The OAO 'Garden State' Thread

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I remember reading about this film during AICN's Sundance Updates and thinking "That goof from Scrubs had Hollywood fawning over him and his script?" and not caring too much. After learning more about this film I can say that I'm hyped, more hyped then I've been for a movie in a long time.

 

Garden State Official Website Trailer

 

The trailer looks nice and does a good job of giving the viewer a glimpse of how Braff's character comes across. Ian Holm is a superb actor and Peter Sassgaard gets slept on way too much when people talk about consistency and solid work. Portman is good enough for me and comes across wicked cute in the scenes she's in. I'll be there this coming Friday.

[Alro 0]

I've been waiting for this movie since I saw the preview when I saw Eternal Sunshine...

 

Am I correct in saying it hit theaters nationwide on August 20th?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

And a-hello.

 

Saw it with Curry tonight and it didn't whip my ass. Rather, it went right ahead and did the post-ass kick nurturing. I haven't been more comfortable watching a movie ever. I loved everything about it - the visuals, the music, the acting, the dialogue, the relationships - everything about it was fantastic.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

That was a grand flick. And yes, very loving.

 

This, to me, is going to be the Lost in Translation of 2004. People are either going to dig how simple, beautiful and sublime the movie is or they'll say "But nothing happened" and choose to rag on it.

 

WHAT WORKED

 

- BRAFF. Now there's only 4 slots left in the Best Actor categories this year. The most perfectly awkward performance in a long, long time. The nervous twitches, the goofy smiles and those eyes that don't miss anything and take in the world like he's a child seeing everything anew.

 

- PORTMAN. Now there's only 4 slots left in the Best Actress categories this year. Performance of her career, bar none. Princess Who? Exactly. She hits this one out of the park and it shows through in everything about her character.

 

- Saasgaard once again proves himself to one of the most talented guys working today (again.)

 

- The Soundtrack was choice. Coldplay, Simon and Garfunkel, The Shins, Iron and Wine amongst others. Great stuff.

 

- The filming style was so......................real. Everything about this movie had a certain feeling of legitimacy to it that came across well.

 

WHAT DIDNT

 

- Not enough Holm.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/gardenstate/

 

In Zachs blog he says that he cut some I-Holm scenes, which explains why there wasn't enough I-Holm. He also said that he already did 2 commentaries for a DVD, and one of them is with *sigh*[schoolboycrush]Natalie Portman[/schoolboycrush]

[Placebo Effect 0]

God damn. I fucking loved this movie.

 

One of the few things that I wasn't big on was the lack of explanation for Braff's choice of becoming an actor. I can understand the escapist theory, but Braff never even attempted to elaborate on it with his script.

 

And when his friend gave him the necklace, does that mean that he stole it, sold it, and then bought it back to give to him? Maybe I missed something.

 

8/10. If the last point gets explained, 8.5.

[Max Danger 0]

To answer your question...

 

I took it as him stealing it, since Braff's character saw him stealing jewelry from one person's grave as they were sitting there, then selling it, and then having to track it down and buy it back.

 

That's how I saw it anyway.

 

I just loved everything about this movie. I had been waiting to see it since I first saw the trailer online. It's the first time in your god knows how long that I've actually been anticipating seeing a movie. Sure, I had to drive two hours to see it, but it was well worth it.

 

My favorite movie of the year. (Though, admittedly, I haven't seen a terrible amount of flicks so far this year.)

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I'm torn because I LOVED Collateral too but this one, if i see it again, could top Collateral. To be fair I'll probably see them both again.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

One of the few things that I wasn't big on was the lack of explanation for Braff's choice of becoming an actor. I can understand the escapist theory, but Braff never even attempted to elaborate on it with his script.

 

I think his talk with Sam near the fire summed it up - he's never been himself; he has always been someone else. That's why he feels "safe" with Sam, with her he *can* be himself without consequences.

 

And when his friend gave him the necklace, does that mean that he stole it, sold it, and then bought it back to give to him? Maybe I missed something.

 

I think it went like this:

 

Mark Graverobs Mom.

Mark throws away Necklace (it wasn't of value)

Large sees Mark Graverob

Mark devotes the rest of his time to finding the necklace

After a series of trades, he finds out where the Necklace was thrown away to and he gets the arkguy to find it.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

A good movie, but one that is clearly a film debut. Fun, charming, and funny, but a lot of downtimes, agonizingly cheeseball scenes, and stiff, cliche moments. I love the Shins, but the whole "listen to this song - it'll change your life! Whoa! Yeah!" was straight out of a freshman writing workshop.

 

Overall, very glad I saw it, especially for the very subtle, satisfying performances from all the leads. Braff has a bit of a way to go before he corners the market on quirky.

[MDH257 0]

If anyone was wondering, the DVD was just announced for release on December 28th.

 

I saw the movie in August and wrote my thoughts in a thread that hardly anyone read (I didn't realize at the time that this thread had been started.

 

This is what I wrote.

Last Sunday I saw Garden State.  I loved it and thought it was the best movie I've seen since Eternal Sunshine. 

Not because of the main story (Zack Braff's perscriptions and relationship with his father), but because of the love story particularly how its resolved.

 

Although calling anything the main story isn't really fair since the movie is really a series of vignettes that slowly move the plot along.

 

If you didn't already have a crush on Natalie Portman, you should after this movie.

 

The TV ads don't show it, since they don't want people to expect a laugh riot, but it's also very funny.

 

I havn't seen the movie mentioned on this board. I know it's only been playing major cities but this weekend it expaneded to the megaplexes and I highly recomend it.

 

Has anyone else here seen it?

 

Thoughts?

[Downhome 0]

This one finally starting playing at a local theater, and I went to see it on opening night here. To sum it up in few words...it's the second best film of the year so far, with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind being in the #1 spot.

 

It is very rare that I actually feel like I'm floating on air when watching a film, experiencing that feeling of greatness, but this one did it, as did Eternal. I said in my Eternal thread that the character of Clementine was my new favorite role/character ever, and Sam in Garden State is right up there also, just a fantastic performance.

 

I am also a huge fan of Zach Braff, just wow. He's a true Hollywood player, he's going to grow into so much, I can't wait to see more and more of this guys work. I can't put into words how fantastic this guy is going to become.

 

Garden State is what film is all about, and it couldn't have been presented much better, if any better, at all.

 

This is the type of film that I will grow into loving it more and more and more. The more I'll think about it, and view it, the more that I'll appreciate everything about it.

 

Also, I love movies like this, that feeling of reality, the feeling of it not actually being a film that you are watching. To many who view it, who do not care to actually lookin within the film, they might claim that it has no true plot. It's just a guy doing stuff and then the film ends. I hate when people think of films like this in that way, it's so sad when people can not look within the film, to really grab hold of what is going on, and then allowing the film to grab hold of them as well.

 

The final line in the film summed up not only the film and life perfectly, but also the career of Zach Braff...now let's see more!

[Alro 0]

If anyone was wondering, the DVD was just announced for release on December 28th.

Per Zach Braff's blog:

 

You can officially pre-order the Garden State DVD on Amazon.com. It's scheduled to come out on 12/28. But I'm trying to get in moved up a little bit, so we'll see. It's got tons of really cool extras, commentary from me, Nat, the cinematographer, the production designer and the editor. It's got about 1/2 hours worth of cut out scenes and bloopers and a behind the scenes documentary. I'm a DVD junkie, so it's a DVD designed by a DVD junkie for DVD junkies.

 

A DVD designed by a DVD junkie for DVD junkies should make for a sweet DVD. I want to see the scenes with Ian Holm that Braff said got cut. I hope he gets the release date pushed up because I want to get it as soon as I can.