Blue Velvet (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Unquestionably a classic film, but...
Review: Now, don't get me wrong. Blue Velvet is one of my all-time favorite movies, if not my hands-down favorite. It's just that I was a trifle disappointed with the "special" edition. As was no doubt the case with a lot of other Lynch-heads, I was hoping for chunks of deleted scenes and never-before-seen footage, but apparently such scenes fall under the "lost forever" heading - what a shame. Instead, we get a montage of still shots from a variety of scenes which, while compelling, falls far short of the actual scenes themselves. If you're a geek like me, you might want to try and locate a copy of the script. This will answer a lot of questions you might have about the context of these scenes.

That said, I highly recommend buying this if you don't already own a copy in some format or other. Blue Velvet is a compelling, voyeuristic, and times downright scary masterpiece, peppered with David Lynch's trademark quirky humor.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, fun, wacky, sublime. Best of the 80s.
Review: It's really just another week in the South, folks.

We all carry on like this down here. I can send you all the Franks and Bens and Dorothys you would ever want to meet direct from North Carolina (where Lynch filmed this classic). This fact used to really amuse me in LA where I saw this back in 1986, and everyone then and there thought Lynch had invented some sci-fi world. Oh, Lynch had definitely taken sharp, genius note of smalltown America in the South: that is what makes an artist good.

But 'Blue Velvet' is REAL, folks, just in case you've been stuck in Visalia or San Diego all of your life with all of those colorless people pretending so hard to look and feel like a Gap ad.

None of this should be taken to mean that BLUE VELVET is anything less than a wonderful black comedy packed with brilliant moments of poetry, cinematic fireworks, and slippery kitsch. There are few moments in comedy/surrealism to equal Dean Stockwell lipsynching to Orbison's "In Dreams", or Dennis Hopper repeating the same lyrics to Kyle McLachlan before he smears the kid with lipstick and sneers "Pretty! Pretty! Pretty!"

Lynch's tale is also a rather acute evisceration of a psychosexual journey in the mind of a young man, Jeffrey Beaumont (Beaumont means of course, "beautiful mountain", or "beautiful view" even). He meets Dorothy Valens (self-explanatory), and is visited by his blond siren, gal pal Sandy (the Goddess Cassandra, of course.) BLUE VELVET is ripe with readings and references.

Lynch's is a wonderful achievement in having a good, wild time at the movies. Wasn't this one of the few films of the 80s or 90s that even managed to pull one completely into its dream? For me it was. Most junk today is just passive eyecandy, face it.

'Ben, you are so suaaaaave.'

'Frank, stop it!! Yes! I like to sing Blue Velvet! Mommy Loves You!'

BUY IT NOW!

Rating:
Summary: A great buy for Lynch fans!
Review: Often the special editions of dvds aren't worth the extra cash, but this one is! The extras are really fascinating and this edition in particular contains some really neat easter eggs.

Rating:
Summary: Lynch = bizarre genius or crazy madman milking his art?
Review: Dennis Hopper is amazing as Frank, the evil trash talking lowlife. His preformance is so explosive and mind blowing that you'll find yourself quoting his lines for years after seeing this.
David Lynch paints for us a surreal portrait of suburbia and it's soft, white underbelly of seedy characters, and sleazy places that only come out at night on the far side of town. It's really brilliant and just downright weird. Notable are Frank's little posse ("I'm Paul), Ben the Pimp and his whorehouse, and Isabella Rossalini (not the best singer in the world) perfectly portrays the abused victim.
You'll never think of "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison the same way again. David Lynch was never this weird again with the expception of the incredible Mulholland Drive.

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing vision of Americana
Review: Blue Velvet, like so many of Lynch's movies, is multi-layered. On the surface, it portrays (with subtle humor and some strange twists of reality) a Norman Rockwell type town and its disturbing under belly. It is also a coming of age story for the main character played by Kyle MacLachlan as he wrestles with his lust for an older woman (Isabella Rossellini) and his feelings for a young high school girl (Laura Dern). It also has elements of a morality play when the outstanding villian played by Dennis Hopper enters the fray. Underneath it all though, there's always the thought that David Lynch might just be mocking our picturesque ideas of small town life.

Rating:
Summary: Lynch's best movie, yet...
Review: I really love this movie. David Lynch has always done a great work. David Lynch is my favorite director and I love all of his movies. But this is maybe the best he has ever done. Dennis Hopper plays better then ever. It's always fun to see Jack Nance who has been in almost every Lynch film. He had the leading part Lynch's first movie "Eraserhead". This movie talks about all the evil in this world and it's really scary. A movie that every filmfan should see.

Rating:
Summary: A dizzying, haunting masterpiece
Review: David Lynch crafted one of the most visually haunting films ever imagined in 1986 with Blue Velvet. Dream like from the beginning, the film starts off simply enough, we see the residents of a small town enjoying themselves, in fact the town is what anyone and everyone would envision as a perfect town community. Young college student Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan, who was also in Lynch's Dune and would later star on Lynch's TV show Twin Peaks) returns to his seemingly perfect town when his father suffers a heart attack (in a very chilling scene). One day he discovers a severed human ear that is decomposing in a field, and this is when we as the viewers discover that this seemingly perfect little town is hiding some deadly secrets. Eventually, Jeffrey teams up with a young Laura Dern (who it seems is modeled after a 1950's high school sweet heart) and both begin playing detective, and it soon leads them to a tortured nightclub singer named Dorothy(played by Isabella Rossellini), who has some secrets of her own. This leads Jeffrey to begin to have a dangerous obsession with Dorothy, and that is not taken too well by Frank (Dennis Hopper, who is extremely great in this completely psycho role), a man who is terrorizing Dorothy for his own sexual perversions, and is holding her child hostage to attain them. Later on we get to see Frank and his crazed crew (Brad Dourif among them), and we meet his "oh so suave" buddy Ben (Dean Stockwell), who has only one screen appearence, but it is a chilling one nonetheless. The only complaint I can think of is how the film ended, it seems to me that Lynch had an alternate ending but decided to go with the one featured here. Lynch pulls out all the stops here, tugging at every emotion he can. You'll laugh, cringe, feel sorry for the characters, and be horrified, sometimes all at once. Blue Velvet is a haunting, dizzying, mind bending trip that will haunt you for days after viewing it, this is Lynch's best film, and it stands today as an American classic.

Rating:
Summary: don't you ... look at me!!!
Review: oh my, a lynch big-time bravo. It's a haunting film and so true in that western decandence is highlighted in such a satryic manner (pun intended). Enjoy, it's Lynch at his best thus far.

Rating:
Summary: Blue Velvet, the best film of the 80's
Review: In what one could regard now as a precursor to TWIN PEAKS, David Lynch explores his primary fascination, the possibly seedy under-belly that may or may not exist in Middle America.

Jeffrey(Kyle Maclachlan) lives in an idealic small town. It's picturesque, everybody knows everybody, and the doors are left unlocked at night. However, evil is lurking. Jeffrey discovers this one day as he walks through a remote field, he finds a human ear. Jeff takes the ear to a local Police Detective, who thanks him and then asks him to stay away from the case. But Jeff, with the Hardy Boy inside getting the better of him, does no such thing, and with the help of the Detective's Daughter(Laura Dern) he decides to investigate. His snooping eventually leads him to a mysterious and seemingly disturbed night club singer, Dorothy(Isabella Rossellini), who Jeffrey is uncontrollably intruiged by and attracted to. In fact, it is only when Jeffrey meets Dorothy's derranged tormentor Frank Booth(Dennis Hopper at his twisted best) that he starts to realize that he just might be in way over his head.

Bizarre, captivating, hypnotic, and haunting. You've heard these words describe BLUE VELVET before. But that's because these descriptions are very accurate. This is David Lynch's brilliant painted portrait of what might lie beneath. It's violent, it's comedic at times, it's disturbing at others. It's a film that Lynch fans will love, and that non-Lynch fans will find pointless and boring.

But then again, that's true of all of Lynch's work. His films are definately an acquirred taste. Here's the best way to describe it. All the mystery aside, it's about a young man who loses his innocence on his way to adulthood. That's BLUE VELVET in a nutshell. In way it's one of Lynch's most straight forward stories(THE STRAIGHT STORY being an exception).

So to all Lynch fans to have yet to see BLUE VELVET for themselves, log off your computers, run to your nearest Blockbuster, check out this masterpiece, and be prepared to pay some major late fees. Because this is one film you will want to experience over and over again.

Thanks for reading my review.

Rating:
Summary: A Shocking Masterpiece
Review: "Blue Velvet" is one of the best movies of all time. David Lynch is Hollywood's finest director, and "Blue Velvet" is his best work. "Blue Velvet" is a shocking, disturbing, and yet brilliant masterpiece telling the tale of a hidden world that could exist in every small town. It greatly portrays how a seemingly nice neighborhood can be a portal into a world of unimaginable perversions. Kyle McLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern all give brilliant performances. Kyle McLachlan is brilliant in the role of Jeffrey Beumont. He portrays his journey from boyhood into manhood with great poise. He has an air about him that portrays his loss of innocense greatly. Isabella Rossellini in her third film of her career took on a most challenging role of Dorothy Vallens. The seemingly perfect, yet tortured nightclub singer. She handled the many challenges of her role like a true actress. Dennis Hopper is just plain scary in this movie. His portrayal of Frank Booth is one that could not have been handled by any other actor. Hopper had recently come out of drug rehab, and was encouraged not to take this role. Because playing a violent, ritualistic sadist would not help his image with the public. But Hopper took the role because he believed in the story. All of the actors did, because due to many circumstances in making a film so original, the actors basically did this movie for free. Exactly like the actors in the recent movie "Monster's Ball" David Lynch was nominated for Best Director at the 1986 Academy Awards, but did not win. I feel that is a crime in every sense. You can't make a movie like "Blue Velvet" and not be a genius, and that is what Lynch is. He is a genius and a visionary in every sense of the word. His careful attention to detail, makes his movies cinematic masterpieces. All of the main actors in "Blue Velvet" McLachlin, Rossellini, Hopper, and Dern all deserved Oscar nominations, but were snubbed by the Academy. What a shame that when a truly brilliant movie comes around like "Blue Velvet" that it is ignored because it is so original. "Blue Velvet" will give you a new meaning to the words 'movie masterpiece' and will take you on a wild ride that you will never forget. "Blue Velvet" is moviemaking at its very best.