Adrian Lyne

[filmcritic]

Adrian Lyne, I feel, is an underrated director. He did a great job with "Fatal Attraction", "Flashdance", "Jacob's Ladder", and "Unfaithful". I wasn't a very big fan of "Indecent Proposal" or "9 1/2 Weeks", but he did give all of his films a certain kind of visual style. He always wanted Hollywood actors to tone down their image and become ordinary people. Is anyone else out there aware of this guy?

[Ghostboy]

I was never a big fan -- although I guess I shouldn't say that since I'd only seen 91/2 Weeks and Jacob's Ladder. I loved Jacob's Ladder up until the end, when it totally fell apart for me. I didn't think the twist worked.

However, Unfaithful really surprised me, and it just keeps getting better the more I think about it, to the point that I might pick up the DVD one of these days. The poster is hanging on the wall at my work, reminding me of it constantly.

His version of Lolita was interesting, but proved that the book works best as a book. Kubrick's adaptation worked wonderfully because he (and Nabakov) took it in a slightly different direction (i.e. black comedy). Lyne was totally faithful, and it was just...well, boring.

[mutinyco]

Strange director. He seems to straddle the border between adult and trash. The only film of his that really did it for me was Jacob's Ladder. That film had as much impact on me as any film I've ever seen. It was so ahead of its time when it came out. I had to explain it to everybody -- INCLUDING ADULTS! AND I WAS IN 10TH GRADE! I don't think it had a twist ending, cause I had picked up on what was going on long before. At the time I thought it was brilliant. Without this film there would've been no Sixth Sense or Fight Club.

[Ghostboy]

True, I guess its not a twist if you see it coming. My problem with it was that the whole movie was too resolute in its details to make it believable as a ***SPOILER*** dying dream/vision. This wasn't a problem with the Sixth Sense, where there was a lot of overall vagueness.

[filmcritic]

I think that his best film was really "Jacob's Ladder". I thought that it was a psyhcological cult classic. And I really did buy the ending. It wasn't one of the happiest movies out there, but it was still great. A lot of his other movies were about adultrey. "Fatal Attraction", "Unfaithful", and "Idencent Proposal" were all about the same thing. You should listen to his commentary tracks on DVD. They're really great!

[mutinyco]

Also, consider when it was made in 1990. Jacob's Ladder was so antithetical to what was being made that it was exhilierating.

[filmcritic]

That's true.

[Ghostboy]

Duly noted.

[Alethia]

i think he could truly make something great one of these days - but he hasnt surprised me yet

[aclockworkjj]

AND I WAS IN 10TH GRADE!

I was a little younger when I saw it for the first time....and I didn't really get it....I have since rented it a couple times, and have sorta grown to like it.. alot.

I am a big fan of Lyne....but more so for his sexual deviance....in say something like Unfaithful, ......this movie works well for me....the scene after the first intimate encounter is a scene I will never forget .....

I dunno about the "trash/adult" thing though...it's hard to make a movie based on sex and not have it be cheesy or raunchy...I think he pulls it off.. I think he is more honest than anything....sex is not always this magical "let's make love, hunny" ordeal....and there is not a single scene in....Unfaithful.... that I feel doesn't take place lotsawheres everyday....

sex is sex....it ain't always sweet....

[filmcritic]

I saw "Jacob's Ladder" when I was in the 7th grade. Maybe I was a little too young at the time. Too dark and depressing for that age.

I saw "Unfaithful" when it was released into theatres and I never saw any of his others films until they came out on video.

[dufresne]

funny this thread was bumped because i just finished seeing Kubrick's Lolita (for the first time) and Adrian Lyne's version shortly afterwards.

i've always like Lyne, and i think he is a superb filmmaker.

[tpfkabi]

i just watched Jacob's Ladder the other day. very haunting images, a great film. i have a question/statement:


SPOILERS




did Jacob have any idea that the government was doing these types of experiments before the "attack" went down? i ask this because this whole idea is revealed while he is in the stage of dying. i don't see how this could be unless the writer thinks that we are shown the wrong that is done to us while we are passing from life unto death.

[MacGuffin]

The Vine: A-list leads eyeing 'Stompanato'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Keanu Reeves and Catherine Zeta-Jones are circling "Stompanato," a biopic about Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of actress Lana Turner who was killed by her young daughter, Cheryl Crane. Adrian Lyne is attached to direct. Producing the project are Contrafilm's Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson along with Erwin Stoff. The script was written by David and Janet Peoples ("12 Monkeys") and Sebastian Gutierrez ("Snakes on a Plane"). The project has landed on the steps of Warner Bros. Pictures but has not made the studio its home yet as dealmaking has not started. Stompanato, a World War II vet-turned-small-time hood and wannabe actor, was killed on Good Friday 1958 in the Beverly Hills home of Turner by 14-year-old Crane. The death was ruled as justifiable homicide, but rumors flew that Crane and Stompanato had been lovers, while other rumors flew that Turner actually killed Stompanato and let her underage daughter take the rap.

[Pubrick]

but rumors flew that Crane and Stompanato had been lovers, while other rumors flew that Turner actually killed Stompanato and let her underage daughter take the rap.

i wonder which rumor will land on the film.