RED ROCK WEST — CLASSIC FILM PICK

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The Dahl brothers filmmaking team were every bit as responsible for contributing to the '80s and '90s Neo-Noir heyday as the Coen brothers, or Quentin Tarantino.

"Red Rock West" is an exquisite example of how far the Neo-Noir genre could be pushed, and with just how much self-referential humor.

It's dream-team cast of Neo-Noir staple actors makes "Red Rock West" tick like a Swiss watch.

Endless reversals keep bringing our redeemable protagonist Michael Williams (Nicolas Cage) back to the place he most needs to escape, namely the town of Red Rock.

Michael is a drifter with a bad knee that makes it hard to find work.

Things from bad to worse when Wayne (J.T. Walsh), a local bar owner, mistakes Michael for the hit man he's hired to take out his wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle — "Twin Peaks").

Michael takes the cash, but not the job.

Every act of betrayal leads to another in this well crafted tale of greed and bad intentions.

Oh, the evils of money.

Suspenseful plot twists lead to an eye-popping stunt involving a speeding car and a fast train.

No CGI here.

All danger in your face. Thrilling.

Dennis Hopper plays off his character's wardrobe from "Blue Velvet" to juice up intensity of his lethal character here.

"Red Rock West" is a fun Neo-Noir that pays off on every repeated viewing.

Rated R. 98 mins.

BLOOD & WINE

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On face value, it could be easy to discount Bob Rafelson's last feature film, "Blood &  Wine," as a run-of-the-mill neo-noir of the era.

Think, "Red Rock West," "Fargo," or "The Last Seduction."

"Blood & Wine" keeps good company.

This movie ages very nicely.

Bob Raelson, the counter-culture filmmaking icon behind "Five Easy Pieces" crafts a complex cliche-bending crime caper with clever plot-twists, reversals, and shit-hitting-fan sequences packed with sharp dialogue.

"Blood & Wine's" car chase sequences are heart-pumping.

Thrills, chills, and gut punches don't stop.

Dependable Rafelson regular Jack Nicholson eschews his signature scene-chewing approach to allow well occupied space by his worthy co-stars, namely Michael Caine, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis, and Jennifer Lopez.

Conceived of as the final installment to Rafelson's trilogy of films that he made with Jack Nicholson (behind "Five Easy Pieces" and "The King of Marvin Gardens"), "Blood & Wine" takes full advantage of Miami's social reality of sunshine, sex, and crime.

Co-written by Rafelson with Alison Cross, and Nick Villiers, this is no by-committee script.

Alex (Nicholson) is a wine distributor with a taste for exotic women and anything that feeds his outsized ego. Nevermind that Alex's string of betrayals has alienated his long suffering wife Suzanne (Judy Davis). Alex takes advantage of his stepson Jason (Stephen Dorff), using him as an employee.

In debt up to his neck, Alex hatches a plan with Victor (Michael Caine), his safe-cracking partner in crime, to steal a million dollar necklace from one of Alex's gated community wine customers while the family is away.

Not everything goes to plan.

It's a thrill to watch Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine playing off one another. Jennifer Lopez is funny as she is sexy as a Cuban immigrant playing all ends against the middle. For his part, Stephen Dorff makes the most of his crucial role opposite Caine and Nicholson.

More blood than wine spills in this solid neo-noir romp.

Chewy, juicy, and profound.

Crack a bottle of vino and enjoy this fantastic movie.

Rated R. 101 mins.

BLUE VELVET — SHOCKTOBER!

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In 1986 David Lynch broke the language of cinema wide open in the same way that Jackson Pollock did with the art world in the early '40s.

Using a minimalist filmic palate for a neo-noir set in small town America, Lynch blends surrealist elements into a suspenseful story of adult sexual awakening (vis a vis BDSM) juxtaposed against violence, mystery, and mental illness.

Using iconographic character names drawn from '50s Americana iconography (see Frank, Sandy and Ben), and a moody musical score to match, Lynch presents returning hometown boy Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan).

After his father suffers a heart attack while watering the family lawn, Jeffrey unearths a severed ear in a field that he crossed thousands of times in his youth. Unspeakable acts are being carried even in America's most seemingly provincial towns. Every city has its "bad side of town."

Our curious protagonist finds a willing ally for his impromptu private investigation into the mystery of the ear's owner in the local police detective's romantically inclined daughter Sandy (Laura Dern). On the surface, Sandy seems like natural girlfriend material for Jeffrey, but this guy has a taste for the exotic (if incestuous) that vanilla Sandy can't fulfill. 

However, Jeffrey is unprepared for the psychological and emotional upheaval that will devour him when he stalks the fetishized life of Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), a sultry nightclub singer used to playing rough with a very debauched criminal named Frank (Dennis Hopper). The bi-polar Dorothy has a nasty little taste for kink.

"Blue Velvet" is David Lynch's greatest cinematic achievement next to "Eraserhead." His balance of symbols, and artful use of montage, is at its most poetic and powerful. His metaphoric allusions about the dysfunctional nature of the ideal "American Dream" family incite hellish visions of the abusive father (as embodied in Hopper's character) and the traumatized wife/mother who needs saving from her idealized son.

Every role is perfectly cast. Dennis Hopper's portrayal of a whacked-out crime boss is terrifying. Lynch's haunting small-town mystery carries an indescribable undertow that kicks like a spastic mule in heat. 

"Blue Velvet" is the closest that any filmmaker other than Buñuel has ever come to such a daring cinematic feat.You can bet that Quentin Tarantino took notes from "Blue Velvet" in creating "Reservoir Dogs." Here is a film that alters everyone who sees it.

Rated R. 120 mins.