Blue Velvet

Twin Peaks is still my favorite David Lynch project, but Blue Velvet is my new favorite film that he directed. Mulholland Drive is a popular choice, and I liked that movie a lot, but it veered a bit too far into purely strange-for-strangeness'-sake territory for me in places, and I thought Velvet had just the right balance between bizarreness and comprehensibility for me. It really clicked when I realized that the movie was basically Lynch's take on film noir, which is a great concept, and something I thought he really did well. Kyle MacLachlan stars as a plucky young man who stumbles his way into a criminal investigation when he discovers a human ear rotting in a field. Laura Dern plays the daughter of a cop, and he gets her help to get a lead in figuring things out on his own, and they do some amateur sleuthing.

Things take a hard turn though when he actually meets a woman involved in the case and finds out about the psychopath played by Dennis Hopper who's been abusing her. The film becomes a lot harsher and strange at this point, ramping up the sexuality and the violence (and the language, as Hopper's character is the only one who really swears) and making a clean break from the mostly acceptable material it was before. Lynch has a talent for making intensely memorable moments out of a small number of elements, and the entire sequence of MacLachlan interacting with Hopper and his gang is some of the best stuff by him that I've seen. It leads up to the climax, which has the film's most striking and brutal imagery of all. I love the movie plays with the nostalgic, all-American ideas of older movies while coating them in the twisted thoughts that seem to come out of Lynch's mind with regularity. Very much the work of a man with a clear vision and an ability to present it. I definitely need to see more.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

David Lynch's unique style and direction make this movie enjoyable, though it's certainly a flawed one. People who haven't seen the show either won't understand at all what's going on or find what they do understand to be unsatisfying, and people who have seen the show will probably be disappointed by some of the things from the show's central appeal that are missing, and might find the material that is there a bit too well-worn to be really compelling. It was a project that was probably doomed to fail, though it was nice to visit the town that made the show such a joy one more time.

Fire Walk with Me is a prequel to the series that shows the initial investigation of Teresa Banks' murder and the events of the last few days of Laura Palmer's life, while also filling in a little bit about Agent Cooper's introduction to the case and what happened after the series finale. It begins with another pair of agents investigating Teresa's death, and after one disappears (the other is played by an enjoyably quirky Kiefer Sutherland), Cooper is put on the case. Before long though he hits a dead end, and the focus shifts to Laura's story, which takes up most of the movie. Here we see a whole lot more of the depravity and weird mumbo jumbo that made up the circumstances around her death, the former of which we mostly already knew about and the latter of which still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Laura does drugs, ignores her friends, prostitutes herself, and becomes increasingly erratic as she learns more about the strange man who's been tormenting her. Eventually things spiral out of control as we see what really happened the night before the series starts.

None of the details are too unexpected though, and at times Fire Walk with Me feels less like a movie filling in gaps and more like a mythology-heavy flashback episode that the show never ended up really needing. Lots of characters return, mostly played by the same actors, although too often little is done with them besides reminding the viewer of little things. Hey, remember how Laura did Meals on Wheels with the diner? Or how Bobby scored coke for her? Now you get to watch it. I don't object to seeing the world of Twin Peaks expanded, I just wish that the movie had more of a point to it. I also wish it was a bit closer to the tone of the show. Twin Peaks had adult themes but was acceptable enough for prime time television in the early 90s, while the movie really earns its R rating with swearing, violence, and nudity. This would be fine, but the dark aspects of the film end up taking over the whole story, and the other side of the series, the goofy, charming side, is pretty much entirely abandoned after a certain point.

So I think the film is worth watching if you really loved the show, and would like to see more about the key events that shaped it in the beginning. It's actually a reasonably effective horror movie, an element that the series touched on but never really embraced. It doesn't really go out of its way to terrify you, but there's lots of spooky and creepy imagery, especially revolving around all the mystical stuff, and the last act of the movie in particular is brutal and uncomfortable to watch. Lynch has a handle on film making even when the material isn't top notch, and in saying goodbye to the show he loved but didn't completely deliver on, he made a reasonably entertaining movie. I know a lot of people really hated it, but if you go in knowing the limitations and what you're in for, I think it's worth seeing.

Twin Peaks - Season 2

The flurry of season finales that occurs every May always throws this blog out of whack a bit. Especially now that I prioritize posts about new things over old things. I finished watching this show weeks ago, but it's only now that I can talk about it. Season two of Twin Peaks is definitely a mixed bag. At the start, it's just as thrilling as the first, with the mystery of Laura's killer continuing to escalate and the citizens of the town continuing to get into bigger misses. It's the same mix of thrills and bizarre laughs that made the show awesome. But then the show does something it probably shouldn't have, at least so soon... they solve the mystery. David Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost argued about whether they should ever give an answer, but I'm sure they at least agreed that halfway through the second season was a bit quick. Flagging ratings meant ABC pushed them into it, and while that whole reveal is well done, it's clear that they hadn't planned on what to do afterward. The whole show is sort of left in a lurch, and while it's not terrible, it's simply not nearly at good from that point forward.

The problem is that there's not as much really driving the show to do anything. They come up with a new conflict for Dale Cooper, and a new villain, but the whole thing isn't developed all that well and there's a lot of time where not much stuff really happens. Goofy, aimless subplots take over the show, and there's really not much reason to watch it. Yeah, it's weird, but weirdness without purpose can get tiring quickly, especially on a series that was previously so engrossing. Things pick up a bit once Heather Graham shows up, in the sense that Dale seems to have a purpose and it's more clear that there is an actual plot, but it's still never as good as it once was. The finale is pretty good, though. It ends with about a twenty minute dream sequence filled with more bizarre imagery and hidden meaning, culminating in a cliffhanger that makes the show's cancellation a bit disappointing despite the lackluster tail end. There is a movie that may or may not answer some questions, and I do intend to see it some time. As it is now, Twin Peaks is something of an oddity, but one worth tracking down if you're into that sort of unusual drama.

Twin Peaks - Season 1

For some reason, despite liking Mulholland Drive quite a bit, it's the only thing by David Lynch I've seen, though multiple factors have conspired to get me to see Twin Peaks in recent times. I blasted through the eight episode first season pretty quickly, and it might be the earliest example of good serialized television that I can point to. Lynch is known for doing supremely weird stuff, but he's not the only influence on the show's creative direction, and at least early on the weirdness is mostly limited to a disturbing dream sequence and a couple other brief bits, with the rest being relatively traditional, if slightly off-beat drama. It combines elements of mysteries and soap operas, as an unusual murder investigation is going on amid a collection of townspeople with a series of secret relationships so tangled they look like a spider web. It isn't long before the ring of crime surrounding the murder makes itself apparent and people start betraying each other, culminating in the extremely strong season finale which left me definitely wanting more.

One of the reasons the show works is that the cast is so good. There's something just a bit odd about all of the performances, and it's hard to say whether that's a deliberate a touch or at least partially an artifact of the early 90s way of doing things. Whatever the case, it helps the show. Kyle MacLachlan plays the sort of protagonist that could save almost any show, and the fact that he doesn't have to doesn't prevent him from still standing out. Dale Cooper is the FBI agent sent to investigate after a second incident after the initial murder makes the case a federal issue, and his unique personality makes every scene he's in a joy to watch. His genuine appreciation of good food and many characteristics of the small town atmosphere, his strange combination of standard procedure and spirituality in his work, every feature is unique and entertaining. And most of the people around him have similar things going for them. I've heard a lot about how things get weird in the second season, but even if the whole thing is garbage, the first is a shining example of good dramatic television.

Grand Theft Auto III

In anticipation of Grand Theft Auto IV, which I should be getting my hands on soon, I'll talk a bit about the Playstation 2 trilogy that made me love the series.

Around the Christmas of 2001, there was a bit of a rivalry brewing between the PS2 and the new Xbox. Both systems had a high-profile game coming out. The PS2 had Metal Gear Solid 2, and the Xbox had Halo. But a lesser known game came out of nowhere to far more commercial success than either, a 3D sequel to a kitschy top-down driving series. It was GTA3, and it was a lot of fun. I remember playing it for the first time and being amazed by what I could do. It was the first true open-world game of its kind. The freedom was incredible. Going anywhere in the city, getting into fights with the different gangs, uncovering street races or secret jumps, listening to the hilarious talk radio station.

Of course, what we ended up doing a lot was just causing mayhem, recklessly plowing through pedestrian traffic with a semi truck and getting as many cop cars as you could to chase you. It was a revelation when we realized the best way to rack up stars on your wanted level was to attack people on foot instead of just running them over. And of courses, you could pick up prostitutes to heal you in exchange for money, and if you so chose, kill them afterward to get it back. Money was never an issue in the game, it was just a darkly humorous way to beat the system. Unfortunately, this single aspect of a huge, often quite intelligent game was focused on by media watchdogs and overzealous parents. They warped it, trying to make the game out to be training kids to be brutal killers, with the mistreatment of women in the forefront. Never mind that the series has never once instructed you to harm a prostitute, or any other person who could be considered an innocent bystander. It just allows it, letting you make yourself into any character you wanted. The game also allows you to use an ambulance to deliver people to a hospital and rewards you for doing it well, but I guess that doesn't sell newspapers as well.

Beyond the sandbox mayhem, the game also started the series' trend towards interesting storylines set up by very professionally handled cutscenes. The main character never spoke, but you still felt sympathy for him when he was betrayed and wanted to help him set things right. Working your way up the ladder, interacting with all the different movers and shakers in the criminal underworld, and having a hand in the direction the city takes was a hell of a lot of fun. Everybody latches on to the primitive technology and unsatisfactory weapon targeting now, but it wasn't that big of a deal back then, when you had so much choice in how you took care of things. Other games let you decide between picking off foes from a distance or getting in their face and making them explode, but few let you set up a barrier beforehand and block off their escape route. It started the trend of making the last couple of missions in the game a little too difficult, when you're faced with tons of guys with automatic weapons and the bad targeting really rears its ugly head, but finally getting it done is all the more satisfying. There were too many technical flaws, but when you just consider the scope of it and what it did for gaming as a whole, Grand Theft Auto III was a masterpiece.