Wild Palms (1993)

A dark, sexy, noir Los Angeles of the future is the backdrop for Oliver Stone's haunting, sci-fi saga of greed, treason and virtual reality. Harry Wyckoff (James Belushi) is about to become a player in a dark and terrifying battle where everything is at stake and no one is who they seem. Featuring an all-star cast, this story about a cult, a corporation, and a conspiracy to rule the country, is one of the most original movie events in recent history.

4:3 and grainy. Well... I guess it's better than my VHS set.

What's there to say about Wild Palms that hasn't been said a hundred times before?

With that, I'll stick to the DVD itself: despite the back proudly proclaiming "High Definition Transfer", the picture quality is pretty bad. I'm not sure what the master was on this, but there's a lot of color bleeding, and a lot of blur -- more than the intentional soft focus that many scenes were shot it.

The picture itself is 4:3, which isn't completely unexpected, given that this was a miniseries... but it's disappointing nonetheless. And unfortunately, the audio was a bit neglected, as well.

For the price, I can't really complain. But since I own the VHS set and the Australian import DVD set, there wasn't very much to gain here.

Since so many people draw parallels with Twin Peaks, I can say that the picture and sound quality of the Twin Peaks DVD's are incredible by comparison. David Lynch showed a LOT of love on those. Sadly, Wild Palms seems unloved by MGM and Oliver Stone. April 7, 2008

Dark View of Cyberspace

Oliver Stone's dark take on cyberspace, computers and the tech future. Again, the familiar thread of conspiracies, forces at work that want to change and control the world fighting the forces that want to help and save humanity. Sound familiar? Well, it's a thread that runs through the history of storytelling from the Greeks in their plays, Hans Christen Anderson in his fairy tales and George Lucas' stories in Starwars. This series is a bit long and involved. Take it in small doses, a chunk at a time over several nights or an entire weekend when you have the time. After watching this movie, reaffirm the light in the world by going out to the beach and enjoying yourself or something equally life-force invigorating like a family get together. March 17, 2008

liked it then, like it now, though dated

I first discovered Wild Palms in the back of Details magazine in the early 90s. I had a college roommate at the time who liked Details; I just liked the comic :). Anyway I was intrigued by the comic and read it every month.

In 93 I was again surprised, this time when I found out that what I thought was a little-known comic was now an Oliver Stone miniseries. I found it engrossing in a the-world-sucks-and-it-oughta-end-but-just-wont-and-religion-sucks-william-gibson way, which was right up my alley then and still is today.

Buy it if you like Gibson or cyberpunk or any sci-fi that's more-or-less set today, slightly in the future, and shows reality for the crap that it really is. Really! I'm not making this up!

-Chuck. October 28, 2007

Modern Film Noir

Very good example of modern film noir that leaves you gessing even after it's over. A brilliant blending of different eras to create a timeless setting as compelling as it is surreal. October 13, 2007

Interesting if confusing '90s miniseries worth a look

Here's a show exec-produced by Oliver Stone, one of the great conspiracy theorists of our times, and in the vein of Philip K. Dick as washed through the sensibilities of David Lynch. While ostensibly about mind control, political extremism, shadow cults and rich people wearing ties outside of their collars (apparently the new fashion in this "alternate reality" of the 90s), It's really a film noir exercise in merging American culture, especially Los Angeles culture, with Japanese tech sensibilities. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a muddle.

Jim Belushi notably remarked that after reading the script several times that he had absolutely no idea what the film was about and he just showed up every day and read his lines. After watching myself, I can understand...it's a very confusing story, assisted by the fact that for at least half of every episode some or all of the characters are tripping on the mind-control techniques that are the heart of the show. Who knows whether an important plot point is real or invented by the villains? We certainly don't.

The good news is that if you like near-future paranoid conspiracies with likeable actors, Wild Palms is kinda fun to watch. Jim Belushi is pretty good as a lawyer thrust into a shadowy world he has no idea how to navigate, Robert Loggia chews up his scenes like nobody's business, and Angie Dickenson is the supreme corporate bitch-queen. Largely wasted are Dana Delaney, an '80s icon who never exceeded the heights she reached in "China Beach," and Ernie Hudson, who put his wry, world-weary act to better use in "The Crow." Brad Dourif was firmly in the grip of his brilliant-but-mentally-crippled phase after making his name in "One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest" and losing it again with "The Wall." Sure some of the dialog and plotlines are clunky, but at least they move the story forward. For those of us raised on sci-fi, the idea of projected holograms and drug-induced virtual reality a lá Star Trek TNG's Holodeck was pretty enticing, though, and the hidden agenda infighting was fun to chew on.

The bad news is that this DVD set is dreary. The transfer is muddy and dark, colors never pop, everything's too red and there's no shadow detail whatsoever, and besides it's 4:3 not widescreen. Honestly, I'd believe the studio dubbed this off a VHS tape if I didn't know better. There are no extras to speak of; the most you can say for the video is that there aren't any commercials to interrupt the show.

Interesting side note: Kathryn Bigelow, whose next film was the equally paranoid "Strange Days" (which was produced by Alien-lover Jim Cameron and had similar themes of drug-induced VR) directed the last episode of the series. October 12, 2007

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