Crimes em Wonderland

As a student of the 70's-80's porn scene, not to mention the doc "XXXL", I was more than familiar with the John Holmes story and this movie did not disappoint. Rare is the movie that can stick to the facts and be interesting. This holds your attention to the end. And most notable doesn't make Holmes into some kind of hero like some movies do with unsavory characters. Yeah I'm looking at you Oliver Stone. If you're at all familiar with Holmes or want to be or want a good drama then watch this.

John Holmes is so famous, he's infamous (as the Three Amigos would say). This is a Rashomon-like story about the events surrounding the Wonderland Murders of the early 1980's, in Los Angeles. The story is pieced together from the retelling of a few of the participants. There is story from the friend's perspective, namely David Lind (played by Dylan McDermott). He is a participant in the robbery assault at Eddie Nash's place (Eddie Nash is a infamous drug dealer - and is the suppose to be the same character Alfred Molina played in Boogie Nights) and is heavily into the drug scene. There is John Holmes' perspective (played by Val Kilmer), which makes him out to be a pawn stuck between two kings (with a severe case of cocaine cravings). There is also the patchwork recollections of John's wife (Sharon - played by Lisa Kudrow) and his girlfriend (Dawn - played by Kate Bosworth) that fill in the spaces between the two stories. It is basically the same time frame that we are looking at, just each character's version. The only thing that is missing is the perspective from the dead people.

Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights portrays John Holmes as a slightly heroic character, with a tragic yet comedic karma. He is a caricature of a real person. He was more of less, a mixed up kid that got what he got through his "large" endowment. Director James Cox turns the comedy off and makes this episode in John's life into a nightmare for all of us watching. The details of the real life murders make this movie even more eerie.

Val Kilmer took what he learned of Jim Morrison, from the Doors, enhanced the performance for the Salton Sea, and then further enhanced that to bring us the deterioration of John Holmes through cocaine. All of the actors pull off very realistic looking portrayal's of cocaine junkies. Josh Lucas' performance stands out as one of the best in the movie. He plays Ron Launius (I think this character is suppose to be the same as the Thomas Jane character from Boogie Nights). Ron was the leader of the gang, loved having John Holmes around as a novelty and had a cocaine craving like sharks enjoy blood. The cocaine use seems so realistic as to make one think. Did they really use Splenda ??

Where Boogie Nights has a bubblegum pop feel to it (lots of color and 70's nostalgia), Wonderland is dark. The action is fast and furious, with a lot of jumps. It is twitchy and grainy. There is no comedy, just a never ending pace, as if the director is trying to put us into the nervous, fast paced, edgy cocaine high to make us feel what the characters are feeling. This is a graphic movie. It has one of the most intensely violent scenes I have ever seen in a movie. It actually shows the murders themselves (through the eyes of John Holmes at first and then from a third person perspective). It is so graphic, it looks like police evidence of a crime. I had to pause after this scene and remind myself this was just a movie. This movie is definitely not recommended for everyone. I recommend it as a good alternative to Boogie Nights, for those interested in the other sides of John Holmes.

-Celluloid Rehab

"Wonderland" is an ugly, hard to watch film that gives us so many bad people ruining their lives with drugs that you have to wonder why it's an important crime story. Probably because the acting is so intense, it's the cinematic equivalent of a crack pipe you can't put down, even though it's burning your hands and you can't get "high" anymore. Be thankful when this is over that you don't have a drug habit. And if you're using, get help now!

Val Kilmer is so in tune with the broken down wreck of a porn legend who can't do much more than destroy himself and cut his ties with the straight world that his portrayal is truly horrifying. He meets his criminal match for out of control indulgence in the gang of dealers and robbers that live in or visit the house on Wonderland Avenue. Josh Lucas, Dylan McDermott and Tim Blake Nelson are the brazen trio willing to rip off anyone for a fix and the great Eric Bogosian is the ultimate prince of darkness gangster they foolishly cross. What happens next is not good!

Detective characters based on Bob Souza and Tom Lange, the two men that had the dead end assignment of trying to solve this hell on earth of a case, try to separate the lies from the brutal facts. Ted Levine, playing the older partner, is especially intense, as in the words of director James Cox. "Look at that guy, man. That guy can make gum chewing interesting!" Yes, he does. If anyone plays a cop who's seen too much better than Levine does here, give them the award for best performance as an LAPD Robbery-Homicide veteran.

Much of the script is verbatim from Holmes' and David Lind's (McDermott) own words. It becomes a duel of two sociopaths each trying to establish their version of events as the on the record account of what "really" happened back in the summer of '81.

Holmes' one redeeming link to the truth is his soon to be ex-wife, Sharon, where Lisa Kudrow turns in her best work ever. She's a woman in a predicament. The man she still loves emotionally needs her to save him from his cocaine based purgatory and finds she won't end her life in normal society to enter the witness protection program with him and his girlfriend, Kate Bosworth. (Before Tina Fey became forever linked with Sarah Palin, I thought the role of Sharon would have suited her! She has a resemblance to the photos of the former Mrs. Holmes shown in the documentary "Wadd".)

Why did Holmes live when so many others didn't? He didn't really escape, as AIDS related illnesses and his continuing drug abuse finished off the remaining years (he died at age 43 in 1988). An amusing urban legend about Holmes actually being "Leave It To Beaver" actor Ken Osmond was debunked many years ago by Osmond himself, who ironically became a cop after his acting days ended. But if Holmes ever had a "legit" acting career, "Eddie Haskell" is exactly the kind of role he would have naturally fallen into, the congenital liar who knew how to pacify authority figures with a gleam in his eye and dishonesty in his heart.

Val Kilmer... Love or loath him, sometimes he gets under the skin of a character and pulls out a performance that makes you go 'Hey! This guy is a GREAT actor!' He did in the leather pants of Jim in The Doors and he's done it again in the leather underpants of John.

Revolving around the fall and fall of uber porn king John Holmes, Kilmer strutts to his knees as we unravel one of the biggest murder mysteries hollywood has never solved for over twenty years, with Holmes the key suspect to a brutal Manson-style slaughter.

What Kilmer does so effortlessly is exhude the low-life of the celebrity, the do anything to anyone craving that overwhelms anyone who had it and then lost it. Go see him, you'll know what I mean.

I once read an article by Jonathon Ross about John Holmes, and in it he described a pathetic figure whose celebrity status in the arena of porn deteriorated into a life of drug abuse, betrayal, gang involvement and murder...oh, and his eventual death due to Aids. What a great premise for a film!

I enjoyed Wonderland and was gripped all the way though.It was Holmes' dependence on drugs that meant he was eventually dropped from the porn industry, he could no longer perform or 'get it up'. From there his life spiralled and this is where Wonderland starts.

The story is not only presented in a very factual way, ( nearly every police statement and event occurred as shown ), but the pace in unrelenting and the acting convincing. Kilmer does a good job on Holmes - a bit like his Jim Morrison, he gets the druggie, spaced out feel just right.

The re-telling of events through different perspectives is also impressive, if not original and although there is no real tension in the film this is not a criticism. This is not supposed to be a suspense film or a thriller, it is much better than that. It is a true account of lives which interest us and which most of us have difficulty comprehending - apologies to drug dealers, murderers and porn stars.

When the actual murders occur they are brutal and dramatic, interspersing real footage of the murder scene into the action. Gory and fascinating, and i'm sure most of you do the pause or slow-mo run after.

I'm a sucker for information being handed out at the end of films and Wonderland doesn't disappoint. We find out about all the main protagonists and of course we all know what happened to John. Full credit to the director, I was waiting for this film to be made since 1988 and am not disappointed!