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[Evan McClane]

Saw Super 8 today.  It was okay...

[_Madk]

I recently watched Four Rooms and Armageddon.

[C.A. Sinner]

Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins

I was sold on 13 Assassins the moment I read they weren't using any CGI for the special effects.

If it comes to some festival in my vicinity, I'll be sure to see it.

[Jasper Byrne]

should I lead next with Spirited Away or Kiki's Delivery service?

If it were me, I'd start with Nausicaa or Laputa.

[Cow]

I am surprised by how much I dislike David Lynch movies. Except for Eraserhead, and to some extent Lost Highway and the one where Dennis Hopper sucks gas out of that tank and is really into pabst blue ribbon, I find them to be fairly shitty and I get nothing out of them. They seem to hint at a depth that they do not actually offer.

I agree.

Hobo with a shotgun was light on acting power, requiring Rutger to carry the whole film, but there were some real knee slappers for one liners. They were like cotton candy though and dissolved too quickly in the flow of the movie after having been enjoyed, the only one that really springs to mind is the finale. The police arrive and will shoot if our bum hero doesn't throw down his titular shotgun, but instead of complying he let's fly at the big bad guy, "You and me are going on a car ride to hell. You're riding shotgun!" punctuated with a shotgun blast decapitation, then our hero's immediate death in a hail of bullets, roll credits.

I agree.

And I haven't seen 13 Assassins but it looks pretty good.

[C.A. Sinner]

I saw the movie Source Code today. It was decent but I don't like Jake Gyllenhaal.

Also, as someone who knows what a source code actually is, it was pretty strange seeing the term used for some completely unrelated sci-fi bullshit.

[thatshelby]

Saw Super 8 today, I loved it.

[Alec S.]

I finally saw Beverly Hill Cop.  I've thus had the theme song stuck in my head.

[cystem glitch]

I finally saw Beverly Hill Cop.  I've thus had the theme song stuck in my head.

I had an idea awhile back that Pandora should have whole movie soundtracks so you could listen to a movie at work. For some reason it was Beverly Hills Cop that I thought could totally work just with sound

[knight]

Saw Super 8 today, I loved it.

Same one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I also just saw Se7en. It was good but not all it was cracked up to be.

[AndrewS78]

I saw the movie Source Code today. It was decent but I don't like Jake Gyllenhaal.

Also, as someone who knows what a source code actually is, it was pretty strange seeing the term used for some completely unrelated sci-fi bullshit.

I thought it was around stealing some source code or something :D Looks like not a big hit.
but I'll watch it anyway 

[P Diddy]

Finally got around to seeing Lost Highway recently. It was great.

When I saw that film for the first time, I was totally into the first story. It was a perfect example of why I love Lynch. But then Bill Pullman pops up in jail and the rest of the film ruined what was a good chapter. Just like how the Matrix sequels ruined the first film.

Watched Scott Pilgrim last week, along with Inglourious Basterds, both for the first time. Loved both of them.

Scott Pilgrim was such a bad movie. It's pure poser geek shit.

Chungking Express and 2046.  I'm really digging Wong Kar-Wai's style.

Chungking Express is one of the best movies ever made. And when you read about the making of the film, you wonder how magic can be made so instinctually. WKW is the real thing. He also takes a ton of mushroom and other hallucinogens before making a movie. That is what a true artist should do before getting to work, the artist needs different perspectives on the material, so as to not create poser shit like Scott Pilgrim which wants to be that film.

If you're having trouble understanding Lost Highway, reading this might help you a bit, particularly about Goethe's version of the story. There are some definite parallels. Note that the character of Mephisto (the devil) is usually depicted as wearing white, kabuki-like makeup in theater/film adaptions.

You're seeing more into the material then was originally envisioned. Robert Blake asks for Lynch's direction on how he should look (all this over the phone), and Lynch tells him "surprise me". And so Blake (without thinking about on-stage Mephisto) went all crazy (because he is) and showed up on set like that, and Lynch loved it. Unless the script hints at what you said, which can also be true, but from what Blake said on Tom Snyder's show (when Lost Highway was released), it was all made-up on the spot by Blake, he just used what was around his home.

I finally saw Beverly Hill Cop.  I've thus had the theme song stuck in my head.

You'll love the sequel. It's Tony Scott's best film.

But skip part 3, it was shit.

[C.A. Sinner]

You're seeing more into the material then was originally envisioned. Robert Blake asks for Lynch's direction on how he should look (all this over the phone), and Lynch tells him "surprise me". And so Blake (without thinking about on-stage Mephisto) went all crazy (because he is) and showed up on set like that, and Lynch loved it. Unless the script hints at what you said, which can also be true, but from what Blake said on Tom Snyder's show (when Lost Highway was released), it was all made-up on the spot by Blake, he just used what was around his home.

Yes but that's not the only parallel to the Faust story, it's the smallest one in fact. The "I'm at your house right now, you've invited me" scene is remarkably similar to the one where Faust summons Mephisto in Goethe's version.

Spirit. By potent spell hast drawn me here,
Hast long been tugging at my sphere,
And now-
Faust. Oh woe! I can not bear thy vision!
Spirit. With panting breath thou hast implored this sight,
Wouldst hear my voice, my face wouldst see;
Thy mighty spirit-plea inclineth me!

Mephisto turns Faust into a younger, idealized version of himself, just like Pete is a younger, idealized version of Frank. 

There are some others too, but I'm too lazy to get into them right now. The Faust/"deal with the devil" story is pretty a common one with many variations, so it's not unlikely that Lynch and/or Barry Gifford were aware of it and adopted some of its themes for the movie.

It's also interesing that in German-speaking countries where Faust is extremely well known and even taught in schools, most critics immediately picked up on the Faustian elements of Lost Highway.

[P Diddy]

Ya I guess that's very possible, that dialogue you posted does indeed point to Faust specifically.

But the Faust link doesn't make the idea better for me, it doesn't take talent to add that kind of symbolism to a story, even hacks like George Lucas added Faustian links to his shitty Episode III.

Too bad Lynch took a supernatural route to get around the mystery of the first chapter. If that film was slightly more grounded in reality, it would've been more eerie. The idea of a stalker intruding upon a home as he videotapes the couple sleeping is really spooky stuff. Suspense was building up, he could’ve taken this much further. Then Lynch takes the easy route and gives us a magical hocus-pocus cop-out conclusion. And I just know it was Lynch's idea and not Barry Gifford's, because he repeated the same out-of-body pattern in Mulholland Drive (which I thought was way better).

It reminds me of what Stephen King once said about a short story he was trying to write. It involved people going into a public bathroom and never coming out. Then King just gave-up writing the story and ditched it when he couldn’t figure out what was in the bathroom without disappointing the reader.

I feel like Lynch couldn’t figure it out, and just gave up with a cop-out supernatural “hey look I’m just improvising this thing / let me run away from this and tell another story / I give-up” kind of resolve. That stalker story had so much potential, and it was just dripping with atmosphere.

[laserdracula]

I thought Lost Highway was a bit of a mess.  Mulholland Drive is similarly elliptical but it's so much tighter.