I'm addicted!

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
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srowley75
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I'm addicted!

Post by srowley75 »

I was only 14 when it premiered, so needless to say I missed it the first time around....

But after a discussion with a friend, I decided to hunt down some DVDs and give it a go...

And now, after staying up til nearly 5 in the morning with the first batch of episodes and enjoying every minute, I must confess I'm completely addicted to...

Image

The characters, the juggling of outrageous comedy and intense tragedy, the music. I've already been warned by some that the show goes downhill fast, but so far I love it. It should adequately satisfy my thirst for oddball entertainment while I continue to wait for Sony to release more episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
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ChiO
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by ChiO »

So that we may better understand your TPA (Twin Peaks Addiction, a category of DLO, or David Lynch Obsession), is your TPA first degree (Twin Peaks, 1st season), second degree (Twin Peaks, both seasons), or third degree (Twin Peaks, both seasons and the prequel)?

I had a serious case of first degree TPA: talking about it in detail at work the morning after; having a battery-powered TV on the sidelines when my volleyball team had a scheduling conflict.

This first degree TPA was actually overcome by subjecting myself to second degree TPA -- too close contact was a cure. I never developed third degree TPA.

I can now be exposed to Twin Peaks, enjoy it immensely, and still walk away. At least you're admitting to your TPA. We're here to help.

I've never fully recovered, however, from my DLO, BLUE VELVET variety, the dreaded Dennis Hopper-Dean Stockwell strain.

Excuse me now. I gotta hunt me down a good cuppa joe and some cherry pie.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
klondike

Re: I'm addicted!

Post by klondike »

WARNING

It is highly recommended by many authorities on the subject that the so-called film Twin Peaks, the Prequel should be avoided at all costs if indeed one has been indoctrinated to "Twin Peaks" [the Series] with any measure of appreciation and/or aesthetic involvement.
Further, there is also circumstantial but accumulative evidence that David Lynch actually authored that alleged script while being held as a prisoner in the basement of a Venice Beach bus station for three weeks, maniacally sleep deprived, force-fed dry ramen and continually nipple-shocked with automotive jumper cables. Robert Loggia could not be reached for comment.

BE ADVISED

If you still decide to view the theatrically released travesty referred to as The Prequel, anticipate that it will irritate you, visually & subconciously, for the better part of 89 minutes, shred whatever carefully devised constructs of logic you've assembled as a committed viewer of "TP [the Series]", destroy whatever respect you've developed for the actors involved, and very possibly leave behind a lingering, putrid stench in your living room.
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Re: I'm addicted!

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ChiO
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by ChiO »

Golly, Klondike, that's actually one of the more positive reviews I've read. All I can say about my viewing experience is that it was the most excruciating of my life*...until I saw ROSEBUD (Preminger).

Thank you, John, for that marvelous clip (was that Wallace Shawn voice as the gangster on the phone? Now that's frightening!), which led me to the link of Lynch's French cigarette ad (excellent!), which led me to the link of Lynch talking about watching movies on an iPhone (a must-see!).

* I've probably seen worse, but when a movie is so far removed from one's high expectations, that's the worst.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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Dewey1960
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by Dewey1960 »

Stephen, congratulations on your new obsession! I can't imagine a more worthy enterprise that TWIN PEAKS to preoccupy your every waking (and dreaming) moment.

A few years ago, I posted this at the Oasis and, given the circumstances, felt it would be an appropriate time to dredge it up. I called it:

LAURA + VERTIGO = TWIN PEAKS ??

Recently I had the opportunity to revisit TWIN PEAKS and it reawakened a curiously speculative notion I had about the original sources of David Lynch's inspiration for his groundbreaking television series. It seems there are many large doses of Preminger's LAURA (1944) and Hitchcock's VERTIGO (1958) integrated into the deepest inner workings of TWIN PEAKS--too many and too specific in fact to casually dismiss as merely coincidental.

Take the first name of the girl the entire mystery of TWIN PEAKS revolves around--Laura (as in Palmer) whose lifeless body is discovered by the lakeshore, wrapped in a plastic bag. It is her horrifying death (much like the violent death of Laura Hunt in LAURA) that brings a curiously obsessed lawman (Kyle MacLachlan in TWIN PEAKS, Dana Andrews in LAURA) to conduct similarly unorthodox investigations. Remember too, the hypnotic portrait of Laura Palmer behind the closing credits of each episode of TWIN PEAKS, not unlike the beautiful portrait of Laura Hunt that looms hauntingly over Dana Andrews throughout LAURA.

The mysterious linkage betwixt these films deepens when Laura Palmer's twin cousin (!) turns up--a woman named Madeleine FERGUSON, who looks exactly like Laura Palmer (both young women, of course, played by Sheryl Lee). In VERTIGO, MADELEINE Elster is the name of the coolly detached blonde (played by Kim Novak) who claims to be haunted by the spirit of a dead woman. Soon after, she winds up falling in love with a policeman (James Stewart) whose name is Scotty FERGUSON. Furthermore, MADELEINE is presumed to be dead in VERTIGO only to turn up again as a very alive look-alike named Judy Barton (also Novak) in a brunette wig. Halfway through LAURA we come to realize all isn't exactly what it seems and that suddenly the detective (Andrews) has the chance to fulfill his morbid fantasy, just as Scotty Ferguson has a chance to remake Judy into the image of Madeleine by dressing her differently and dying her hair. (Whew! Are you still with me?)

It gets stranger still. In all three films, the policemen are compulsively pulled into the private dramas of "deceptively deceased" beautiful women and feel either outright romantic yearnings (as with Andrews and Stewart) or faint stirrings (MacLachlan). And in both VERTIGO and TWIN PEAKS, the detectives have disturbing dreams about their women that are brimming with visual clues that will ultimately prove invaluable to solving the mystery. (In LAURA, Dana Andrews also has a dream, falling into a drunken sleep next to Laura's portrait, although we are never shown the visions of that dream.)

Other interesting and indisputably baffling links: In VERTIGO, Madeleine wears a broach that later becomes a major clue. In TWIN PEAKS, the jewelry motif is carried out with a broken locket that was worn by Laura Palmer on the night of her death. In TWIN PEAKS there's a mysterious mynah bird named Waldo, who just happened to be at the scene of Laura Palmer's murder. Waldo is in the office of a veterinarian named Lydecker. In LAURA, Clifton Webb famously plays WALDO LYDECKER, who is madly in love with Laura Hunt and is insanely jealous of any other man who comes near her. Music plays an important element in both LAURA and TWIN PEAKS. When someone puts on a record in LAURA, out comes David Raksin's main theme music; when a record player spins or a radio comes on in TWIN PEAKS it's the melancholy theme by Angelo Badalamenti.

Thanks for indulging me in my rambling ruminations. Perhaps on some rainy Sunday afternoon you might want to watch a double feature of LAURA and VERTIGO and then follow it up with a total immersion in the entire run of David Lynch's wonderfully weird TWIN PEAKS.
klondike

Re: I'm addicted!

Post by klondike »

Just for the sake of accuracy, I dug out my latest leeringly bloated volume of The Maltin Guide (titles thereof long since having submerged into his great, writhing celluloid saltmarsh), and so can remind us all that the correct & official release name for the "Prequel" was: Twin Peaks- Fire Walk with Me --- a fact that I hastened to forget with the close of the 90's, and that I shall once more endeavor to scrub out of my frontal lobe.
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srowley75
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by srowley75 »

So far I've seen only episodes from the first season (I think I have only one more episode to go). I don't know how the mystery turns out yet, so I'll wait until I've seen more of the series before reading Dewey's post.

While Kyle MacLachlin is enjoyable enough, so far the highlights of the series for me have been Russ Tamblyn and Piper Laurie. I looked up awards info for the show and was surprised that Tamblyn wasn't recognized with a nomination for his work, though Laurie (who averages between 1-2 brief scenes per episode) garnered a lead actress nomination. Ya gotta love awards.

And I've heard that the prequel film is manure. At least that's the word from fans of the show, and as I count myself among them at this point, I suppose I should just give it a pass. I've got enough to contend with in my 1001 stack as it is.

-Stephen
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MichiganJ
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by MichiganJ »

Perhaps not surprisingly I actually liked Fire Walk With Me. It's considerably darker than the series and opens with a bizarre sequence with Chris Isaak and Keifer Sutherland, and who knows what the Bowie bit means, but once the film enters Twin Peaks, you are back on terra firma--albeit David Lynch terra firma. Equally fascinating and frustrating, I'd certainly recommend it as a coda to the series.

But then again, I liked Lynch's Inland Empire. (Still don't get the rabbits, though.)
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Dewey1960
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by Dewey1960 »

M-J - I'm completely with you on FIRE WALK WITH ME -- without a doubt one of my absolute favorite films of the 90s.
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ChiO
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Re: I'm addicted!

Post by ChiO »

Oh, you guys! (Sorry, Judith.)
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
jdb1

Re: I'm addicted!

Post by jdb1 »

ChiO wrote:Oh, you guys! (Sorry, Judith.)
No apology to the Grammar Police is necessary. Your use of the phrase here is, I think, perfectly appropriate.

You don't think a girl from Brooklyn could ever really abandon "you guys" do you? Whaddaya, kiddin' me??? Sheesh! :roll:
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