PodBill Just what I expected

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

chaos-rampant This opens like in a film noir, with a narrator in his last moments musing on who he really is, the house around him is on fire and he's playing the trumpet. We swoop into him to find where it all went awry and he lost himself.Promising for a while, so long as we have no safe footing in solid reality and instead free fall through selves, acquiring narrative fabrics in our fall through stories. We see a drug addict, tattooed and blitzed out of his mind. A police informant. A trumpet player. An unhappy man who comes back to the same seedy apartment.I don't mind that we have the snappy cadence of Snatch or Goodfellas here and there and quirky bad guys. This really could have been something if we were left to soak up edges of shifting self and story - hallucinated by the druggie? remembered? an informant's remorse? - as we made our way to a remote cabin for a drug deal that may have been orchestrated as part of one or more of these lives.They didn't allow us to float here. Eventually it becomes like Memento, where after a few surprises we settle on a real story, we get a flashback that explains. It becomes mechanical, a case of coming up with what happened, so when in the end, it tries to wonder about who really is this man, and what of all this was true, it comes across as an unimaginative guy musing about the wonders of imagination. The whole point is that even the formerly happy life that was snatched from him should float like all the others, perhaps a self that he comes back to to make his way through the rest. Lynch would know just how, Ruiz.A more imaginative mind here would have also made use of Kilmer's presence as formerly happy guy who has bottomed out and now inhabits a limbo where acting selves struggle within anxious stories to get out of them. But that would require the same untethered shifting.Noir Meter: 2/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Post

mlafuenteny Offbeat film noir deals with the subjects of vengeance and identity. Excellent soundtrack and really funny one-liners by its supporting cast, and by the lead. If you get a chance, watch the extras on the DVD release. This movie is very, very west coast; and I like that. I also liked how messed up in the head all the characters are!! Even the characters who are supposed to be together people seem to have identity problems. I also enjoyed the tattoos, wardrobe, haircuts, and general funkiness of everything. In addition, I think this film is very original and I love its cinematic texture. It presents itself to you as this dark fantasy-world.

dromasca The test of the time is probably the best test that a movie can pass or fail. I have seen The Salton Sea two weeks ago, and did not have time to write immediately about it. Two weeks later I have a hard time remembering what the film was about. Fragments of good film making are left in my memory but they seem to be buried in a story which tries to make sense of some very improbable coincidences which end by making no sense, without the courage of being nonsense to the end, as in a Tarantino film. The Salton Sea tells the violent story of the life of a trumpet player turned into nightmare as his wife is murdered by drug dealers and trying to take revenge by enrolling as an undercover agent. His fake identity places him in the situation to meet the evil and their victims, and in order to take the revenge to the ultimate satisfaction he is obliged to go rogue and take all upon himself. No prisoners are taken and there hardly can be survivors from this situation.The world described in the film is the one of Tarantino's characters but director D.J. Caruso is no Tarantino and the story lacks exactly the sarcastic craziness of Quentin. Val Klimer does a fair job, but fair is not enough. I remember too little of this film two weeks after I have seen it, and I will probably remember nothing two weeks from now.

Valithanithizum The Salton Sea is utterly fantastic. It's amazing it took me this long to watch it, it's an instant classic.What makes the movie so fantastic is the amount of content and the variety of said content that is displayed. It's gritty, yet intellectual. Slow, yet paced perfectly. The story unravels slowly, yet the story happens to fast. I think it's safe to say, that the complexity of this movie can not be understated. What you are getting here is the total package. From the gorgeous delivery and beautiful cinematography, to the intricate details from the culmination of the plot. The thought engrossing script, and the perfectly acted epic story tells the tale of redemption, revenge, heartbreak, sorrow, loss, and glory. Val Kilmer delivers his best roll of his entire life. This movie will be relevant for the next 100 years. Do yourself a favor, and add this to your must watch list.