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I've seen some of Lynch's stuff: Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulhulland Drive, and Twin Peaks (and Fire Walk with Me) I think is the set right now. I find Lynch to be suitably talented and insane, although sometimes the insanity gets the better part of him. Generally all of his stuff has been intriguing to me though. So far Blue Velvet is the only one of his movies I really didn't connect with very much despite finding it curious in places.

nathan, I think you miss the point of TDK. Heath Ledger is not only scary but he conveys the true nature of the Joker. Not only Joker is seeking chaos (he loves it though), he presents Batman, Gordon and everyone in Gotham with impossible moral dillemas. He wants to show that people are just selfish, mean and don´t really care for each other and not worth saving. He almost succeeds at this. Rachel gets killed and Harvey Dent goes on a rampage, destroying himself in the process. That´s why Batman takes the fall for his crimes because if the people of Gotham thought of Harvey as a villain, then Joker would have succeeded completely and people would go crazy.

I have watched 'Mulhulland Drive' and can only remember being confused and almost going to bed (It was a very late night movie) and then seeing Naomi Watts topless and making out with the other woman, so naturally I stayed to see how things progressed and watched the entire thing and was even more confused. Although I think I was more confused on the first watching of 'Southland Tales'.

buffyholic: I did like 'The Dark Knight', but have a feeling it was because of Heath and his untimely demise that it scored over a billion dollars at the box office. Great movie and enjoyable, but could it have gained that much if he had of lived? I liked his sociopathic style of the Joker and he was a truly gifted actor. I did think it was better than the first one of the new franchise re-boot 'Batman Begins'.

I think the Dark Knight would've been just as successful even if Heath Ledger was alive. Look at Inception, started off as a fresh, interesting new release, but word-of-mouth has made it into something bigger, due it being a fresh, challenging and entertaining mainstream film.
And I feel the same would've happened for The Dark Knight.


Glad to see the love for Mulhulland Drive, Lynch is an amazing director. I suggest everyone who enjoyed that to check out Inland Empire as well, which is just as mind-bogglingly crazy.

I love Magnolia! I also happen to be listening to Aimee Mann by coincidence as I type this too. Tom Cruise gives an amazing performance in that film.

Hmm, one film people fail to understand...I dunno really, i'm lucky my closest friends have very similar tastes, or appreciate what I like.

I've become a big fan of Wes Anderson recently
Anyone like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums or Fantastic Mr Fox?

I'm afraid to say I have no patience for David Lynch or Wes Anderson. I remember a moment about 2 1/2 hours into Inland Empire (which, incidentally, is the name for the part of Northeastern Washington/Idaho Panhandle where both David Lynch and I are from; I hear some part of So Cal is also called that) when the screen went dark, and I thought it was over, and it wasn't. I don't remember if the lady had been stabbed with the screwdriver yet. Probably not. Those are the only two things I can remember about that movie.

Wes Anderson's movies are funny, but they're also emotionally empty to me, and I find his characters thoroughly unsympathetic. I get what people like about them (I sorta get what people like about David Lynch too, it's just not my taste), but they make me feel, well, bad.

Ha ha, I'd say the movie I like that no one else gets is The Black Stallion. Mostly it's just a childhood nostalgia thing (it was my favorite movie as a kid), but it actually also has really beautiful cinematography and music, which I can appreciate as an adult.

I generally find Lynch to be more intellectually satisfying rather than emotionally satisfying, so in that regard I agree with you fray. I think Lynch's most balanced film in terms of intelligence and emotion (that I've seen) is definitely Mulhulland Drive. Twin Peaks also has some wonderfully emotional moments, as there a few really likable characters in that show. I find a lot of Lynch's movies to be somewhat fascinating but ultimately not to my taste. Blue Velvet best represents this sentiment.

Eraserhead is an example of cinema represented as pure art and theme -- there's absolutely no emotion or narrative in that movie, it's just all thematic imagery. I find the movie to be so insane (and occasionally hilarious and terrifying) that I actually really appreciate it as a piece of art, although it's obviously not one of my favorite movies because of it.

It's interesting that you find Lynch more intellectually than emotionally satisfying. I have trouble applying intellect to any of Lynch's films. They resist it. They only work for me once I start feeling my way through them rather than trying to think my way around their what-the-fuck structures.

That said, I think that Mulholland Drive is his best film by a decent margin. The structure is strange but there always seems to be an emotional logic to what's happening. It's confusing but doesn't lose the viewer, and it always keeps the characters at its center. Some of Lynch's films whirl out of control structurally (Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway), while others have content too esoteric and distracting for their own good (Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart). Mulholland Drive finds, as Mike said, a balance.

Frey-Adjacent, I'm a little surprised that a non-fan of David Lynch would attempt to watch Inland Empire at all. That thing is a monolith. Even I lost patience with it and I love the guy. Honestly, kudos for getting through it, and if didn't sour you on the man completely I encourage you to check out, if you haven't already, Mulholland Drive. It's much... better.

Miscellaneopolan, I actually found Fire Walk with Me more emotionally compelling than intellectual, but I found both Eraserhead and Blue Velvet far more stimulating on a thematic/intellectual level than I did on an emotional level (aside from the former terrifying me in places). Blue Velvet, in particular, I found to be very emotionally dissonant while still appreciating it on an intellectual level and seeing how it ties into Lynch's overall growth -- ultimately I didn't care for Blue Velvet and don't intend to watch it again, but I did find it fascinating in places.

I haven't seen Eraserhead in a long while, so I can't comment on that one.

The disconnect we're having may have something to do with our diverging definitions of "intellectual." In your last message you say that Lynch's films stimulate you on a thematic/intellectual level, thus grouping the two, but for me theme is, depending on the film, more closely grouped with emotion. When Buffy leaps from Glory's tower in The Gift, for example, it's not emotional merely because Buffy has died. It's also emotional because it brings together the themes of love and death which have been circling each other since the beginning of the season. The harmony is beautiful and therefore has the power to make me cry like a woman or baby.

So it is with David Lynch's films, or at least his better ones. When Betty and Rita are crying at Club Silencio, it's not emotional merely because it's their last moment together before the film upends itself, but also because it's the clearest expression of the film's thematic preoccupation with the pain of love lost.

I agree with you that Blue Velvet is distant emotionally, perhaps even a little mean, and that it is less interesting because of it. But I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you appreciate it on an "intellectual level." I can appreciate it on a technical level, certainly. Lights, camera, acting: all very good. Is that what you mean?

I apologize if I appear to be quibbling about semantics. It's more interesting than work. What do you think of The Elephant Man, by the way? I have a friend who has been brought to tears by it, but it doesn't do much for me.

On a side note, did you know that Isabella Rosillini, of Blue Velvet fame, is one of the weirdest people in the world? It's true.