The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Oh, I agree. I actually love the fact that the movie is ballsy enough to have this already established character in this insane universe. It's like they created the idealized version of a 1980s cartoon hero and made a live action movie about him. It feels like i should like it more. I think I need to rewatch it to give it a proper evaluation.

[WayneMiller 37]

For a guest I would suggest Greg Proops, as [A] it's one of his favourites, and he's shown it and hosted a Q&A at the Cinefamily (usually as part of his Greg Proops Film Club podcast - but it's not one he's uploaded.... yet)

 

I've not seen this flick in ages, and I keep talking to my missus about it, so I think it might be time for a refresh.

[Blast Hardcheese 636]

For a guest I would suggest Greg Proops, as [A] it's one of his favourites, and he's shown it and hosted a Q&A at the Cinefamily (usually as part of his Greg Proops Film Club podcast - but it's not one he's uploaded.... yet)

 

I've not seen this flick in ages, and I keep talking to my missus about it, so I think it might be time for a refresh.

 

Oh my gawd! Greg Proops would be absolutely perfect for this episode. Good call.

[paultab 225]

I gave into a close friend's urging and borrowed his DVD of this movie. I called an aspiring filmmaker friend over, and we watched the whole thing in awe of how little we could understand of it. We then watched all of the featurettes and listened to the commentary, none of which break the fourth wall one fucking bit.

 

I was so frustrated that my friend didn't get his DVD back for a few years, because I felt like if I gave it back he'd lend it to some other unsuspecting schmuck.

 

(I know this story makes me sound like a monster.)

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

I did re-watch this movie and I did end up enjoying it more upon second viewing. I still think it suffers from some laziness in the design of the aliens and the boring Gray Factory setting of the climax, but that might be a function of the budget as anything else. In any case, a fun romp through wacky 1980s logic. I think I might actually want more songs from Buckaroo's band, kind of showing how badass of a rockstar he is. I'm fucking weird.

 

But anyway, any movie that casts Jeff Goldblum as a guy named "New Jersey" and has him dress like this is pretty great:

 

Would Nic Cage make it better? Well, if you take Cage now and put him in the role of John Lithgow's Lord John Whorfin/Dr. Emilio Lazardo, it would be fucking magnificent.

[MichaelDeeley 11]

This was one of my favorite childhood movies and I will defend it to the death! It's everything you don't see in an action film. Some of the great things about this masterpiece:

 

Yakov Smirnoff as thee US Secretary of Defense.

 

John Lithgow plays the evil alien by impersonating Mussolini.

 

Christopher Lloyd as "John Big-Boo-TAY".

 

A used couch salesman has his own helicopter.

 

The implication that members of Buckaroo's fan club, no matter how young, can be drafted into a fight at any time.

 

Director's commentary that maintains Buckaroo is a real person.

 

Why the watermelon is there. Both reasons.

[NathanWallace 1]

First off this movie is awesome but bonkers. That said...

Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.

[NathanGordon 1096]

This movie is a thing of beauty and I wish its example was followed by today's comic book films. Stop making origin stories! We all know how Spiderman got his powers and what he can do with them. Buckaroo Banzai trusts the audience enough to not force feed them an hour of exposition before the plot starts.

 

This would be a great pick for this podcast but anyone who thinks it's a bad or even good-bad movie needs to reconsider their life decisions.

[NathanWallace 1]

Kevin Smith almost turned this into a series. I think it didn't sell though.

[MmmBlister 5]

One of my favorite films!