I saw it this past Sunday, and I was very impressed. I went in not really expecting too much, but feeling an obligation to the Lips to at least TRY to enjoy it.

Well, as usual, they blew my expectations out of the water. Right off the bat: the cinematography was outstanding. Any and all sci-fi films should be shot on B&W 16mm and the lighting was just outstanding. My favorite shots were probably the exterior shots, they really made Oklahoma look just like a barren planet. And the room toward the end, where Michael is retrieving the weird globe thing from that... meat? The set design there and a few other places were outstanding.

Steven's acting was pretty great, too. In a way, it was a very uncomfortable performance to watch, knowing the personal struggles Steven was going through at the time, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think that influenced the performance, particularly in the "I need that spacesuit" scene, which incidentally is probably my favorite scene in the movie. The sound design was crazy the whole time, of course, but "Xanthe Terra" really fit that scene gorgeously.

I have a couple of spoilery questions that I'd like to discuss, if anyone's interested:

The film opens with a few minutes of abstract visuals. I understand that they're probably there to set a mood and a mindset, if you will, but then they pop up again a couple more times throughout the movie (maybe just once more, but it definitely pops up again). Is there any significance to this, do you think? Beyond some trippy visuals, of course. I know Eraserhead started out with a good ten minutes of abstract visuals, maybe it was an homage to that?

Someone on the board mentioned that Major Syrtis is the father of the baby. Where did you get that from? Becuase that must've gone over my head.

And, finally, is there a significance to why certain scenes are in color? Of course, certain scenes work much better in color, look much trippier that way, but is there something further to that? Probably not, but this seems like the kind of movie that begs to be discussed, so what do you guys think?

That's great it exceeded your expectations...me too! Were there a lot of people there? Did people get into it? How was the sound in the theater?

Well, it was 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon, not really the optimum time to see this kind of thing, but I would say the theater was probably about 3/4 full. I'm sure on Friday and Saturday night, they were pretty packed out. It's a pretty small theater (The Nickelodeon in Columbia, SC), but they will have my unending gratitude for getting this movie.

I was leery about the sound because as much as I love the Nickelodeon, it doesn't have the best sound system. I think it has the best sound system a non-profit indie theater in South Carolina could have, but it's still not outstanding. But like the movie, the sound presentation exceeded my expectations; there were a couple moments where the sound seemed a little muddled, but that added a bit to the experience, I think, and there was never a moment where I felt like I wasn't getting a great sound experience. Obviously, the tent would've been better, but for those of us with no cash to go to a festival, it was pretty great.

The only scenes in color were whenever they put their hands into some crazy power device/electronic inner workings, the egg frying bit, and that one shot of Wayne as soon as he walked inside right? I acquainted the color scenes with "this is a source of creative energy in an uncertain and aimless black-and-white world".

Yeah, those trippy visuals....they look like fingerprints almost, don't they?

The first time I saw this movie (I saw it twice, half an hour apart) I was actually bored because of all the conversations about "Fix the GS-33" or whatever they were saying. But the second time it wasn't so much and I think I realized it was a disoriented/aimless feel they were going for in the first place. Life on this ship is pretty meaningless and that's why the narrative is structured so; we don't know who's job is fixing what, or what parts do what, or have any technical or personnel background for this station at all. It's a disarming technique that I wasn't ready for the first time!

Sound design was BEAUTIFUL. Love the guy carrying that big electronic eyeball thing!

just got home from seeing it tonight in peoria, il. wow. really good. not nearly as incoherent and chaotic as i expected/hoped for. really seemed like an old sci fi flick with some major art damage. the sets were awesome, considering they were just made from whatever was at hand. and the cinematography was very good. loved the different scenes with one bright light silhouetting whatever character was in frame. hard to believe grain elevators could seem so foreign also.

the whole film carried off wayne's brilliant ideas in a way i never expected. it's a combination of wizard of oz, 2001, eraserhead, and it's a wonderful life. strange combo but very fitting. thanks a lot, wayne, i now have another "every christimas gotta watch flick".

it's also the first movie we've taken our one year old to see. he was golden and seemed to be watching and enjoying it to some strange extent. he'll probably wonder how fucked up we had to be when he gets older and he watches it. hahaha.

Were there a lot of people there bad tripper? How was the crowd?

it took every thing in me NOT to read this!

i'm going to see it in austin tomorrow night!

i went to the 7:00 show, not sure if there was one after it or not. there were probably 100+ but not many more. weird mix of hipsters and "why the fuck are they here"s. not surprising for the location. some were fans, others seemed confused and laughed at the "nice scenery".

really glad i got to see it though.

I really liked it!

I liked it as well. Pleasently suprised. Although it probably helps to have Wayne give a hiarious Q&A afterwards.

Somebody give us a lowdown on the Austin show. How was the crowd? How was the sound? What did Wayne have to say? Any good stories? What did you think of the movie? Etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Modular:
Somebody give us a lowdown on the Austin show. How was the crowd? How was the sound? What did Wayne have to say? Any good stories? What did you think of the movie? Etc.

Okay then. 7:00 show:
From the top, me and my brothers freinds arrived an hour or two early in santa hats, got our tickets (which had been prepurchased) and got in line (which wan't super long, but still ong concidering how early we were). The line grew behind us fairly quickly, eventually going out the front door. Nothing really interesting happened in line, although that's when I saw that the posters for the screening were $30.

About 30 minutes before the show started, the let us in. We weree close enough to the front that we got to pick our seats adn stay together, even though there were 10 or so of us. While we waited, the drafthouse was playing clips of the worst christmas specials ever, which was incredibly funny and sort of creepy. Also during this time they took orders. A couple of people in our party went downsatirs to go to the restroom before they show and ran into Waynem getting shit signed and pictures taken, which at first made me sad that I didn't go, but Wayne was more than accomadating after the showing that it didn't matter. Nothing much else happened before the show. The theater was full, or at least almost full, which is somewhat impressive considering the size of the theater.

Then Wayne came up. People applauded and such. He didn't say too much before the show. He mentioned some interview that they played before the festival showings, told everybody to react however they saw fit, said that he ahd a full sharpy and would do questions, signings, and pictures after the show, then sat back down to let the movie start. The only thing as far as previews go was a thing advertising what all happenings were going on at the drafthouse that month (people of course aplauded when it mentioned Christmas on Mars). The movie started, and for the first few minutes, no one made a sound. Everyone seemed entranced with it. Almost everyone seemd to get it. There was plenty off laughing, and everyone applauded whole-heartedly when it was over. Everyone applaueded again when Austin came up in the credits. All in all, it went over very well.

Afterwords, he came back up. I don't want to go into to much detail now (I know) because there was soneone there taping it (like with a a nice camera and tripod and everything), so I hope she uploads it, but if she doesn't I did tape it on my cell phone for my brother. I'd rather not uplaod a shitty camera phone video (even if it is suprisingly unshitty for a camera phone video, it is shitty nonetheless). I will say that in the span of 30 minutes he ony got thwough 2 questions, and he told a hilarious story about Creed and microphones. If no one uplaods a decent version of that video, I will at least listen to mine again and give a more detailed rundown of what he said.

Then they allowed people to come up and get stuff signed, etc. But what they didn't plan on is Wayne talking to everybody who came up for like 10 minutes ech, so with barely a dent in the line, they escorted us to the lobby so they could start the next screeing (which was already late). After doing the next intro, Wayne came back out, continued to do his thing, moving the incredibly long line slowly, but when we got up there, I must admit, we took out time. A group picture, individual pictures, sigings and a few question: from those we got that the NYE tickets will go onsale the day after Halloween, he's considering a new movie based on storys from Michelle's (who was there with her dog) step-dad who worked for the government to stop a VD or something (as CoM was "vaginalistic," this would be "dicks and pissing"). I forget what all else he said. Someone got him to draw himself in the Drafthouse October brochure, from which he was missing. He drew himself very doodle-y, pointing nad saying "What Up". It was funny and cute.

After that, we left. With big ass smiles on our faces.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Wattson,

Thats so awesome.

quote:

Someone on the board mentioned that Major Syrtis is the father of the baby.

I don't remember seeing that theory put forward, but I'd be interested in hearing more about that...

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Modular:

quote:

Someone on the board mentioned that Major Syrtis is the father of the baby.

I don't remember seeing that theory put forward, but I'd be interested in hearing more about that...

Christ Child said this...

quote:

I can understand Syrtis being especially concerned about the well being of the Child, as he is the Father - but what about Suicidal Santa? Why is he so effected by the situation of the Child, whatever that may be?

...in the 'CoM - Spoilers' thread, that's where I got it from.

Aha! C'mon Christ Child, you have some 'splainin' to do...wait, did I just say that?

that being said, i think martian/santa is the father and syrtis is joseph, just kinda there checking it out. kind of the immaculate conception/deception thing.

the early part where the martian loosens the "ship" from his mouth, then sails into the universe/vagina, makes me think this. when he leaves at the end, there is a baby image submerged in the cosmos.

this is merely my image reading, not necessarily true, but given wayne's twisted mysticism(great band name), it is possible. there really is no mention of a father in the film. just the baby is a positive for continued life on mars.

I don't know if this helps or hurts the theory(or does nothing to it), but there was that shott early on that they zoomed in on Syrtis hand, showing what one can assume is a wedding ring. I guess it could help establish his role as Joseph.

My brother goes to school in Houston, TX, so he went to the Austin screening. He saw it he started to tell me about it but I hung up the phone. It's so hard not to read the comments here..I'm torn.

As far as the plot goes, there's not a whole ton of surprises. In fact, the trailer with the weird female robot voice pretty much gives you all the major plot points. But, I would say stay away from too many spoilerish threads because there are definitely a lot of surprises in other capacities of the film.