Miracle Mile
I used to tell friends, "Grab this video, don't read the synopsis, just rent it, and go home to watch it. You'll be blown against the back wall in your living room." It's hard to say the same about purchasing a dvd, but trust me: This movie rocks. It's rough, harsh and gruesome – brutally so in places – but it packs a wallup. If you've ever questioned the depth of human depravity, imagine the spector of nuclear annihilation hanging over the heads of SoCal. This movie delivers one such artistic glimpse. Before Anthony Edwards made his face familiar on ER, he was in this closet classic about Harry, a struggling musician who intercepts a misdialed call from inside a missile silo – a military serviceman wanting to say goodbye to his dad, accidentily dialing the 213 area code instead of 714. When Harry walks back into a diner and recaps what he just heard, the news spreads like wildfire and LA erupts in panic. Is it a prank or is it for real? You don't find out until the conclusion. Awesome.
Some interesting dialogue includes the following:
A woman dressing up and acting like a stewardess (borrowing her sister's uniform) asks a small crowd in the back of a delivery truck, "Is anyone here a Christian, like a hardcore one?"
A drunk man nods, "Yes."
And Anthony Edwards' prophecy about mankind's survival chances: "I think it's the insects' turn."
Then there's the arrogant evolution speech on the primordial stew at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum: "Billions and billions of years ago..."
The movie has that ironic twist that starts out as a romance and turns dark.
The soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is really good. It's unfortunate that there was no wide screen transfer. And too bad there's no extras. [MGM / Doug Van Pelt]
Ratings:
Obscenities: 79
Graphic Violence: 00
Nude Scenes: 00
% Spiritual Relevancy: 10
A slightly different version of this DVD review was printed in ISSUE 103 of HM Magazine.
DVD rating key:
Obscenities (fka: BL (Blue Language)) # of “blue” / cuss words.
Ideal rating = 0
Graphic Violence (fka: BG (Blood ‘n’ Guts)) # of scenes with graphic violence.
Acceptable rating = <50
SC (Spiritual Conversations) An arbitrary rating based on the ease of starting a conversation on spiritual things.
Ideal rating = 50+
Nude Scenes (fka: NP (Naked People)) # of nude scenes.
Ideal: 0 (A rating of less than 1 signifies questionable scenes)
©2003 HM Magazine - All Rights Reserved.
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