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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)
In a blockbuster landscape peddling the prequel continuity of Mufasa becoming a lion king and building entire movies (e.g., Free Guy) around references to other intellectual property, nothing has aged better than The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
The vast, delirious joke of W.D. Richter’s sci-fi comedy—which screens June 3 at the Hollywood Theatre—is that it plays like the 189th issue of a comic book that actually has no prior issues.
The audience must immediately accept that interdimensional hero Buckaroo Banzai (RoboCop’s Peter Weller) is a physicist, test pilot, pistoleer and rock musician known around the world as the ultimate polymath. “Hey, aren’t you Buckaroo Banzai?” strangers keep asking him. (He is.)
This movie’s mission to stop a deranged scientist (John Lithgow) and invading aliens (led by Christopher Lee) from starting a catastrophic war, while rescuing the identical twin (Ellen Barkin) of his late wife, is merely one of Buckaroo’s many exploits.
Just as important are the Pee-wee’s Playhouse-esque costuming (see: Jeff Goldblum in Guernsey-patterned cowboy chaps) and Weller selling every non sequitur with the straightest face imaginable. Hollywood, June 3.
Also Playing:
5th Avenue: The Florida Project (2017), May 31–June 2. Academy: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), May 30. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), May 30. Donnie Darko (2001), May 30. Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), May 31–June 6. Cinema 21: Mandy (2018), May 31 and June 1. Pulp Fiction (1994), June 1. Clinton: Midsommar (2019), May 31. Paris Is Burning (1990), June 1. Hollywood: It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), May 31–June 6. Basic Instinct (1992), May 31. Some Like It Hot (1959), June 1. Trainspotting (1996), June 2. T-Force (1994), June 4. Tomorrow: The Cat and the Canary (1927) with live score by Corey J. Brewer, May 31. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), June 2. The End of Evangelion (1997), June 2.