Mars Attacks!

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Aleph
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Beitrag von Aleph »

New York Times

December 13, 1996, Friday

WEEKEND DESK

The Moral: Be Careful of Aliens

By JANET MASLIN

If there's anything Tim Burton ought to know, it's exactly how a mean little
Martian disguised as a seven-foot Barbie would slither mechanically into the
White House, trying to lure Earthlings to their doom. Mr. Burton does get this
right in ''Mars Attacks!'' (with Lisa Marie looking wonderfully spooky as the
Trojan space babe), but it's one of the rare occasions when his star-filled,
prankish new film doesn't misfire.

Having done a dazzling job of celebrating the no-budget resourcefulness of the
1950's schlockmeister Ed Wood, Mr. Burton now shows why money isn't
everything. Here at his disposal are clever special effects, darling Martians,
loads of talent and a genre (fleabag sci-fi) that is tailor-made for his satirical
talents. Yet here, too, is a screenplay (by Jonathan Gems) based on old
Topps bubble gum cards, which makes for a definite lack of connective tissue.
''Mars Attacks!'' is just a parade of scattershot gags, more often weird than
funny and most often just flat.

Mr. Burton doesn't even have a movie until his aliens arrive, greeted by a red
carpet and a ''Welcome to Earth'' sign. Up to that point, ''Mars Attacks!'' has
been spinning its wheels while it introduces its earthbound cast. Supposedly
the man in charge is Jack Nicholson, who makes an amazingly hammy and
humorless President of the United States (and plays a needless extra role as a
rhinestone cowboy in Las Vegas). Glenn Close is funnier as a First Lady who
fumes about letting space aliens use the Van Buren china.

Natalie Portman also has a few good moments as the sulky First Daughter,
who is curled up with a copy of ''Siddhartha'' as the Martians draw near.
Most everyone else on Earth (including a trashy Midwestern family that
becomes instrumental in saving the planet thanks to Grandma, played by
Sylvia Sidney) seems to be watching television.

Points of comparison: while the similarly themed (and much snappier)
''Independence Day'' simply blew up the White House, Mr. Burton would
rather send Martians inside the building to find this First Lady looking awful in
curlers. Also, rather than nuke New York, Los Angeles and Washington, Mr.
Burton prefers picturesque blasts at Las Vegas, which is this film's kind of
town.

Among those at the casinos are Annette Bening as a charmingly flaky New
Ager who sees the invasion in terms of global karma; Danny DeVito as a
crass gambler; Jim Brown as a sluggish ex-boxer who's now paid to dress as
a Pharaoh, and Tom Jones as a guy who can sing ''It's Not Unusual'' with
backup singers from any planet. (When these actors and several others flee
the Martians together, Mr. Jones has a chivalrous hand on a good-looking
actress in just about every shot.) Back in Washington, Pam Grier briefly plays
a bus driver married to Mr. Brown and represents one of the film's many
wasted opportunities.

In the White House, Gen. Rod Steiger takes a hawkish stance a la ''Dr.
Strangelove,'' which is echoed with remarkably little wit. As another general,
Paul Winfield fares no better in evoking Colin Powell. Martin Short and
Pierce Brosnan fill out the President's staff, although Mr. Brosnan's real
mission here is to be decapitated by Martian mad scientists aboard a tinny
flying saucer. After this, he falls in love with Sarah Jessica Parker, as a
television reporter whose head has been grafted onto a Chihuaha.

''Oh, Natalie, if I could only hold you in my arms!'' cries Mr. Brosnan, though
he doesn't have a body. The severed heads kiss. Then the spaceship crashes
and they all die. Shall we laugh? Wince? Cry? Mr. Burton doesn't care to
make this simple, or he would never have opened the film with a scene
featuring a herd of burning cows.

But it would have been nice to have some clue, since ''Mars Attacks!'' spends
so much time gleefully killing off its cast. Michael J. Fox, who would have
been welcome here longer, plays a television newsman who becomes nothing
but a severed hand picked up by a dog. Other characters are zapped into
glowing red or green skeletons. So ''Mars Attacks!'' joins ''The Cable Guy''
and ''The Nutty Professor'' as one more dark comedy that will lure children
despite its dubious kiddie appeal. It's been a banner year for mean-spirited
juvenilia, and ''Beavis and Butt-head Do America'' isn't even here yet.

Although Mr. Burton's Martians seem to have nothing in mind beyond
murderous mischief, they are of course the movie's main attraction. Visually,
they're adorable: big-brained little stinkers with skeleton eyes, turkey wattles
on their cheeks and a suspicious, indignant look. They quack when they talk
and arrive in flying hubcaps, which are first seen rising from the red planet in a
nifty opening credits sequence. And their leaders arrive grandly in capes just
like Snow White's. Too bad ''Mars Attacks!'' leaves them all dressed up with
nowhere to go.

''Mars Attacks!'' is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It includes
sexual suggestiveness and considerable jokey violence.

MARS ATTACKS!

Directed by Tim Burton; written by Jonathan Gems, based on ''Mars
Attacks!'' by Topps; director of photography, Peter Suschitzky; edited by
Chris Lebenzon; music by Danny Elfman; production designer, Wynn
Thomas; produced by Mr. Burton and Larry Franco; released by Warner
Brothers. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Jack Nicholson (President James Dale/Art Land), Glenn Close
(Marsha Dale), Annette Bening (Barbara Land), Pierce Brosnan (Prof.
Donald Kessler), Jim Brown (Byron Williams), Danny DeVito (the Low
Roller), Michael J. Fox (Jason Stone), Pam Grier (Louise Williams), Tom
Jones (Tom Jones), Lisa Marie (Martian Girl), Sarah Jessica Parker (Nathalie
Lake), Natalie Portman (Taffy Dale), Martin Short (Jerry Ross), Sylvia
Sidney (Grandma), Rod Steiger (General Decker) and Paul Winfield (General
Casey).

Published: 12 - 13 - 1996, Late Edition - Final, Section C, Column 4, Page 5
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Aleph
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Beitrag von Aleph »

New York Times

June 13, 1997, Friday

WEEKEND DESK

NEW VIDEO RELEASES


Mars Attacks!
1996. Warner. $103.91. Laser disk, $34.98. 106 minutes. Closed captioned.
PG-13. Release date: Tuesday.

''Welcome to Earth,'' says the sign greeting the huge-brained creatures who
arrive in flying hubcaps. By that point Tim Burton's movie has about run out of
gas introducing its earthbound characters, notably Jack Nicholson as a dour
President, Natalie Portman as the surly First Daughter and Glenn Close as a
First Lady who would just like to keep the aliens away from the Van Buren
china.

Annette Bening makes a nice contribution as a New Ager who sees the
Martian invasion as global karma, and Danny DeVito, Rod Steiger, Sarah
Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox and others perform as Las
Vegas gamblers, Presidential staff members and the like.

But nothing seems to jell, Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times, in ''a
parade of scattershot gags, more often weird than funny and most often just
flat.''

Published: 06 - 13 - 1997, Late Edition - Final, Section D, Column 3, Page 22
Munigrot
Where The Post Is
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Beitrag von Munigrot »

Ich hab mal diesen Thread ausgegraben, weil er in Fäden wo darüber nich diskutiert werden sollte *rumschleim :grin:* echt schlecht wegkommt. Ich find den Film einfach nur klasse, um nicht zu sagen kultig. Es kommt nicht oft vor das ein amerikanischer Film die eigene Politik und die Filmindustrie so auf die Schippe nimmt. Ich könnt in mir jede Woche ansehen.
Age
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Beitrag von Age »

Also da gibt ja auch andere Meinungen, aber wir ham in nen anderen Thread schon mal darüber diskutiert. Also poste ich hier nix neues mehr rein
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