Blue Velvet

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: That's "Blue Velvet" she's singing, and that's blue velvet he's got in his mouth.

Dennis Hopper combines pure evil with moral degeneracy in a style not to be forgotten in this original shocker from David Lynch. The juxtaposition of the sleepy logging town with the depraved Hopper and his sick crew really makes the evil stand out. Laura Dern, playing a fifties-style sweetheart, is likewise an apt foil for the compromised and befouled Isabella Rossellini (Ingrid Bergman's daughter, lest we forget) who plays a small town chanteuse with some very kinky sexual needs. Kyle MacLachlan stars as a Nancy Drew wanna-be who gets in a couple of fathoms over his head.

The plot is as clever as the devil, surprising us at several turns, yet at no time does it go beyond anything reasonable. The characters are vivid, memorable and entirely believable. This is very close to a great movie. To nit-pick I'd have to say that the feel good resolution could have used a touch of Tabasco, and I was a little annoyed at being lead to believe that the father was a bad cop; in fact I have the feeling that Lynch had another ending in mind but gave us the old style Hollywood finale as a second thought.

Rossellini and her apartment-a simple, but exquisitely designed set-will probably stay with me through the next millennium. Also indelible is Hopper sucking on oxygen or nitrous to turbo himself up to do dirty deeds. The bit from Dean Stockwell as the clown-faced gay, lip syncing a Roy Orbison tune as we wait to see what he and Hopper are going to do to MacLachlan, made my skin crawl.

Rating:
Summary: THIS [IS BAD]...IT WILL CONTINUE TO [BE BAD]
Review: If you read most of the reviews you'd think I'd give the movie the same rating, NO WAY. This movie stinks, and that's putting it lightly. I've heard some call it a "cinematic masterpiece", I don't think so, more like a waste of miles of film. Some say it's one of the best films of the 80's. Wow that's funny, it didn't win an oscar for best picture. It also didn't make the American Film Institute's Top 100 Best American Movies Of All Time list. In the story, a young man finds a severed ear and begins an investigation which leads him through the perverse side of a small town. While he attempts to solve the crime he meets a woman named Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) who is in a wild relationship with a sadist named Frank Booth, played by Dennis Hopper. He becomes deeply obsessed with Dorothy even though he already has a girl of his own (Sandy Williams played by Laura Dern).This is a mystery movie with loads of sexual deviance. Seeing it once was enough for me. This is one of those "out in left field pictures". Oh and by the way, I've noticed that most people who give this movie a low rating, get lots of "no" votes on the "was this review helpful" column including myself. That's OK, whoever you people are, can say our reviews aren't good all day long, it won't change the fact that this movie [IS BAD]

Rating:
Summary: Lynch's best
Review: For people wanting to get into Lynch's work, this is the best place to start. It takes a subject that has been done to death in the past, but puts a totally fresh and new twist on it.

Frank is the perfect film villian as well. A man so sick, twisted and evil, you just have to love him. Everybody in this film puts on a first rate preformance.

Rent it tonight.

Rating:
Summary: almost perfect dvd
Review: a true American Classic-I eagerly anticipated the release of this DVD, the transfer is stunning, colors are lush and accurate, the sound is great. My only criticism is the lack of English subtitles-only French and Spanish subtitles are provided...at least you get the original theatrical trailer...

Rating:
Summary: "Yep, that's a human ear alright"
Review: (Hmmm...I'll try and keep this under 5,000 words! ) I never got into the laserdisc thing (too bulky and expensive) so up until now I've never seen anythng but the pan and scan version of this film. The widescreen version illustrates Lynch's masterful use of the Cinemascope format, he uses every inch of the frame. Lynch is a true master of the cinema, and is arguably the best and most under-rated director of our time. (The succesor to Kubrick, perhaps?) Seeing Blue Velvet like this adds so much more dimension to the film...the picture and sound were incredibly crisp, one of the best I've seen on DVD. The only complaint is with the annoying case this movie was put in...you need to pinch the center with two fingers while popping the disc out with a 3rd finger. Very annoying, and it seems like one day I'm going to break the disc while taking it out. So to the studios...DONT MAKE THIS CASE ANYMORE! Anyway, that obviously is not a reason to avoid this DVD. Definitely not for the faint of heart...after I watched this film with my girlfriend, she became incredibly paranoid for the rest of the night! (I think Frank Booth did that...) This film and Lost Highway are must haves for first time Lynch viewers.

Rating:
Summary: Lynch's Masterpiece
Review: To finally be able to see my favorite movie in a clear, widescreen presentation was very cool. I had been looking forward to a DVD release of Blue Velvet for some time and my expectations were basically met. Sure, the extras were a little skimpy, but the hidden "a strange world" extra was a nice touch.

So much of the picture was lost in the pan and scan video version that this widescreen edition is like watching it for the first time. Scenes such as the conversation in the hallway outside Dorothy's apartment door about going for a ride have much more intensity when you see Frank's men lined up at the end of the hallway. Dorothy's reaction of fear at Frank punching Jeffrey when they are at Ben's is another scene improved by the widescreen version.

The picture quality is quite good. Better than I had expected having read the review of another regions version. Everything is much clearer than the VHS tapes I had.

Anyone who is a fan of Blue Velvet and the works of David Lynch, this DVD is a must buy.

Rating:
Summary: "Pabst, Blue Ribbon!"
Review: When Blue Velvet was released 14 years ago it split the critics like few films had since Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris back in 1972. High profile writers like Pauline Kael and David Thomson championed the film while equally esteemed people like Roger Ebert and John Simon trashed it. Watching it again today the film seems a much lesser work than the thematically similar Twin Peaks TV show which Lynch would later create. Twin Peaks was one of the high points of 90's series television but Blue Velvet is something else.

Lynch is fundamentally a visual stylist (like Peter Greenaway, George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton) rather than a naturalist like Martin Scorsese, Gus Van Sant, Howard Hawks or Alfred Hitchcock). Like the former mentioned "stylists" he often isn't much interested in the real world but rather in surreal imagery, odd camera angles, heavily layered soundtracks, characters that are mythic and archetypal figures rather than "realistic" characters and his own signature "visual style". This isn't to say that naturalistic director's don't have visual styles also but they usually prefer it to be invisible. Unfortunately this emphasis on "style" (ie. tracking shots into moldy ears, animal howls on the soundtrack over characters having sex in slow motion, etc.) all tends to keep one at arms distance from the characters and drama being played out. The setting for the film is not the real world, but a Lynchian dreamworld that closely resembles a mythical small-town USA. Nothing in the film visually suggests anything past the 1950's (except for the main characters earring) with the sets stripped to a ghostly bare minimalism.

There are some obvious inconsistencies in the film. Despite the fact that Rossellini's character is punched hard in the face by Dennis Hopper she never elicits so much as a bruise during the "rape" scene. After Rossellini stabs McLachlan in the face with a butcher knife his wound comes and goes and eventually vanishes during the course of the film. Minor things, but they do suggest that Lynch is interested in using violence for it's shock effect and not in presenting it in a particularly realistic way.

There are aspects of the film that remain impressive. Rossellini and Hopper both give good performances and the former in particular should be applauded for taking on such a challenging role. Hopper's Frank Booth character is not as realistic or credible as the alcoholic father he played in Coppola's Rumble Fish, but that just illustrates how Lynch pushes his performances to an extreme. Hopper is funny and intense here which is good enough for this film. (some have half-kiddingly suggested that Hopper is merely playing himself) The music by Angeleo Badalamenti is the best thing about Blue Velvet and his score is as fine and evocative as anything by Bernard Hermann.

There were a number of scenes that did not make it into the final cut of this film that shed some light. There was for example a scene where McLachlan's character observes a rape taking place at his college and neglects to assist the girl and another where it is clearly shown that he himself is not only beaten up by the Hopper character but raped as well. All of this and more is detailed in a past issue of the magazine Video Watchdog which is the most detailed behind-the-scenes look at this film available.

As often is the case in Lynch's work, the women, blacks and gays don't fare well here. The only black characters are two Amos n' Andy like comic relief characters and the only gay character is a mincing, painted, threatening queen played by Dean Stockwell. This should not be construed as being taken out of context as these portrayals carry over into some of Lynch's other work as well. At this point in his career (including the previous Dune) women were pretty much always passive bystanders to the male characters that motivated his plots. Battered and bruised the women fall into the madonna/whore archetypal figures. Also, regarding the portrayal of sadomasochism in the film (which previous reviews oddly ignore) there is a noticable difference between dominance and submission of the sort portrayed in a film like 9 1/2 Weeks and the sort of physical abuse depicted in this film. Sadomasochism is subversive when the appeal of it is demonstrated, whereas Rossellini's character is simply slapped around, punched and screamed at in this film...hardly something that I can imagine a woman (even a masochist) enjoying.

Twin Peaks was a definite step up for Lynch and strangely, the limitations of network TV actually brought out his best qualities and toned down his worst indulgences. Unlike other 80's films like Das Boot, Drugstore Cowboy or Amadeus this film isn't about much of anything aside from the "evil is present in the sunniest places" statement of the obvious. The films often quoted refrain "It's a strange world isn't it?" is the limit of the films profundity. There were a lot of great films made in the 80's but this is not one of them. I recommend Twin Peaks for those wanting to see Lynch at his, ahem peak powers.

Rating:
Summary: Repulsive and brilliant
Review: Still David Lynch's masterwork. Repulsively brilliant head-on collision between "Leave It To Beaver" and "In The Realm of the Senses", if you can imagine such a thing. Naif (Kyle M.) returns home to find his Quiet Mountain Town a hotbed of crime and corruption, thanks to drug-snorting pervert Hopper. Amazing use of widescreen and terrific performances all around -- Hopper is unforgettable -- but the harsh tone of the film and the uneasy feelings you're left with after the "happy" ending are going to be hard for some audiences.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most unique and unsettling films of all time!
Review: David Lynch's masterpiece film, Blue Velvet is an overpowering look at the evil that lurks amongst the normalities of everyday life. Boiled down to the basics, Blue Velvet is a good-guys vs. bad-guys crime story, but the subplots and emotional tensions create a film unlike any I have ever seen. This is not a film for those who are easily disturbed by troubling images, however, I think that anyone who watches it must be impressed by its total originality in the way it tells a story. As a matter of fact, this film is much more accessible to film lovers than many of Lynch's other films, in that the underlying plot is actually very straight-forward, and wraps up in a logical conclusion. Compare this to the mish-mash of something like Lost Highway, and it is easy to see why Blue Velvet has been hailed as such a brilliant piece of work. I must admit that the acting (except for Dennis Hopper's tremendous performance) overall is not of the highest caliper, but the overall force of the story renders this a moot point. This is a great movie, and any film lover who has not yet seen it should check out this fine DVD edition.

Rating:
Summary: Nice presentation
Review: I just recieved the DVD in the mail yesterday. I was worried about the transfer after reading one reviewers comments about a UK version. I was very impressed with the look of the film. The widescreen presentation is outstanding. Although the information lists the movie as having digital sound, which is somewhat misleading, it doesn't have the 5.1 dolby digital remixed soundtrack. But the sound is very nice on the disc. The "booklet" is really only two thin pages serving as the normal insert for a DVD. It does not contain any detailed research on the film. Bascially, it contains quotes from Lynch from such hard-hitting magizines as: Details and GQ. Most of the quotes come from the LA Times, apparently from one article dated 12-15-85. I have never seen the entire film from start to finish, but took a gander at the first five chapters and I was blown away. So, if that serves as any indication of what to expect, I give it 5 stars. Very nice presentation, but lacking in anything else.