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  • Transhumanism, techno-shamanism, hallucinations, cults, child abductions, mind control, mass media, mind altering drugs, virtual reality, political subterfuge, musings on the nature of the mind and reality and Buddhism and Philip K Dick and William Gibson, peppered throughout with excerpts of excellent poetry (Yeats, Wallace Stevens, TS Eliot, etc), Bruce Wagner's clever wordplay, Sakamoto's score, gauzy soft-focus camerawork a la Twin Peaks, with a bunch of rad flowy early 90s rayon shirts and outfits as the cherry on top of the quaalude sundae. Prophesied a lot of stuff happening today. A bit convoluted at times, but more than makes up for it as an overall piece of visionary art, even if Jim Belushi is the weakest link among an otherwise bravura cast. Amazed this show ever saw the air.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This is a nice mini-series, though almost everyone will agree it's not great. The acting of James Belushi really lacks impact when it counts (the desperate crying in the car!), but overall, he gets away with playing a big shot TV executive who grows something of a conscience over the course of five episodes. Ben Savage plays the most fascinating role, that of Harry Wyckoff's 'son' Coty; a young brat who turns into a megalomaniac murderer / general. But there was really no truly disappointing acting here, even if it is all not that grand. Robert Loggia, Angie Dickinson, Dana Delaney, Kim Cattrall, Ernie Hudson, David Warner, Bob Gunton, Brad Dourif, they all fit right in there.

    The story is at its core pretty interesting, though dramatically, I was hardly ever overwhelmed. The most fun is in all those details; the rhinoceros, the strange society in which people are openly attacked but no one bats an eye, the empty swimming pools, the luxurious, exuberant settings, the glasses that light up, the holograms, the 'metallic' monster that gets Terra, the samurai and movie references, the choice of music, etc., etc.. Good fun, and with enough interesting dialogue and story details to keep things going. Unfortunately, I missed quite a bit of dialogue (due to the fact that the DVD has no subs and I couldn't play it very loud), so I'm sure I'm going to give it another go sometime.

    For now, a small 7 out of 10.
  • WP has a rating of 7 here and that is what it merits. I saw some of the series back in 93, but have just re-watched it all. The quality of the cinematography is excellent and in that area the series holds up well. However, there are some major downsides to WP. One and the most important, some of the acting is incredibly bad, to start with, that of Belushi. The Trivia section says he had no idea what the story was about, so he simply recited his lines. One has the impression, most of the time, that he did just that. Loggia is Loggia, another Type A, overacted performance. Catrall starts off weak, but gets better. Angie is the real disappointment. She looks great and is perfect for the part, her clothes are fine, her scenes some of the most intense, but her acting is often wooden. I find Delany the best and most consistent, though other reviewers don't like her. The music is overblown and the one good piece, the background music to the most intense scene, the ending of Hungry Ghosts, is obviously influenced by P Glass's music. The series shows its influences clearly: 60's counter-culture, Scientology, and perhaps a little less obviously, Meet John Doe. In fact, for me, the latter is the main thrust of the series. However, the way the story is handled leaves something to be desired. It is too neat and clean, not open ended. However, the series obviously had some major influence itself. Those are easily seen in the Matrix series, in Caprica, and most obviously and essentially in Inception. Nolan would probably deny it, but half of Inception is lifted from WP. So, kudos for an idea that has had some mileage. Also, the series has been compared to Twin Peaks, but there is little to compare really. As said, the acting of WP is not esp thrilling whereas I find not a single character is weak in TP. The music for Badalamenti is far superior to that of Sakamoto. Both series look excellent. One area where WP beats TP is that WP is a closed story, a true miniseries. TP got out of control and thus lost some of its power. However, for me, TP is still a series I could re-watch without problem. So, finally, at the end of this long-winded review, WP is good, but not great. It would a great choice for some sort of re-imagined series à la Battlestar Galactica.
  • How to describe this series? Imagine if Shakespeare was alive during the late sixties and seventies and decided to write a sci-fi epic at the height of the early nineties hype about virtual reality, and you'd only be in the same ballpark.

    The story? Okay, the story revolves around an unassuming family man, Harry, who only begins to realize the strangeness that is going on around him. A secret police force are kidnapping people. His daughter refuses to speak. His son is developing some violent behavior. His wife is withdrawing into a bottle. And a strange woman from his past is offering him a glimpse at a world he could only imagine before.

    Combining elements of Japanese and Eastern myths, Phillip K. Dick's quest for reality, Twin Peak's surreality, a grand opera's sweep, and science fiction's imagination, Wild Palms sets up the dominos of a world that could be and then lets them fall.

    Harry is drawn into the New Age cult of a powerful senator who is about to transform the world by introducing a new form of media - one that is so close to being real that it's often hard to tell the difference. If you had the choice of this world, or a world of your own creation, which would you choose? But what if that world was being controlled by someone with their own agenda? And as the world starts to deal with those questions, a group of libertarian `Friends' attempt to stop the senator any way they can. Two powerful houses will fight until there is only one remaining.

    This is not a series for everyone. It isn't sci-fi in the genre of Star Trek like most television fans are used to. It's also told in the fashion of an opera, with high melodrama and amazing leaps of logic. And lest you think that it is heavy, it also has some great patches of absurdity. But it is thought provoking, and has something to say about technology, religion, power, politics, drug use, and a range of other topics. And it says it in a way that doesn't speak down or make the audience feel they are being unduly manipulated. It is fine television for a very small audience.
  • The real credit for WILD PALMS should go to Bruce Wagner and his flowing, prosaic dialogue. It's like classic Film Noir crossed with cyber-speak, doused with a fifth of Single Malt Scotch and set on fire. There are so many clever, nimble phrases that are turned on their axis and spun into something entirely different.

    Examples:

    "Mystery loves company."

    "Do you know how much it hurts to be SHOT IN THE CHEST??"

    "You're no General! You're a pimp with the wings of a bat!"

    "You've got quite a mouth on you! Take care someone doesn't take a needle and sew it up."

    "Weak dog! You stillborn calf! YOU MAKE ME VOMIT!"

    Granted the whole package is a little hard to take in all at once - it's one of those things that becomes more interesting the more you watch it. And for everyone who argues it ends with a whimper, not a bang, well, you may be right, but I posit that The Senator, Harry's real lineage, The Go Chip, and the Mimezine are all besides the point. Enjoy it for one of the campiest, cleverest, most intelligent scripts ever written for television.(Thank You Bruce Wagner) This is a project that is not only entertaining to watch, but a JOY to listen to. It's FUN.
  • onepotato228 December 2004
    I loved Twin Peaks and have watched the whole thing a few times, but it seems to lose something each time. I will always argue that TP was important and revelatory when it first aired, but memory amplifies its merits. I find the first three or four episodes are the best, followed by a rapid decline in quality.

    Wild Palms has stuck in my head from the era also. It's a strange mini series adapted from an equally strange comic that featured a weird take on Scientology. It was originally published on the last page of Details (U.S.) magazine back before it became a tiresome hetero-meathead lifestyle rag. The "TV broadcast as mind control agent" is a thoroughly exhausted plot device, but I don't think the merits of this are in the plot; rather the characters passing off song lyrics as dialog, and startling scenes like one involving Angie Dickinson, a seven-year old and a tanning reflector.

    This is not the usual grade-Z Jim Belushi project He's pretty good in this. Dana Delaney alone seems to strike the wrong chord. It also was somehow spared Oliver Stone's characteristic heavy-handedness and clumsy direction.
  • Wild Palms isn't just a movie, it's a commitment. A four and a half hour commitment. But it's well worth it. The story, set in 2007, has parts of it that are starting to come true, and others that very well may. The beautiful thing about it is this: Practically everything you see or hear in the movie has a double meaning. Every line, every plot point has been thought out to the point that you're almost watching two movies at once. I remember seeing this on TV, during the original miniseries broadcast, and thinking, 'TV isn't ready for this. The world isn't ready for this.' I was amazed, and you will be too. You won't miss the four-letter profanity that you'd get from a theater film. The only problem is that some of the actors aren't that great. Angie Dickinson seems to over-emote like she's in a soap opera, but that atually adds charm in my opinion. Ben Savage(who was pretty young then) seems to have trouble with strong emotions, and Aaron Metchik (another young actor) has trouble, period. But who can blame him? I can't figure out his character either. One minute he's strong, intelligent, witty, and calm, and the next he collapses into a simpering little boy. But what can you do? You only have 4.5 hours to develop all these characters, huh? My rating: Quite Good.
  • Prismark1031 December 2014
    Wild Palms begins with a dream sequence involving a rhinoceros. There are shots from the director which aim to be cinema such as the scene of the waiter standing by at the table when Jim Belushi and Ernie Hudson are at the restaurant to the jump shot to a maid standing by the table as his kids are eating.

    Wild Palms was produced by Olive Stone and episodes were directed by film directors such as Kathryn Bigelow, Phil Joanou.

    The setting is is a future 2007 where men were collarless shirts with ties, drive 1960s cars and women have fashion owing a lot to Japan and oddly there is no wifi.

    There are however powerful media moguls experimenting with Virtual Reality and a Scientologist like cult, right wing corporate politicians, secret police and a band of libertarian rebels who see the bigger picture of this corporate America and want to stop the Senator (Robert Loggia.)

    Jim Belushi who plays a family mind drawn into this new media world as his wife starts to drink heavily, his son is getting to be a powerful child star and his mother in law (Angie Dickinson) has powerful connections to this dark side of society.

    Wild Palms certainly brings you a world of soap opera-ish wild ride dominated by Angie Dickinson's performance. It was designed as event television but its big problem was that it came after the TV series Twin Peaks and we the viewers had become spoilt. Wild Palms seemed like a retread with its visual tricks, surreal dream sequences even though part of it owed more to Cronenberg's movie Videodrome.

    Looking at it now it comes across as campy whereas Twin Peaks has aged better.
  • I loved this series when it came out and thought it was quite daring. James Belushi acted and never looked better in his life and Kim Cattral was really cool. The idea of this TV religion was an amusing way of perhaps making fun of the banal Scientology movement (just my opinion!)

    Brad Dourf was also exceptionally good at playing the confused space cadet (he's always so fantastic at playing weird people isn't he?) and the computer graphics used at the time was pretty ground breaking.

    My favourite moment from the series was Kim in her red wedding dress. I recommend this Series as it had a weird but unique storyline.

    Check this series out for yourself and make up your own mind.
  • riddy_hiz19 October 2006
    "Wild Palms" is a title I've had hyped to me over the years and I finally checked it out. I had been told it "took place in the same world as Twin Peaks," which I figured could only be a good thing. It took less than twenty-five minutes of the first episode, however, to expose this comparison as a bogus euphemism. I know I'm not the first person to point this out but holy crap! Did they think people wouldn't notice? As if the general idea of the film, (blending elements of noir, melodrama, and science fiction through a post-modern filter of pop culture references and a large cast of quirky characters), wasn't similar enough to Twin Peaks, there are bits of dialog and situations that are directly lifted from the series! The role of dreams, the coffee-centric conversation, the references to Buddhism, the title sequence, the score…. I hoped to find some sort of redemption in the less Twin Peaks influenced areas of the story. The attempted corporate takeover of the country via virtual reality television seemed it might prove thought-provoking, but it ended up playing out more like "They Live" than "eXistenZ." The thinly veiled criticism of Scientology spurred my interest initially, but it lost its bite by the third episode. Most excruciating, is the acting. I'm quite capable of enjoying a stilted or awkward performance, so long as it serves a higher purpose (i.e. toying with a genre convention). But Jim Belushi gives a new meaning to the word unnatural. Even screen veterans like Robert Loggia can't rectify the unevenness and clumsiness of the cast. At best they come off as zany sitcom characters. Even as camp, "Wild Palms" is barely watchable. F-
  • MadMonky8 November 2008
    In childhood i once heard a story from Greek mythology, long story short, the Gods hid a little piece of god in all of man were we could never find it. Hence the Fathers were trying to use VR to separate our intellect or soul from man and create disembobied god online. Which IMO explains the movies religious undertones, the praying to child actors and what not. I haven't seen this movie in since it appeared on TV and i still think about it.

    In hind site the movie was a prophetic warning the way everyone was addicted to the virtual reality online world while in reality they lived in poverty and everything around them was going straight to hell. On one hand we do all our bisness, communication and socialization online, on the other hand online is not real? But we can live without it anymore we are addicted to the unreal..
  • I remember when Wild Palms was originally shown amid much hype in 1993, but have only seen it now that it comes to DVD.

    Imagine an adventure of cyberpunk intrigue which takes place in a near future world where VR ("Virtual Reality", for those too young or old to have assimilated the 90's buzzword for telepresence) is hitting the media mainstream; all in an environment of weird religious cults and treacherous politics. A cutting-edge commentary on the effects of new media.

    But in reality, there was very little of this! It seems to me that the writers were worried that these heady concepts were not quite ready for prime-time acceptance, and took pains to dilute them quite a bit. The production looks great for its time, and some of the actors fit their roles quite well - especially Robert Loggia and Angie Dickenson. In the six sprawling episodes of the miniseries, not a lot really happens. There is not a lot of character development. Many of the actors could have handled more substantial roles - Belushi, Bebe Neuwirth, especially David Warner and Brad Dourif come to mind. Rather than a well crafted mystery, there is mostly conceit that something sinister is going on which the main character is unaware of, explanations of which are spooned to us in small portions. The dialogue was often quite good, if sparse. The cult and VR aspects really struck me as being pretty superfluous, the "media manipulation of social reality" idea didn't bring anything which couldn't have been explained in terms of newspapers or television - apart from the fact that people interacting with "holograms" (while on designer drugs, no less!) afforded a few opportunities for fun photographic trickery.

    Wild Palms seems to me very much a product of its time. In the US at least everybody was jumping onto the internet bandwagon, techno music hit the mainstream, immersive VR became practical, the little-understood prefix "cyber-" became linked to countless names, just as "electro-" and "astro-" had been hyped decades before. I'd recommend Wild Palms to those who may never have thought about this sort of scenario before, as a bit of an introduction. More than ten years earlier, the film "Network" covered many of the same ideas in much less time, more memorably, and with far more style. For better examples of watered-down cyberpunk fiction for television I'd rather recommend ABC's short-lived series "Max Headroom" and the recent animated series "Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex". It is not a bad show, but where Wild Palms falls short is in the promise of revealing how combining new media with the older routines of people's obsessions and ideas of self- interest can result in interesting shifts in society, and in the societal consensus of reality itself. Too little, too late, I'd say.

    And what was the deal with that cameo of William Gibson?
  • This is a cult favorite, and in my opinion, it is Oliver Stone's finest achievement in film. This film watches much more like David Lynch-- If you liked Twin Peaks, then get a copy of this as soon as possible. This film is actually very deep in the examination of our society in how it portrays the masses as being glued to their televisions and easily controlled by media giants, and how much religion is cultish no matter how big. I recommend you watch it if you have a brain in your head and like to use it. It's not just another action movie that seem to waste the projectors at movie theatres these days...
  • I've loved this mini-series for years and always thought it had just the right amount of "creepy realism" to it. Like "The Handmaid's Tale" this movie provides a deliciously creepy look at an unlikely, but eerily possible world future. The plot is engaging and complex; even after so many viewings I can still find myself totally lost in the "20 minutes into the future" backdrop of Los Angeles.

    The characters are well-rounded, believable and show wonderful development throughout the movie. The acting is powerful and the ensemble cast has a wonderful chemistry together. The placements of Oliver Stone and Willam Gibson as themselves just bring this film one step closer to breaking through the 4th wall. I especially like the retro feeling music that is well matched to the atmosphere and events of certain scenes.
  • From Oliver Stone and Bruce Wagner comes a brilliant, epic science fiction movie. Although very long this movie will keep you watching the whole way through. The plot is well put together and sustained. The story is topical and the actors well chosen. If you are looking for a movie that will keep you thinking for a long time after the tape has finished then this is the one.
  • When this mini series was first broadcast, most people had never used a computer, the NSCA Mosaic browser (later to become Netscape Navigator) had just been coded. Thus allowing those with a data connection to graphically browse content at glacial speed. But just consider the list that follows which tallies their actual occurrence.

    The Web = The web Tony Krietser =Donald Trump Chickee Levitt = Mark Zuckerberg Mimecom = Facebook Mimezine = Oxycontin The Florida Bomb = 9/11 The 90's Depression = The Great Recession The Fathers = Rebublicans with a capital "R" The Friends = Liberal Democrats Josie = Melania? Watch this excellent mini series with your politically astute frienew and you will have a BLAST finding current and near current tie-ins. Then you'll have one final question. "Where did Olivier Stone get a time machine?!"
  • Warning: Spoilers
    It starts well, goes on quite good for a certain time and then deteriorates at an incredibly fast pace, falling as low as an unimpressive sweet-sweet ending for softies. Comparing it to "Twin Peaks" is misleading. This tricky comparison led me to watching it and to regret it badly. To start with, this product as a whole looks like a Britney Spears music video (no offence to the diva - she's OK, bombastic and quite cute). In the end "Wild Palms" gives you a candy bar with a happy smile: "Suck on it and be happy, people have won, the revolution goes all right, all creeps and tycoons have been properly punished and before us, common people, is happiness and joy only; relax, there will be a party tonight, everybody who owns a luxury car is invited, the drinks are on the house!" "Twin Peaks" was something different. It was teasing the viewer during its run, lurking in the shadows, kicking the viewer in the butt now and then (the ghost punches were also common) and on top of that it destroyed even the slightest possibility of a sugary finale. "That's foul!" you say? Yes, but if it's done artistically, with proper ideas behind these numerous kicks and punches, there is a reliable reward when it's all over. Here is the difference between a genuine masterpiece and a pop culture show-off.

    Were there any problems before the final part in "Twin Peaks"? You bet. "Twin Peaks" had also a couple of over-the-top moments but "Twin Peaks" was always walking the fine line between the true horror and an easy-going drama, always ready to amaze. It hit and run, it delivered its weird moments perfectly and with style. Many "Twin Peaks" characters were easy on the outside and creepy inside. It's vice versa in "Wild Palms". The characters are flashy and super-serious on the outside but soon you don't care for them, while they are one-dimensional, like cardboard heroes; the crowds of holiday-makers with slogans, some revolutionary chick with a bomb and a hoot (something like "We fight for freedom!"), cheap CGI (by the way, in "LawnmowerMan" the CGI was - and still is - haunting), etc. - it all adds to the flashy but juvenile picture of "Palms". Boring talks of boring characters in acid surroundings, some swimming pool is used as an entrance to the secret organization of freedom-fighters (isn't that kidstuff?).

    There is only regret: instead of re-watching a couple of decent Oliver Stone flicks from the past, my time was annihilated by this trash that started off so well...

    Can recommend this failure to teenagers only, while it's flashy, pretentious, seriously didactic like "Matrix Reloaded/Revolution" with bits of explosions, gunplay, lounge music, sexy dames, and eye-gouging. Oh, and there is a katana in one of the scenes. Wow, isn't that groovy? A 3 out of 10 for this serial, which could have been a 10 out of 10 and could have become a rival to "Twin Peaks" but turned out to be what it is – a "pop-popsy" sci-fi.
  • Ok, apart from the fact that I read an awful lot of books, movies and particularly good movies do carry me away as well.

    THIS is one heck of a movie.

    Robert Loggia excells and makes a start at his appearance in 'lost highway'.

    Why scientology ? The Fathers are conservative, granted, but they really want to manage your soul in 'the Church'.

    Guess what, windows is the system ;-)

    The movie is beautifully done, the plot twists and turns, William Gibson [none other but himself] has a cameo, and grudgingly concedes that he indeed was the first to coin the term.

    The women in this movie are the true protagonists [excuse me ladies, I know it's never different, Ollie puts it where you can't ignore it. In your face]...

    A very good movie, highly recommended.

    I hope this summary entices you to see the movie. You will not be indifferent !
  • 10 stars for James Belushi 80s superstar, -8 stars for all the rest. Big names are in here, but it was a bust back then, Ive never heard of it until today, and remains boring as heck till today. The way the men dress like its Edwardian era combined with 90s futuristic pants is disgusting. The women are even dressed much worse, some really gross 90s futurism style thatll never catch on. Then they combine all that with ugly cars from the 50s and 60s. The storyline is heinous, I cant stand watching actors showing some stupid family life emotions and relationships, as its fake, so Im supposed to be touched by that? Especially in this grizzly setting? That being said, the initial idea sounds rad, but it all looks unrelatable, doesnt make the viewer think of the future at all and the storyline is grizzly and boring and terrible. If they wouldve created a world that looked like Running Man or Total Recall concerning the clothes, cars, architecture, then it would have worked bht not like this, just horrible presentation.
  • It's a pity it wasn't released 5 years earlier: the mood created by cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Phenomenon, Cool Runnings) is so eighties-like, the great Michael Mann (L.A. Takedown, Manhunter, The Insider) must like it, if only visually: it's very clean and cool. Except Mann usually adds some really excessive displayals of power with lots of shooting (Miami Vice) and lots of music. Wild Palms is far more subtle. The great score was created by legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence). The chosen hit songs (Where the streets have no name, Hello I must be going) just add slightly to the mood and you really have to pay attention to the songtexts. And notice the subtle fashion statements, like the sober collars? There are 5 episodes directed by 4 directors, one of which is Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days): Strange Days (1995) is a nice movie about more or less the same subject but without the aesthetics and the good acting. James Belushi is great, Robert Loggia and Angie Dickinson must be the devil themselves.

    Wild Palms may feel like 'Dynasty - the play - set in the future' about families in multimedia instead of oil. The story IS about media monopolies and law-suits (MS anyone? - Church Windows): there seems to be no credible independent justice system anymore in this future. There are family intrigues, but definitely never really feels like a soap opera. However, one of the flaws of Wild Palms is that you can see that it is made for tv because you can see where the commercials are supposed to be. Wild Palms is quite lengthy, but I just couldn't wait for the next episode to be broadcasted seven days later. I wouldn't recommend trying to watch all episodes at once, because the pace is rather low. Cut it down to 180 minutes and you can show it in a theater (although Warhol's 'Empire' wasn't cut down a minute...). Definitely more interesting than 'JFK' and 'Nixon' together.

    9/10
  • There are some interesting ideas and subplots in this series, but you are always taken out of the series every time Jim Belushi is onscreen. An atrocious actor by any standard, I particularly remember a scene where he cries that is laughable. He ruins any possibility that this series had. It is ahead of its time but I think most viewers will find it unwatchable I'm the end due to Belushi being the main protagonist. And many of the ideas are too vague to feel like you have a concrete idea of what they are talking about and how they work in this futuristic world. It may have worked better as a comic book.
  • The story is a veiled attempt at going where the church of Scientology exists. Anton Kreutzer, played fairly well by Robert Loggia, is pretty much L. Ron Hubbard. There are even spot lines that go to the arena of Aleister Crowley, Hubbard's "very good friend". The Sea Org and the Commodore's Messengers are dressed to the nines, perfect in their affectation of the naval attire. Coty is a mock-up of the now ruler of the Darkstar, the honorable king David. You know the Star of David is two inner locking equilateral triangles encompassing three 60 degree angles. "and ye shall know them by their number":666; a number exulted upon by Ron's very good friend, Aleister Crowley. The acting is spotty, some actor's can't and some can. However great imagery, fantastic attire, and far ahead of its time in technology make this a must see for the clued-in sci-fi fan. Hubbard might have been twisted, but give him his due, a genius for manipulation of the truth. Scientology is still standing and Tom Cruise can't handle the truth, can't handle it because he knows not what he do.
  • Because of the open-endedness of Twin Peaks, the network administrators were overly concerned with tying up all the loose ends in this graphic-novel-turned-mini-series. Promises from Stone and Wagner that the series not degenerate into chaos caused a contrived ending to an otherwise fascinating story.

    Cameos from Stone himself: "So, the files are open and you were right all along. Tell me, are you bitter?" and William Gibson make this a truly a product of a postmodern time. Loved seeing Angie Dickenson again.
  • WILD PALMS (1993) **1/2 (MADE FOR TV) Jim Belushi, Kim Cattrall, Angie Dickinson, Robert Loggia, Brad Savage, Nick Mancuso, Dana Delaney, David Warner, Ernie Hudson, Brad Dourif, Robert Morse. Oliver Stone produced this bizarre tv miniseries about the unsteady future with Loggia as the head of a cult-like society brainwashing America with technology, virtual reality and good all-time fascism. Running amok on all cylinders with some eye candy visuals and shades of David Lynchian nightmares. Quirky.