MMJ in the new Elizabethtown Movie

[johnbky]

Down here in Nashville, this bit of info was included in the latest newsletter from Grimey's.  Even if you don't live here, you should sign up for this record shop's weekly e-mail to get all the latest.  They know good music.
http://www.grimeys.com/

Anyways, enough with the plug, check it out:


"Greetings From Grimey's

We have a very exciting announcement to make today.  Film director and former music journalist CAMERON CROWE will be appearing here at Grimey's this Sunday, September 18 at 1:00PM!  He's in town to promote his new film ELIZABETHTOWN, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.  

We all know Cameron from his fantastic films Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, and Almost Famous.  He was also (famously) the youngest music journalist ever to hang with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, the Allman Brothers and many other big rock stars at the age of 15 while a budding writer for Rolling Stone magazine.  And don't forget that he wrote the book and screenplay for Fast Times At Ridgemont High.  

So Cameron Crowe's accomplished a few things in his relatively short life.  Now he returns with his latest film set in the small Kentucky town Elizabethtown.  And he's coming to Nashville for one of only 2 Southern appearances (the other is in Louisville) to promote and screen the film.  As you may have read in "Brad About You", the star-studded screening is a V.I.P. only event and not open to the public.  So this appearance at Grimey's is your chance to meet this talented director and music nut.  He's bringing a new band with him that he's supporting strongly called I NINE, who appear on the soundtrack to Elizabethtown along with Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, My Morning Jacket, Nancy Wilson (from Heart), Tom Petty and more.  Cameron is known for paying close attention to the music in his movies and Elizabethtown is no exception.

I Nine will perform live in the store followed by Cameron Crowe signing copies of the Elizabethtown soundtrack CD.  I have it on good authority that there will likely be some additional special guests but that is not yet confirmed as we go to "press" here today.  If I find out any more details on appearances, you'll be the first to know!"  

 

[antoniostrohs]

Sounds like the boys are going to be at the premier of "Elizabethtown"Saturday night at the Cinema Deluxe 16 on Preston Highway here in Louisville.I know Cameron Crowe and Orlando Bloom are coming to town also.I know they're having another premier tonight in E-town.Wish we had tickets.

[McGuire]

What's up? Saw this new clip with Crowe talking about the music in Elizabethtown and mentioning My Morning Jacket but now I forgot the link. Suck.

[McGuire]

Found it!
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/elizabethtown/music_large.html

Check it out.

[dragonboy]

That's a great clip - thanks for posting! :)

[EC]

There is something about Cameron Crowe.  I don't know what it is.  I want to go to his house and see his record collection and talk to him.

[dragonboy]

As much as I love Almost Famous I think my fav CC movie-music moment would have to be Free-Falling from Jerry Maguire.

[whothrewthecake]

i hate tom cruise, but i enjoyed parts of vanilla sky because cameron brought a cool touch to them - such as tom and penelope cruz as the freewheelin' bob dylan cover. hope elizabethtown is good. if it's good, i'll cry.

[dragonboy]

The Bob Dylan cover was very cool but overall I was real disappointed with Vanila Sky.
Anybody see the original? Supposed to be WAY better.

[primushead]

The Bob Dylan cover was very cool but overall I was real disappointed with Vanila Sky.
Anybody see the original? Supposed to be WAY better.

I saw the second half of the original.  It was before I saw the newer one, so I couldn't compare at the time.  But it looked pretty decent.  I'll have to to a full way run through sometime.

[MMJ_fanatic]

There is something about Cameron Crowe.  I don't know what it is.  I want to go to his house and see his record collection and talk to him.

You ain't shittin' there girl.  I also have decided to collect all of his movies.  I just recently got the chance to watch Jerry McGuire in it entirety (somehow I never sat through the whole thing) and found myself liking every musical choice he made for the soundtrack.  I think Almost Famous will remain my fav tho because of its association with his own experience getting hired to write for Rolling Stone as a young man and rolling around the States with Zeppelin--what a dream that must have been!  Sorry--gushing there :-[

[Chills]

Found it!
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/elizabethtown/music_large.html

Check it out.

That was sweet. What a wonderful man!

[thebigbang]

Finally it's here. So what do you think about the MMJ part?

In one of the reviews after the Toronto film festival, the reviewer suggested one of first scenes Crowe should cut was the Freebird bit. Ouch!   Good to hear that he didn't take off the Jacket.

p.s. I'm taking my wife to see the movie on her birthday next Tuesday. We'll post our reviews then.

[thebigbang]

Unlike some folks, I like long threads that keep a topic in one place instead of stepping through a half-dozen threads to keep up. A great thing about a forum like this is we get to choose our own path. So I'm keeping my review here.

As stated previously, I went to see the movie on Tuesday hoping to get a decent dose of onscreen MMJ.  Unfortunately, Crowe was under a lot of pressure to edit many minutes out of the movie to get it into a more studio friendly release, and it appears the band's screen time took a hit.

In fact, you might get more and better shots of the band in the Internet preview and trailers.  I think the band's experience playing in the rain served them well for the Freebird scene and playing with the sprinklers on.  Jim's speaking part at the funeral was cut, and the strutting around to Freebird was noticeably clipped. What a pity. Maybe the DVD version will yet immortalize the guys on film. I certainly hope we get much more of the Jacket in the disc version.

The bands original music was used to good effect in the movie, even better than many of the other songs that were used.  Despite Crowe's reputation for placing music perfectly for his movies, I think a lot of the other songs did not fair as well as the MMJ tunes.  On the other hand, Nancy Wilson's incidental music was a surprising good fit for the various scenes for which it was employed. I enjoyed it greatly.

The Ruckus poster with the MMJ portraits was fun to see, but one of many implausible timelines in the movie.  The guys playing live hadn't aged a bit from the photos on the ancient poster!

About the rest of the movie:

Rarely do I agree with movie critics, but I could readily see where so many aspects of the criticism were deserved.  The movie had too many stories to tell and too many scenes begging for time to play out than could reasonably be expected in less than two hours.

And every part of the film felt rushed, probably due to squeezing out 20 second bits all over the place to keep the time down.

I'm guessing the star power of Baldwin and Sarandon kept their roles from being trimmed too much or axed entirely once they were under contract, but those parts could have been greatly reduced to no ill affect.

The movie would have been better served using more time showing Drew grappling with his father's family and his feelings about lost opportunities with his father, and developing his and Claire's relationship.

Crowe seemed intent on putting his road trip in there, but it seemed completely inconsequential to the movie.

Finally, while I can imagine many actors getting the audience more involved in Drew's emotional ups and downs than Orlando Bloom, his performance didn't deter the success of the movie in my mind.  But, wow, Dunst's performance as Claire seems to be way over the top.  I've read several interviews where Crowe and others have said she is old beyond her 23 years.  But to me, she did not have the depth or range to make the character believeable.

Recommendation:
If you are a My Morning Jacket fan, you'll probably want to see this on DVD more than on the big screen, as you are likely to see more of the band there.

If you are a movie fan or Crowe fan, you will likely be a bit let down, but the various scenes play out amiably enough that it won't feel like a complete waste of time.  The most irritating thing about this movie is one can't help but think of how easily one or two story lines could have been developed into a trully compelling movie experience. Elizabethtown is a missed great opportunity, much as Drew missed his opportunity with his father and relatives.