Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

Mulholland Falls (1995)

Director: Lee Tamahori

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Meet the 'Hat Squad', a free-ranging unit of the LAPD comprising Detectives Hoover (Nolte), Coolidge (Palminteri), Hall (Madsen) and Relyea (Penn). It's the early '50s. A good-time gal is found embedded in six inches of sand, like a steamroller had a crush on her. Who knew her? Gay film-maker Jimmy Fields (McCarthy), for starters; the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, General Timms (Malkovich), more intimately; and then there's the very married, very motivated detective Max Hoover. With cinematography by Haskell Wexler, production design by Richard Sylbert and a cast fleshed out with the likes of Treat Williams, Daniel Baldwin and Bruce Dern, this has the look down pat, but when it comes to substance, emotional complexity or narrative authority, forget it, Jake, this isn't Chinatown. Director Tamahori caught the eye with Once Were Warriors, but his first Hollywood feature falls flat with a hollow thud. It doesn't help that, after an intriguing opening, Pete Dexter's screenplay fails to construct a mystery which really connects, that too many supporting characters never come to life, and that Malkovich invests a pivotal role with his peculiar brand of terminal lethargy.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'

Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'

Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this

Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'

Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'

Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office

Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'

Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'

Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations