Classic Movie Review Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart 

Directed by David Lynch

Written by David Lynch

Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd 

Release Date August 17th, 1990 

Published March, 24th, 2025 

What is Wild at Heart? What is it supposed to be? Few films defy explanation quite the way Wild at Heart does. The myriad references to The Wizard of Oz, Nicolas Cage’s Elvis voice juxtaposed against a repeated heavy metal motif, and the sex and violence to an extreme, all feel like disparate elements from different movies. How they have been combined in Wild at Heart feels a bit like someone cutting puzzle pieces to make them fit into a completely incorrect puzzle. And yet, it does feel strangely cohesive, married via David Lynch’s singular aesthetic that presses against the bounds of reality. 

Wild at Heart stars Nicolas Cage as Sailor, a criminal trying to go straight after falling for Lula (Laura Dern). Sailor’s attempt to straighten up and fly right is undermined by Lula’s scheming witch of a mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), who tries to have Sailor killed only for Sailor to murder his assailant. Because he was defending himself and Lula, Sailor is only charged with manslaughter and, less than two years later, Sailor is leaving prison and he and Lula are picking up right where they left off. The two are running away together, breaking Sailor's parole and dreaming of life on the West Coast.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.

Classic Movie Review Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet 

Directed by David Lynch 

Written by David Lynch

Starring Kyle McLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern

Release Date September 19th, 1986

Published January 20th, 2025 

The passing of legendary director David Lynch caused me to want to look at one of his films that I have always found daunting and unpleasant. Blue Velvet contains a performance by Dennis Hopper that is among the most unsettling, unpredictable, and bizarre that I’ve ever seen on screen. Well, that’s what I felt as a 21 year old film critic learning about movies and arrogantly flying in the face of more conventional opinions. I was a hotheaded contrarian but one who chose his battles. Blue Velvet became a battleground for me because it was beloved by many respected film scholars. But, the reality of Blue Velvet was that it and specifically, Dennis Hopper's abrasive and hard charging performance, had challenged me in a way I wasn't ready for. 

Blue Velvet isn’t exactly entry level film studies. The thick layers of trauma, sentimentality, delusion, and sexual dysfunction that define Blue Velvetrequire a mature perspective. Lynch’s approach often needs a more scholarly eye than what mine was at 21 years old and with no experience in film school. I had also previously seen Eraserhead and found it so off-putting that I could not finish it, which I am certain colored my opinion of Lynch’s work as I approached Wild at Heart and then Blue Velvet, both films I was simply not ready to process.

Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Documentary Review Lynch/Oz

Lynch/Oz (2022) 

Directed by Alexandre O. Phillippe 

Written by Documentary

Starring Amy Nicholson, Karyn Kusama, John Waters, Justin Benson 

Release Date Unknown

Currently Showing at Fantastic Fest 

I love a good niche documentary and topics don't get much more niche than the cross-section between the work of director David Lynch and the movie The Wizard of Oz. Director Alexandre O. Phillippe gathered together fellow filmmakers and critics and pondered the surprising number of ways in which David Lynch used The Wizard of Oz as a reference or a template within the stories he was telling. Whether it was something as crazed and exciting as Wild at Heart or something as somber and meditative as The Straight Story, visual or dialogue references to Dorothy, Toto, The Wicked Witch and, of course, The Wizard, can be found in the work of David Lynch. 

The brilliant critic Amy Nicholson delivers the first essay on the Lynch/Oz crossover, from the perspective of a historian and critic. Nicholson, a vibrant speaker and insightful podcaster is a terrific mind for a work that requires a strong voice and rigorous attention to detail. Nicholson notes a choice made in The Wizard of Oz to evoke the sound of the wind via chorus rather than a wind sound effect came back around when Lynch used a similar trick in, of all movies, Eraserhead. The specificity of this observation and Nicholson's poetic lyricism is lovely and thoughtful all at once. 

As much as I love what Nicholson brings to Lynch/Oz, the two best segments involve directors offering insights into a directors perspective on using homage and incorporating influence into their work. The witty and ingenious John Waters puts his typically acerbic wit on hold to gush about his directorial contemporary, Lynch and how he himself often referred to The Wizard of Oz both consciously and unconsciously. It's Waters who points out how a character acting as a gatekeeper to the goal of a protagonist relates to the gates of Oz and the goal of reaching the Wizard only to find just a man. 

Find my full length review of Lynch/Oz at Geeks.Media.