Mars Attacks!

Rating:
Summary: Martians, funny looking critters, ain't they?
Review: "Mars Attacks" was probably meant to be Tim Burton's ultimate tribute to the grade-Z sci-fi flicks of the 50's (he'd already done the "Ed Wood bio-pic") Using CGI and a big-name cast, Burton adapted the old trading-card series for a big-budget movie set in present day, but having that same 50's goofiness of the Wood movies - the idiot peacenik scientists ("The Thing"), goofy media types ("War of the Worlds"), warmongering generals and the honest joes who end up having to save the world from them as well as the Martians. Though claiming to come in peace, the CGI Martians make their warlike intentions (and their technological superiority) clear almost immediately (luckily for us wiping out a joint session of congress at the time). Our feckless president (Jack Nicolson) struggles to confront the Martians without handing his trigger-happy generals an excuse to start lobbing nukes. Martin Short plays a presidential aide who chases skirt all day long (he has the keys to the White House's "Kennedy Swinging Room") only to meet his match in a hottie Martian assassin played by Burton fixture Lisa Marie. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a ditzier version of Carrie Bradshaw, edging out her serious-journalist boyfriend for a scoop of the Martians' landing. Unfortunately the mix of high-end movie-making and hokey movie-scripting haven't produced a movie that even equals the sum of its parts. The jokes are pretty bald, the script entirely devoid of subtext, and the characters seldom more than one note (Nicholson playing both the dumb chief and a greedy Vegas developer; Joe Don Baker as a white-trash survivalist ready to blast any Martian that messes with his trailer; Pierce Brosnan as a pipe-smoking intellectual ready to give peace a chance; Annette Bening as a flaky new-ager; and Rod Steiger as a General in the Curt Lemay, Hawk-in-chief mold). A spectacular opening credits scene (in which waves of flying saucers encircle earth to the tune of Danny Elfman's Bernard-Herrman-themed score) does little more than remind you how much talent and effort went into such an unentertaining movie.

Rating:
Summary: The Kennedy Room --- Ha!!!
Review: Tim Burton strikes out again in this inflated rip off of 1950's B Budget films that were actually quite more enjoyable and inventive. This is the shortcoming of Hollywood when a mediocre director gets a ton a money, desirable actors, and does nothing with it except give us cool looking, mischievous aliens that were theived from bubble gum cards. This is an agony to watch because nothing ever happens except a weird 'buzzing' sound that is actually a Theremin machine that was used in the classic sci-fi tradition. You are better served by watching 'War of the Worlds' for the 10th time again. Leave this stinker in the can.



Rating:
Summary: Yet Another Alien Film
Review: This movie was just like all the others: Aliens wanting to conquer something. In most movies, it's our planet Earth. This one was the same. Although it had a better cast and an edgier twist to it, it still turned out as average alien.

Rating:
Summary: A classic Tim Burton comedy
Review: An excellent comedy that will be around for many years to come as a classic. Everybody should have this in their DVD library.

The two characters that I loved were General Decker and General Casey. My guess is they were modeled on Norman Schwartzkopf (the warrior) and Colin Powell (the politician).

You will have to watch it several times to catch everything that was crammed into this movie.