David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Discussion of all things David Lynch

Moderators: Brad D, Annie, Jonah, BookhouseBoyBob, Ross, Jerry Horne

TheresTheOneArmerNow
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:37 am

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by TheresTheOneArmerNow »

My list:

10.Dune
9.Wild At Heart
8.The Straight Story
7.Lost Highway
6.Fire Walk With Me
5.The Elephant Man
4.Inland Empire
3.Blue Velvet
2.Eraserhead
1.Mulholland Drive
You'd never guess, there was a lady in the radiator.
User avatar
tamygdala
Roadhouse Member
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:44 pm

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by tamygdala »

From Top to Bottom:

1. Blue Velvet (Lynch's masterpiece)
2. Eraserhead (the 2nd best first film ever made after Citizen Kane)
3. Mulholland Dr. (his best 'directed' film --- Lynch has never been more confident behind the camera)
4. Fire Walk With Me (the greatest/most disturbing sound design in any motion picture... ever)
5. The Elephant Man (Best perfs in any Lynch Film)
6. Wild at Heart (Lynch's least profound work but so much fun)
7. Lost Highway (I read somewhere that Godard said the first 45 minutes is perfect cinema)
8. The Straight Story (So simple yet so beautiful)
9. Dune (a mess but not without merit)
10. Inland Empire (Would've been a great movie cut down to 1 hr 45 minutes)
User avatar
Mb3
RR Diner Member
Posts: 263
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:05 am
Location: Germany

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by Mb3 »

1. Blue Velvet
2. Lost Highway
3. Fire Walk With Me
4. Inland Empire
5. Mulholland Drive
6. Wild At Heart
7. Eraserhead
8. The Elephant Man
9. The Straight Story
10. Dune

The same list as five or six years ago, even after rewatching most of the films during that time my opinion about it haven't changed a bit. The first nine are all great films to me. And my opinion about Dune has changed a little bit even though I still wouldn't call it one of my favorites, it has some nice scenes.
User avatar
qbin2001
Great Northern Member
Posts: 879
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:20 pm
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by qbin2001 »

1. Lost Highway

Every time I'm watching it I have this strange feeling, that this time I'm gonna finally find out what happened "that night". Every_Damn_Time!

2. Blue Velvet

What can I say: Masterpiece.

3. Eraserhead

I love this mood.

4. Wild At Heart

I never like this one until I saw it on the big screen. If you didn't seen it in the cinema on the big screen - have not seen it!

5. The Elephant Man

Touching.

6. Fire Walk With Me

I'd love this one more with the "Missing pieces" included. And I hate Lura's wig and death scene in the movie (the episode 9 flashback is perfect, the movie scene is not so powerful).

7. The Straight Story

This one always calms me. Maybe it should be higher on the list.

8. Mulholland Drive

To many distracting scenes from the pilot that don't fit to the movie and only distracts.

9. Dune

Much better then the TV series, but I like it.

10. Inland Empire

I really hate that one. Mass of unrelated pointless and boring scenes. Watching it in the cinema was painful. I will try to watch it second time (I'm planning to watch all thing that Lynch ever directed next year), but I doubt that my opinion would be different.
User avatar
LostInTheMovies
Bookhouse Member
Posts: 1558
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 12:48 pm

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by LostInTheMovies »

qbin2001 wrote:6. Fire Walk With Me

I'd love this one more with the "Missing pieces" included. And I hate Lura's wig and death scene in the movie (the episode 9 flashback is perfect, the movie scene is not so powerful).
It's interesting how divided opinion seems to be on this. I've heard people say that the death scene is one of the most overpowering scenes they've ever seen as others say, as you do, that it feels weak compared to the series flashback. For a long time, I felt maybe more similarly to you - in fact when I did a marathon viewing of Twin Peaks this summer that was the moment where I felt lost again: like, what exactly is the movie trying to achieve here? It felt like Laura needs to die, so we have this scene, but the rest of the movie was on a different track.

However, the more I reflect on it and think about it and look at it as the culmination of Laura's arc, the more I get out of it. On that viewing, even though I'd already talked with John Thorne about his interpretation of the ring, it took me putting some pieces together myself for it to really click with me. I think the episode 8 flashback and the FWWM climax serve very, very different purposes and complement each other in that way: the first is about the disorienting trauma of the experience (makes sense since it is Ronette remembering), the second about Laura's deliverance/transcendence.

As for the wig, at least it's not as bad as the one she wears in the finale!
8. Mulholland Drive

To many distracting scenes from the pilot that don't fit to the movie and only distracts.
This is an interesting point and suggests something about Lynch that I've been noticing the more I watch Twin Peaks (and addenda like the Log Lady intros). He really likes to work with the material he's got rather than throw stuff out and start from scratch. You even see this with the alternate ending of the pilot, which could have been totally disposable but ends up informing the whole series.

It seems like with the pilot it was important for him to recontextualize rather than reinvent it, easy as it would have been to get rid of everything other than the Betty-Rita (and probably Adam) stories. I know he hates for people to refer to the pilot, especially the abbreviated version, and that he did change some things for the feature film but it's amazing how closely he stuck to the structure of what was supposed to launch a TV series. Maybe for him anything else would feel like giving up? It works for me, but I can see how it could just feel sloppy - although of course we do see most of the characters again in the party scene. And honestly, the more I learn about the origins of Mulholland Drive the more I can see that aspect (which is probably one reason he hates for people to talk about it!). But it also makes me admire the film even more in a way, seeing how he took something intended as one thing and made it something else. The structure of Mulholland Drive pilot into feature reminds me a lot of the relationship between Twin Peaks the series and Fire Walk With Me, where things that seemed mysterious just for the sake of mysterious get rooted in an acute, and specific, psychological experience.
10. Inland Empire

I really hate that one. Mass of unrelated pointless and boring scenes. Watching it in the cinema was painful. I will try to watch it second time (I'm planning to watch all thing that Lynch ever directed next year), but I doubt that my opinion would be different.
I wasn't wild on this on my first viewing - I love experimental films, and I love mysteries but joining the two approaches together, so that one moment we think everything will add up and the next we're just supposed to go for the dream-ride, was very frustrating to me. But it's grown a lot in memory and on rewatches. Now I think it may be Lynch's key film. There are many interesting connections to Fire Walk With Me, and particularly Laura Palmer/Sheryl Lee.
User avatar
LostInTheMovies
Bookhouse Member
Posts: 1558
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 12:48 pm

Re: David Lynch: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

Post by LostInTheMovies »

Thoughts after watching Fire Walk With Me again:

- Last night I watched Blue Velvet. One thing I love about Fire Walk With Me is that it feels like such a shocking turnaround in Lynch's career. Every previous film, even the out-there, totally personal Eraserhead, feels like he's hiding behind something. Fire Walk With Me feels completely unguarded. And every film since feels similar to me (though perhaps not to the same extent). I guess you can roughly divide Lynch fans into first- or second-stage fans (although I'm sure there are plenty of people who completely blur those lines). I'm definitely in the latter category.

- Fire Walk With Me is a film which you can only "make sense of" after the fact, reflecting on it, talking about it, thinking about it, etc. During the act of watching it you're either with it or you aren't. I've spent the past year watching it, discussing it endlessly, writing about it, making numerous videos about it. I feel I've figured out a lot of things that were total enigmas to me on first viewing. And yet every time I watch it, there is a fresh sense of falling into an experience that is beyond words/comprehension, pure sensory immersion. I love that about it.
Post Reply