The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)

This film is so elaborately deplorable that it would be the worst nightmare of a comatose patient (I apologize to berate such an unfortunate disposition mind you). If you are part of that audience that is looking for the most unique perspective to take in, I would recommend some sort of hallucinogenic while observing the complexity of paint drying. Starting from the flat story line (worse than if a gal had a recessed bosom) to the regurgitated NASA footage, this film is a great technique for inducing vomiting or boredom. The news media said that music from the group "Red Hot Chili Peppers" was used to try and mentally torture terrorists at Guantanamo Bay - this film would be a much better medium. On a more positive note, the film incorporated some Native American tribal music that was noteworthy, although it pierced my skull like a 100 decibel fire alarm pezo speaker that couldn't be turned off. I am of the opinion that Michael Moore could have put together a better storyline with such a low budget and this footage. I would say that the best part of the film was observing the astronauts aboard the shuttle in their "average day" routine, and they are truly cosmic heroes. Outside of that, the actor who plays an "alien" telling his account of coming to Earth was so hideous, that it would be easier to stomach Michael and McCauly reliving their days at Neverland - stamped with a Disney logo! This is all purely my opinion, and I apologize to the audience for my audacity. However, I could be more entertaining with $50.00 and a digital video camera myself.

Werner Herzog makes some pretty good documentaries, but this fiction pseudo-doc isn't one of his better accomplishments. The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) takes stock footage and real interviews and then intertwines it with a fictional story narrated/discussed by (actor Brad Dourif) an alien from another planet.The story, constructed with this outside footage, is about some journey to and from the Andromeda galaxy, and it really doesn't matter because the story is really boring. Yeah, some of the imagery is really beautiful, and the concept of the film is one of the more original things I've seen... Hell, I wouldn't even know what genre to categorize this in (fictional documentary, I suppose).This, unfortunately, doesn't make up for the sheer dullness of the movie and the agonizingly bad soundtrack. Dourif's poor acting doesn't help things much either.

What the? This astoundingly painful patchwork of filched free footage, oddball tribal music and an old dude with a ponytail portraying an exotic alien from Andromeda (which, by the way, is a galaxy with 100 billion stars, not an ice bound planet with jellyfish), has been greeted with mega gushes from smitten Herzog fans who diligently seek meaning where there is none. As the title of this review would suggest, I, and a very few others it seems, can see the old boy's bum.The plot has been recounted many times in these reviews, so I will just hit the lowlights. Earthlings and Andromedans (perhaps they should call us Milky Wayans) switch planets because of mutually uninhabitable conditions at home. Doesn't sound too bad yet. Wait. The Earth people apparently make the two and one half million light year trip in a small earth orbiter from the late eighties utilizing an exotic technology announced by a smart looking guy standing in an orange grove. The uninhabitable nature of Earth is difficult to discern because of the traffic filled interstates in the background of one of the Andromedan's soliloquies.Environmental consciousness abounds - for instance, film is preserved by using the same wistful shot of the alien but using different voice-overs on at least two occasions. Set expense is minimized by using a trailer junkyard and a ... something with columns perched on dirt. Script pages were saved by having insufferable lengths of time showing five or six people (the Earth contingent, I presume) floating in the space capsule and the same amounts of time consumed by other scenes of scuba divers and jellyfish. The musical score is a sort of eerie wailing which I contend was recorded by holding a microphone over the audience at the premier.Hunter Thompson might have liked this picture, providing he was properly medicated. I didn't. If you want to see space journeys made in unlikely conveyances, I recommend The American Astronaut in which yokels from Oklahoma travel in space in a barn.

Werner Herzog's science fantasy about a trip to a far off planet. The plot concerns an alien played by Brad Dourif, who has come to this world from Andromeda when his world begins to die. He out lines the story of his time on earth and of our trip to his far off world. Consisting of new footage by Herzog the film also contains a great deal of footage from a space shuttle mission as well as images from under the Antarctic ice. Its a strangely hypnotic film thats often a head trip as we are forced to look at our own world as something, somewhere than what it is. This is a heady mix of facts and fictions mixed with beautiful images set to some intriguing vocal and cello music (think Tibetan throat songs) . For much of the film the mix works as we begin to see believe that the aliens are here and that we sent a mission that went there. The problem with the film is that there are long passages, particularly with the space shuttle stuff where its nothing but image and singing. It would be fine if there was a change of image but Herzog holds the images, say of an astronaut jogging, much too long. I don't why he felt the need to use all of the footage that was shot of some subjects. It will drive you to the point of slumber. Which isn't to say the film is bad. Its not. the dialog, well monologue is very witty and contains some great quotes. It also presents a few facts, about distance and our ability to bridge it that is wickedly disheartening for people looking to jump in a ship one day and travel far away, while at the same time opening you up to the possibility of actually doing it. Ultimately this is a movie that you will think about for a long time after you see it.