"Year of the Dog" (2007, Dir: Mike White)

Involving flick suffers from being a bit too self-conscious with its gags at first, but becomes more comfortable in its own skin as it crosses the line from "quirky indie comedy" to poignant drama. Takes great pains not to judge its lead character's behavior, but Molly Shannon's painfully honest performance largely guarantees that our vision of her character isn't going to be spun by any of the script's manipulations.

Grade: B-

"Inland Empire" (2006, Dir: David Lynch)

Grade: B

"Wild at Heart" (1990, Dir: David Lynch)

Peppy fantasy romance shows Lynch at his most whimsical. His affinity for black comedy is on display here - the story itself is a twisted retelling of "The Wizard of Oz", with a very leggy Laura Dern (mining the role for all its worth) in the Judy role and a surprisingly bearable Nicolas Cage as the love interest. The weakest link is Diane Ladd, whose hyperbolic Wicked Witch performance is so loopy that it hits only a few of the necessary targets, leaving whole character avenues untraveled. Harry Dean Stanton, Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini and a feral Grace Zabriskie fill out the castlist.

A fun diversion, but as close to fluff as I think Lynch'll ever get.