Customer Reviews

Galaxies Are Colliding [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie is unlike any other movie I have ever seen. This is both good and bad. The flashes of brillance are dimmed by some of the awarkness of whatlooks like first time film making. Some of the "profound insight" sounds a little contrived. The most annoying thing about the movie is Dweir Brown's performance. He seems to be acting wide eyed and innocent, when he should be harsh and bitter. But on the other hand, there is some inspired stuff here. There's some great imagery, and some really funny lines. There is also a great perfomance by James R. Ward as a man whose entire thought process is shaped by televison. And, over all, I'd have to say that I agree with the basic message of this film. What ever happed to John Ryman? A guy who seems to have so much talent has only made this one film.

Don't expect a proper movie, with a love interest, heros, guns, romance, uplifting string sections, linear plot, traditional chronology and standard characterisation. This is something much more thoughtful than most people have probably ever seen, and is more comparable to the 60s TV series The Prisoner, or Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, or a Radiohead song, than any standard Hollywood film I can think of. And that's what I like about it.

I chanced upon this film while browsing through satellite channels one night - it was on Rai Due (Italian), which was about channel 113 or something. Lucky I did, because this is a pretty unique experience. Essentially, there is a man who is supposed to be getting married, but instead seems to have had the brain of a 6-year old Salvador Dali suddenly implanted in his mind. He acts surreal at all times, disconnected from normality, unable to focus on his fiancee. instead bewildered constantly by the cosmos and events in far-off continents. If you hate his sort of plugged-into-the-moon outsider mindset, then you'll probably cringe at this film, and if you feel close to metaphysics and personal alienation, you will love it.

The content of the movie includes: snippets of funeral-goers talking to the camera about the hero's past life; MTV-speed news images flashing and interjecting themselves on the screen, and a memorable desert highway conversation with a lunatic.

Hippie, outcast, philosopher, art student? Or do you just get that feeling that there's more out there than just a desk and a telephone and a whole lot of admin? Well, this is the movie of your life.

(And my favourite of all time, along with perhaps One flew over the cuckoo's nest.)

This movie is brilliant, much moreso than most people would think. It is a shame that some of the flights of character fancy in the film get interpreted as naive filmmaking when in fact they are sly, sarcastic winks at life's idiosyncracies. Prime example: when Kelsey Grammer notes that men spend life sucking on women's breasts and then concludes, "Life Sucks," not only is it a funny look at his genius-yet-pervy character but it's also a brilliant way of tying in the fact that 'galaxy' literally refers to milk. This idea that space is nurturing is one of the central ideas of the story.

Yes, some of the acting is bad, but it's terribly endearing. Beth, played by Susan Walters, is acted at times so awkwardly that she becomes a parody of the throngs of annoying real people just like her character. After she pleads her groom-to-be Adam for an answer why he is no longer interested in sex, he tells her that the urge to procreate is a chemical reaction which "stems from the R-complex." She replies disgustedly: "No! It stems from your complex!" This is ingenious in its stupidity! It's real life!

The movie can seem preachy or crammed with rhetoric, but it's all entertaining and pertains to the film's central point, so just sit back and listen; most of it will really make you think.

The part of the film that everyone sites as the funniest is in my opinion less impactful: James Ward's performance as the escaped mental patient is absolutely hilarious for his spot-on impressions and goofiness, but somewhat pointless and unnecessary to the plot.

Some people may find it hard to identify with an overly- analytical, geeky white guy who has a nervous breakdown and ditches his own wedding to wander the desert. But if you have ever felt like your brain is stuck in overdrive and life can be overwhelming when you just can't reconcile people's need for more Walmarts with the violence of the universe, then you will identify with this film and it will speak to you. If, on the other hand, being preoccupied with your Frappucino and your cell phone is enough to keep your mind off the homeless guy bugging you for change, and you just want to see hot chicks and explosions while you're waiting for the lord to call you home, then pop in Die Hard and shut your mouth. Or who knows? Even you might see the world differently through director John Ryman's lens.

Besides, this movie has explosions and hot chicks, too: Everyone thinks Adam is killed when a missile hits his car; and the line I used for the title of this review is spoken by one of the most beautiful women on the screen - Lisa Todd, who is the operator in those 1-800-DENTIST commercials!

I, like most people in the reviews you've probably already read, happend upon this movie by total chance. I was flipping through the channels one day and stopped on HBO and watched a little of this movie. That was encounter #1. Encounter #2 happend after I decided that I liked what I saw so much that I'd try to remember the name of the movie the next time I saw it. I was sitting on the couch on a weekend, and again stopped on HBO, and this movie was on again. This second encounter is what really intrigued me. I know what I like in movies: usually anything comical is an immediate plus, but I also loathe the unusual and the out-of-the-ordinary, like Quinton Tarintino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Resevoir Dogs" and my all time favorite (tied with this movie) "The Big Lebowski." There is something about this movie. I don't know what it is, you have to watch it to understand why I, and everyone else, give it 5 starts and two thumbs up.
P.S. You really should rent The Big Lebowski, it's a fabulous movie, if you like it, you'll definately like this movie.

I chanced upon this one (like most of us) by accident. Don't take it too seriously. On the surface, it looks like a "profound movie", when in fact it is satirizing those type of self-important flicks. It still manages, mostly I think by accident, to have a few serious messages. Primarily, the movie moves from one hilarious and/or surreal scene to another, the story slowly coming together. The scene with the impressionist in the desert is one of the funniest I have ever seen on film, period. It isn't perfect - the pacing drags in places, and some comic scenes just don't work. Nonetheless, you won't be disappointed.

I guess I am one of those who just does not get this movie! I found it boring and difficult to sit through for 130 minutes. I guess there is supposed to be a point to all the madness, but I never saw it. There was no plot, and the acting was poor in most cases. In my opinion, there are far better movies out there!