Oooh where to go with this one. I love The Flaming Lips, hokey hippie stuff and all, but the prospect of a movie shot in Wayne Coyne's back garden about madness in space always had the whiff of something bad. Of course it could have been excellent, their music is even though some of the ideas can be a bit fluffy and that. Sadly it's not.
The plot's a mess, the acting's poor and to put it mildly, it's pretty fucked up. It's not all bad though. Some of the visuals are pretty impressive, especially the sporadic use of colour, and the sound is fantastic, although that was pretty much a given of course.
Sadly in the end what this feels like is a bunch of people making their own little, low budget It's An Erasurehead Christmas out their backdoor. That said if you're planning on getting really high this Christmas to survive the "festivities" and want a film to freak you out that has a Yuletide theme then this may be for you.
is a classic, no doubt about it a cracking tune and as mucha part of Christmas as Turkey, Santa and Jesus, (maybe slightly more than Jesus in these commercial times)
BUT
and its a big but, why on the video, played repeatedly i must add are the drums at the end so loud, i cant get them out my head, and am tellign you incase you havent noticed it. Annoying! a minor annoyance, true but an annoyance all then same. Your life will never be the same again, sorry.
Now to that all time Christmas classic, a film of small town cheer with a big heart, sure to warm the cockles of even the loneliest soul this Yuletide:
this may get deleted from youtube sometime soon (it happens more often than you'd think) so if its a blank screen your seeing well thats what happened, i should tell you that its really good, and funny too, with a Christmas twist which is kinda mandatory for this sort of advent calendar type thing.
NEWS FLASH!
Update on my tree, it succesfully survived transit from one house to another, bauble shopping yesterday was fruitless, i am today pondering the merits of tinsel on a tree, is it socially acceptable, should i decorate my tree with it, and if so do i want big thick tinsel or thin floaty stuff?
I moved into my own wee flat in February this year so this is my first Christmas in it so i thought i would post updates on my decorations. The tree was bought on Friday and put put up last night, its a work in progress i must stress, the lights and about 6 baubles are on it, i shall post all further alterations for your viewing pleasure. It stands at three feet tall and cost me the princely sum of £2 pounds, The lights are blue and white and they cost £3.50, when the big light is out and its just the tree lights on it turns the white tree an lovely hue of blue, very nice.
Next on the shopping list is some more baubles, and a angel for the top, or a star, i havent decided yet. i might even if the mood takes me, make my own baubles, though i must admit, that is highly unlikely. Also this photo was taken at my Girls house not mine, it has still to be moved to its home. Anyway, i am off to do a little Christmas shopping tomorrow so it may not look so bare by Tuesday, i shall return with more photos.
Cinematic Titanic: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians
Cinematic Titanic's Christmas offering is a strange old affair for anyone who worships at the alter of Riff. You see the movie they have chosen to verbally destroy is Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, not so much a film as a high speed sleigh crash that killed four, ruining Christmas for all the children of the world, as long as they live in the Jesusy bit. So far, so good then. They've picked a movie worthy of the treatment meted out to it. The problem is is that it has had this treatment before. And not just by anyone, but by Mystery Science Theater 3000, or for those not knowledgeable of the Riff family tree, the show that the Cinematic Titanic crew all started out on. And it's not even a minor entry in that show's canon. It's considered an out and out classic, so much so that it was packaged in a set called The Essentials with maybe the most famous episode Manos: The Hands Of Fate. Repeated riffs aren't new. In the same season as the original Santy Claus they redone a number of Japanese movies, including five Gamera titles, previously attacked during the show's Season Zero. They improved on the first attempts no end, with a few becoming classics that the first goes would never. But the original Santy isn't a fumbled, improvised attempt like those Japanese ones so why re-riff?
It would appear for no other reason than to say "because we can". That and it really is an Xmas movie that deserves to be massacred for the holidays. Both that and the determination to prove that they can do it seems to have brought the best out in them.
Now at this juncture I'm going to admit that I am not one of those who believes that the MST3K treatment of Santy is one of their best. I actually find it to be one of their most overrated episodes. The host segments are excellent;
and the riffing is of a good level but next to some other episodes from the same time, and the later Xmas episode riffing a Mexican movie called Santa Claus, show it up to be nothing more than a decent episode. As such the consternation I felt about CT re-doing this was borne out of the idea that sometimes it's best to leave the past behind. On other words I actually shared the belief of those who love the first version that they might not do a funnier version. The main reason is the film itself. It's a glorious mess, but it's also quite boring. Plus I wasn't too sure about the whole re-riffing thing as a whole. The movie's been done by you already so just leave it.
Well, and I don't want to sound like a CT sycophant after four positive reviews so far, it's bloody brilliant. My preconceptions were made to look foolish by this. Not only is the new riffing good, it's better than the MST one. Any reservations about having to go through this film again were quickly quashed by the material. See the thing is, it's been a long time since that original episode. A long time for the writers/performers to change and for a lot of stuff to happen. At one point Joel even gives a nod to this fact by pointing out that he can't remember why Pia Zadora being in it was funny to them.
There is another secret weapon, the one CT riffer who wasn't on MST when Santy was riffed. Josh Weinstein had left the show after Season 1 so this is his first crack at it. What he does here is something that has been impressive to me about him throughout CT so far, he's a bit edgy. He seems to be the one that goes places, such as the MILF Kringle line or pointing out that not every kid's Christian in the world. And check out his cynicism during the ladder scene.
Despite being a "repeat" this is terrific fun, and perfect Xmas viewing. What at first appeared to be a problem turns out to be CT 5's strength. By repeating a movie that has been previously riffed and is well loved it has forced them to operate at the highest riffing level. Having to write a whole new set of riffs has forced them to try new angles. It's these things that make this better than the original MST3K treatment. Ultimately redoing a movie brought out the best in these guys and proved me wrong in the bestestest of ways.
You can get Cinematic Titanic 5: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians here on DVD or in high-tec download.
Who said Christmas was all about money and commercialism? Well me actually, and here's the proof!
Not content on letting the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" lie, money men haven't only calculated the cost of buying all of the items, you know many a prick has thought of doing it to show his woman how much she means to him, now they're moaning because the cost has went up. It sits at $21,080 according to the Yanks who do this thing for a laugh, because when you're in the financial industries this is as funny as it gets folks. But now they're trying to pretend it's worthwhile by claiming it highlights where America's economy's at each year. Yes, shock horror, stuff costs more!
But it turns out the reason for a sharp increase in the cost this year is down to something even more volatile than the stock exchange; the swan.
So if your "true love" is wondering why she's having to do with a couple of budgies and some jelly rings out of the Pick 'N' Mix remember, it's all the swans' fault.
