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Reviews
Wild at Heart (1990)
Like an intriguing nightmare.
Don't be too shocked by my 5 out of 10. I mark harshly.
I'd heard a lot of Hype about David Lynch. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so I borrowed "Wild at Heart" from a friend. To be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about...although I've heard Blue Velvet is the one to watch. However just because a director has made something great , it doesn't excuse them from any horrible film they made prior to or after. Anyway...without much further ado welcome to my next review:
CONS: I did not care for the main story of the Sailor and Lulu, nor did I feel like there was enough character development for me to warrant care. The characters were just there doing things and there didn't seem to be any real explanation as to why.
The story didn't really make a whole lot of sense. Sure the basic plot did, but there were other things going on that just seemed to come out of nowhere and took away from your interest in the main story overall.
Too violent. There has been violence in films for a long time, but there is a difference between warranted violence, which is there to help the story or shock you or even be a stylized and funny thing (ie, city of god, kill bill) and pointless violence just there to disgust you (ie, saw). This film contained several scenes of pointless violence.
Sexually explicit. Unnecessary nudity. There is some nudity in a character named Mr.reindeer's house which suits his character and is quite funny, but the nudity of the character lulu and others is pointless. Also some of the things they talk about were unnecessary and just seemed in the same category as the pointless violence, and a scene with sailor grabbing a woman's "parts" from behind seemed a little graphic.
This film has several moments that made me think, "The director gets that, but I'm pretty sure no one else could unless he explained it to them in person." This isn't clever, it's bad directing.
Too long. Being a film that never really explains why things are happening, you loose interest in finding out what happens quite quickly.
PROS: This film was well done technically. There were some good shots and you never felt left out due to a technical reason. Also the various close up shots of matches and cigarettes and the use of color filters over the sex scenes was intriguing.
This film is weird. If you are sick of "cut copy" "same old same old" characters and story, then this film is for you. It's full of wonderfully weirdo characters and strange story elements. The prime example being a man in a bar in new Orleans who sounds like a duck and talks about pigeons carrying disease.
Also in a similar vein this film has a nice dreamy quality. It's not quite on par with Donny Darko, but it will be for some quite intriguing. Kind of like late night early 90's video clips.
MIDDLE GROUND: The acting never shone through as brilliance, but never really seemed to drag things down either. None of the character's really had enough of an emotional background to work with anyway, except maybe Laura Dern's character which was played reasonably well.
The soundtrack was sometimes great sometimes bad. Mostly the heavy metal didn't work for me (even though I'm a heavy metal fan.)
ALL IN ALL: Really not that good, a bit too strange and unnerving, however has some interesting characters and a dream like quality.
SIMILAR TO: An early 90's video clip. ANTITHESIS: "The Usual Suspects."
The Proposition (2005)
Better than Once Apon a Time in The West.
I just got back from seeing this picture at probably my favorite film theater but I arrived a bit late and missed the first 10 minutes with the gunfight they said was really quite brilliant. So perhaps my view on this picture alters from the masses but I still give thumbs up and say that this film is an AFI asset. This film was not boring like the westerns of old and even thought Sergio's films were cinematic gold, I feel they grow tedious with a secondary watching, but this film had action told a simple tale and sets and scenery right to the smallest detail. The acting was great, the dialogue never clunky and morals we're clear though not in the beginning. It gave the right impression of this barren land where the flies are small demons and heat sucks out your soul and all your feelings. Where the sun turns from enemy to an artist's impression of the beauty we all know we could be achieving. This film is violent but not for no reason, it shocks you and scares you into believing what the morals and ethics are hidden within this exciting western set in Australia with bushrangers and trackers and knives and gun wheelin'. Truly a great film that I was glad to be watching showing the world that Australia can do it and maybe they'll give somebody who had a part in it an Oscar or award, but I wouldn't count on it.