Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The

Buy This Item Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The by Lions Gate/Vestron  Available from Amazon  $29.98  on 11-2-2008     <I>The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension</I> is one of the most agreeably insane movies ever made. Peter Weller stars as Buckaroo, an acclaimed neurosurgeon, particle physicist, and, of course, rock star. He travels with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, a band of hard-rocking scientists who are also really good dressers. Buckaroo's interdimensional experiments with his Operation Overthruster throw him (and the Earth) straight into the middle of an alien war, and before you know it, he's got just a few hours to save the world. Confused? Hang on, we're only 10 minutes into the movie. <I>Buckaroo Banzai</I> hurls you right into the middle of its comic-book universe and keeps going at a breakneck pace. It's chock-full of overlapping jokes (even as we're trying to make sense of Dr. Lizardo's hospital room, a voice calmly announces that "lithium is no longer available on credit" over the PA system), hilarious throwaway dialogue ("You're like Jerry Lewis: you give me hope to carry on."), and weirdness just for the sheer joy of it ("Why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll tell you later."). You'll want to watch it at least twice--there's just no way to catch everything the first time around. Ellen Barkin has a terrific time doing a dead-on film noir moll parody as Penny Priddy, and John Lithgow turns in a brilliant manic performance as Dr. Lizardo/John Whorfin. There is no reason not to own this movie unless you are cold and dead inside. Laugh while you can, Monkey Boys. <I>--Ali Davis</I> Reader Reviews I saw this movie in its original theatrical run. I remember liking it inmensely. I have not seen it since, and bought the DVD since it has a lot of extras. No dissapoinments here. The film still works for me, and the extras (WARNING-SPOILER AHEAD) continues in the same humorous vein, so if you get the humour, you will have hours of entertainment. And here is the key: reading other reviews I found out a lot of viewers don't get the humour. There is no way to explain what tickles some people over others. It does not make a film bad (as they say), but unique and different to the normal "satires" out there. So open your mind, go back to those years (it helps in understanding the humour) and have a blast. The quality of the image and sound is very good. The extras are a blast (as I said-it continues in the vein of the movie), and it gives you a lot of behind the scenes information. It is a shame that the work print has dissapeared, since the quality of the added scenes in the extras is not very good (source is video), but it's better than nothing. Could not test the NUON features since I don't have a player that supports it. From what I understand, this is the only version in original widescreen, (the videos and laser were pan and scan) so you can enjoy the whole image (I was lucky to see the 70MM blowup on release, but the film is shot in 35mm).

Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The Available from Amazon Price: $29.98 Updated on 11-2-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS