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Summary: different, but very good.
Review: this has to be one of my favourtie films. bowie is superb as newton. i would reccomend it for anyone who likes a little bit different films.
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Summary: Who is it?
Review: I love this movie, but I still can't figure out the significance of the character watching Newton at the start of the movie. Is it Bryce and if so, how when and why? Definitely a movie to watch on video and skip back and forward through but I still haven't got a handle on this.Foonote: The 80's remake is awful, but worth watching if just for the contrast
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Summary: Stranger than a Strange Man!
Review: Yes, the title I gave this review is a reference to the Heinlein classic which this movie in some ways evokes. I saw it twice in theaters: the "short" version in 1978, and a longer version in 1981. I liked the shorter version better. Why? Because while the movie starts off brilliantly, it gradually devolves into a quirky, meandering Kafkaesque psychodrama that is never completely resolved. I thought it needed a good edit by someone not as self-indulgent as Roeg ... or Bowie. Would I recommend the DVD? I dunno; I haven't seen it. PS: My comments are based on my two theatrical viewings, and the DVD may not correspond to either version that I saw. Usually, DVD releases are "expanded" versions, and that's the last thing this movie needs! So, if you like Bowie, and/or surreal movies in general, you'll probably like this one. You might even watch it repeatedly, to try to figure out all the weird overtones, or undertones, or whatever. On the other hand, if you're expecting a "traditional" sci-fi movie, you'll probably be disappointed. Proceed at your own risk!
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Summary: why do so many people hate this movie?!?
Review: There seem to be two kind of opinions about this movie. One: it's a great, fascinating, if slightly weird film. Two: It's boring, meaningless and why did anyone bother to make it? Actually, I found more reviews of the latter kind, and almost didn't buy it. Luckily, I couldn't resist. And I think "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is gorgous, if slightly weird. It is hard to get into and it is indeed long and sort of complicated. Than again, what's so bad with a movie you actually have to think about? Because that is what this film will do, it'll force you to think. And you do need to have a mind to think with, really. "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is a movie so far away from anything mainstream that it just can't apply to many. I found it wonderful, there are so few really good movies out there, and this is one of them.
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Summary: Lemmon 714's
Review: Bowie's active "habit" during the filming of this movie only enhanced the film's brilliance and our empathy for the character's clear existential dilemma coupled with his palpable disorientation in our world so far from his home. I saw it in the theater in its original release, and then again as a full-grown adult. It gave me different perspectives, but no less fascination. I've been a Bowie fan since my first album purchase of Images (1967-72) with five bucks my parents gave me to spend at the record store. The songs on that particular album were equally accessible to a five-year old (me) or someone rather happily stoned (my parents), so... This film gets into you, but only if you're capable of being open to its brilliance!
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Summary: wonderful movie!
Review: I read some of the reviews, and don't be fooled by all these 12-15 year olds who say it's bad. I'm 16 now, and i first saw this movie when i was 14. I understood it as much as you can the first time you watch it, and if you're thinking while you're watching, then that's pretty much 100%. This movie raises questions about the society and government we live in, things we're exposed to, relationships, human desires...lots of questions. It is really a work of art. I was unfamiliar with the book, and director. And i still loved it. I am 16 years old and I still loved the movie. Yes... I am a rabid fan of David Bowie's, but even if he wasn't in it and I still watched it, I would have loved it. (Honestly though, David is perfect for the role. He's a very talented actor and added greatly to the movie.) This is a great movie for people who like to think and I recommend it to everyone. Even if you're not a Bowie fan!
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Summary: A work of Art in it's own right
Review: I am unfamiliar with the story the movie is based on, and I am also unfamiliar with the director, but in terms of cinema this movie is a masterpiece. The script, the pacing, the cinematography, are all perfect and utterly original. The fact that this film constantly kept me guessing and wondering only to give you the obvious answer in the end is only part of what makes it great. The social commentary and how it was presented was particularly artful. Yeah, It wasn't edited MTV quickcuts style, nor was it meant to be and Yeah, it does make you think once in awhile. If these things bother you, you shouldn't bother watching it, but if you enjoy cinema as an artistic medium, you'll love this film.
Rating: 
Summary: This was a huge disappointment...
Review: Some nice cinematography and a plot lifted from a classic sci-fi novel by Walter Tevis can't add much to this perverse and incomprehensible drama. I usually agree with Leonard Maltin, but he must have been watching a different movie. This isn't thought-provoking, it is nothing more than a bunch of trashy sex scenes loaded with nudity and rape. I can't understand one plot turn and trashy ex-rock star David Bowie looks like a dirty freak here (but maybe he is supposed to). Movie isn't deprived of some interest, but I wouldn't recommend it. Why not watch the TV movie "V" for some inventive and watchable sci-fi. I was incredibly disappointed with this movie, and I will be sure to inform the store that I bought it from as soon as I return it. What a letdown.
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Summary: Counter-culture Sci-Fi is an ironic alien character study
Review: It is no accident that Amazon customers who buy this DVD are also buying works directed by Agnès Varda, Henri-Georges Clouzot, François Truffaut and Ingmar Bergman. Despite good performances by Bowie and Clark, the movie is unusual for a number of reasons -- it is a most unconventional -- and original -- sci-fi film, with little action and few effects, that utilizes a more esoteric "language of film" than the popular crowd is used to. In fact, this film is much more likely to feel accessible to those who frequent the local "art cinema." They'll find the pacing, tone and content more familiar. Granted, this film is easier going than it was on first release -- which means that to some degree, it was ahead of its time. MAN WHO FELL is visually interesting, largely a movie of leisurely pace and talking heads. Its tone is dark and its plot is ironic and ultimately dark. Nevertheless, the performances are good, and there are some fascinating scenes in it, the alien's remeniscences of unearthly but tender lovemaking with his beloved wife being one of them. This is not a perfect film. It leaves just a little too much for viewers to work out for themselves. Then there is the fact of its length -- no problem in and of itself -- but because this movie was not a big commercial success despite David Bowie, it has in the past suffered additional editing to try to make the film more accessible to a popular audience. Now of course, we want to see every frame, in wide screen, on a crystal clear DVD. The first DVD release simply isn't quite it, in technical terms, though it does give the curious at least a decent look. This is a cult film, so it may take a while to see it get the full digital restoration treatment. Whether this sci-fi curiosity deserves it or not is up to you.
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Summary: TERRIFIC MOVIE...BARGAIN BASEMENT QUALITY DVD,,,
Review: I first saw this film when it was released in the mid nineteen seventies. I recalled how much I had enjoyed it, when I saw that it was available in DVD. The DVD itself is disappointing, as it offers virtually none of the features one has come to expect from a DVD. Moreover, the exterior packaging itself gives inaccurate information, as the movie became a "70s cult classic" not an "80s" one. This aside, the film itself, though somewhat abstract, is terrific, as it is not just a science fiction film with a twist. It is a film that explores themes that are timeless: desolation, alienation (no pun intended), and loneliness. At times, these themes are palpable, due to David Bowie's wondrously androgynous performance which is heartbreakingly moving at times. The plot is fairly simple. An alien, Davie Bowie, leaves his family on his dying and arid planet in search for water. He lands on earth and begins his project to send water to his devasted planet by amassing the wealth that he needs to do this. He patents numerous lucrative inventions which eventually find him at the head of a world wide conglomerate. He joins up with a kindly, though stupid and vapid woman who drinks gin like a fish, Candy Clark, with whom he begins a liaison of sorts. Yet, he is always lonely and melancholic, and like her, begins to spiral into an alcoholic haze, sometimes sidetracking him from his purpose here. At some point, excruciatingly sad and lonely, longing for his family, he reveals himself to her for who he truly is, shedding his earthly appearance, only to be met with absolute horror and repugnance by her at the sight of him. She ultimately tries to understand him, but it is truly beyond her ken. He is infinitely sad at this and longs all the more for home. On the threshhold of returning to his planet and loved ones, he is kidnapped by corporate raiders who take over his holdings, and it is here that the movie begins to disintergrate somewhat. Yet, it remains strangely hypnotic and compelling, and becomes a sort of "Lost Weekend" of betrayal, booze, and promises which will never be kept. A parable of wanting to belong, yet knowing that you truly never will. A story about wanting to go home, but knowing on some level that you truly can never go home again. --This text refers to the DVD edition
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