MovieChat Forums > Cameron Crowe Discussion > When you think about it, Vanilla Sky was...

When you think about it, Vanilla Sky was his turning point

posted 5 years ago by LTUM (991)
5 replies | jump to latest

...and I don't mean in a good way.

Look, I'm not knocking Vanilla Sky. I liked it okay and it is well done, though extremely esoteric and a HUGE break from Cameron's usual type of story. (not to mention it's not his original, but a remake he did of a European film)

But back to my subject line^..... If you look at all his stuff, from 1980 to 1998, they were all very entertaining. Well done, not boring, and they all seemed to occur in the same 'universe' of cameron crowe. Fast Times, The Wild Life, Say ANything, SIngles, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous.

Then Vanilla Sky in 2000. Then... a string of generally unwatchable 'touchy-feely-melodrama' movies: Elizabethtown, We Bought a Zoo, and Aloha.

I just wonder WTH happened between 1998 and 2000 to spin him off his 'normal' footing, which was such a great grasp of story and characters that he seemed almost infallible.

I just SMH when I think about the stinkers he put out after almost famous. It just don't add up!

Anyway, just my .02

Thanks for listening. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

[–] R_Kane (15828) 5 years ago

He has always said that “being a writer is like having homework for the rest of your life.” That’s an inauspicious attitude for an alleged writer to have. If you look at it that way—and there are many other ways to look at it—do YOU want to “do homework” for the rest of your life? If you are already rich, why do homework? Fuck it!

Or you could look at “doing homework” from an adult’s perspective—an adult who did not write for Rolling Stone magazine, a glorified underground 60s newspaper powered by rock n’ roll, drugs and dead brain cells, who did not look young enough to sneak into a real high school and fraudulently pass himself off as a student and write a Stoned, I mean Stone, pierce that got optioned and finally made as Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Crowe had an agent he got the rights to have him write the script. Lightning in the proverbial bottle. Hollywood like him—to a point. Me? Not so much. Wouldn’t give you 2 cents for any of his scripts. “You had me at ‘Hello.’ ?!” And coming from freaking Zellwiger? That’s like a the kiss of a gut-belch from a blast-furnace. Barf-ola, as they said in The Last Starfighter.

Précis: The guy gave in and cashed out, retiring comfortably. I watched Vanilla Sky, once. I regret the waste of my time. Cameron Crowe is The American Dream. You don’t a actually have to be good. You have to be well-positioned. That’s what happened.

[–] LTUM (991) 5 years ago

lol somebody woke on the wrong side this morning!

that's all well and good but from a purely entertainment standpoint, every one of his movies had a certain 'element' about them and were assembled a certain way, right up to Always Famous. They were from the same universe, had the same feel, hit the same notes, tugged the hearstrings. and cinematically they had standard hollyweird pacing, plotting etc.

then he did vanilla sky which was a remake of a spanish mind-fuck film, which was a side street compared to his earlier fare.

then, elizabethtown and the zoo movie then the hawaii movie.... they all sucked in a way his first five didn't suck.

anywho, i get you don't like him or maybe his work, but IMO the point still stands that there's an invisible line drawn in 1999, and after that he became someone else other than cameron crowe.

IMO

just sayin.

[–] Interlepos (1787) 2 years ago

Very good post R_Kane. Although I don't agree about Vanilla Sky (love the film), this was a good point:

>> He has always said that “being a writer is like having homework for the rest of your life.” That’s an inauspicious attitude for an alleged writer to have. If you look at it that way—and there are many other ways to look at it—do YOU want to “do homework” for the rest of your life? If you are already rich, why do homework? Fuck it!

[–] BourbonKing (5675) 3 years ago

His earlier works are decent enough to watch and appreciate, but his persona as a writer/director always bugged me to some extent. There was just always this subtle arrogance to his youthful outlook on life in general. Spielberg was like this during his heydays from Jaws to Raiders 2, but after that he took on more producer roles and sorta stopped acting like a cocky teenager. I guess when he formed SKG he learned more how to be a collaborator rather than a cocky superstar.

But, speaking to your point, I think his youthful outlooks somewhat faded as he's gotten older and is probably facing the trials of life that we all face. It's similar to people I grew up with who were always onto something like they had a wild hair up their ass and would never take a break. Now that they're older they're much quieter and subdued.

[–] LTUM (991) 3 years ago

great points. i know people like that too. in fact, i AM one lol

yeah crowe flamed out imo. i rewatched almost famous last week and it didn't strike me like it did in 98. seriously, i was crowe crazy in those early years. he had a distinctive voice, perspective etc but like you said, and i never thought about it that way, yes he does come off kinda 'teeny smug'. hubris, they call it?

i liked everything from fast times to almost famous but now I may revise that backwards to jerry maguire (which I still think is his finest work and still moves me a great deal; changed my life when i saw it on Christmas day 96, in fact)

i also think he plays up his connection to heart too much. and his music affinity has become sorta tired. but, he did it to himself, like an unforced error in baseball.

thanks for posting. i don't really come on here much anymore. cheers