Movie review - "Mulholland Drive" (2001) ****1/2

 Excellent neo noir with Naomi Watts stunningly good. Everything clicks. Fresh faces, handling, dead bodies. Story makes sense.

How good is it Ann Miller got a decent role? 

Movie review - "The Elephant Man" (1980) ****1/2

 This movie feels forgotten now but one time it was a big deal. Crucial to David Lynch's career. Beautifully shot and handled. Some Hollywood touches - night porter villain for instance - but it works dramatically. Perfect acting, from Anthony Hopkins' decent doctor and Wendy Hiller's empathetic nurse to John Hurt's sensitive work. Splendid make up.

One of the best things EMI Films and Mel Brooks ever did. And Lynch. 

Movie review - "Blue Velvet" (1986) ****

 Gorgeous, gripping, very accessible - everyone should be able to follow this story, it's a who dunnit (who owns the ear). Kyle McLachlan literally spells out the solution in his phoe calls. The sense of mood is captivating.

McLachlan is a solid Lynch surrogate, Laura Dern does wonders as the blonde (there's something ticking behind her brain), Isabella Rossellini is a standout as a traumatised, sexy, grieving, glamorous, severely mentally ill woman, Dennis Hopper is amazing as the yelling and terrifying Frank, Dean Stockwell impresses as the camp drug dealer.

The film just works with its combination of Americana, mystery, weirdness, underbelly, etc.

David Lynch - top ten people he launched as stars

David Lynch had very successful track record as the launcher or relauncher of "semi stars" i.e. people not quite A-list but who had really really good careers after breakthrough performances in Lynch films. Here's a top ten:
1) Kyle McLachlan - plucked from nowhere to be in Dune, then saved from blacklash obscurity via Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks/ 
2) Isabella Rossellini - had been the "girl" in White Nights and of course had famous mum but Blue Velvet made her an icon. 
3) Laura Dern - had a Lynch double whammy with Blue Velvet then Wild at Heart which made people look at her in, ahem, a different way. 
4) Dennis Hopper - am trying to remember this right but from memory Hopper was considered toxic goods in the early 80s but then in the mid 80s, I think 1986 to be specific, he became Mr Hollywood via a part in Blue Velvet as well as Hoosiers and then also directing Colors - it was a big comeback and of course Blue Velvet made him a go to villain for the next fifteen years or so which kept him in oil paintings  and health treatments.
5) Lara Flynn Boyle - in the 90s she was on a magazine cover every second week it seemed (weight battles, dating Jack Nicholson, being in The Practice) but she was launched in Twin Peaks. 
6) Madchen Amick - okay yes she kind of never hit the hugest heights but for a section of us she will always be a star  (see also James Marshall, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sheryl Lee, Sherilyn Ann Fenn, Michael Ontkean, Joan Chen, Kyle McLachlan - there was much discussion on Tuesday night viewings of Twin Peaks about who your favourite eye candy was, there was a lot on display).
7)  Naomi Watts - seemed to be around forever (I remember her arc on Homers where she played a girl in a wheelchair who fell for Dieter Brummer’s brother) - then got Mulholland and it all changed. 
8) Robert Blake - acted since he was a child - became a TV star... then got Lost Highway which opened him up to a whole legion of fans and he might’ve had a Hopper like renaissance but then he, uh... shot his wife...
9) Sherilyn Ann Fenn - look, technically Two Moon Junction made her a star but Twin Peaks turned her into a 90s It girl, dating Johnny Depp and the rest... she never quite became what she could have but look back on her performances and they were actually legit terrific. 
10) Chris Isaak - cheating a little but not really, Lynch was an early supporter of Isaak, put his songs in his films and directed video for Wicked Game.

Russ Tamblyn Top Ten

 

1) Gun Crazy (1950) - Tamblyn's breakthrough role as a child star was in Samson and Delilah but I go for this, because it's a more brilliant film and tamblyn's more believable as a young John Dall than as Saul (Samson is quite fun, though)

2) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) - a lot of MGM musicals were losing money around this time but this was a smash hit, in part due to its energy and colour, including a great turn from Tamblyn - this turned him into a dancing star. The story line is inherently dodgy ("let's abduct some women").

3) The Fastest Gun in the West (1956) - at MGM Tamblyn developed a niche playing keen teens in support of older actors, such as Glenn Ford - this is a good Western, and they put in a dance number for Tamblyn which Ford (one of the biggest divas of the 1950s) tried to get removed

4) Peyton Place (1957) - a triumph of adaptation to get this past the censor and make it cohesive (I've read the book)... the film is a lot of dodgy fun, including Tamblyn who is genuinely good as a weird teen (he turns "normal" in this which he didn't in the book but he should have played more weirdo roles)

5) Tom Thumb (1958) - charming musical fantasy with Tamblyn ideal in the title role.

6) High School Confidential (1958) - terrific fun with Tamblyn doing 21 Jump Street, as an overage undercover cop battling dope pushers, the seduction of Mamie Van Doren, and beatnik dialogue... this was a big hit, and other Albert Zugmith films for MGM weren't... maybe because they didn't star Tamblyn, who knows, he was in a lot of hits around this time.

7) West Side Story (1961) - Tamblyn was a little old to play Riff but he had tremendous energy - no George Chakiris but better than Richard Beymer, shall we say.

8 ) War of the Gargantuas (1969) - in the late 60s Toho would import American stars for their films (usually Nick Adams) - this had Tamblyn, looking stoned and ad libbing dialogue (as he would in his other cult classic, Satans Sadists) - lots of fun.

9) The Haunting (1963) - genuinely good film showing what Tamblyn could do - he didn't like acting that much though and went bohemian soon after.

10) Twin Peaks - Tamblyn makes a comeback as the eccentric Dr Jacoby, totally fitting in Lynchian world.

Dean Stockwell Top Ten

 1) The Boy with Green Hair (1948) - RKO classic

2) Kim (1950) - Errol Flynn swashbuckler, with Errol ideal as a naughty big brother

3) Compulsion (1959) - icy teen

4) Sons and Lovers (1960) - some DH Lawrence

5) Long Days' Journey into Night (1962) - some Eugene O'Neil

6) Psych Out (1968) - quite fun AIP movie

7) Dune (1984) - one of the movies that brough him back - this counts for Blue Velvet (1986) too

8) Married to the Mob (1988) - funny, charming and scary

9) The Player (1992) - one of many fun names

10) Paris, Texas (1984) - lovely

Book review - "Dune" by Frank Herbert (1965)

 Talk about world building. Herbert build a world, and a universe, and a language, and a system and, well, heaps. He uses the Jesus myth and history and came up with a compelling mythology. It's a first rate story.

Sometimes it got bogged down in detail and I needed someone to have a sense of humour but it is truly epic.

Lots of nice touches like the good Duke Leto having a propaganda arm. The action sequences are surprisingly short.

Movie review - "Dune" (1984) **1/2

 I remember reading the comic book version of this film before seeing the film and went "wow what a great story". The film isn't up to the story. In some ways. In other ways it does it justice - Kyle McLachlan is excellent. The art design is stunning. I liked Brian Eno's theme. (Not Toto's music so much.) Consistently stimulating.

It doesn't do justice to its story. The emotions are distant. The death of the allies of Paul, the betrayals, the exile and return... that's all primeval stuff. David Lynch can't do it. Or at least can't do it justice.

Looks beautiful. I wanted to like it. Some hammy moments like the dissolve of Kyle M and Sean Young kissing. Sting in a cod piece. It felt cult but also long.

There is a good film in here struggling to get out.