Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars
Snip from dosenation's review of Christmas on Mars, a new sci-fi feature film coming out on DVD this week from The Flaming Lips:
[T]he film is a low-budget, mostly black and white sci-fi movie about an American outpost on Mars in some distant future. The crew has been there for a year, during which time they've all slowly begun to go insane from the isolation and the unbelievable nature of their situation; a recurring theme is "Man was not meant to live in space." It's Christmas Eve, and a scientist played by Steven, the band's guitar player (who turns in a surprisingly good performance), is trying to organize a singing of Christmas carols to help lift spirits, but the guy who is supposed to play Santa goes crazy and throws himself out a hatch onto the surface of Mars. As they go to collect the guy's body, an alien super-being appears, played by Wayne. He never speaks. Meanwhile, some clueless technicians accidentally destroy the last remaining oxygen generator thingie, so they're all going to die. Oh and also, the movie starts with Wayne the alien super-being spitting some weird cosmic ejaculate out of his mouth that flies through space and impregnates what turns out to be the only woman you ever see on this outpost, played I believe by Wayne's wife.
Link to review by Scotto at Dosenation, and here's the Amazon Link for Christmas on Mars (Thanks, Gareth!) Trailer/teaser for the film follows:
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Sounds a lot like "Dark Star".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/
Saw it a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. It was better than I expected, and I expected to really like it. Well worth checking out.
I watched that trailer to Dark Star, and I think Christmas on Mars has a little more content. It seems different. I'll have to see Dark Star although, I did like the trailer
This is exactly what Christmas is like in Oklahoma.
Yes, but is it as good as "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians"?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058548
Wow, they actually finished the thing. I seem to remember hearing they'd be making/releasing this movie six years ago.
Well... maybe not this movie specifically, but there was promise of Wayne Coyne as an alien - a concept that still intrigues and frightens me...
That detail aside, I'm still looking forward to watching it after a turkey-day dinner with my brother.
While I'm not disputing the potential awesomeness of this movie, I'd like to highly recommend the latest volume of Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library series, which also has a Mars theme.
The first part of the book is a very engrossing tale of two couples sent to colonize Mars and the ensuing drama that could only exist in a Chris Ware universe. I'd describe it but that would ruin the story. It's one of my favorite volumes from him in years.
Looks like a lot of weird fun.
But the trailer (still) says that it's coming out Christmas 2003! That's what I call an overrun!
Man was also not meant to live in all the continents except Africa.
I've been listening to the score all week. It's lovely stuff (imho some of the best work they've ever recorded) but unfortunately doesn't have any "Hooray for Santa Claus" style catchy closer.
I must be getting old, because it mostly just looks weird and pretentious to me. SciFi is supposed to be good by telling an interesting story, not by telling a weeeird story. IMO subjecting your characters to psychological breakdowns in space is such a creative cop-out for getting weird events and imagery into your film, that I have little patience for it. (This coming from the guy who once dragged twenty unsuspecting friends out to see a midnight showing of "Eraserhead".)
That said, the trailer shows enough potential for a story that I might just be happily surprised by the film. Maybe I should approach it as an art film that happens to have a SciFi element, rather than a SciFi film that happens to be arty. The problem is, I like SciFi films and I don't particularly like art films.
Okay, I'm done being Mr. Grumpypants, now.
Hey, look, Steve Burns is on Boing Boing (in a screen preview). Good day for Blues Clues fans everywhere. (Songs for Dustmites = good CD).
Steve Burns, where? Quick, someone notify Mur Lafferty!
http://www.podiobooks.com/sample/2004/PB-GeekFu-18.mp3
"SciFi is supposed to be good by telling an interesting story, not by telling a weeeird story."
Really?
Where are these rules detailing what SF is supposed to be?
The early production of this film was included in the excellent Fearless Freaks documentary, from several years back.
Fearless Freaks, btw, is a terrific film, even if you're not an already-converted Flaming Lips fan. From harrowing drug abuse and recovery to uninhibited art-making, a love letter to Family, Friends and Home, this is a film that really transcends the rock-documentary genre.
I am already converted, however, so I'm very excited to see the Xmas on Mars show. I'll also invoke/recommend a previous Rock Musical/Art film, "The American Astronaut" to the all'y'all, even Mr. Grumpypants.
Enjoy!
I saw this on the big screen the other week and laughed my ass off. The occasional bits of color are wonderful and mind-bending.
Oh yeah - I have "Fearless Freaks". It IS inspiring and fascinating. Recommended.
I saw this movie at the tent in Oklahoma City and loved it. It was awesome to watch it in a torrential thunderstorm outside the actual "mars space station" with all the Lips members there. And Joel Johnson is exactly right. This is what all christmases are like in Oklahoma, state of the red earth.
Daniel Davis @#13:
Perhaps if I'd simply prepended my statement with "IMO", I wouldn't have given you cause to jump on my words. Point taken. That said...
Don't be daft. Of course there's no canonical set of rules detailing what the criteria are for "good" science fiction, but there certainly is a general consensus among every single SciFi fan that I've ever met that the thing that makes a SciFi story *good* is that it tells a good *story*. Rocket-ships and bug-eyed monsters can be excellent vehicles for telling more interesting (or at least differently interesting) stories than what might be allowed by more mundane settings, but the shinyness of the rocket-ships and the weirdness of the bug-eyed monsters are not an end unto themselves.
Unfortunately, my first impression of this film is that it looks more likely than not to be a piece of pointless nonsense, which will be enjoyable only to fans of the Flaming Lips and people who revel in the weirdness of weird arthouse films, neither of which category includes me. I hope that I'm mistaken in this impression---I'm not trying to poohpooh the effort they put into making it, I just hope that the film will be worth watching. On the flip side, I suppose low viewership *is* a badge of pride for a cult film (or at least for its viewers), isn't it? So maybe it doesn't matter.
Did I mention that I'm getting old and occasionally cranky? If you like, I welcome you to simply ignore my comments altogether, and file me as just one more person who's so unhip that when you say "Dylan" he thinks you're talking about "Dylan Thomas".
I second the recommendation of Fearless Freaks. And, technically, Steven is the drummer/keyboardist/arranger.....