"I don't know if you're a detective or a pervert."
Movie Review: Blue Velvet (1986)
I may be biased because David Lynch is probably my favourite film director but I think this is one of the best movies of the 80's. Modern film noir at it's best. Kyle McLachlan plays an amateur sleuth who decides to hide inside a woman's closet to see if he can learn any secrets. Dennis Hopper plays one of the most terrorfying film villains anywhere. It has many classical Lynchian elements; dreams, strange images, bizzare sound effects, and strange, mutilated people. Perhaps the weakest moment of the film is a conversation between McLachland and Laura Dern outside a church where they discuss her dream about robins coming to save the world. But in Lynch's world of dualities this too good to be true scene balances the incredible powers of darkness that the characters must also confront. Like most of Lynch's films, viewers either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground. Even people who hate it though must admit that it moves them, which is no easy task for a film to do. 9/10
Movie Review: Myteries of Love (2002)
A documentary on the Blue Velvet special edition DVD. Contains archival footage of Lynch talking about the movie and new interviews with all the stars. Funniest bit was how Dennis Hopper got his role by telling Lynch, "I am Frank Booth." These days Lynch refuses to really talk about his movies because he doesn't want to affect how his audience interprets them. Mostly funny stories and anecdotes about the making of the movie, it's a good book end for fans of the movie. 6/10
Movie Review: King Kong (2005)
Well movies don't come much bigger than King Kong. At first I questioned why Peter Jackson even bothered with this remake. I hate seeing movies being remade when the originals are still perfectly entertaining. This wasn't a money grab by any studio however, it was Jackson's dream to make a new version of Kong. And what a remake it is. The film really breaks into 3 parts. Part 1 shows a swarthy movie director (Jack Black, who did better in this dramatic role than I figured he could) trying to organize a film shoot on an unknown island. His producers won't give him any more money and his leading lady has quit the project. Enter Naomi Watts, a hard working vaudeville dancer who is as down on her luck as the rest of the depression era city. Part 2 has the cast and crew reach Skull Island, which is inhabited by wild, crazy-eyed natives, dinosaurs, giant insects, and need I mention... King Kong. There are some amazing action sequences here as humans and apes alike battle to survive. The running of the brontosauruses is something to behold, although a little unbelievable to see Jack Black so deftly avoiding their stampeding legs. Kong enters a battle royale with a pair of T-Rex's that is exciting but ends up in a vine covered ravine where the combatants must fight their way to the bottom, from vine to vine. Action scenes like this have been popping up a lot lately since Jurassic Park when the SUV gets stuck in the tree and chases the kids down. Frankly I'm a little tired of this schtick now. Probably the scariest things on the island are the giant insects, which are as big as the dinosaurs. With their numbers why haven't they taken over the entire island? Some kind of giant tubeworms that swallow people limb by limb were really well done and just disgusting. The final part of the film has Kong creating havoc in New York City. Some of the scenes are very beautiful and it's amazing to see the emotions in Kong's eyes. Lots of reviewers are calling this one of the best films of the year and I have to disagree. While it's worth watching, it's not one of the best. 8/10
I may be biased because David Lynch is probably my favourite film director but I think this is one of the best movies of the 80's. Modern film noir at it's best. Kyle McLachlan plays an amateur sleuth who decides to hide inside a woman's closet to see if he can learn any secrets. Dennis Hopper plays one of the most terrorfying film villains anywhere. It has many classical Lynchian elements; dreams, strange images, bizzare sound effects, and strange, mutilated people. Perhaps the weakest moment of the film is a conversation between McLachland and Laura Dern outside a church where they discuss her dream about robins coming to save the world. But in Lynch's world of dualities this too good to be true scene balances the incredible powers of darkness that the characters must also confront. Like most of Lynch's films, viewers either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground. Even people who hate it though must admit that it moves them, which is no easy task for a film to do. 9/10
Movie Review: Myteries of Love (2002)
A documentary on the Blue Velvet special edition DVD. Contains archival footage of Lynch talking about the movie and new interviews with all the stars. Funniest bit was how Dennis Hopper got his role by telling Lynch, "I am Frank Booth." These days Lynch refuses to really talk about his movies because he doesn't want to affect how his audience interprets them. Mostly funny stories and anecdotes about the making of the movie, it's a good book end for fans of the movie. 6/10
Movie Review: King Kong (2005)
Well movies don't come much bigger than King Kong. At first I questioned why Peter Jackson even bothered with this remake. I hate seeing movies being remade when the originals are still perfectly entertaining. This wasn't a money grab by any studio however, it was Jackson's dream to make a new version of Kong. And what a remake it is. The film really breaks into 3 parts. Part 1 shows a swarthy movie director (Jack Black, who did better in this dramatic role than I figured he could) trying to organize a film shoot on an unknown island. His producers won't give him any more money and his leading lady has quit the project. Enter Naomi Watts, a hard working vaudeville dancer who is as down on her luck as the rest of the depression era city. Part 2 has the cast and crew reach Skull Island, which is inhabited by wild, crazy-eyed natives, dinosaurs, giant insects, and need I mention... King Kong. There are some amazing action sequences here as humans and apes alike battle to survive. The running of the brontosauruses is something to behold, although a little unbelievable to see Jack Black so deftly avoiding their stampeding legs. Kong enters a battle royale with a pair of T-Rex's that is exciting but ends up in a vine covered ravine where the combatants must fight their way to the bottom, from vine to vine. Action scenes like this have been popping up a lot lately since Jurassic Park when the SUV gets stuck in the tree and chases the kids down. Frankly I'm a little tired of this schtick now. Probably the scariest things on the island are the giant insects, which are as big as the dinosaurs. With their numbers why haven't they taken over the entire island? Some kind of giant tubeworms that swallow people limb by limb were really well done and just disgusting. The final part of the film has Kong creating havoc in New York City. Some of the scenes are very beautiful and it's amazing to see the emotions in Kong's eyes. Lots of reviewers are calling this one of the best films of the year and I have to disagree. While it's worth watching, it's not one of the best. 8/10
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