Garden State - Special Edition [2004] [Blu-ray]

i must be dreaming when i see certain reviews saying this is awful. they could not be more wrong and i expect they are simply old men or women who have grown cynical about the chances of be happy in life. well it is a shame. this movie is not overly "oh so deep" or melancholic teenage 'feel sorry for yourself' trash, it is a film where everything is perfect, from the sondtrack to the script and the camera work, the cast is perfect and work perfectly together. if you liked the qwerkyness of Napoleon Dynamite, this will dazzle you. for those idiots who cannot relate to other people's emotions unless they have gone though exactly the same thing, then perhaps yes you should not bother, but for all who love cinema, here is the opportunity to see one of hollywoods rising stars of original movie making.if you liked scrubs then you will love this. it is 100 times better than the last kiss, which he only acted in. the shins, iron and wine, colin hay, coldplay, nick drake, thievery corporation, all feature on a fantastic soundtrack that perfectly grabs the mood of each scene. and natalie portman is lovely and perfect as always.this movie is guaranteed to leave you feeling happy and opptimistic, so even if you are a cynic, let yourself go and remember what it was like when you were young and hopeful.

I got this film as an avid fan of Scrubs, curious to see what Zach Braff could manage away from his role as 'J.D.', and on the whole, although I wasn't completely blown away, I wasn't completely let down either.This is a fairly pleasant film, certainly not uncomfortable to watch or suffering from poor acting, etc. It successfully puts you into the state of the main character (Zach Braff) - a sense of pleasant numbness. It does however leave you wanting a little more; its all very well getting across the main charater's emotions, but I didn't feel quite the same upsurge of emotion at the end as the main character displays, which is a slight let down. Its been well put together and looks clean and fresh. There are a few funny moments in the film, but its worth remembering that this film is not like the scrubs sitcom where Zach Braff made his name - a little more laid back, relaxing.However, having said that, it makes for a pleasant night in, and would probably suit a couple having a quiet night in with a bottle of wine.

Let me start by saying great soundtrack! Any film with Coldplay and The Shins in it gets at least one star for the songs!But now, the film itself. I did enjoy it but personally, I found the film slightly disappointing. Many may disagree, I'm sure, but I've concluded I just didn't get parts of this film. It seemed very slow-moving to not much reward. I love independent films and I love quirky, non-Hollywood/World Cinema movies etc. However, I don't think this one was quite for me and just didn't seem to hit it off, maybe I did not understand it, but i did try.Don't get me wrong, I am not saying the movie is a complete disaster; there are some very amusing moments within it. Zach Braff plays as the deadpan lead role very well and his coming out of his shell is interesting to watch but I just never felt like the film actually went anywhere; I was expecting some kind of finale, a twist: something to shock me - a scene that would make me happy but it just never seemed to come. (I am purposefully not mentioning the ending which in all honesty is slightly predictable so the satisfaction just wasn't the same.)It was recommeneded if you liked 500 Days of Summer but to be honest, I didn't enjoy Garden State to the same extent; but, I did enjoy it nevertheless, and I have seen much worse films in my time.

This is one of my favourite films of all time but the Blu Ray release lets it down, the same results could be achieved by the standard DVD and an upscaling Blu Ray player (side note, as long as your using a HDMI lead and a Hd tv, its always upscaling from any blu ray player because of the native resolution)It looks no different in particular, the sound seems better however I may point out but there was nothing wrong with the sound on the DVD so its not worth spending an extra tenner on.This film was released in 2004 so theres no excuse for this much of a shoddy transfer, maybe a better one will come out soon.But yeh If you've come to the reviews section for opinions about the actual film, its very good and worth watching if you enjoy Zach Braff in scrubs or just love 'Coming of age' films. soundtrack and subject matter is excellent with a couple of funny moments as well, and I'm not ashamed to say this film got me some hard times.

It appears we have another marmite film from looking at the reviews on here. I could have guessed though: I watched this sometime ago with an ex-girlfriend - she hated and I loved it.If you like action packed films that don't give you time to think, you won't like this. It's a plotless, slow moving, independent film all about people. It's unusual, subtle with original moments and it gets better every time I see it. The soundtrack is fantastic (probably my favourite ever) and the dialogue is funny and clever. And I really loved the Natalie Portman character, I think I actually fell in love with her the first time I watched it.If you like unusual indie films then you will probably love this film as much I did.This review may not be that impressive but `I'm okay with being unimpressive. I sleep better.'