Blow Out
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Movie Reviews of Blow Out
Movie Review: THOUGHTFUL AND MULTI-LEVELED - ONE OF HIS BEST
Summary: 4 Stars
It's a flashy bit of work glittering with directorial skill, BLOWOUT, and proved to be too downbeat for audiences in '81 after the pop-fun-flash of the dizzy, funny, scary DRESSED TO KILL. The ending screamed "Be MINDFUL of what you ask for - You might get it", and folks rarely want to hear that. I mean, '81 was very different from '66 when its inspiration, BLOW-UP, hit these shores - folks, then, were open to speculation and reflection. In '81, everyone was dialing for dollars and watching soap-operas about the rich on Prime Time TV. DePalma's cautionary tale about 'projection making perception' was too 'deep', too dangerous for a culture obsessed with getting a "lifestyle, lifestyle!"I suppose the underlying message of this perceptual thriller, modeled as it is on BLOW-UP (1966) is that one eventually sees what one is looking for. One may even inadvertently CREATE it in the process of seeking IT out.
In BLOW OUT, Travolta loses his object of affection because his TRUE affection is for putting together film and creating a coherent storyline out of fragments and clues.
The subtext, of course, would presage DePalma - the filmmaker - getting a divorce from his wife of that time - Nancy Allen (who plays the victim in BLOW OUT).
The surface story is, pointedly, a cursory political thriller modeled after Ed Kennedy's Chappaquidick episode, cursory because the surface story is NOT the point. Travolta plays a sound man who thinks he hears something foul in his ambient tapes, the starts toying with still photographs - and the emotions of a woman - as he seeks a thread in a mystery that may or may not even exist.
Nevermind he has forgotten that he has been sent out on assignment to find a "real good scream" for the low-budget slasher film for which he is doing the Sound Editing. He forgets and suppresses his original motivation and cloaks it in a higher purpose, and begins projecting his own "personal effects" (the film's original title) onto the situation around him, thus inviting trouble. Tragedy and Mockery await.
On another level, one could say DePalma was also having fun with the idea of someone from the low budget world of film having aspirations to create "highbrow cinema", and being sabotaged by his origins along the way.
While I agree with the film's psychology and view of things quantuum, the surface story of political intrigue is a tad thin for the director's giant canvass and directorial flash. Pino Donaggio's lovely score is thrilling, even if at moments it seems to overpower the film, and, in the end theme, tilts too close to being maudlin. It's a pity this score was never released in toto on CD - just excerpts (see the DePalma/Donaggio collection on Milan records - a nice CD that includes tracks from DRESSED TO KILL and CARRIE, too)
I liked BLOW OUT immensely when it appeared in '81 on the heels (ha) of DRESSED TO KILL. Time and maturity, and a deeper appreciation of the quietude of films from which it borrows (the aforementioned BLOW UP and THE CONVERSATION), have lessened its importance to me, but I still recommend it as an stunning display of directorial skill - one the dePalma's best moments - and a provocative comment on how consciousness might work... and even kill what it thinks it loves.
Movie Review: Solid
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this when it was first released and loved it. I was recently telling my mom about it, and then tried to rent it at the library for her. It wasn't there. Since John Travolta's come-back with PULP FICTION, I thought this video would be made highly available again. I went to a bunch of Blockbusters and THEY did not have it. Finally I had to buy the darn movie itself from Amazon.com. I showed it to my mom and she loved it.Why such a fanstastic movie directed by a top director, and starring a revived movie star, is not that available, is a mystery to me.
Because I think it is really an orginal film and suspenseful film: well-written, well-acted, well directed. A friend of mine took a film class in college, and the professor showed this movie to the class, considering it of that high quality.
It's a first-rate Hitchcockian type film. (I will complain that the quality of the video itself leaves something to be desired. It's not terrible. But with a film with so much striking imagery, they really should have made sure the video quality was tops.)
Movie Review: Classic Film
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the Best films of the last 20 years, Blow out is De Palma's Masterpiece. Perhaps the best of all Paranoid conspiracy thrillers, it contains a stunning performance from john Travolta and very emotive one from Nancy Allen. Both actors sparkle with onscreen presence and chemistry. It's credentials are stunning , With De Palma, Zsigmond, and Paul Hirsch all behind the camera. Along with Apocalypse Now and Raging Bull, one of the best American films of it's eraMovie Review: TWISTY, DISTURBING, GREAT
Summary: 5 Stars
Brian DePalma is one helluva showman, and when he nails the material with as much nerve, bite and sensual flourish as he does with this paranoid thriller, the results are breathtaking. Nancy Allen is heartbreaking and unusually character-driven as the prostitute; John Lithgow is all menace and glowering evil as the madman. But John Travolta is a jolt to your senses as the emotional sound engineer: his character goes through a wild series of transformations, brought on by a paranoia that is more than justified, and the Kennedy-like murder that begins the movie in such a stylish way. Along with Carrie, this is one of DePalma's bleakest films, and somehow that seems completely right; although it does not share that film's horrific, nightmare-inducing final shock, it has its own nasty trick up its sleeve. Prepare to remember Blow Out.Movie Review: A Loser
Summary: 2 Stars
What a disappointment. The actors went through the motions. I didn't care what happened by the end except that the movie be over. The ending was the best part of the film, though. It was unexpected. I did not find this film suspenseful. I was bored by it.