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Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Odd... No, I Mean the DVD!
Review: Yes, it's true. This DVD has no chapters.

Well, one chapter, and that's the movie! Very bizarre... interesting in terms of an experiment to recreate the theater experience, but that has one problem. If the movie SKIPS, the whole thing SHUTS DOWN and you have to renavigate from the VERY BEGINNING! Which is REALLY NASTY if it happens at the VERY END! I wanted to see those people come out, and BZZKKRKRKK!

Anyway, don't fast forward or scan if you can, you'll have to TYPE IN the HOUR AND MINUTE MARK ON YOUR REMOTE! (an old laserdisc trick) That means you have to know around what certain time your favorite part happens, and punch in the numbers on your little keypad. Gradually, you'll know exactly when it occurs, and so on. It's strange though, I find it sort of funny, like we'll just be drawn in so much as to just not bother skipping ahead!

Of course, if the DVD skips, then we'll be bothered. Especially if we paid full price.

The disc seems a little expensive for this bare-bones treatment, but perhaps that's because of its art-house nature(?). This is perhaps the only DVD I own without any chapter search at all! The sound and picture are satisfactory, and some of the surround is very surprising and entertaining. Now I just have to punch in the time for whenever they go to Silencio!

I hadn't seen the film since the theater, so naturally I was in great anticipation to see it again, and bought it immediately, so I was a little shocked! especially when it started SKIPPING!! AHHHH!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wicked dvd
Review: Others may complain that the complete lack of chapter stops doesn't allow Lynch fans to skip to their favorite scenes, but think of it this way: maybe Mr. Lynch doesn't really want the couch potatoes skipping around to the sexy bits or the funny bits or even the singing bits. Maybe he insists that you allow the film to unfold, just as you're forced to allow a dream to unfold, to follow its own logic. Maybe in a film about losing control and confusion, he doesn't want to make it easy for you (so what else is new?). I don't need to tell fans what a great film this is, but I'll draw attention to the little double-sided insert that comes with the DVD. Instead of chapter titles, it gives you 10 "clues" to help you figure out the mystery. (So there was a mystery?) Anyhow, let me reassure first-timers, who are woefully confused and frustrated at a movie they deem incoherent and incomprehensible. THE CLUES WON'T HELP YOU. I'm convinced that Mr. Lynch deliberately threw out 10 red herrings as a little joke, something that seems to promise a level of control, but is ultimately just another frustration. I can only imagine the more linear thinkers out there trying to piece everything together, trying to see the leaves, the trees and the forest simultaneously. Forget it. Just watch Mulholland again, and then again, and then one more time. It just keeps getting better, but in the process opens up more and more doors, and gives us all more to think about. The folks are crabbing about no chapter stops, but surprisingly, this stripped down, no frills arrangement makes the DVD become a MORE interactive experience than it would if it allowed us to push a bunch of buttons on our remotes. It puts us in the psychological frame of mind that the characters experience--and provides no easy answers. Lynch fans new and old, however, will enjoy the Talent Bios, especially the one on Mr. Lynch himself. Exhaustive, detailed, but by no means complete, this bio is the place where all who would like to crawl inside Mr. Lynch's mind should start.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a Mystery
Review: The fool understands a movie like this, and the wise man shakes his head. I think that's the way it is with all things in life - the wiser you are the less you understand (reference Socrates).

David Foster Wallace writes in "David Lynch Keeps His Head":
"The absence of point or recognizable agenda in Lynch's films . . . strips [your] subliminal defences and lets Lynch get inside your head in a way movies normally don't. This is why his best films' effects are often so emotional and nightmarish. (We're defenceless in our dreams too.)"

That gets at it. The movie is so visceral that you can't contain yourself. If you don't feel the brilliance of this movie under your skin, you aren't alive.

This movie may be Lynch's best.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Part of the DVD problem is intentional
Review: David Lynch doesn't allow chapter selection as a feature on his DVD's. Whatever the reason may be he doesn't want them and excludes them. For whatever reason, I agree with him in a purist standpoint. His films create an overall feeling and although they may be hit and miss for an individual viewer they are meant to be viewed in sucession from the beginning all the way to the end. This is one of the reasons certain film lovers dislike DVD, because it encourages people to only appreciate certain parts of a feature film and allows them to discard the rest very easily. By not allowing chapter selection Mr. Lynch forces the viewer to watch the whole film, or go to great pains to find their favorite parts. As for not having any special features except the production notes and Theatrical Trailer, that's a disappointment. I loved the movie and would've enjoyed to have a documentary about the soundtrack, or the use of certain recurring themes in his work,etc. Unfortunely, he didn't decide to include these things if there were any at all, which is only a minor disappointment. Otherwise, enjoy the disc because it might play like a VHS, but it doesn't look like one and it lasts a lot longer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING
Review: I give the "movie" 5 stars...the DVD "NO STARS". What were they thinking when they released this major motion picture on DVD but left off SCENE ACCESS. I love the scene access option on DVDs. I would love to skip to scenes in MD that require repeat viewings. I was so disappointed when I put this DVD in my DVD player and tried to skip to a favorite scene. NO LUCK. Major downer. Having said that: the movie is just about the most enjoyable cinematic experience in years. You HAVE TO WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE to really appreciate the experience!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mulholland Drive
Review: Poised in the hallucinatory portal between life and death, the heroine reimagines her life how she wishes it could have been, brought to life with poetic beauty by Lynch at his finest. A beautiful, touching, confounding, and devastating film. However Lynch's disdain for DVD has never been more evident. The "extra features" are a trailer and uninformative cast and crew bios. That is it. There are no animated menus. There are not even chapter stops. The video is of passable quality and the sound mix is very good. If you haven't seen this yet, don't waste any more time. It's a true original and one of my favorites to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Buy this so you can watch it repeatedly as its emotional impact grows with each viewing, a rare feat indeed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One chapter? Still, somehow it's fitting...
Review: Mullholland Drive is one of those films that, despite being confusing and just plain weird, remains thoroughly absorbing until its very last moments. There is a difference being confusing and convoluted, of course, and Lynch's latest is anything but the latter. If you want a sexy, mysterious film noire, one that plays tricks on you, pulls the unexpected and always intrigues, you must get Mullholland Drive.

The DVD is good, but the film is presented on a single chapter (no skipping ahead without "fast-forwarding"). I am reminded of Prince's "LoveSexy" album. Released in 1988, it was a single track CD despite having 9 or so individual songs. Prince was "forcing" listeners to take in the album as a whole experience, and in a way Lynch may be doing the same thing here. After all, skip anything in "Mullholland Drive" and you might miss something important. In a crazy, Lynchian way, the one track format makes sense.

The lack of extras is another thing. Acceptable, but kind of disappointing. Just cast credits and a set up screen. Nothing very advanced. Don't expect a lot of options.

I loved this movie and give it 5 stars, but the DVD gets 4 because of the lack of extras. I don't mind the one track aspect as much as some might. Perhaps there will be a special edition in the future with more. It's odd to have a new DVD with so little on it besides the movie itself these days.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Excellent movie, terrible DVD!!!!
Review: "Mulholland Drive" was one of my favorite movies of 2001, and I was looking forward its DVD release. I am truly disappointed at what I found when I played it:

- While the transfer per-se is quite clean, and it offers you the choice of DTS sound, the DVD offers NO EXTRAS whatsoever, something that has become a common feature in all DVD releases these days.

- The worst part is how David Lynch purposely decided to not include CHAPTER STOPS!!! Apparently Mr. Lynch believes his movies should be seen from beginning to end, without interruption, so he decided to avoid such a standard feature as chapter stops.

While I respect Mr. Lynch's artistic integrity, I believe his stubborn attitude of avoiding features that are part of the DVD standards is doing nothing but annoy his fan base. What's more, I think this may be the result of Mr. Lynch not quite understanding the nature of the DVD medium, and the great potential that digital video formats offer.

Again, as I said in the title, this is a great movie, but a terrible DVD that doesn't do justice to the film's exquisite quality.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Love the Movie, Hate the DVD
Review: So Lynch hates to discuss the "meaning" of his movies, or really to discuss them at all, and I assume that means he hates things like director's commentaries, making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, promos, etc. I sort of expected all of those standard things to be missing from this DVD for that very reason. But there aren't even any chapter headings! NO CHAPTER HEADINGS! You can't start the movie from anywhere but the very beginning!

I'm still trying to figure out Lynch's reasoning, because only he could have thought this was a good idea (surely the knucklehead execs wanted to give consumers chapter headings). Maybe he wanted to force viewers to watch the program all the way through from the beginning--but being able to jump forward to points within the movie is a practical convenience that should be a given for the purchase price of the DVD. For whatever reason--your DVD player gets unplugged, say--you should be able to resume watching the movie where you left off. The transfer is fine but the DVD itself is almost completely unacceptable, especially at this price. If you're gonna sell an inferior product, at least price it appropriately, and warn the consumer before purchasing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No chapter menu? -- PLEASE!
Review: As a movie, you will either love this or hate it based on how you feel about David Lynch. Personally, I'm a Lynch fan, so I found the movie to be funny, suspenseful, scary, sexy, and thought-provoking.

Now, on to the DVD itself. No chapter menu?!? This is completely ridiculous! This type of movie lends itself to re-watching certain scenes to solve the mystery. Sorry, no can do! You'll have to watch the entire movie again or go through a tedious fast-forward search.

I'll give the movie four stars, but this lousy DVD gets one!


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