Very good. The mood of these films is like nothing else. Wild at Heart is one of my favourite films. The first season of Twin Peaks I would also rank as one of the best things filmed.

WF: Elephant Man is boring and Blue Velvet is kind of corny.

Not Crap.

Eraserhead was and remains a real mindfuck and one of my favorite films. Rewired the idea of movies in my impressionable middle-school brain. I like Blue Velvet almost as much. The Straight Story was a fine exercise in more conventional, narrative filmmaking. Mulholland Drive was something of a return to form, as well . First season of Twin Peaks, the tv show, was great but it took a dive into the toilet.

Inland Empire was a deliberately confounding mess but somehow, I did not mind it and kinda respect it.

Not a fan of Dune, The Elephant Man, Fire Walk w/Me, or Lost Highway, in which the ridiculousness ate the sublime.

But that's a hell of a batting average.

Overrated, due to everybody loving his "trippy" shit, but a really terrific director with a distinct perspective. Can't say the same about his more recent musical forays, but nobody is perfect.

Not Crap for the original run of Twin Peaks and being a weirdo for life, though admittedly I find more of his movies irritating than enjoyable.

He's up there for numerous reasons, but besides all the aesthetic and technical stuff he seems to have a great rapport with his actors and they've given him some incredibly intense performances. Sheryl Lee, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Grace Zabriskie and the list goes on but he even managed to make Jim Belushi tolerable.

I mentioned this on the old board, but one of the only times I've ever been genuinely scared while watching a film was when I went to see Inland Empire. About halfway through, I didn't know what was going to come next - a loud scream, a noise, or a scary image. I was on the edge of my seat until the end. I ultimately didn't enjoy the film, but not for the fear factor.

Not crap, he's a talented guy with a wild imagination.

(Also, I can't hear 'The Locomotion' now without thinking of its usage in Inland Empire.)

zircona1 wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:50 pm I mentioned this on the old board, but one of the only times I've ever been genuinely scared while watching a film was when I went to see Inland Empire. About halfway through, I didn't know what was going to come next - a loud scream, a noise, or a scary image. I was on the edge of my seat until the end. I ultimately didn't enjoy the film, but not for the fear factor.

He's probably the best horror filmmaker to have never made an actual horror film.

The Winkie's scene in Mullholland Dr still gets me:

I think that Lynch really excels in individual scenes, and less so as an overall filmmaker. Understandable in the sense that his background is as a painter, and wished to make his paintings ‘come alive’. He is terrific at creating these moments, but less so at extrapolating them into a narrative. That said, I still enjoy watching almost all of his films.

The club silencio scene in mulholland drive, with the a cappella Roy Orbison. Awesome.

David Wallace has a fun essay about Lynch while he was making lost highway. Worth a read if you are a fan of Lynch, even if you dislike DFW’s fiction.

http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html

I would like to see a 4 hour cut of Fire Walk With Me. If you watch The Missing Pieces, you get a sense of what it would have been like - more like Twin Peaks The Return. There are so many good scenes that were cut from the film, or edited down to nothing. Things that make no sense in the release cut or setups that go nowhere actually tie together when you see the extra scenes.

BeyondThePale wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:30 am
David Wallace has a fun essay about Lynch while he was making lost highway. Worth a read if you are a fan of Lynch, even if you dislike DFW’s fiction.

http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html

Oh man, I devoured that. Thanks. I suppose I'm a child of the 90's because DFW wryly describing a Lynch set is the hangout of my dreams.