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23 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
A love letter to Phillip K. Dick, 22 December 2001
Author: Mike Shea (mike_usagisan@yahoo.com) from Richmond, VA

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.

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12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Isn't that what the future is? A cyst?, 26 December 1999
9/10
Author: moses-11

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.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Best CYBER-Noir Dialogue EVER, 7 September 2005
9/10
Author: dgarwood from USA

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.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazing and Powerful, 21 November 2001
9/10
Author: T.S. Hunter from Cedarpines Park, CA, USA

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...

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
'What a strange world. So dramatic, so predatory.' - 'We're like two old generals.', 29 July 2001
Author: rogierr from Amsterdam, Netherlands

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

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A cool piece of futuristic TV, 22 November 2005
10/10
Author: suebruno from United Kingdom

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.

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8 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Weird Palms, 28 December 2004
6/10
Author: T Y from United States

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.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Invading Heaven, 8 November 2008
10/10
Author: MadMonky from United States

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..

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5 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant Epic Sci-Fi, 15 March 1999
8/10
Author: Varian from London, England

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.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Deliciously Creepy and Disturbing, 28 March 2006
10/10
Author: phenyxx from SF Bay Area

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.

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