The Canyons

2013 "It's not the hills."
3.8| 1h39m| R| en
Details

The discovery of an illicit love affair leads two young Angelenos on a violent, sexually charged tour through the dark side of human nature.

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Reviews

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Hollywoodshack I am surprised Paul Schrader, known for Taxi Driver and Patty Hearst, would direct a film with so many time wasting random movements that students in film school were told to cut out. The characters spend a lot of time getting out of cars, walking up to a door to enter and find someone in a room. And the worst people for the leads were picked, probably because they were so well known as celebrities but not quite as much in the acting department. James Deen has 200 porn films, Lindsey Lohan 200 appearances on SNL and probably as many substance abuse incidents. The scripter, Bret Easton Ellis, should go to an unplug camp for internet junkies and stay a year where he can write five minutes of film without the actor talking on a cellphone or picking up a laptop. No doubt Deen and Lohan just needed a career SOS on their resumes, with him getting old and her running out of acting work. They do well in spite of the dull pacing. Christian is a tyrant director jealous his girlfriend (Lohan) is seeing another guy, the lead in his film, so he knocks off a girl who knows a scandal in his past. He seems to have gotten away with murder and you'll think so did those who churned out this tripe. Agents need to stay out of producing films.
Gloria Marie Predictable, usual nihilistic Bret Easton Ellis script, all they do is show bored and cynical people, usually texting o having sex or taking advantage of someone else, "Hollywood style", of course. Broke bartenders/actors ready to do everything for a role, gay people ready to "help" them, pretty girls faking relationships because they don't wanna be broke anymore, the usual, you know. Pouty-lip James Deen is OK as a proper actor I guess, that role didn't require much effort after all. Lindsay is basically playing herself or possibly the tabloid version of herself, I'm afraid. Don't waste your time, unless you're an Easton Ellis die-hard fan.
morrison-dylan-fan With having greatly enjoyed reading Brett Easton Ellis novel The Rules of Attraction a few years ago,I was thrilled to hear from a family friend that he had recently picked up a DVD which offered the chance to see Ellis team up with Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader,which led to me getting ready to dive into the canyons.The plot:After having given up on seeing the spotlights of Hollywood years ago,Ryan is delighted to receive an offer from an up-start producer called Christian,for him to star in Christian's up-coming Slasher movie.Initially not having a clue as to how Christian found out about him,Ryan soon discovers that he was recommended for the role by Christian's girlfriend Tara,who unknown to her current boyfriend had a long-term relationship with Ryan.Attempting to keep their old feelings buried,Ryan & Tara soon find themselves falling for each other,as Christian begins to investigate about how his girlfriend knew about Ryan. View on the film:Despite there being some rather large challenges faced during production, (with Leslie Camila-Rose having to be an understudy for co-producer/lead actress Lindsay Lohan,in case Lohan suddenly decided to not turn up on set!)director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John DeFazio are still able to show an excellent stylised eye for the decaying Hollywood which their characters inhabit.Opening in a bar,Schader and DeFazio use neon lights to give the title an icy atmosphere,as Schader shows the characters cynical,rampant egos to be cold,hard surfaces which are impossible to penetrate.Whilst his fangs have lost some of there (infamous) Black Comedy bite, Brett Easton Ellis still delivers a wonderfully harsh,decaying screenplay.Keeping everyone at the bottom of the Hollywood ladder,Ellis initially shows everyone to be rather complacent with their position in life.As Christian (played by a terrific,smirking James Deem) dangles a shiny future in front of Ryan,Ellis slowly burns away the glossy outer appearance of the characters,to reveal the decaying stench laying within each of them,as Christian makes a gorge in the canyons.
brchthethird This is a pretentious piece of crap, with a nary a good performance to be found. The story is repugnant and boring, and all of the characters are soulless, vacuous and empty. Granted, I'd heard about how bad this movie was before I even saw it, but I still expected a little more from Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis. The story is about some trust-fund kid (James Deen) who's also producing a movie so that his (unseen) dad will get off of his back. His live-in girlfriend is played by Lindsay Lohan, and the small cast is rounded out with other characters who know each other, and sleep or have slept with one another. Still, most of the movie is just boring, lifeless dialogue interspersed with some of the most unerotic sex I've ever seen, which includes a foursome. I mean, what were these people thinking? The only redeeming qualities are some good soundtrack selections and good camera-work. That's it. It's best just to take most people's word and just skip this trash.