Mars Attacks!
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.
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- Cast:
- Jack Nicholson , Glenn Close , Annette Bening , Pierce Brosnan , Danny DeVito , Martin Short , Sarah Jessica Parker
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Reviews
Awesome Movie
Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
The movie is about Martians invading the Earth. The reason is unclear, but as the movie progresses, it turns out they are purging the planet of everything uncool. By uncool I mean redneck soldiers, politicians, generals, fashion, sex addicts, trailer park dwellers, crooks, scientists, journalists and lawyers. In the end, uncoolness becomes a weapon against the aliens.There is a subtext in the movie, that civilization itself is uncool and maybe we should return to simpler times when men used to live in tepees.There are lots of great jokes in the movies, and some of them aren't exactly obvious. My favorite is the one with the hydrogen fusion and the laughing gas.There are lots of characters, most of them being stereotypes. That is actually not a bad thing, and many of the jokes derive from these characters and their perception of the alien invasion. There are lots of A-list actors in the movie and, though they each have little screen time, they make their characters unforgettable.I wish that Hollywood would make more movies like this, instead of sinking hundreds of millions on Avatar and other Muppet shows.
I saw this when it first came out and remember thinking it made for such a refreshing contrast to the awful Independence Day which had come out slightly earlier that same year. Where I found that latter film to be an exercise in sustained annoyance, Mars Attacks was a genuine, interesting oddity. On the surface it was another sci-fi comedy but in reality this was a very weird film to be given big budget treatment by a major Hollywood studio. It was pretty commendable that such a risk was taken in throwing all this money at something which was such a personal vision of its director Tim Burton.On one level this is a parody of earnest 50's sci-fi movies but it's equally ram packed to the gunnels with black comedy. It's also an ensemble film with a huge cast of star actors and actresses but I don't think I can remember any other film which so wilfully enjoys killing off its A-Listers. Burton also seems to relish destroying Las Vegas and having the aliens run riot in Washington D.C. Its anarchic nature is unusual for this type of high budget movie that's for sure. In general, while certainly uneven, this is a comedy with a way higher than average laugh ratio, with many very funny moments sprinkled throughout. Many of this humour revolves around the Martians themselves who not only look hilarious with their huge brained heads but they also elicit laughs as soon as they open their mouths and bark 'Ark!...Ark!...Ark-Ark!'. Their general behaviour, too, was side-splittingly nihilistic – shooting the dove of peace, laser-blasting human beings whenever possible (usually after pretending they were being nice) and having the audacity to tell running crowds 'don't run we're your friends' while firing their guns at them! Too funny.This one has unsurprisingly developed a very Marmite reputation. Some love it, many hate it and there is very little opinion that falls in between. But its very individuality and the fact it was so markedly different in tone and attitude to the monumentally irritating Independence Day are reasons to treasure it as far as I'm concerned. Burton himself is a very hit and miss director but I reckon this has to go down as one of his most bold, original and enjoyable efforts.
Watched Mars Attacks! Featuring Jack Nicholson(Batman) as President James Dale/ Art Land , Glenn Close(Hamlet) as First Lady Marsha Dale , Pierce Brosnan(Goldeneye 007 ) as Professor Donald Kessler ,Danny DeVito(Batman Returns) as Rude Gambler,Annette Bening(Richard III) as Barbara Land ,Martin Short(Father Of The Bride II) as Press Secretary Jerry Ross, Sarah Jessica Parker(The Substance Of Fire) as Nathalie Lake, Michael J.Fox(Back To The Future) as Jason Stone, Rod Steiger(Shiloh) as General Decker, Lukas Haas(The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) as Richie Norris,Natalie Portman(Leon The Professional) as Taffy Dale, Jim Brown(L.A. Heat) as Bryon Williams, Sylvia Sydney(Used People) as Florence Norris , Pam Grier(Jackie Brown) as Louise Williams, Jack Black(The X-Files) as Billy-Glenn Norris and Tom Jones as Himself . The film is interesting and one of my favorite Burton films with 1950's B Sci-Fi Flavor as well Burtons Own spin also very Hilarious Also A Parody of Independence as well also enjoyed the heavy handed cast as well . Amazing Score By Danny Elfman( Ed Wood), Costume Design By Coleen Atwood(That Thing You Do!) ,Cinematography By Peter Suschitzsky (Krull) ,Screenplay by Jonathan Gems(White Mischief) , Direction By Tim Burton(Beetlejuice) A Hilarious Tribute To Alien Invasion B Movies with Burton Flavor 7/10
Mars Attacks is a mediocre movie with a poorly developed story, despite a top notch cast. For a film with a premise as bizarre as a group of aliens based on trading cards attacking Earth, parodying Science Fiction from the 1950's and featuring a gigantic slew of cameos, it is surprisingly bland. It does not deliver it's promise nearly as much as it could have, the cameos feel very much like they were done for the paycheck and its satire of cheesy disaster films was something we have already seen done, to a much more effective degree, by the Zucker brothers. The lead cast members do a good job, Jack Nicholson is great as the president and throws himself in to this universe effectively, Pierce Brosnan is also very funny in his professor role, proving comedic talent. It surprised me with a set up like this, directed by the versatile imagination of Tim Burton, that Mars Attacks bored me, it is not as bad as it could have been, but it was certainly was not as good either, might be worth the watch if you see it on television and want to form your own opinion, but I would not recommend it. The Government must act fast when the Earth is attacked by powerful aliens. Best Performance: Jack Nicholson/ Worst Performance: Tom Jones