so... 'velvet goldmine.' i sooo feel two ways about this movie. i guess you could say i 'go both ways' where 'velvet goldmine' is concerned. the cast is wonderful. the songs are fantastic. the costumes are flawless. the subject matter has stellar potential. but, the movie itself, like, the final product is one of the most lopsided movies i've ever liked enough to own. the plot is so weak and who-cares, that you find yourself not even feeling guilty for not caring about it. if you ask me, the whole 'popstar gets shot, who dunnit' aspect is totally extraneous, and a bad idea in the first place. if todd haynes had called me first, i would've advised him to take the same cast, same crew, same vibe, and make a wild, stylized mockumentary about brian slade and kurt wilde, mandy, and the rest of the gang. you could still have all the music, all the drama, all the historic context, and all the sex, drugs, and rock and roll, without the limp-dicked, wet-washcloth excuse for a murder mystery. the opening credits sequence is one of the most invigorating i've ever seen... indeed the entire first hour or so is practically perfect... but i hate to see christian bale so underused and rendered so boring as he is in 'goldmine.' i mean, in the 'flashback to the 7o's' sequences, he's marvelous and spot-on, but in the 'now he's a reporter' sequences, i couldn't even pay myself to care. oh, and eddie izzard's oddly enough, NOT in make-up or drag! oh, by the way, the shot is of johnathan rhys-myers as brian slade during the video of his hit, 'the ballad of maxwell demon.' great f***ing costume. (click to enlarge)
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