Christmas on Mars (2008)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Directors:

Wayne Coyne
Bradley Beesley (co-director)

Writer:

Wayne Coyne (writer)

Genre:

Music | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Eat your own spaceship.

Plot:

Major Syrtis goes insane as he tries to improve morale in an abandoned colony on Mars through a Christmas pageant, where the first colonist baby will be born. |

Plot Keywords:

Mars | Oklahoma City Oklahoma | Santa Claus

Cast

Steven Drozd	...	Major Syrtis
Wayne Coyne	...	Alien Super-Being
Steve Burns	...	Major Lowell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Armisen	...	Noachis
Scott Booker	...	Sirenum
Al Cory	...	Lucus
Dennis Coyne	...	Herschel
Kenny Coyne	...	Ed Fifteen
Mark DeGraffenried	...	Captain Icaria
Adam Goldberg	...	Mars Psychiatrist
Freddy Harth	...	Lunae
Peter Hermes	...	Arsia
Josh Higgins	...	Simud
Michael Ivins	...	Deuteronilus
Michelle Martin-Coyne	...	Solis Chryse
Mark Miks	...	Marc Four
Jimmy Pike	...	Jim Eleven
Mark Schaper	...	Huygens
Kliph Scurlock	...	Orcus
Mikey Thompson	...	Nili

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Trivia:

The Grammy-winning song "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)," from The Flaming Lips' album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," originated as the score for a scene in this film. When that scene was cut, the song was placed on the album at the last minute.

Goofs:

Continuity: The Martian's forehead antennae change angles from scene to scene - sometimes they are nearly straight up, sometimes at a 45 degree angle, and in one scene one is wildly askew.

Quotes:

Major Syrtis: They look like two moths, hovering around that light. Two moths. That's always haunted me. I must've been ten years old. Two little moths, sitting together on the window sill. I don't know why I did it. They were just sitting there, trying to stay alive. Just trying to enjoy their existence. And I just squished them. I wish I could go back, and change it. But I squished them. They never knew some larger force in the universe could show mercy on them. I wish I would have.

Movie Connections:

References Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

Moderately interesting,but not very satisfactory

The movie Christmas on Mars was a strange creative project from the group The Flaming Lips,whose music I quite enjoy; so I had a lot of curiosity how they were going to adapt their style to a film.The result is that,while I found this film moderately interesting,I also found it to be pretty disappointing.Christmas on Mars tries too hard to be a "cult film"...which is the main mistake from all the movies which try to be cult.I think that condition only comes when the film authentically deserves it (like,for example Donnie Darko or The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension).On the contrary,making a movie intentionally bizarre or eccentric reveals some dishonesty which plays against the movie,as we can see on Christmas on Mars.If I had to make a short summary of this movie,I would say it is a combination of Eraserhead,The American Astronaut,Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,Forbidden Zone,Dark Star and 2001.On my case,that combination resulted to be moderately interesting but not very satisfactory after all.I can give a slight recommendation to this film because it has some good elements (specially,its very creative visual aesthetic),but I certainly expected more from Christmas on Mars.