Rating: 
Summary: A great and rewarding movie...if you pay close attention...
Review: I must admit that I didn't really understand this movie the first time I saw it. I am sure I still miss some nuances after many viewings. It was still quite enjoyable on a visual level that first time with very vivid colors and great cinematography. However, once you understand the basic storyline, those previously difficult details start falling into place, and you start feeling like a much smarter person for getting it. At least I did.Okay, if you're interested, here is the basic storyline. If you notice at the beginning of the movie, Naomi Watts falls asleep and you get a visual of a pillow blurring as she falls into it. From that point in the movie to the point at which the cowboy comes into her room to wake her up, it is a dream. Here's the reality. Naomi Watts is Diane Selwyn, a former dance champion who wanted to make it big as an actress. Her aunt had left her some money when she died, so Diane headed to Hollywood. But she didn't do very well. For example, she wanted to win the lead in a movie called The Sylvia North Story, but the director didn't think much of her audition. Another woman, Camilla Rhodes (Laura Elena Harring) got the part instead. This is how they met, Diane and Camilla. And as Camilla progressed as an actress and Diane ended up doing bit parts in Camilla's movies, they had a sexual relationship. The relationship didn't mean to Camilla, though, what it meant to Diane. Camilla eventually dumped her for the director of one of her movies, Adam (Justin Theroux), announcing it at the party shown near the end of the movie. Diane couldn't deal with it, and she hired a hitman to kill Camilla. When she realized Camilla was dead (the hitman left the blue key for her), she couldn't live with what she had done and what she had become. She was depressed and hallucinating and shot herself in her bedroom. Now here's the dream. Diane's dream is everything she wanted to happen in reality. She creates it from reality, adding characters that passed marginally through her life (such as the cowboy at the party who becomes a figure to menace the director) and reworking events that actually happened (such as the limousine ride, no longer her way to the party but the way in which Camilla comes to depend on her). In her dream, she is not Diane but Betty, the name of a waitress who served her once. Camilla has amnesia brought on by a car crash, after which she finds her way to Betty's amazing apartment. Camilla calls herself Rita after seeing a Rita Hayworth poster in Betty's apartment. In the dream, Betty and Rita are together. The director is cuckolded in a hilarious scene and harrassed by the aforementioned cowboy. Betty is an incredibly good actress. The hitman is a bumbling idiot. All is well with the world. That is, all is well until reality starts creeping in. The director seems to recognize Betty, though in her dream world, he doesn't know her. Betty and Rita discover the dead body of Diane Selwyn, a name which seems unsettlingly familiar. A couple of men in a diner discuss an evil presence which lives behind the place, actually a homeless man who possesses a blue box. (I think that the evil presence/homeless guy is the manifestation of Diane's inner turmoil at what she has done in reality. She has locked it up in this sort of Pandora's box.) At a performance at Club Silencio at which the emcee announces that everything is an illusion, Betty freaks out, because in reality, all of this is an illusion. She finds a key in her purse which is blue like the one the hitman had in reality. When Rita opens the Pandora's box with the key, Betty is gone, the illusion is gone, and the cowboy appears to wake Diane up. A couple of comments about this DVD--the American version is really not that hot. You get the movie which runs straight through without chapters (i.e. you can't stop the DVD and skip back to whatever part you were on). The only special features are some production notes and the trailer. I got a region 0 Korean version online which has more features and most importantly has chapter stops. Because I needed those to review those parts which just didn't want to jell in my mind.
Rating: 
Summary: mulholland drive
Review: add this movie to the long list of crap that david lynch has put out. in fact, this movie would have been better suited starting out w/ him on the toilet ~ at least that way we'd know what we were in for!
Rating:
Summary: it's a work of art
Review: The key questions are (1) whether it was necessary for Lynch to flout so many "traditional" assumptions moviegoers are used to making regarding narrative flow, temporal order, cause-effect, character identity and continuity, story vs back story, the real vs the imagined, and (2) whether the payoff is significant enough to warrant it. I think the answer all things considered is yes. "Mulholland Drive" may not be a masterpiece in the artistic sense - time will tell - but it presents so many new and interesting solutions that it must count as a major achievement, by any director. Yes, there is a plot and there is a high-stakes theme to go with it. The theme is love, betrayal of love, reaction to the betrayal, and the consequences of that reaction. All very sad to the point of tragedy, an American tragedy, Shakespearean territory even, and not just because so much beauty is destroyed but because we are reminded how much, as human beings, we are still in the grip of our passions and how difficult it is for reason to gain a foothold once emotion has spoken. .... Also coming through are several jabs aimed at Hollywood. Lynch is indeed taking dead aim at the meatgrinder that spits out nothing but Kleenex-level mediocrity 24 hours a day with types like Adam Kesher behind the camera shooting silly-ass nostalgia or some such just to make money. It's that very system and the values it holds dear that make it impossible for true love to exist, or anything else that's real -- only love of power, fame, and money. Is this unique to Hollywood? Obviously not, and Lynch wants us to realize what's really important and sacred in life, as opposed to what's merely a means to an end. ... The acting is fantastic. Naomi Watts does a tour de force and the stunning Laura Harring - a former Miss America and now Countess von Bismarck - is perfect. Let's hope Lynch will find the money for his next project. WHAT TO THINK ABOUT This movie is much ado about quite a bit. Lynch makes the audience work to figure out what's going on because he wants to make art, where you shouldn't be spared the trouble of thinking. After you've exercised your gray cells, you're ready for meaning and not before, he says. As with any work of art, several interpretations are possible. The one theme that I see as accounting for the movie's sadness is that treating beauty as mere merchandise can only lead to ruin. What comes out of Hollywood is a form of cultural pollution.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful,heartfelt,and horrific
Review: I wish I could whole-heartedely reccomend this film to everyone,but the truth is,if you like standard films which lay out all the facts on the table,then this film is just not for you.You don't have to be some major intellectual to take this film in either(I'm 14), you just need patience and an open mind.If you have those things in check,and don't mind movies that are both challenging and wacky, see this.First of all, I'll just say that Mulholland Dr. is absolutely beautiful,beautifully filmed,presented,has some beautiful musical moments and for those sensory images alone is worth a viewing. I don't want to give away a whole lot, because I'd like for you to see for yourself.Mulholland drive is honestly one of the best films I've ever seen.Because while I don't get what the director is trying to portray through each and every single detail, I get what he is trying to show.He,thorough a series of loose ends(scenes)portrays two worlds.One is filled with hope and beauty and light, while the other is dark,and cold,and contemptuous.And that is why I love this movie so much, because it plays out exactly like what it is trying to portray-on the surface Mulholland Drive seems like a highly,stylistic glossy product, but underneath the gloss, there lies warmth,emotion,and drowned hope.Stunning, and the ending was just perfect.
Rating: 
Summary: Gimme Some Sense, Please!!
Review: Rating this movie was tough. 2 stars doesn't do justice to David Lynch's masterful use of the camera to capture the color, tone & brooding atmosphere of a Los Angeles that is at once shiny & sinister. In exposing the supernatural in the midst of the ordinary, a Lynch film is similar to a Stephen King book--the audience approaches both holding its breath, waiting for a Bogeyman to jump out and spook us--we know that what we see at first on the sunny surface will not be all we get. In this film we do get an actual Bogeyman that resides behind a diner Dumpster no less. And therein lies the problem If this film is evaluated on its mastery of film techniques, it's worth 4 stars. If it's evaluated on the basis of coherent narrative and plot of any kind, Lynch flunks. Maybe it's a uniquely American weakness to demand that our films make sense, have something called 'a storyline', and if that's a weakness, it's one I don't apologize for. The film starts promisingly--a beautiful young woman being threatened at gunpoint (and we know from her sultry looks that she's not a Good Girl) is saved from certain death when her captors are killed in a car crash. Stunned & suffering from a head injury, she wanders away from the wreckage, spends the night behind some bushes, and sneaks into a stranger's apartment. She's obviously hiding out, but from what? Enter Betty, a fresh-faced blonde ingenue just off the plane from Ontario, ready for her big break in Hollywood. She's staying in her aunt's empty apartment, the same apartment as fate would have it, that our mysterious accident victim has wandered into. Betty is startled to find an unexpected visitor in her aunt's shower, a visitor that has amnesia and a handbag stuffed full of 100 dollar bills. The two women forge a shaky friendship based on a mutual desire to determine the dark beauty's identity. That's an intriguing beginning, but any semblance at a coherent narrative goes off the rails at this point as Lynch seemingly pulls out every trick and device he learned at directing school, some of which serve his movie and some of which only serve to leave his audience completely bewildered. The more lost I felt, the madder I got, because suspension of disbelief only works if the movie reality follows its own logic structure. There is neither logic nor structure here. After 2 hours and 27 minutes of Lynch's cinematic wanking, I had the distinct impression that he's laughing at his audience for being chumps enough to sit through this pyschic spew dressed up in the clothes of 'High Art'.
Rating:
Summary: a great movie
Review: Believe it or not, you can explain Mulholland Drive with a reasonably straightforward, even believable, story, and without just waving your hand and saying, "It's all just Dianne's dream." Well, it IS just Dianne's dream, or at least the first 2/3 of it are, but there are dreams and then again there are dreams... I won't spoil it by posting what I think is the explanation (though I've posted it elsewhere), but I will say this: it's a great movie, though maybe not for everyone. There are a couple of lesbian love scenes which could turn off the prudish, and working out a satisfying explanation for it all may require multiple viewings, which many (probably most) may find to be a waste of time. But it has a fine noirish feel to it, especially with the brooding musical score apparently contributed by none other than a sinister espresso-spewing tycoon/mobster. ;-) Naomi Watts gives a particularly enthralling performance as Diane/Betty. An absolute must if you just can't get enough of those flicks with a dark, moody feel to them.
Rating:
Summary: I tried.
Review: I am an artist and enjoy independent films. I am just not willing to work hard enough to understand the work of David Lynch. The only positive note on Mulholland Drive is the wonderful use of color and camera, which I have also noticed to be acceptional in Lynch's other work.
Rating:
Summary: Best Lynch sincer Eraserhead
Review: Best Lynch film since Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive explores the tragic(even epic)dimensions of a pathetic life. The main character is a morbid and vengeful failure--one of the countless--at the margins of Hollywood, but who, in her dream/drug-induced/fantasy states, refashions her story as a fairytale of love and eternal hope, restrained only by a vast conspiracy. Even without fame and forture she has the found the love of her life... or has she?
Perhaps the finest cinematic treatment of cryptomnesia. Dark and disturbing yet also poetic and bittersweet.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Film of the New Century
Review: So far in the new century, MULHOLLAND DR. is the greatest film. When it came out theatrically, I went to see it and ended up utterly puzzled and engrossed by this gorgeous, mysterious cinematic trip. There is no way anyone can understand this film during the first viewing. But that's okay. Think about it then go back to the film whether for the second or tenth time - FINALLY, you will get it. Trust me. There are tons of analyses, perspectives, reviews etc of MULHOLLAND DR. all over the Internet...even Roger Ebert has one of his own. My favorite review - a very thorough one - can be found at www.avguide.com/film_music/film/reviews/david_lynch.jsp. Do NOT read this magnificent review if you haven't seen MULHOLLAND DR. yet since it contains mountains of spoilers. I decided to re-visit MULHOLLAND DR. last week after one year. I must say that the experience was even more powerful and utterly new that I can't think of the right words to describe the recent viewing. Sometimes a film needs to sit or be left alone for a long while before you can truly love and appreciate it. MULHOLLAND DR. is David Lynch's magnum opus...You need to buy the DVD for your collection since MULHOLLAND DR (like any great art) requires more than just one viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Review: BLUE VELVET was extraordinary, an exploration of the dark sides of both sex and the small town that none of us were prepared for. TWIN PEAKS was a dazzlingly fun pit stop, a total dead-end that I would gladly travel again and again, if only
for the corny jokes amidst the psychotic terror. But
MULHOLLAND DR is surely David Lynch's masterpiece. Of all the movies that bite the hand that feeds them, Hollywood, MULHOLLAND DR is the only one that deserves a place
alongside SUNSET BLVD. But where SUNSET BLVD is brittle and cynical, MULHOLLAND DR is overwhelmingly warm, filled with deep, rich colors, remarkably pure expressions of
love and fear and sadness, and a love scene so hot and unexpected it scalds you. This warmth and beauty make the film's (literal) decomposition (set off by a stunning scene set in a crumbling theatre) all the more shocking and powerful. Of course, Naomi Watts's shattering performance helps, too. Her work in the first part of the film, playing a naive Hollywood hopeful, splinters and cracks brilliantly in the film's second part. But, at its core, MULHOLLAND DR is a particularly American tragedy. For behind the glitter is betrayal, behind the mic is a lip-syncher, and the smell of a rotting town clouds any hope of becoming a starlet.
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