CommentsXp Best movie ever!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

MadMonky 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..

written23 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.

2henry-1 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 !

rogierr 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