Not really a review of this movie but RIP Jonathan Demme all the same. 

There is a wonderful moment in Something Wild, Jonathan Demme’s freewheeling screwball road movie and just about my favourite movie of all time, in which our newly cut-loose yuppie hero, Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels), in covert hot pursuit of the girl he loves (Melanie Griffith) and the ex-con tough (Ray Liotta) who stole her from him, installs himself in the parking lot of an all-black church in Virginia with a snack and a pair of binoculars, training a tired eye on his marks as they lounge about the pool at a motel across the road. Exhausted, Charlie takes a nap — only to be stirred from…

Yes, the soundtrack is great.

The scene where Charlie shows up at the diner and confronts Ray, though, made me so fucking angry. He shows up, and instead of saying, "hey Lulu, let's go, ditch this guy," he speaks to Ray. He says he's taking her back; he spars with Ray over Lulu as if Lulu isn't even there, as if she is literally an object he has to acquire. It's tiresome. Lulu tries hard to redeem the film a few minutes later, throwing Charlie out of the car by the railroad tracks, but of course it doesn't end there. It lets him off the hook. That act of independence is swallowed.

And there's a fight scene with the death…

Included In Lists:
Criterion Collection - #563

It frustrates me when a film establishes itself with a strong premise; one that doesn’t necessarily allow itself to be obviously driven by the Hollywood standards, where things are happening but its pure essence is what remains rewarding. Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild began in such a way where we are introduced to a man with a flaw, which becomes the driving motivation and attraction of a peering stranger, and would fuels them to an adventure that slowly penetrates without plain deconstruction by external forces or inner obligation.

Charlie (Jeff Daniels) belongs in the world of business, one who is recently in a near-pinnacle place, with a recent promotion and a comfortable family. He…

Besides Kate Bush's ascension to higher ground and negotiations with supreme beings, this was the most exhilarating moment of the Eighties. 

There are only a handful of films in our lives which actually change us. Movies with a distinct line between before and after. Pictures which awaken something; make us feel as if we're different people the next day.

I'm not just talking about your favourite movies though...

I'm talking about that first cut where you needed stitches; I'm talking about the first time you saw a dead body; I'm talking about the first time a girl stuck her tongue in your mouth; I'm talking about the first time you listened to The Velvet Underground & Nico; I'm talking about your…

Included In Lists:
Criterion Collection - #563

There are those who find contentment in the simplicity and structured life of mediocrity, there is a sense of pleasure in the balance and security that many grow up striving for, a blanket that they desperately want to be wrapped under. Meanwhile, there are those who have been fooled from such modest ambitions, realising the suffocating strictures and dullness that comes with it; a strike on reality that is painfully punishing. From then, their wildness lingers beneath their uniform of suit jackets and trousers, enticing themselves of that riveting thrill that they wish their life was full of.

This was the case for this New York banker, Charlie (Jeff Daniels), whose day suddenly…