Tag / kyle maclachlan

Inside Out | Still features Riley's emotions looking nervously at Anxiety's presence.
by Jaime Rebanal

‘Inside Out 2’ Review: Riley Has Grown Up, but the Formula Hasn’t Yet

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Pixar’s output as of late has perhaps been more uneven than their peak period – for the same streak of brilliance that carried them from Monsters, Inc. to Toy Story 3 (minus the first Cars film) would come to a sudden halt with Cars 2. But said film also marked a distinct change in the direction that Pixar was headed, in favour of franchises and sequels, straying away from the heart and soul that made them so beloved over the years. With 2015’s Inside Out, it seemed things would look up for them once more, with the film showing that they still maintained their highs despite circumstances and also experimenting with their usual formula to try out something new. It wasn’t just their best since the streak of success had ended, it’s one of their best, period.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me’ Review: The Death of Innocence in a World of Blue

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NOTE: This is a revised review that best represents my current thoughts on the film as opposed to my previous review. You can read the original right here.

Twin Peaks is one of the most influential television series ever made but the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me has never enjoyed the same sort of acclaim – having been met with harsh reviews and also having flopped at the box office. I’m fairly biased in the favour of Twin Peaks as it is my favourite television series of all time but throughout the show you could always tell that Lynch had a particular love for the character of the deceased Laura Palmer. In fact, there are few people whose entire mystery has impacted an entire culture the same way that Laura Palmer has done so, and no one understands the effect her death has left upon many that same way David Lynch does. Yet few people knew her as a person too, which emphasizes the tragic beauty of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Blue Velvet’ Review: The Hypnotic Aura of David Lynch’s Strange World

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David Lynch’s films are so easy to characterize for carrying a weird aura that only he could ever perfect, yet the world that we’re seeing in Blue Velvet is one that is as ordinary as they get. Yet it’s also what makes everything about Blue Velvet so wonderful too, because it invokes his viewers to look at the world that they know a whole other way, beneath the cracks of the perfections in the “ordinary” as David Lynch brings you to see the underworlds that take the screen. It’s all a part of what makes Blue Velvet so intriguing too, because it’s characteristic of everything that has fascinated David Lynch through his long career in the form of a neo-noir mystery, yet it also happens to be one of the very best films of that sort too. Some can even say that a film like this best captures what also is best described as David Lynch’s America, for his subversion of the idealized lifestyle brings you on a journey of innocence slowly fading away through the exposure to a dark underworld unlike any other. You’re taken into a strange world by David Lynch, but maybe that might very well be the world we live in and we’ve convinced ourselves that everything happens to be moving along like it’s all fine.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Giant Little Ones’ Review: A Decent Queer Coming-of-age Drama With Little New Ground to Cover

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Keith Behrman’s Giant Little Ones is a coming-of-age film that tells a story of the fears of coming out of the closet and one that also explores the concept of sexual fluidity. While it’s commendable to see a film that embraces the fact that these concepts are not the binaries that society paints them out to be, Giant Little Ones also seems to feel a little bit lacking everywhere else. That’s not to say Giant Little Ones is bad, because it’s a fairly decent film on the whole but it seems to lack what would otherwise have made it a great film despite having all the ingredients that would have made one. For a film that has all the potential to create something greater or more meaningful for younger people still trying to form a better understanding of the spectrum upon which we find ourselves best feeling a sense of identification, it seems to feel so limited even in its scope – thus it never really sticks its own landing. It’s cute enough to warrant a single viewing, especially among younger viewers who are still coming to terms with understanding core aspects of their own sexual orientation, but it seems to struggle with finding the footing of its own.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The House With a Clock in Its Walls Ticks Every Now and Then, But Not All the Way: Review

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Eli Roth directing a film for children was always set to become a fascinating choice, but even as someone who has never exactly been a fan of his overtly gory horror films I can’t help but find The House with a Clock in its Walls to already be an experiment that would already have been worth seeing out of pure interest. But perhaps this may be the turn that his career would have needed in order to truly make his career drive my interest once again – already having known him for directing nothing but overtly gory horror films. The very worst tendencies of Roth’s torture porn-esque horror films are childish in their own right, yet perhaps directing a film intended for children allows him to embrace that aspect about his work to a much more inviting degree at that, and oddly enough, it seems like the sort of growth that his films so desperately need.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Showgirls – Review

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Imagine the sort of sleaziness that can only be found one place and nowhere else; it’s the sort that Paul Verhoeven wishes for his viewers to experience through Showgirls. Everyone already knows Showgirls from its notorious career-ruining reputation together with a consistent positioning amongst what are supposedly the worst films ever made and even sweeping a record at the Golden Raspberry Awards. Yet in spite of this infamy, it managed to grow a cult within following years on home video, some people saying it may be “so bad it’s good,” but others calling for re-evaluation. “So bad it’s good” it may be for some but I happen to be among the camp that thinks Showgirls is genuine good: a misunderstood work brimming with brilliance.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me – Review

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It’ll be rather difficult for myself to speak of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me from the perspective of an outsider as Twin Peaks is my favourite television series. It’s clear that coming into Fire Walk With Me without having watched the series prior is not particularly as great an idea given as the ideas will remain clear especially to Twin Peaks fans, and for those unfamiliar, the results will just be on a mere baffling end for it is not accessible to anyone who has not seen the series. Normally I’d refer to the criticism that it’s a longer episode of the series for film, but Fire Walk With Me isn’t that, for there’s a lot that still works even without any connection to the series. It was what I would have wanted as a fan, though if it were a single episode, it wouldn’t be ranked among my favourites. Continue reading →