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evil_tab87

-1

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"Wonderland" directed by James Cox, leads you through the horrific scene that was the Wonderland murders. It's a 104 minute thrill ride all the way through, with some bumps in between of course.

The movie starts off with...
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"Wonderland" directed by James Cox, leads you through the horrific scene that was the Wonderland murders. It's a 104 minute thrill ride all the way through, with some bumps in between of course.

The movie starts off with Dawn(Kate Bosworth) being picked up by a passer-by (Carrie Fisher). By the time both of them start talking, it is reveled that Dawn is John Holmes' (Val Kilmer) girlfriend, after a few phone calls to John from Dawn, Holmes shows up at the place to pick up dawn, not to mention that he has a briefcase full of blow. They hit the road in Los Angeles, John first stops of at his friend's rented house located at 8763 Wonderland Avenue. Not a moment goes by until yelling and screaming are heard and a betamax player is thrown out of the second story window. Following that, John is seen walking down the stairs, he jumps back in the car, and speeds off. The pair end up at a hotel, where after taking hits from a crack pipe, Holmes takes off, saying that he needs to turn the cocaine into money before the head out anywhere else.

The night passes, morning comes. John enters back into the hotel room and collapses on the bed complaining that there was a car pile up on the 118. Shortly after comforting Holmes, Dawn flips on the tv, to a news report that 4 people died, and one seriously injured at 8763 Wonderland Avenue...

Without spoiling the great parts of the movie. It basically goes on to give background on the Wonderland Gang (Josh Lucas, Janeane Garofalo, and Tim Blake Nelson), and the events leading up to the final massacre, the robbery of Eddie Nash is explained in great detail in two different ways. One told by David Lind (Dylan McDermott) who's lover got murdered. The other told by John Holms. All in all "Wonderland" is a great thriller, the pacing can get a bit slow at times. Kilmer gives a great performance and portrayal as John Holmes. If you have ever been interested in the Wonderland killings, I suggest you check this film out.

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Posted mar 26, 2007 5:53 pm pt

amauriel

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"Wonderland" was really just your average mystery/thriller/drug flick. I found the true story an interesting, but the acting and drama did not seem to hold the weight of the movie. I expected much more from these actors.

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Posted feb 21, 2007 1:58 am pt

• [+] Film Threat
  
  100
  When you watch Wonderland, going back twenty years plus, you think you're in for some paleontological expedition. Yet, thanks to James Cox's considered and adept direction, a cast and script that never cheats the experience or realism of Hollywood's enigmatic underbelly -- the drama of the 1981 Wonderland murders is de-petrified.

  by Robert Goethals | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  80
  A film whose effects are as hard to wash away as blood.

  by Michael O'Sullivan | Read Full Review »
• [+] Empire
  
  80
  Another of the film's positive aspects is its narrative style, reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon.

  by Nick Dawson | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  75
  Fast and frenetic and so unvarnished that it can make you feel unclean watching it. The film rubs your face in glamour and filth. But in the midst of the blood and hysteria, Kilmer plays Holmes with the dirty-angelic looks and wheedling charm of a seedy golden boy on the brink of doom.

  by Michael Wilmington | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  75
  Once you leave Wonderland, you may feel like you need a shower, but, while you're in the moment, it's a compelling journey into the depths of hell on earth.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  60
  F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong: there are second acts in American lives. But all too many of them are sad, sordid or both, as this fact-based story of sex, drugs and murder featuring adult-movie superstar John Holmes aptly demonstrates.

  by Maitland McDonagh | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  60
  Wonderland is told in the style of Kurosawa’s "Rashomon" where the same bits of story are told from several different viewpoints; this is the key to enjoying the film.

  by D.W. Smith | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  58
  The film is so truncated, so obsessed with style and composed of so many self-contained episodes that it fails to say anything new.

  by Paul West | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  50
  Cox and three others have produced a swift and economical script, but it's just porn with a different money shot--not graphic violence per se but the sort of blood-soaked crime scene that sells true-crime paperbacks.

  by J.R. Jones | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  50
  True crime procedurals can have a certain fascination, but not when they're jumbled glimpses of what might or might not have happened involving a lot of empty people whose main claim to fame is that they're dead.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  50
  This film disappointingly feels like a sometimes brilliantly acted, often gorgeously filmed re-enactment of the television show "Unsolved Mysteries."

  by Kim Morgan | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  50
  Skips lightly along the sewers of human depravity as if the trip alone was worth the telling.

  by Ty Burr | Read Full Review »
• [+] Dallas Observer
  
  50
  As good as all the actors are, the scuzzy characters are so one-dimensional that the film falls flat.

  by Jean Oppenheimer | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  50
  The main interest here is the acting, which is, by turns, entertaining or just entertainingly bad, with lots of grungy seriousness and Method-trained twitching, but also some moments of real gusto.

  by Liam Lacey | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  50
  Never gives us a single reason to care about any of these people. It's a druggy, sordid spectacle.

  by Staff (not credited) | Read Full Review »