The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Not for your average movie viewer
Review: This movie will probably appeal to fans of Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintance" and Becket's "Waiting for Godot". The quality of the film is uniquely philosophical-often toward existentialalism and absurdism. "Wherever you go, there you are."

The visual and literary quality of the movie is intentionally bad, a fact that is ignored or unknown by many (perhaps all) who denounce the film. Admittedly, while I laughed through the entirety of the film multiple times, I must say that I thought it a terrible film upon first viewing.

However, the movie has a very humorous nature. Scientists (or future scientists) will often get a kick out of the various jokes that include a pickup truck being used to go faster than Mach 1, and that lithium can no longer be bought on credit. A wasted shame.

favorite bit-Jeff Goldblum is dressed in a cowboy hat, books, chaps and vest. When asked where he was from, he replies, with utter seriousness, "New Jersey."

Rating:
Summary: Knowing about this movie is a joy
Review: The last time I watched this DVD, I was also reading the `Pinky Carruther's Unknown Facts' from the DVD special feature while the movie was playing. For a movie that was made in 1984, a lot of details were interesting enough to try to comprehend as the movie continued to play in the background, but such extras will seem like an annoying distraction to anyone who has not seen this movie often enough to worry about numerous loose ends. The relationship between the cast and the characters they play seems to be endlessly amusing to Pinky Carruther, but I enjoyed references to the pink cake box, as an item that was totally unexpected. For those who vaguely remember the movie, but wonder what anyone else could possibly be thinking about, allow me to reveal that the greatest revelation for me was that each character from Planet Ten had the first name John because it sounded like a normal greeting in the language of Planet Ten. Etiquette on Earth has become such a quaint cultural niche that having someone identified as John Ya-ya hardly seems polite, but names that were easier to figure out seemed even less polite. As they never quite say, so there.

There are five big movie stars in this movie, people I recognize whenever I see them again, and it is usually a relief when each finally has a hit of his or her own. Among the minor characters, I thought the Secretary of Defense was given a tremendous part. Secrets are something special for me, and when the high speed jet car heads off toward a mountain after only eight minutes of the original theatrical version, the Secretary of Defense has the most dramatic line: "What the hell's Phase Two?" At the news conference explaining travel in the 8th dimension, the Secretary of Defense is asked about the possibility of war in the 8th dimension even before anyone knows the red lectroids are in the room, trying to get the oscillation overthruster to return to Planet Ten. I like all the twists and turns in the plot, particularly those which tie in so well to Orson Welles, the old guy in the wine commercial. In the confrontation at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in famous Grover's Mill, New Jersey, Buckaroo Banzai is thinking no human being may have ever been in the place before, while the Secretary of Defense is looking for a bomber that Yoyodyne is supposed to be building, even if he has to go through a door that says SEKRIT.

I like the music, which does not predominate, but rouses me in the few moments when the characters are quiet enough for music to excite more interest in what is going to happen next. I even like the original theatrical version opening more than the extended 5-year-old Buckaroo birthday party with Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo's mom because the original gets to the main theme music so much quicker. Story details that were cut from the original release don't excite me now because I associate most of my excitement with the versions that I saw on television after renting the video a few times. I had to hear most of the jokes several times to remember them forever, but one look at the

DECLARATION OF WAR
The Short Form

should be enough to convince people that we have been pretty lucky so far.

This movie has an outstanding sequence filmed for the credits, and the music at the end of the film sums up the experience of people marching together with some odd hops like this movie heading straight into the camera before everybody disappears off to one side. The clothes were incredible, too.

Rating:
Summary: Live Japanimation
Review: This movie came out before Japanimation became big. If this movie was animated it would make more sense to those who don't get it. It's a parody of Japanese movies, particularly the animated ones. The bizzare costumes, the aliens, and the implied history are all aspects of these films.