wild at heart Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Did you see any of the three big studio releases this weekend? Early box office returns indicate that Alex Proyas' apocalyptic science-fiction drama Knowing drew larger audiences than John Hamburg's bro-mantic comedy I Love You, Man or Tony Gilroy's clever Duplicity. Putting it in star terms, it looks like Nicolas Cage beat out the teaming of Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, as well as one-time box office champ Julia Roberts and Clive Owens. But did audiences flock to Knowing because of Nicolas Cage, or despite him?

I'm in the latter camp, and that's because his track record of choosing interesting projects has taken a nose dive since he won an Academy Award in 1996 for Leaving Las Vegas. As well expressed by John Anderson in The Washington Post, Cage's performance in Con Air marked the turning point, after which there have been "few detours from the action star/blockbuster track upon which Cage has trod with particularly graceless aplomb, and virtually no humor at all, except on top of his head, where his hair is continual source of mirth and mystery."

As I watched Cage as a college professor and widowed father in Knowing, I was struck by how hard he seemed to be Acting (yes, with a capital "A"), emoting with every muscle in his body vibrating, never giving a straight line reading for fear it might be considered ordinary or unimportant. Anderson wrote: "He glowers, he hunches, he looks meaningfully into the distance without it meaning anything at all."

Like Anderson, I miss the juicy, funny, very human Cage of Raising Arizona, Valley Girl, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Wild at Heart. He was sometimes overindulgent, but he compelled me to watch what he would do next. Not anymore. Do you still love Nicolas Cage?

Our pal Christopher Campbell has put together a pretty cool top ten list over at Spout Blog. Inspired by the frenzy surrounding Paramore, who has been fortunate enough to land two songs on the Twilight soundtrack, he's put together a list of one hit wonders made by the movies. As memorable (and impossible to eradicate from easy listening stations) as Lookin' For Love, King of Wishful Thinking, and Stay (I Missed You) are, they're really just that one song from that one movie -- you know the one ... yeah, that movie! (By the way, the above three are from Urban Cowboy, Pretty Woman, and Reality Bites, respectively.)

The best thing about these lists is the debate they inspire. I disagree that Chris Isaak's Wicked Game fits the mold, as I think it's associated less with Wild at Heart than with a sandy and sexy Helena Christensen. In coming up with nominations of our own, Scott Weinberg and I immediately disagreed on whether Peter Cetera and Glory of Love from Karate Kid II qualified, or if Cetera being in Chicago was an automatic pass. (I say no, Scott says yes.) But we did manage to nominate Better Than Ezra's Circle of Friends from Empire Records, Gerard McMann's Cry Little Sister from The Lost Boys, and Chris DeBurgh's Lady in Red from Working Girl. Campbell, with his vast knowledge, could veto all three. What about you, readers? Give us some of your nominations, debate the popularity of Chris Isaak, or at least help us decide whether Glory of Love qualifies.

It is always a curiosity when Hollywood families come together for a project. I love seeing the Estevezes (aka Sheens) appear together -- sure, even in Men at Work. And sometimes the Coppolas do well with one another -- Talia Shire in her brother's Godfather movies, for example. But often it is a bad idea to work with or cast family members. The most obvious case is Sofia Coppola (Shire's niece) being in her father's The Godfather: Part III. Just recently Jake Paltrow received a paltry reception for a movie he made featuring his sister, Gwyneth. Now, another new filmmaker is attempting a similar feat: According to Variety, Bruce Dern will make his directorial debut with Hart's Location, in which he'll appear alongside his ex-wife, Diane Ladd, and his daughter, Laura Dern. Written by Ashley Reed, the film will appropriately be about family estrangement. Laura will star as a woman seeking to regain custody of her son while also attempting to locate her father, who left when she was 3.

It is worth noting that Diane Ladd has been nominated for three Oscars, all for films in which her daughter also appears (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Wild at Heart; Rambling Rose). The last of these even saw a nomination for Laura, as well, marking the first time a mother and daughter were ever recognized by the Academy for the same film. So, for the women, at least, Hart's Location seems to be a great idea. Maybe there's more Oscars in their future. On the other hand, it also seems to have a sort of novelty to it, like the badly-received It Runs in the Family, which featured a lot of the Douglases (Michael, Kirk, Cameron and Diana), in what appeared to exist just for the stunt-casting. Like that movie, Hart's Location also unites a real-life divorced couple (Dern and Ladd parted ways in 1969). Interestingly enough, though, Ladd has already directed her ex-husband, in 1994's little-seen Mrs. Munck. Hopefully Dern can do better in this reversal of roles. As long as he spends more attention on making a good movie rather than on working out his personal issues (he told Daily Variety that the project makes sense for them because it's about the things you wish you'd said to your family members), then I'll be looking forward to it. The film begins shooting in New Orleans in February.

Director David Lynch, who has made some of the most creative and surreal films to come out of Hollywood, including Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, releases his anger and boosts his creativity through meditation. Our sib site The Cardio Blog has a piece up about how Lynch has practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) for some 30 years. The Cardio Blog notes that releasing anger has been documented as reducing heart disease later in life. I've been practicing TM myself since I was 14, and I was interested to learn that Lynch has set up The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace.

The Foundation has the goal of promoting Transcendental Meditation in schools. Lynch says on the site, "Someday, hopefully very soon, 'diving within' as a preparation for learning and as a tool for developing the creative potential of the mind will be a standard part of every school's curriculum." The Foundation provides scholarships for students to learn the TM technique and for students to attend schools based on Consciousness-Based Education. The site talks a lot about the effects of stress on children, how the state of consciousness achieved by TM protects the brain and enhances creativity and learning potential, and increases academic achievement.

The site doesn't talk about the effects of TM on one's ability to come up with movies like the ones Lynch makes -- films with winding, complex plots and intense characters (I think my favorite Lynch character in terms of sheer craziness is Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth in Blue Velvet; he was way beyond disturbing). Lynch has long been one of my favorite directors, but I had no idea that he practices TM as a way of enhancing his creativity. I'd hate to see what some of his films would look like if he didn't release anger through meditation, though.