Christmas On Mars
October 13, 2009 by Mistress Spank
Filed under Christmas
- Christmas On Mars is a fantastical and disturbing film freakout. You expected something less from The Flaming Lips? Seven years in the making, Christmas On Mars was directed and written by The Flaming Lips visionary frontman Wayne Coyne and features the band members and many of their associates as actors in a story set during the colonization of Mars. The 86-minute film and its original score are
Product Description
Christmas On Mars is a fantastical and
disturbing film freakout. You expected
something less from The Flaming Lips?
Seven years in the making, Christmas On
Mars was directed and written by The
Flaming Lips visionary frontman Wayne
Coyne and features the band members
and many of their associates as actors in a
story set during the colonization of Mars.
The 86-minute film and its original score
are presented in a stand-alone DVD, and as<b… More >>
I know a lot of people think this album is great because of the musical experimentation and the concept of the whole thing. I like instrumental music, I have just about every ambient album produced by Brian Eno and his cohorts. I bought this not knowing much about it, I assumed it would be another great album from the Lips featuring their unique sound and thought-provoking lyrics. What I got was a disjointed and thoroughly pretentious hour of humming and buzzing with nary a lyric to be found. This may be a delight for many of their fans, but it isn’t for me at all. Save yourself the trouble and don’t bother wasting your time with this album.
Ratings: 1 / 5
OH BAD! Total waste of time, terrible. This should be shown to terrorists as torture. The “movie” was bad enough but then their “special features” is over the top and down the backside! Wayne proves that he really is nuts when he talks seriously about this foolishness. Any good reviews must be written by family! I expected it to be inauspicious, but this was about as foolish a waste of an hour and a half of my life as it gets. They owe me this time back! GAG ME, this is crap!
I like most of their music, that would be where they should reside. PLEASE!
Ratings: 1 / 5
The Flaming Lips and their friends have made a bizarre home movie that promises to be one of the trippiest drug flicks ever! The Wizard of Oz meets Eraserhead and they take mouthfuls of acid and go into outer space.
Ratings: 5 / 5
Christmas On Mars is finally here. Seven years in the making, Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips have released their freaky no budget film about the first Christmas on the red planet. Filmed mostly in Wayne’s backyard and with the band and their friends and family as the actors, they’ve created a great flick. The sets are spectacular, especially considering they built them using stuff they bought from Home Depot. The acting is really bad (and sometimes really good), and the visuals and special effects are out of this world.
Wayne cites 2001: A Space Oddesey, Eraserhead and The Wizard Of Oz as influences. I also see a 50’s sci-fi influence throughout (especially the over the top acting and low budget production). The story moves kind of slow, but it doesn’t matter, the trippy visuals and epic soundtrack move it along.
Basically a group of people have been living in a space station on Mars for a year, it’s Christmas Eve and something’s wrong with the oxygen machine. The crew are slowly going insane and there’s a sort of test tube baby that’s about to be born. Everybody is on edge and having very weird hallucinations (that are visually awesome and quite disturbing). An alien (played by Wayne) shows up and, well I don’t want to ruin the ending so I’ll stop there.
The CD of the score that accompanies the film is quite good as well. You won’t find the “Yeah Yeah Song” or any of their more “conventional” music here, but some very epic, ambient instrumental textures. I believe it was mostly recorded at the same time as “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”.
After the disappointing “At War With The Mystics” this a great return to form for The Lips. They’ve always had the ability to completely surprise and overwhelm your senses with their brand of freaky psychedelic weirdness, but it seems lately they’ve been sadly inching toward mediocrity. My faith in them is fully restored, and I hope this is just the beginning of what could be a wonderful career in film for Wayne. AOh, and check out the interview segments. They’re hilarious and very insightful.
Ratings: 4 / 5
so damn good! cant wait to see it on the big screen with other freaky flaming lips fans!
Ratings: 5 / 5