Precursors: Mars Attacks! (1996)

Nick Schager — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT

The answer to combating an alien invasion is misfit monsters in this week’s aptly titled Monsters vs. Aliens, a DreamWorks animated trifle that, for all its innocuous good humor, has little on Tim Burton’s screwy homage to ‘50s E.T. sagas, Mars Attacks! With more than a dash of Dr. Strangelove mixed into its silly period-sci-fi stew, Burton’s film concerns the unexpected arrival of spacemen intent on incinerating with ray-guns all of humanity – and cackling like little schoolchildren as they do it. The president (Jack Nicholson, in one of two roles) is at the head of a lunatic cabinet, a former heavyweight champ (Jim Brown) is determined to ditch his Egyptian-themed hotel gig and reunite with his wife (Pam Grier) and kids, and a Kansas teen (Lukas Haas) tasked with caring for granny winds up at the forefront of the interspecies fight, three of the many threads Burton casts with all-stars and crams into his overstuffed plot. Mars Attacks! isn’t often riotous but its postmodern use of ‘50s aesthetics in a clearly present day (circa 1996) setting proves both strangely natural and striking, as does its stabs at surreally wacko imagery, from the opening shot of cattle on fire running down a street, to the appearance of the Martians’ UFO armada. And while Burton’s satiric skewering is scattershot at best, the uninhibited madcap energy of his tribute-cum-big-budget-blockbuster nonetheless frequently makes it more amusing and inspired than that of the cheesy ‘50s B-movies (and bloated ‘90s summertime action-sagas) on which it deliriously riffs.

Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, Craig, Obama...

Phil Nugent — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:00:00 GMT

We're used to seeing actors endorse political candidates, but not like this: in an interview with that distinguished cultural journal Parade, Daniel Craig sizes up the American candidates for president and decides which of them is best-suited to take his job. After asking Craig about which Hollywood "tough guy" he would most like to emulate (“The obvious choice for me would be Bogart. Not only because of that ease he had with his unique take on masculinity, but also—and this is much more important—because he got to sleep with Lauren Bacall.”), interviewer Kevin Sessums hits him with the big one: “Who do you think would be the better James Bond—Barack Obama or John McCain?” As Sessums reports, "Craig doesn’t hesitate. 'Obama would be the better Bond because—if he’s true to his word—he’d be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them. McCain, because of his long service and experience, would probably be a better M,' he adds, mentioning Bond’s boss, played by Dame Judi Dench. 'There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.'”

In other election season movie news, Reuters is reporting that a majority of people who responded to a Moviephone.com poll voted Harrison Ford's character in Air Force One as their favorite movie president, coming in ahead of Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. Trying to explain this, Moviefone's Scott Robson says, "It seems everybody is looking for a commander-in-chief who can come in and take command. Our readers voted with their hearts at a time when you have the economy going down the tubes, but in an ideal world it would be great to have a president who can kick some ass." It will be remembered that presidents Ford and Freeman stood up to Gary Oldman in a Satanic goatee and a big fucking rock from space, respectively. Others who made it onto the top ten include Bill Pullman in Independence Day, Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks!, and Jeff Bridges in The Contender, who, respectively and with varying results, stood up to alien attackers, more alien attackers, and Gary Oldman in an Antonin Scalia haircut. E. G. Marshall in Superman II finished out of the money entirely, proving that if you balance the budget but also kneel before invading Kryptonian supermen, one guess which act is the one that everyone remembers.

The Screengrab : mars attacks!

Precursors: Mars Attacks! (1996)

Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, Craig, Obama...