Change Your Image
john-994
Reviews
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
David Lynch - Business as usual
Whilst Mulholland Dr. isn't a bad film per se, it just isn't a good one. For any one who has sat through, say, Twin Peaks, it's unpredictability is very predictable. Much of the imagery is similar to Twin Peaks, come to that. Lynch's obsession with good looking young women in tight sweaters is understandable, I'm sure, and the sex scenes between two of the said young women was highly titilating but, in the end. so what? The film has been described as having a dreamlike or nightmarish quality. I agree - David Lynch's dream sequences are a nightmare to watch.
On the positive side, yes it is well shot. Yes it is pretty. And well acted. But pace? Snappy dialogue? Lynch has lost his touch with this one.
Star Cops (1987)
Star Cops was a great show.
Star Cops rose above the average in a way that rarely happens: by being more average. How was this? Well, from the start, it's so average, it's. different! It had average theme music - well average for something other than SF. Kind of laid back. Style wise, in the SF arena, it has only recently been matched by the rather less pleasantly warbling intro for the appalling 'Enterprise'. Very laid back.
Acting wise, everyone does a competent job. David Calder is a high point but none of the rest are Patrick Stewart. But they don't need to be. They seem to be either actors playing hard at being `regular Joe's' or - failing that - they're just fairly average actors. Either way, it doesn't seem to matter. The actors play 'space' like it's no big deal. Like they don't want to be there but do want to do their jobs. Even when they are only just on the ball, it's still terribly convincing because it all looks so 'run of the mill'.
The plots aren't overly clever or dramatic. They don't involve saving the earth every week. No vast alien flotillas hove into view to crush all resistance before them. No labyrinthine plots of shape shifters or invisible aliens. Just regular greedy, lazy people and average nut cases doing what they do in the real world: being avaricious, slack and mad - just, it's in orbit! (well, or on the moon as well).
The effects show nice attention to detail but are pretty run of the mill BBC fare. So they're 'effects' but not 'special effects', if you see what I mean, but it's enough. The modelling's quite nice and pretty believable. The script never gets caught up in easy to film stuff like artificial gravity (except the spin on the space station Ronald Regan!), or plot accelerators like faster than light drives.
I know this may sound stupid but, the mix of accents, the run of the mill mundanity. I love it! Why doesn't someone bring it out on DVD or - at least - show the thing on the TV again!