Subject: REVIEW: MARS ATTACKS!

From: [email-masked] (Craig Good)
Date: 2 Dec 1996 21:15:47 GMT

MARS ATTACKS!
                       A film review by Craig Good
                        Copyright 1996 Craig Good

WARNING: There are NO spoilers in this review. I wouldn't do that to
you.

Tim Burton has clout. That's obvious because he was allowed to make
"Mars Attacks", a hilarious, no-punches-pulled comedy spectacle. I'm
glad that Burton now has that kind of clout, and that technology has
pretty well caught up with his vision.

>From the opening images I was hooked. These are flying saucers the way
flying saucers are *supposed* to look. And there are the right number
of them -- finally! ILM has delivered both Martians and effects big
time: I mean both quality and quantity. The animation of the Martians
is, in many places, the finest character animation ILM has ever done.
And Burton has delivered a fun set of characters in the form of an
all-star cast.

Nobody is spared. Everybody is lampooned. From the opportunistic
President, mugged to a fare-thee-well by a gleeful Jack Nicholson, to
the Newage (rhymes with sewage) pyramid-and-crystal bimbo burbled by
Anette Bening, to the hawkish general emoted by Rod Steiger, everybody
gets a jab.

I don't want to go into any detail here, but I do want you to go see
the movie. There are images (and sounds, thanks to Randy Thom's design
work) which I confidently predict you will not forget. Heavens, *I* nearly
forgot Danny Elfman's inspired, theremin-rich score. And some gags
that work on a truly grand scale. Oh -- and gags you won't believe they
took *that* far. In short, it delivers everything the bloated and
ultimately lame "Independence Day" should have, plus a lot of belly
laughs in the process.

		--Craig
		[email-masked]