Subject: REVIEW: MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Walter Frith)
Date: 17 Dec 1996 21:02:30 GMT

MARS ATTACKS!
                       A film review by Walter Frith
                        Copyright 1996 Walter Frith

It helps a great deal to have a movie come out at the end of the year that
is a reminder of the year's biggest box office hit which came out in the
summer.  'Independence Day' has skyrocketed to #6 on the all time box
office list and that film about an alien invasion of Earth was a tense
filled and dramatic telescope of filmmaking.  A complete one hundred and
eighty degree turn is completed with 'Mars Attacks.'  An idiotic President
of the United States (Jack Nicholson) and his hopelessly materialistic
wife and U.S. First Lady (Glenn Close) are caught in a dilemma when
Martians attack our planet and a wacky handful of characters are caught up
in the frenzy.  Visionary director Tim Burton ('Pee Wee's Big Adventure,'
Beetlejuice,' Batman,' 'Edward Scissorhands,' 'Ed Wood') has cooked up a
delicious mix of camp humour and visuals and has crossed the finish line
with a movie which is not for all tastes but Burton's films usually aren't
and 'Mars Attacks' has the director in the uncompromising position of
telling his story with a mixed bag of lunacy.  The funniest thing about
this movie is that Nicholson not only plays the leader of the free world
but also a sleazy and hard boiled Nevada real estate developer named Art
Land.  Yes, I'm certain the selection of this characters name was no
co-incidence.  His wardrobe alone is worth the price of admission for the
amount of pure belly laughs that it delivers.  Combine that with some
ingenious computerized special effects and the cultural lessons of all
those tacky flying saucer movies of the 1950's and 'Mars Attacks' delivers
some surprisingly inventive gags and justice is done to the characters in
the picture that you'll love to hate.  I must admit that this picture
caught me off guard as I was prepared for an 'Independence Day' rip off
but it isn't that way at all.  At the conclusion of this movie you'll find
the end result comes from the most unlikely character and this one is
destined to become a cult classic.  Other cast members include Pierce
Brosnan, Martin Short, Rod Steiger, Annette Bening, Jim Brown, Sarah
Jessica Parker, Lukas Haas, Michael J. Fox, Danny De Vito, Natalie
Portman, Sylvia Sidney, Lisa Marie and Tom Jones.

OUT OF 5> * * * * 

Coming Soon:  Reviews of 'Beavis and Butthead Do America' and 'My Fellow
Americans.'  SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES !