The Flaming Lips' 'Christmas On Mars' Playing At Bonaroo Cinema, DVD Finally Coming This Xmas?

The poor Flaming Lips and their painfully overdue film, "Christmas On Mars," a flick that we've dogged so hard cause they've literally missed every deadline they've ever discussed and talked the film up so much it began to sound as real as the Easter Bunny.

Well, the film is done and recently has its debut at the Sasquatch film festival. Hippies and jam band fans will also be able to catch it at the Bonaroo music festival this weekend on Sunday June 15 (with lead Lip Wayne Coyne introducing the film)

Is the film finally coming to DVD this Christmas? According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wayne Coyne says it should be ready for your stockings. Is he the boy who cried wolf like he has for almost eight years? We'll soon find out, but given the fact that it's begun screening this summer, there's a least some chance that this will in fact become truth (given an Xmas miracle?)

EW notes that the film cost $300,000 and seven years to make, not to mention countless trips to Home Depot. The black and white film is a psychedelic space odyssey and centers on a depressed colony and their salvation at the hands of Mr. Claus. "I want kids to to fill in every gape with their imagination," Coyne said. "I did that with movies my whole life. I never really knew what fucking '2001: A Space Odyssey' was about." The DVD is expected to be available "around the "holiday season." The film was also expected to be finished in 2003. ;)

The full Bonaroo Cinema schedule is over at the music fest's site. Attendees will be able to also catch early screenings of "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," and harder-to-see (unless you own on DVD) fare like recent rock-docs / music related films, "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," Daft Punk's "Electroma," Sigur Rós' "Heima," and "Body of War."

"Christmas On Mars" features appearances by the Lips themselves, Modest Mouse's Issac Brock, Fred Armisen, Elijah Wood, Steve Burns and our good buddy and number#1 fan Adam Goldberg (dude, "2 Days in Paris," was sinceriously good, we love your work). Read more...

'Heavy Metal In Baghdad' Coming To NY & L.A. On May 23; DVD Hits June 10

Vice/VBS.TV's documentary "Heavy Metal In Baghdad," about the travails of the only metal band from Iraq, Acrassicauda, is getting a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles come May 23 for one quick week.

The DVD has already been set for a June 10 release.

The film was well-received at many a film festival including the Toronto Film Festival in 2007 and the Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals earlier this year.

Directed by Canadians, Vice founder Suroosh Alvi and VBS.TV founder Eddy Moretti, the film follows the one metal band in war-torn Iraq and the extreme difficulties they faced by just trying to play heavy-metal in a Muslim country, let alone putting on concerts and shows.

Their practice space blows up, some of their members flee for Syria and this poor band struggles in every way imaginable (actually we don't know what it's like to live in fucked-up country like that so we can't even imagine).

Synopsis:

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a feature film documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2003-2006, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis.

Can we be honest (even though this thing was made from friends of friends?) The execution of this thing is rather amateurish and pedestrian, but the story is engaging and you definitely find yourself rooting for the band. However, it feels more like a full-blown version of a VBS.TV episode rather than a documentary worthy of hitting theaters (and maybe that's indicative of the small run). Hey, it's either that or a full-blown review and you probably don't want that. But all in all it's not a bad little film and probably worth seeing if you manage your expectations. Not to be apologists about our own opinions, but what the hell do we know? Lots of people seemed to enjoy this it and or at least find the story compelling.

Watch: "Heavy Metal In Baghdad" trailer

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