Southland Tales (2006)

Southland Tales [Blu-ray]

Samuel Goldwyn Films
Directed by Richard Kelly
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Sony)

In the near future, the war on terrorism has escalated to a nuclear attack on the US and World War 3. Fuel shortages have lead to the development of an alternative energy source in the ocean near LA. However, it comes with a cost: it has lead to a rift in space-time which threatens to destroy the planet. It is up to an actor with amnesia and an ambitious porn star to try to stop it. Ambitious film can't decide if it's sci fi, comedy or political satire. Uneven but still manages to hold one's attention for nearly 2 and a half hours.

Slipstream (2007)

Slipstream DVD

Strand Releasing
Directed by Anthony Hopkins
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony)

Aging screenwriter Anthony Hopkins is summoned to the set of a movie which has fallen into disarray after the sudden death of one of its lead actors. As he struggles to rewrite the script, he feels like his own life is drifting away. Hypnotic, deeply personal work from Hopkins, examining the nature of time utilizing all the tricks of cinema. There are dreams, a film within the film, mental illness and just about every other plot device ever created to manipulate time. It's edited in a rapid, disjointed style that demands the attention of the viewer. If you are up to the task, it is quite rewarding. Characters are vividly drawn, including John Turturro as an unhinged movie producer, Christian Slater as an unhinged mob hit man, Gavin Grazer as a confused director, Kevin McCarthy as himself (Invasion of the Body Snatchers is referenced many times), and a Dolly Parton lookalike.

eXistenZ (1999)

Existenz [Blu-ray]

Dimension Films
Directed by David Cronenberg
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Dimension)

A game designer survives an attempt on her life at a conference introducing her latest creation. She escapes with a naive marketing trainee whom she convinces to enter the virtual world of the game. They find more assassins planted as characters and struggle to distinguish what is real and what is not. Filled with Cronenberg's trademark gross-out imagery and some not-so-subtle sexual innuendo. It is both repellent and unintentionally hilarious.

Shattered (2007)

Shattered DVD

Lionsgate
Directed by Mike Barker
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)

A husband and wife are kidnapped by a deranged gunman who holds their daughter hostage back at their house. They are forced to perform a series of tasks to keep her safe. His motivation remains a mystery, until the big plot twist ending. Occasionally lacks credibility and the "tasks" seem contrived, but fast-paced and entertaining, with Pierce Brosnan effectively cast against type.

Surveillance (2008)

Surveillance [Blu-ray]

Magnet Releasing
Directed by Jennifer Lynch
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Magnet)

A murder spree occurring in the sparsely populated part of Nebraska prompts the arrival of two FBI agents. They discover a small police department corrupt to the core: officers casually pull over strangers, rob and humiliate them. After tormenting one such family tragedy strikes, sparing all but a few who end up being interviewed by the FBI agents. A huge plot twist follows and the survivors find themselves fighting for their lives. Unpleasant to say the least, but vividly drawn characters, even if they are bad ones, keep it interesting.

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Mulholland Dr. [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 2001

Won Best Director	David Lynch Tied with Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn't There (2001).
Nominated Palme d'Or	David Lynch

Universal Pictures
Directed by David Lynch
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Concorde)

Wide-eyed girl Naomi Watts arrives in Hollywood in search of stardom. She stays in a luxury bungalow owned by an out-of-town aunt, only to find a strange woman in the shower who turns out to be an accident victim with a case of amnesia. She helps her track down her identity, falling in love with her in the process, and eventually even switching personalities. Their fate intertwines with a director having trouble casting his new film. A return to form for Lynch after a decade of trying to regain his Twin Peaks glory.

The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez (1991)

PBS
Directed by Peter Sellars
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(YouTube)

Two Wall Street yuppies befriend a homeless man outside of their building. He later brutally murders one of them, sending the other into a spiral of depression. His girlfriend tries to comfort and help him, but he succumbs to his nightmares. A silent film with a soundtrack that is completely inappropriate and unsynchronized with what is happening on screen. For example, the music will swell to a dramatic conclusion while a man rides an elevator or eats pizza, but then go completely silent when something important does happen. It will then veer unexpectedly to chants of Tibetan monks with no corresponding change of mood on screen. It's like someone took another film and just dubbed random music on top of it. As a result, I could have cared less about the characters or their situation. Oh, and that's Mikhail Baryshnikov in the lead! David Lynch was an executive producer.

Final Approach (1991)

Trimark Pictures
Directed by Eric Steven Stahl
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A test pilot wakes up in a psychiatrist's office after experiencing a horrifying crash. The doctor tries to piece together what happened and help him reconstruct his past. The pilot begins to suspect more sinister motives when the doctor's line of questioning suggests he may be working for a foreign government. The truth turns out to be more, shall we say, philosophical, not to mention unbelievable. The end result is Top Gun meets Ingmar Bergman, and as you might guess not very good.

Dogville (2003)

Dogville DVD

Lions Gate Films
Directed by Lars von Trier
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lions Gate)

A woman on the run from gangsters ends up in an isolated town in the Rocky Mountains. The jaded residents reluctantly agree to hide her but only if she performs daily chores for them. The police regularly show up asking questions, so they demand extra work to keep hiding her. She gets raped by one of them, but instead of pity she becomes the sex slave of most of the men in town, rejecting the one man who truly loves her. She gets threatened by a jealous wife and eventually ratted out to the gangsters. Their arrival to claim her turns into a surreal, violent climax. Interesting if somewhat melodramatic story has one major flaw: it takes place on spare theatrical sets. While this may put the actors out front, it also results in some bizarre situations, like the rape scene that takes place in plain sight of the other actors since the walls between them are purely imaginary. The ending is both pretentious and repulsive. At nearly 3-hours, it's an ambitious but ultimately failed attempt to combine experimental theater and cinema.

The Straight Story (1999)

The Straight Story DVD

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by David Lynch
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Upon learning of the stroke of his estranged brother, an elderly Iowa man, who can't drive because of failing eyesight and is very poor, decides to ride a lawnmower to Wisconsin to see him. He overcomes various obstacles along the way, mechanical failures, weather, and meets the locals who are mostly friendly and supportive if a bit in disbelief of his endeavor. He finds plenty of time to give advice to willing listeners. Exactly what you would imagine if David Lynch made a film for Walt Disney: safe, folksy and a bit contrived, even though it is based on a true story.

The Dependent (1969)

Directed by Leonardo Favio
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A timid employee at a hardware store falls in love with a woman he sees standing in front of her house every night. She invites him inside one night where they sit in a courtyard and have strained conversations. He also meets her strange mother and handicapped brother who lurk in the background. He impatiently waits for the death of his elderly employer so they can get married and have a place to live. When it finally happens, his life in the dingy basement with her deranged relatives leads to an unexpected and tragic finale. Slow pacing, unemotional lead characters and illogical ending combine for an unsatisfying, if unabashedly strange, viewing experience.

Begotten (1990)

Begotten DVD

World Artists
Directed by E. Elias Merhige
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A man gruesomely kills himself in a rocking chair on a front porch. A woman emerges from behind him, but stops to have sex with the dead body. She flees to a barren landscape and gives birth to a full grown man but who has unexplained convulsions.  Later, some men in robes drag her through rocks, rape and kill her. It's not until the credits roll that we learn the characters were actually God, Mother Earth and Son of Earth. I still don't buy it. Shot in a pretentious, blurry black-and-white with excessively violent and occasionally pornographic imagery.

Teenage Doll (1957)

Teenage Doll DVD

Allied Artists
Directed by Roger Corman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

An all-girl gang goes after the straight-laced teenager they think is responsible for the death of one of their members. She turns to one of her old flames, the member of a rival gang, for help, setting the stage for a big rumble. Silly juvenile delinquent film from Corman fails to live up to its pre-credit promise to present the "most important social issue facing the country today". The big rumble contains some of the worst-choreographed fighting I can remember.

Gummo (1997)

Gummo DVD

Fine Line Features
Directed by Harmony Korine
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, New Line)

Two boys roam a small Ohio town on their bikes with bb guns strapped to their backs hunting stray cats which they kill and sell to a man who apparently resells them to unknowing restaurants. Meanwhile two sisters talk about boys while searching for their lost cat. Their parents don't seem to mind any of these activities, exhibiting their own strange behavior. It all takes place in squalid houses overrun with filth and bugs or decaying suburban back alleys. We get hints of the root causes of all of this social dysfunction: sexual abuse, the death of a parent, the violent aftermath of a tornado, but they mostly just fade into the background. If you can get beyond the shocking animal abuse on display (it does, however, have a Humane Society stamp in the credits and mentions "some" prosthetic animals were used), it's a raw film that somehow manages to be even more disturbing than Korine's predecessor Kids.

My Joy (2010)

My Joy DVD

Cannes Film Festival 2010

Nominated Golden Camera	Sergey Loznitsa
Nominated Palme d'Or	Sergey Loznitsa

Kino International
Directed by Sergey Loznitsa
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Kino Lorber)

A Russian truck driver is pulled over by corrupt police officers who plan to take his identity papers. He steals them back while they are distracted and continues his journey until he is stopped by an accident. He befriends an underage prostitute who shows him another way through a nearby town. While stopped overnight he is assaulted and left unconscious. He awakes sometime later mute and nearly catatonic. He lives for awhile in a remote cabin with an older woman, but is picked up and beaten by the police while at a local market. He escapes only to encounter the original two traffic cops who are beating up another innocent man. Relentlessly bleak picture of life in rural Russia is well photographed but extremely unpleasant. Confusing narrative structure doesn't help.