

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
what if it was a Death Cab song?

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

What was wrong with the ending?

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

it was obvious ... but really, was there any other way for that movie to have ended? tweemo movie. tweemo ending.

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Sarah liked this movie A LOT so I'm afraid if I say anything negative about it she will break up with me. So here are the positive things I have to say about it:
1. Natalie Portman was less annoying than usual.
2. Zach Braff did a decent acting job.
3. Sarsgaard was somewhat enjoyable.
4. It had drugs and sex in it.

xpost, yeah, the ending was predictable but somewhat inevitable.

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It was flat and cheesy, like every other time the movie tried to be something more than funny.

The bitchy woman at the Vietnamese restaurant was remarkably hot.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, it's not even very emo! any miserablist worth his salt would have had them split and then shown lots of letter writing over the end credits or something.

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

but then that sounds very smiths and not very shins i guess. what compromised times we live in.

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(nbsco you promised me mail)

― amateur!!st, Monday, 23 August 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

The Shins reference stood out as a sort of "look I'm a pop-culture reference" that is already dated, that's why it made me fidgit. (NB I know nothing of the band itself) The use of "Only Living Boy in New York" was much more important to the movie, and pretty gut-wrenching. But the ending tied everything together too neatly, and it would have been better not in the setting it was. I loved it, on a whole. (Maybe I'm just twee)

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

This movie just made me want to watch Beautiful Girls.

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

This movie just made me want to watch Beautiful Girls.
-- dean? (power.strik...), August 23rd, 2004.

ts: 14-yr-old natalie portman vs. 24-yr-old natalie portman

― amateur!!st, Monday, 23 August 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

IT IS ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I would not have classed the ending of this film as "predictable," insofar as it appeared to be the ending to a whole other film in which everyone was prematurely rooting for Braff and Portman to get married and have babies. I mean, the film is just plugging along with random bike-riding scenes and then suddenly they're having this giant teary airport Casablanca reenactment? And then and then the whole Sleepless in Seattle / Last Episode of Friends thing where he gets on the plane and then two seconds later he's all dramatically back? WTF, dude, you just stepped out of frame, are we supposed to miss you already? I didn't even realize Braff and Portman were meant to like each other quite that much -- being the co-leads in a film actually does not make me feel in the core of my being that people belong together, WORK IS REQUIRED -- and now ... Seriously, the ending of this film was more ill-constructed than that of the average Mutant X episode.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I think films like this and Eternal Sunshine and Lost in Translation Wes Anderson films and etc. are basically forging a new genre which is less "quirky independent film" and more "unisex romantic comedies."

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

on a side note, how great is the guy living in the boat? not necessarily here, but he's played a couple of perps on law & order, and he's really good! denis o'hare i'm yr #1 fan!!

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I could've used more from him (and most of the other peripheral characters) but his dialogue was fairly trite so it might be best that his appearance was brief.

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

And then the screaming + impossible zoom out? Ugh.

― dean? (deangulberry), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I dislike that character severely after the "have fun exploring the abyss!" "You too! wink/smirk/nod" exchange.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

WELL ITS NOT HIS FAULT IS IT

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

this film represents the next step in the girlmore girlsizing of america

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, was guy-in-a-boat supposed to teach us some sort of lesson about life and how to live it? There's something a little too college-sophomore about "And he lives in a boat next to an abyss, but it's like because he's totally happy without all this consumerist capitalist bullshit that surrounds us, it's like totally zen, you know? When I graduate I want to go into the Peace Corps, you know, like, just go to Botswana and really like learn from the people there."

DON'T DRAG THE GILMORES INTO THIS FUCKER

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I was so glad that the matching wallpaper/shirt shot only lasted a half-second in the actual movie.

Jess is right, though - Garden State would have made a decent WB drama, quirky twentysomethings making their life. Something for me to watch now that Dawson's Creek is gone. But as a movie it was awful.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i for one welcome our chatty blazer-wearing overlordesses

― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i watched 20 minutes of that show the other night and had to watch 3 pam grier movies afterwards to get the stink off

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes! I can't even put into words the hate I have for this show.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

(sorry Nabisco)

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

FUCK OFF AND DIE

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

(sorry, N, you know I loves you)

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

is it always fall in connecticut?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

There are an equal number of winter and spring episodes, dude. And seriously, what other show offers up an average of 27 puns-per-minute?

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

plus Lauren Graham

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

the daughter is a shoe-in if they do a new addams family

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

They won't need her, I'm sure Christina Ricci will be available, given her career prospects.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

she's too fat now, the gorgeous squishy thing

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

We saw this yesterday, and actually I really liked it despite its weak spots. The MRI scene had me falling over laughing. However, the ending was WRONG.

Did anyone else get the idea that the girl was going to die? Or tell him she was getting ready to? I felt like that was the *true* ending, and the ending they had was sort of fake.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

no she's not she's scary skinny (xp)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Layna, yes! When she first refused to say why she was in the neurologist's I was like "Oh, Jesus she has a tumor."

I dunno if that ending would have been worse.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 August 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

slocki let a man have his memories

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 August 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

gilmore girls is great. it reminds me of his girl friday. only with two girls.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I really liked Garden State. It was a very different sort of movie. Weird and interesting with indie cred, but not disturbing like Magnolia was (in my opinion). I don't think the ending was predictable at all, though I half-wished he would just end it there and not run back to her, just because his last speech to her was so good.

For a second I thought the plane might crash like his dream at the beginning and I was starting to feel a bit angry. So, I'm glad that didn't happen. Now THAT would have been predictable.

I love the Shins. I am obsessed with them. I admit that one reference was a bit embarassing, but the music is gorgeous. They lyrics don't say everything by themself.

Also, that guy from Scrubs is a great actor, and really believable as this character.

ALSO, I really identify with that feeling you get sometimes that everything is just happening all around you and you're only an observer and not actually a part of it all.

Ok, everyone to thread to yell at me. :-D

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

They lyrics don't say everything by themself.

Ha ha. I got carried away with my typing there. :-D

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

sufferin' succotash

― amateur!!st, Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

wow was that party scene gratuitous.

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, g--ff, I thought so too. But then I thought, "Hmmm... Maybe everyone else parties that hard and I've just been prudish my whole life??!"

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually that sort of is how yr burn-out high-school friends who never left town wind up partying, isn't it? Except in real life the chicks are not hot. And instead of doing hard drugs, they sit around smoking really crappy weed and talking about how Louis's gonna come by later and he totally said he could score some coke from that dude he works the grill with at Perkins.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Louis shows up later without drugs and then lectures everyone about how they're such total chumps and don't understand how this kind of thing works, the Feds just busted a shipment the other day so things are gonna be a little dry for a while.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The part the movie got right was the part where someone gets on someone's mom.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Do you guys not watch Judge Mathis or something?

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

You're speaking in tongues...AND I LIKE IT

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually that sort of is how yr burn-out high-school friends who never left town wind up partying, isn't it?

I think I'm going to cry now.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm going to go try drugs now. Bye.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Was the coke-snorting cop from Freaks & Geeks?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Nope.

― n.a. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The more I think about it, this film treaded sort of interestingly on the whole modern “people who went to college” preoccupation with “people who stayed in the same small town and don’t appear to have done anything much with their lives (and often resort to supposedly-pathetic means to be able to have dreams),” but it never really followed into it much. I would have been happier if the film completely dropped the Braff family storyline and went the way of those real-estate tapes and pyramid schemes. It also should have featured other popular didn’t-leave-town types: the guy who is still a goth, and spends his evenings introducing high school girls to the fabulous world of BDSM; the guy who just got out of jail and comes to the party but just sits on the couch staring blankly into space while some girl rubs his arm; the super-geeky girl you run into in the video store who takes the opportunity to tell you she had this massive crush on you in high school (except unfortunately she hasn’t become any cooler or hotter since you left); people who had children with really unfortunate partners and had to get married and often wind up in leather pants in the grocery store buying baby formula with WIC stamps; the clownish asshole who is now junior manager at a crappy insurance office and goes around patting everyone on the back and acting like he’s the mayor (and then later gets drunk and tells lots of obviously-fake stories about dating strippers); that really quiet girl from class who’s now a stripper. . . etc.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

(The video store girl is doubly poignant when you don't even really remember her, you wind up feeling like Marge Simpson in that one dude's house.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Though I am admittedly an uber-PC indie fuk, I was made queasy by the big laugh obtained by having an African man say "Peace out, dawg." Am I thinking too much?

― n.a. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

No. I dunno about queasy, but the whole guy was a lame joke.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The whole family was a lame joke.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/i_heart_huckabees/large.html

This looks like another garden (state) variety quirk-fest, but then again I love me so David O.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

come anticipate "i heart huckabees" with me

― amateur!!st, Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm in love with peter sarsgard (even if i can't remember how to spell his last name).

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

saaaaaarsgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/partypictures/2003/7.15.03/bayou/mags-peterhug.jpg

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

man i saw the trailer for closer and all i can say is man am i gonna hate that movie but o yes am i gonna see it

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

why?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

if she were a better actress, i wouldn't mind so much. maybe she'll run off with a member of the sheen/estevez family. i could almost see that happening.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

natalie portman's back in that louise brooks cut. at one point it's pink.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

she plays a poledancer.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i liked the play, even if anna friel was annoying. i assume portman plays her character?

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

wait? is lauren talking about natalie portman? and blount are those your responses to my "why?" question? i'm confused by xposts.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i was talking about maggie, but my last comment was about closer/np. speaking of confusion, when closer opened i thought it had a z (not a soft s) sound and thus assumed it was about baseball.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

because i'm bored as fuck, more adorable pictures of maggie + peter:

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/sundance/sundance_film_festival_2004_photos/_group_photos/maggie_gyllenhaal69.jpg

http://www.papermag.com/paperdaily/culturalsushi/archive02/human_nature/images/humannature02.jpg

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

she does kind of look like a puppy. kind of like those disney cartoon dogs with the little black noses.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to be Maggie Gyllenhaal

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

you should just kidnap her, sarah.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

take maggie.. please.

really.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I don't want her. I'd just be jealous all the time.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

this sounds a little like the king of comedy

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

the thing about that line from the film about the the shins (have you heard this song by
the shins? oh my god! it will change your life.) is that in real life people really do say
things like that... it dates a film. but it's not inauthentic. on the one hand you could
say he put it in there as free advertising for the shins, but i think it's much more likely
that he feels that way about the band and felt that it would be much more like something
he would say... a little obvious, but clearly n. portman's character is braff too.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw it this weekend. I quite liked it. Of course I liked the soundtrack because it had some of my favs in it. Nick Drake, Simon and Garfukel, Iron and Wine. I hate Natalie Portman with a passion though. That stupid dance with teh stupid noises made me want to jump into the movie and slam her head into her crate of 45's.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Monday, 30 August 2004 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, she was distracting, but I still liked the movie. Who do you think they should have cast instead?

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Someone who can act, probably.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

BENJI

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.digitalhit.com/fest/tiff/1999/3/d3i-0195.jpg

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Alternately they should have cast an animated robot, like Thundercleese or The Barbobot.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

The Barbobot would have been awesome in this film.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Sadly I cannot find any Barbobot pictures on the Interweb. TECHNOLOGY YOU ARE DEAD TO ME.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone but her. some no namer would have probably been better. reminded me very much of going home to small town grafton after moving away for years.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Monday, 30 August 2004 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

But she has that kind of annoying flare without being quite as annoying..?

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Chris did I know you were from Grafton???? I recently met another guy from there who's somewhat older than us (actually the boyfriend of a guy I sing with); I wonder if you know his family (l3cl41r3)...

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm. Cannot compute robot code this morning. Damn it, I can't figure out the backwards thing to save my life this morning.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

3 = e
4 = a
1 = i

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, nope does not ring a bell. I'll have to get out the year books. How much older?

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I think he's... four years older than me? I also believe he's the oldest of... three? (I want to say he's got a younger brother and a younger sister)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Do me a favor and email me his name to christopher.venuti@pfpc.com. Because the idiot that I am probably has his name all screwed up.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Monday, 30 August 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, I knew you guys would hate this.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw it and admired the writing most of all, but the diirection was dud and the use of music simply annoying. Awkward transitions. But good for a debut.

But it's being called "the Graduate of this generation." In more than one review. Umm.. how is anything is it generational ?

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/gardenstate/

― Vic (Vic), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i was the only one in the theater who laughed at the shins part

― artiste (artiste), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

[[[[[[[ and do forgive the rambling and tendency for over-long sentences on my part, please,

Let me say here that I HATE this attitude of Grammar / Punctuation / Spelling Naziism that inspires such apologetic second-guessing from lurkers. I know this site is littered with writers / writer-wannabes, but after 4 years haven't we established enough times that writing ability != intelligence?

I know the attitude of most posters is welcoming enough, but I guess there are a few who continue on with their pretentious or snarky swipes that create such an attitude in the first place. End Rant.]]]]

― Vic (Vic), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Garden State is most clearly a movie "of its generation" in that it deals with twentysomethings who were medicated as children.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

are there ritalin references? i dodged that shit, phew.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Braff's character has been on lithium, Paxil, and a few others for a while before he realizes there was nothing wrong with him in the first place.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually liked the movie well enough. It's totally emo, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT EMO IS

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

EVERYTHING'S EMO!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Everything's coming up emo..."

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

i liked it a lot, i just hated Portman.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 09:57 (twenty-one years ago)

She reminded me of a girl I went to college with who was k-annoying but I nonetheless had an inexplicable crush on. So in that sense, she kind of worked for me.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Did she work it for you, though? I thought she seemed kind of young-looking and naive to be in a relationship (and not in a sexy way) with Braff's character.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

She seemed like a pain in the ass. Did anyone else besides me think that at the end she was going to have an epileptic fit and smash her head on the steps at the airport?

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, what's up with her not having any attacks?

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i was relieved that she didn't have any attacks. epileptics can go for really long periods of time without seizures, so no problems from a medical standpoint. throwing one in for the sake of it would have been incredibly cheap.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess that's true. It was just sort of a weird thing to throw in to the story. And then it doesn't go anywhere.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i felt the same way at first, but i think ultimately it's a mistake to look at it like a carelessly handled signifier of something more meaningful. her condition serves its purpose in that she's there at the clinic because of it, and they meet. that's it. it's just another aspect of her character. perhaps it seems strange because most movies throw up huge flags around physical ailments?

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

True.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

I finally saw this, after everybody I work with telling me how much they loved it. And I was assured my wife would like it. As it was, we both thought it was OK. She liked the Shins song -- she'd never heard them, because I never liked them enough to play them for her, though I now realize I was being selfish and should have alerted her to them, since she likes that kind of thing (I like it OK too, I just think the Shins only do it sort of passably). But so I bought her the soundtrack, which is pretty good and now I don't have to buy like a whole Shins album. The movie...it's OK. I didn't believe a single second of it, but for the most part it didn't actively annoy me, and there were a few nice bits.

I said on another thread that I don't think Kerry's going to win this election. This movie (and soundtrack -- which, again, I like fine) helps illustrate one of the reasons why. It belongs in some filing cabinet drawer marked "Western Liberalism, The Emotional and Intellectual Impotence of, Early 21st Century."

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i think this movie might suck... the ending was painful, certainly. the trashbags screaming scene was cringe inducing. there were a few other moments that had me squirming with how amateurish the dialogue was. at the same time, though, there were parts that were really affecting and worked well (the talk in the pool about how you never feel like you have a home again; burying the hamster). I dunno, Zach Braff, you have some good ideas and actually the direction in the film is pretty good, but please write your next screenplay with someone more accomplished who has a bullshit cliche filter.

at least the worst scene was soundtracked by my favorite simon and garfunkle song.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 3 October 2004 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

I really, really enjoyed this movie, largely because Natalie Portman's performance was such an accurate pastiche of two of my wife's opera friends that I'm convinced that Natalie saw them at Cambridge Common acting up and thought, "Hmmm, I can totally use that!"

The "most unique thing in the world" bit had me in TEARS.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 November 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)

This is one of those movies that, when you leave the theatre right after seeing it, you sort of like — but the more you think about it, the more dumb and superficial it seems.

I just like Peter Saarsgard. That is its only redeeming quality, and he's not even that good in it.

― sugarpants (sugarpants), Monday, 15 November 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

wtf is going on with Zach Braff's Ray Romano Jr schtick? That was almost as annoying as NP.

― adam (adam), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

worst movie ever!

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

If Ray Romano had half the charisma of Zach Braff I would be able to tolerate him.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I just like the 'you will never be home again' message
I thought the movie was pretty good

nothing amazing or spectacular, but good entertainment

hella better than a lot of the shit hollywood rolls out on a regular basis

― LORD OF ALL THINGS HOMOELECTRONIC (trigonalmayhem), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

ha. i'm doing a website for this right now. (or should be. i'm actually on ilx right now). i haven't seen it tho. i'm always curious about the way anti-depressants are portrayed in movies. or pop culture. like they're a crutch to make people numb and/or superficially happy and part of some modern indie (is that the new word for gen x?) dystopia myth. how was it used here?

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a twist on that; fully explaining what's going on kind of ruins a critical portion of the movie but the end result is unnecessary numbing of the Zach Braff character via antidepressants by the Ian Holm character.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:12 (twenty-one years ago)

the way antidepressants were treated so casually in this movie was one of the many things that made this the worst movie of the year. zach braff clearly neither has any experience with medication nor does he know anyone who does. either that or he assumes no-one in the audience knows the difference. I do like him on Scrubs though.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

(Point of order: There was a period of time in the early 90s at least when people I was at school with were receiving unnecessary amounts of Prozac like it was candy.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I am going to see this and enjoy it (if it ever bloody shows down here) because Zach Braff can park his arse in my bed any time he likes and that is a good enough reason to watch it fer me. If I spend the whole film perving and dont pay attention I still got my $10 worth.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah I know, Dan, me too; but the way he simply went off it and was jim dandy and didn't seem to have any problems was dumb and unrealisitic. Anyone who has allegedly been medicated for that long who suddenly stops taking them is likely in for a world of weird.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know, he didn't really strike me as being jim dandy, given the irrational things he was doing (the scream scene, the whole ending bit, etc).

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

it's on already down 'ere, Trayce! I saw it on Tuesday.

― haitch the carnivore (haitch), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

For a second I thought the plane might crash like his dream at the beginning and I was starting to feel a bit angry. So, I'm glad that didn't happen. Now THAT would have been predictable.

That should totally have happened!

I did get a weird sense of lurking foreboding from this for most of it.

― Ferg, Ah (Ferg), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 02:49 (twenty-one years ago)

If I'd remembered that this thread wasn't on the New Answers page I probably wouldn't have revived it with such a shitty observation. Ah well.

― Ferg, Ah (Ferg), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

if it makes you feel better, i'll repost the pointless thing i did during the great ilx timewarp black hole:

"i was afraid i might like this film, but it really sucked hurrah!"

― m. (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

four weeks pass...

Saw it tonight. My thoughts

cliche ridden (post) teen emoting + "quirkiness" + "emotional depth" x (US indie rock pop + pretty pictures) =

Live Journal: The Movie

― elwisty (elwisty), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

haha otm

― mayahee, mayahoo, mayaha, mayahaha (deangulberry), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 02:33 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Forgive me if this has been answered already, but I just saw this recently -- and was largely underwhelmed -- but riddle me this, Batman -- why does the protagonist's gravedigger friend need to go see Method Man who, in turn, sends the trio to the bottom of the quary to see the eccentric junk shop family to retrieve a piece of jewelry that, I presume, had been wrapped around the neck of the protagonist's recently dead mother? Was there grave-disturbing involved? Why did the quarry family have it? And why was Method Man involved?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Some of this thread is good, some of it a little hard to understand. I don't get all of the references, to actors and other things.

I saw the film itself on an aeroplane to Washington DC. An odd thing was, it starts with footage of people on a plane that's going to crash -- just the sort of thing they always used to say would never get shown *on a plane*.

I thought the film really bad, really disappointing. The basic set-up, place, time, seems to offer promise and possibility, romance and reflection; it delivers almost nothing. It falls back too often on OUCH! lines like 'This is the part of the movie where I'm supposed to kiss you, right?'. It was kind of like a mediocre US TV programme. It contained few good lines. Also too many drugs, etc.

Nabisco has said a lot very well.

I don't know about the Shins problem that people are having, ie. 'it's 2 years out of date'. In England, really only JtN knows about the band the Shins. I am not sure they are good, myself.

― the bluefox, Monday, 14 March 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, gravedigger guy was shown taking jewelry from a casket about to go under, and Zach gives him a look and GG returns a "dude, I make minimum wage in this god-forsaken town and I need drugs" look. So it is assumed GG took the pendant and fenced it, and therefore knew how to get it back.

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 14 March 2005 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh man, I had actually written "this album could kinda change your life" about Oh, Inverted World for a popmatters thing on the art of the album during the summer, and then I see this goddamm movie and the fact that Natalie Portman has my schtick a little bit and it was awful. I hate Zach Braff. I hate my writing. I meant that The Shins will change your life in an My First Awesome Indie Album kind of way, and not in a This Shit Is Super Deep kind of way. Then I started dating a boy who just got off his meds. This movie is not about my generation. There's a better movie out there, somewhere about that kind of malaise.

― Maggie O'Connor (unmitigatedhilarity), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Sugarpants is the most OTM on this thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Method Man was in this movie because Zach Braff needs "street" "cred."

― sugarpants (sugarpants), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe you can steal natalie portman's looks in exchange for her stealing your schtick

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend edited the DVD extras. I didn't know this and I trashed, trashed, trashed the movie in her presence. Whoops!

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Inane \In*ane"\, a. [L. inanis.]
Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence;
purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless. ``Vague and
inane instincts.'' --I. Taylor. -- In*ane"ly, adv.

Inane \In*ane"\, n.
That which is void or empty. [R.]

The undistinguishable inane of infinite space. --Locke.

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't seen this. All the teenyfangirl/boi emo love for Braff has made me ill. And I love him. But ugh fankids, step off fammit.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

uh. dammit, not fammit.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw this a few weeks ago. i had read this thread previously, and the movie was worse than i expected.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

a friend had forgotten GS had been on her netflix queue for a while and it showed up, so we decided to watch it for the hell of it. 10 KINDS OF PAINFUL. UGH. a real cringefest. and there kept being all these "real" details he'd make sure you noticed in all the set designs. for effect or whatever. like, "cut. we need to cut a few more holes in these curtains in this dingy pott smoker's apartment so when the light shines through 'em it shoots beams through and stuff." or the way the dirty fingerprints were arranged on the tv set when they're watching portman's alligator ice skating performance. ridiculous all the way through.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The only thing that stands out for me now is Sarsgaard at the breakfast table 'speaking Klingon' and then translating it back to 'Get the fuck out of my house!' All the rest has evaporated.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

man, doesn't their local knight/jousting themed joint have a place for their employees to change into their damn armor costumes on site? sheesh.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Not a terrible film, but a very very bad one nonetheless.

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"cut. we need to cut a few more holes in these curtains in this dingy pott smoker's apartment so when the light shines through 'em it shoots beams through and stuff."

THIS sounds good!! i mgiht see this movie. probably will. probably won't like it. but that sounds good.

― natlie potman heh, heh, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

why would you cast natalie portman as a shikse?!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Why would you cast Natalie Portman in anything other than a snuff film?

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

HEY WATCH IT.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

my thoughts: it's shit!

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

Saw it tonight. My thoughts
cliche ridden (post) teen emoting + "quirkiness" + "emotional depth" x (US indie rock pop + pretty pictures) =
Live Journal: The Movie

-- elwisty (kowalski9...), January 26th, 2005.

OTFM

― latebloomer: occasionally OTM (latebloomer), Thursday, 14 July 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

Well, I was right on that score; Zach perving a plenty. But I was suprisingly disapointed in the film overall. It was like watching a long Scrubs episode, and it had some really wonderful and funny moments, and visually I liked it a lot, but yeah too many clumsy bits. Tho I did comment to the boy at one point that I actually liked the clumsy bad dialogue (eg in the after party scene) cos thats how people Really Talk. Problem with that is, as Remy would concur, you shouldn't do this in films, I think. Not too much anyhow.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 2 December 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

The ending was really, REALLY stupid, though.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 2 December 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

now that i know n/a hates garden state i may have revise my feelings about him

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 December 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

The previews were for the new Alexander Payne, Anderson and David O. Russell films, plus the Kirsten Dunst tennis movie. I liked the four previes (in and of themselves) better than Garden State

2004-early 2005 was a horribly disappointing time for movies.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 2 December 2005 01:06 (twenty years ago)

did you like "Thumbsucker"?

― kingfish hobo juckie (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 2 December 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

the Kirsten Dunst tennis movie

Wimbledon was so much better than Garden State

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 2 December 2005 03:55 (twenty years ago)

I still haven't seen this. I feel so out of it.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 2 December 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

dont worry, it was crap.

― sunny successor (he hates my guts, we had a fight) (katharine), Friday, 2 December 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

i LOVE this film! screw the hataz...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 2 December 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

now that i know n/a hates garden state i may have revise my feelings about him

n/a is so not the protypical "indie kid" that ilx has made him out to be.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 December 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

http://traditio.com/comment/com0505za.jpg

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 2 December 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

Hi dere,

Watched this the other day and, opportunistic pop references asides I really enjoyed it - well, up until the end where Nabisco is totally OTM about it just imploding in on itself and coming out as a tawdry rom-com cliche with added tweemo guff. Up until then, I lapped up the whole "coming home and it's not home" thing and the excellently observed smalltown weirdness. Despite it being set in Jersey, it very much reminds me of Letchworth Garden City where my parents live. Portman's situation with the doting mother and the house full of animals and the unfortunate medical history ring true with someone I know very well too. So yeh, I was feeling it.

The ending should have shown Braff's character coming off the drugs and going totally apeshit crazy with a chainsaw. Yeh, it started going wrong about the time he started banging on about "I just want to be able to feel something again" and trying to cry, it's like a Bright Eyes advert or something and managed to damage what started as a very solid, well thought out movie about mid-20s soulsearching.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 08:58 (nineteen years ago)

was the twist that he pushed his mum out of a bath? i didn't get that.

― pscott (elwisty), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

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