Well, the weekend turned out a bit more… umm… ‘wetter’ than I had aticipated. But it was fun none the less. Here are the films I saw.

Garden State: Like I seem to have noted on the night, it was indeed very good. Zach Braff was, surprisingly enough, brilliant. And I didn’t realise until afterwards that he had also written and directed it. Wow. What a clever boy. I always thought he was just ‘that annoying one’ from Scrubs. The film reminded me a whole lot of Beautiful Girls, probably not least because of Natalie Portman. But it had that same vibe about it in general. Anyways, I’ve always liked this sort of ‘going-back-to-your-small-hometown’ genre of films. And this was one of the best I’ve seen.

Jersey Girl: Well, it was better than I expected, and sort of continued the Garden State theme which was cool I suppose. Quite a clear attempt from Kevin Smith to go main stream. But even though it was toned down a lot and a bucketload of schmultz was added, there were still some genuinely Smith-like scenarios scattered around, enough to make you smile. And I always dig Ben Affleck more when he’s working with Smith.

Elizabethtown: Hmm. I’ve been waiting for Cameron Crowe to get back to his Singles ‘roots’ for some time and this was definitely a good attempt. Some brilliant ‘feel good’ elements, some nice dialogue and observations plus quite a good supporting cast. The biggest problem imo was that Orlando Bloom couldn’t really carry the film as the main lead. I noticed I was enjoying the movie a lot more in the parts where Orlando wasn’t saying much. Beats me why they chose an Englishman for that role in the first place… Also, I really wish there would have been a lot more of the roadtrip and less of the funeral shenanigans.

Crash: I’d heard a lot of good things about this movie, and it certainly lived up to the expectations. Not sure why it took so long for me to see it. Very uncomfortable to watch in parts, and perhaps not even that rewarding, but it certainly does have quite a profound effect on your feelings/thoughts. I like the Magnolia sort of approach to storytelling, where separate stories interrelate with each other, and that was used to a great effect here. Definitely one of those ‘must see’ films… but perhaps not one to watch multiple times.

Æon Flux: It always annoys and perplexes me when people go to such lengths in creating a really sleek-looking movie, without having a proper script behind it and without concentrating on making the story strong enough to really get lost in, or even to believe in the characters. I just think it’s a real shame. Some very beautiful frames in this movie. But still, it was bobbins. 100% pure bobbins.