Customer Reviews

Christmas On Mars [Explicit]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This 2-disc CD/DVD of their bigger-budget "home movie" and accompanying score is finally out and, if you know the Flaming Lips music and creators, "Christmas On Mars" makes perfect sense.

First, the score CD: the Flaming Lips have done instrumental music before...the occasional track or song-excursion, like that "Balloon" song on "Yoshimi", which was actually written for "Christmas On Mars", but was deemed too poppy for it but perfect for "Yoshimi". If you like these types of tracks that Wayne & co do, you will dig the score...however if you are a Lips fan strictly for Wayne's SINGING, you probably won't. Me, I dig the crazy creative minds of Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins, so I dig the score (it IS on the short side, 32 minutes and change).

As for the movie itself...it's black & white (with flashes of colour), 86 minutes long (not TOO long), flat-out WEIRD and fun and trippy and you see not only all 4 Lips (yes Klyph Scurlock too), but their family (Wayne's wife Michelle is VERY prominent in it, as are a Coyne brother and nephews and baby niece) and friends...the 7-years-in-the-making "Christmas On Mars" is a film extension of their unique psychedelic freakout/childrens birthday party on acid/warped pop music. How it came into being in the first place was courtesy of Wayne's mom Dolly...Wayne & his bros came home late one night, 2AM, saw their mom crying, as she saw some sad old movie and described it as people in space dying and as they coped with the idea of death, a strange being came down (an alien, God, etc) and comforted them...turns out this movie never existed in the first place...Mrs Coyne saw a combo of bits of old flicks, fell asleep inbetween and dreamt the rest. Well, Wayne was so taken by this "movie" that once he found out it never existed, he took it upon himself to actually make this movie...and actually did it!!! Using family and friends, a handful of them REAL actors, along with locations around OKC, including abandoned warehouses and Wayne's & Michelle's own backyard, scraps of found parts and metal, and sets Wayne built himself, and done in fits & starts, over the course of 7 years, inbetween albums and tours, "Christmas On Mars" is finally complete.

It's worth it...an INSTANT, weird, compelling cult classic...show it to your friends and family, buy multiple copies and give them as gifts for the holiday season!!! Spread the Lips luv!!! Perfect for anyone's warped mind and inner child!!! Equal parts "Wizard Of Oz" and "Eraserhead" and "2001: A Space Odyssey", with a nice dose of Lips warped uniqueness. Perfect!!!

I am looking forward to their next project, now that Wayne & co got this movie out of their system...an instant cult classic you have to experience for yourselves...it was very much worth the wait, oh yes.

Even further, buy the GREEN VINYL version, how cool is that??!!??!!

Although it has been mentioned by other reviewers, I will confirm that you do, indeed, get a DVD copy of the movie slipped in with this beautiful green vinyl LP, as well as the white 45rpm single with two songs that, as far as I know, are unavailable elsewhere. By far the best Christmas present I ever gave to myself.

Despite the fabulous musical phenomenon that the Flaming Lips are, the main attraction here is the movie. My only caveat, and I am quite serious about this: this film is not recommended for anyone averse to viewing female genitalia, or simulations thereof, or various fantastical constructs suggestive in appearance of female genitalia. Having said that, this is definitely not porn. There is curiously only one female character in the film, and she spends the vast majority of her screen time literally sealed alone in a plastic bubble, nor do we at any time see anything which is unambiguously suggested to be the genitalia of this specific character.

Having fulfilled my duty to convey the above warning, I am somewhat hesitant to describe the film in much detail. It is an experience unto itself which, much like a dream, cannot be adequately conveyed through narrative description.

I will say that I enjoy the great contrasts in this film, between the very quiet and the very loud, between the colorless, and the very effectively shocking moments of brilliant color, between bleak and pervasive hopelessness and the kind of ecstatic wonder and fearless faith normally reserved only for the luckiest of young children, and only in the best and most magical moments of their lives.

This film is also the kind of art that finds beauty in strange places, like a lingering shot of a glistening tear of blood creeping down a cheek from a bandaged and ruined eye.

The whole thing looks and feels home-made, because it literally is, and as such has authenticity, bravery, heart and just plain freakyness that Hollywood simply cannot understand, much less create.

This moves to the top of my list of movies that I must force everyone I know to watch every Christmas (curiously enough, edging out the MST3K treatment of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians).

The music itself (this is ostensibly a record review after all) is gloriously avant-garde noise experimentation, with a little bit of uncredited dreamy Holst choral music from Neptune snuck in (performed, not sampled). So in the vast stylistic range of the Lips, don't expect this to represent their Pop or Punk persona. This is more like listening to spacey ambient music while getting your teeth drilled, along with occasional bursts of electroshock, but I mean all of that in the best way possible.

Another great creation by The Flaming Lips. I've been waiting for this for many years now, and it was well worth the wait. If your having a Holiday party this year nothing would compliment the ambience better than The Flaming Lips DVD and the Kasio Kristmas CD.

Happy Holidays

so damn good! cant wait to see it on the big screen with other freaky flaming lips fans!

I got mine out of the used bin for $11. I recomend the same.

The "Christmas On Mars" score The Flaming Lips have come up with is simply genius! This is not your typical Lips sound, clearly. Yet they deserve credit for having reinvented themselves again, not unlike Radiohead, coming up with an album that resembles more a surreal, dreamy ambient piece than their alternative rock sound that has made them legendary.

Note: I have not had the opportunity to watch the DVD accompanying the music CD.

Love the Lips. Got everything. The soundtrack is interesting, but not listenable. Do not buy it without checking it out first. I was very disappointed with how lame the music was, compared to what they could have created. I expect the DVD to be as silly as it's been made out to be, so no review needed there. Of course I pre-ordered this, but I think reading a review like this one would have saved me 20 bucks. It'll be budget bin in a year.
Too bad - I always look forward to the latest Lips to hear what melodies they've stolen this time (insert smiley face HERE) - but no melodies on THIS puppy. (P.S. - Soft Bulletin is one of the finest albums ever made).

Bought this at the local store, and the clerk immediately offered to sell me a used one for a fraction of the new price. "What a nice guy" I thought.. "the folks at Hoodlums (in Tempe, plug, plug) really care about the customer"

Oh.. how I was so very glad I only paid 8$ and not 24$.. the considerate clerk must have known how I'd be feeling some hours from then.

The DVD was watched first, and it was pretty disappointing. The budget kitschy black and white filming was fine, it was the rambling pointlessness of it all that wore me down. Perhaps a proper Lips fan would get it, but since I started at this end and am working backwards, I found nothing to relate to. 2.5 stars for the hard work..

A few days later I popped in the CD.. oh Lordy ! it's a jumble of "tunes" from the film's soundtrack, the likes of which only the most ardent fan could listen to for pleasure.. 1 star.

If you thought Yoshimi was "the s*it" avoid this as it's "a s*it"

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.

"Christmas On Mars" presents The Flaming Lips fully realized sci-fi film that has been gestating in Wayne Coyne's brain for seven years. The film is the culmination of the Lips efforts as it brings their psychedelic vision to a head. The films' plot centers around a colonized space station on Mars. The film's protagonist, Major Syrtis (Steven Drozd) is facing an epic dilemma. The oxygen generator and a gravity control pod are on the fritz and Syrtis is also slowly losing his mind to horrific hallucinations. Enter an alien super being (Wayne Coyne) to the rescue, and a Christmas Baby and you have all the elements for a Flaming Lips inspired oddity.

As the film opens, the weirdness commences, an orb is removed from an alien mouth. The orb then travels through a vaginal constellation of stars before descending upon Mars. Scenes melt together featuring an artificial birth of the Christmas baby, a woman and an egg before introducing Major Syrtis. Major Syrtis then espouses his theory on the universe as he views two astronauts setting up a Christmas tree outside the colony. As the film continues, the astronauts joke that Santa will save them. Clearly you aren't going to get a straight Christmas or Sci-Fi story here, which is fine, but I wish I didn't have to try to enjoy this film.

As I continue to watch this film, I want to make it stop. I don't care if the colony is saved, this film is so overwhelmingly pretentious it makes my head hurt. With its pseudo trippy visuals and grainy film stock it's very obvious that the Flaming Lips are trying way too hard to recapture the feel of a late 60's sci-fi epic. The film is sluggishly paced, like a lobotomized David Lynch film viewed on Quaaludes. The atrocious dialog and wooden acting are equally grating and stoop to sub Ed Wood levels. This wouldn't be so bad if the film wasn't so boring!

As the film meanders along and imposes morality upon the viewer, all story lines are led to their eventual resolution. I believe that those who are chemically enhanced would find some fault with this nonsense and find something else to watch. Thankfully, the soundtrack effectively captures the mood of the piece. Maybe the Lips should have just stuck with that, a soundtrack to an imagined film...what a concept.