Independence Day 2 & 3

[Catwoman]

"In the words of my generation...UP YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURS!"

lmao

[The Joker]

i'll probably see it out of curiosity, but I honestly wasn't a ID4 kid back when the film made it's premiere. Unlike alot of my friends were. It was a spectacle for sure, and the sight of NYC being completely destroyed was memorable to say the least, I distinctly remember being much more of a fan of the other invasion from space movie that came out in '96; Mars Attacks!

Since so much time has passed, I'm kinda surprised Devlin and Emmerich aren't just re-booting ID4 like nearly every other film that has name recognition has been. Especially since I heard they want to reboot, as opposed to making a sequel, to Stargate.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

i'll probably see it out of curiosity, but I honestly wasn't a ID4 kid back when the film made it's premiere. Unlike alot of my friends were. It was a spectacle for sure, and the sight of NYC being completely destroyed was memorable to say the least, I distinctly remember being much more of a fan of the other invasion from space movie that came out in '96; Mars Attacks!


It's funny that you mention Mars Attacks. I was in fact about to write up a topic on that particular subject given it's connections to a certain Mr Burton. It's in fact on television where I am tonight. Will be watching it since I haven't seen it in some time. Independence Day was on yesterday too.

As I seem to recall it's quite Burton's wackiest film. First saw it when my family rented it on VHS and while I don't think my dad was quite enthused by it, it did kind of capture my imagination. I always remember the attack in the desert really did frighten the hell out of me at age eight. The Martian's ray gun's that disintegrate people into skeleton's utterly disturbed me for some reason. Now, I just think it's a really cool effect that holds up quite well. And the gun's have those incredible sound effects that you can always imitate. I believe toy company Trendmasters even released a toy of the ray blasters.

The thing I enjoyed most about it was the stellar all-star cast appearances. I recognized quite a few of them from many other projects my family and I had liked. Seeing Jack Nicholson and Danny Devito in the same film! (albeit never meeting). I wasn't aware at the time they have done a series of film's together away from Batman, so Mars Attacks was a blast just for seeing something like that. I was quite upset and shocked however to see another childhood hero, Michael J Fox, getting done in by the Martian's in that infamous desert scene. Diving in to save Sarah Jessica Parker ("Hocus Pocus"), with all that classic "Marty McFly" physicality he always does so brilliantly, only to get zapped by that little bugger lol I very quickly started to get Burton's running gag of wiping out the famous faces throughout. And of course he left old Jack till last. But I was quite relieved to see the great and sweet Sylvia Sidney ("Beetlejuice") be one of the few to survive. How appropriate in her very last film to be the one who save's everything! Burton certainly gave her a sendoff with a bang. I thank Mr Burton for also sparing the babe that is Natalie Portman too lol She hadn't yet done Star Wars but I already knew of her even at that age from Luc Besson's excellent "Leon". It's a shame her character isn't the sharpest but if you put her in a spin-off film with Winona Ryder's Lydia from Beetlejuice, you may have a strange and funny little Burton side project (both characters and actresses are very very similar to each other in many ways).

Some of the jokes and story in Mars Attacks still don't always work for me. Some do fall a bit flat. I was loving Sarah Jessica Parker's performance as the rather dumb media blonde that stumbles into the major stories at the expense of Fox's hardworking professionalism. Once she gets captured, turned into the easy sight gag of a dog and begins flirting with bleedin "James Bond" himself, they kind of cut off the great power supply of her character I was enjoying. I don't know why Burton persisted with giving so much time to that boxer dude either. I think what would have certainly improved the movie would have been much much more Danny Devito.......less less less Tom Jones! Devito may have done this "cameo role" as a favor to Tim but it's just a shame because in any comedy he never fails to have me rolling on the floor with laughter. I was quite disappointed when he finally gets zapped (though one of the best scene's in the movie, "Take it, it's a rolex!"). I did chuckle when Jones exclaims "Jesus Christ!" at the site of his Martian backing singers but as a child I still couldn't stop myself thinking that the clever man who made Batman had now gone a little too round the twist with this idea. Jones appearance should have stopped there but no, he goes on to learn how to fire Martian blaster's (and fly a plane to safety in his best tribute to pantomime acting) and even drop references Cardiff, Wales to poor, undeserving American people. Oh dear.

The real disappointment however was when I learnt who Burton originally wanted for the Las Vegas Casino character that ended up also being played by Jack Nicholson. In fact the particular actor was even considered for the role of the President. It was Michael Keaton! Oh man, why couldn't they have done THAT? Maybe the role is a little too Beetlejuice-esque but still, the movie that would have reunited Keaton with Nicholson (and Devito) is a treat sadly lost.

[The Joker]

It's funny that you mention Mars Attacks. I was in fact about to write up a topic on that particular subject given it's connections to a certain Mr Burton. It's in fact on television where I am tonight. Will be watching it since I haven't seen it in some time. Independence Day was on yesterday too.

As I seem to recall it's quite Burton's wackiest film. First saw it when my family rented it on VHS and while I don't think my dad was quite enthused by it, it did kind of capture my imagination. I always remember the attack in the desert really did frighten the hell out of me at age eight. The Martian's ray gun's that disintegrate people into skeleton's utterly disturbed me for some reason. Now, I just think it's a really cool effect that holds up quite well. And the gun's have those incredible sound effects that you can always imitate. I believe toy company Trendmasters even released a toy of the ray blasters.

The thing I enjoyed most about it was the stellar all-star cast appearances. I recognized quite a few of them from many other projects my family and I had liked. Seeing Jack Nicholson and Danny Devito in the same film! (albeit never meeting). I wasn't aware at the time they have done a series of film's together away from Batman, so Mars Attacks was a blast just for seeing something like that. I was quite upset and shocked however to see another childhood hero, Michael J Fox, getting done in by the Martian's in that infamous desert scene. Diving in to save Sarah Jessica Parker ("Hocus Pocus"), with all that classic "Marty McFly" physicality he always does so brilliantly, only to get zapped by that little bugger lol I very quickly started to get Burton's running gag of wiping out the famous faces throughout. And of course he left old Jack till last. But I was quite relieved to see the great and sweet Sylvia Sidney ("Beetlejuice") be one of the few to survive. How appropriate in her very last film to be the one who save's everything! Burton certainly gave her a sendoff with a bang. I thank Mr Burton for also sparing the babe that is Natalie Portman too lol She hadn't yet done Star Wars but I already knew of her even at that age from Luc Besson's excellent "Leon". It's a shame her character isn't the sharpest but if you put her in a spin-off film with Winona Ryder's Lydia from Beetlejuice, you may have a strange and funny little Burton side project (both characters and actresses are very very similar to each other in many ways).

Some of the jokes and story in Mars Attacks still don't always work for me. Some do fall a bit flat. I was loving Sarah Jessica Parker's performance as the rather dumb media blonde that stumbles into the major stories at the expense of Fox's hardworking professionalism. Once she gets captured, turned into the easy sight gag of a dog and begins flirting with bleedin "James Bond" himself, they kind of cut off the great power supply of her character I was enjoying. I don't know why Burton persisted with giving so much time to that boxer dude either. I think what would have certainly improved the movie would have been much much more Danny Devito.......less less less Tom Jones! Devito may have done this "cameo role" as a favor to Tim but it's just a shame because in any comedy he never fails to have me rolling on the floor with laughter. I was quite disappointed when he finally gets zapped (though one of the best scene's in the movie, "Take it, it's a rolex!"). I did chuckle when Jones exclaims "Jesus Christ!" at the site of his Martian backing singers but as a child I still couldn't stop myself thinking that the clever man who made Batman had now gone a little too round the twist with this idea. Jones appearance should have stopped there but no, he goes on to learn how to fire Martian blaster's (and fly a plane to safety in his best tribute to pantomime acting) and even drop references Cardiff, Wales to poor, undeserving American people. Oh dear.

The real disappointment however was when I learnt who Burton originally wanted for the Las Vegas Casino character that ended up also being played by Jack Nicholson. In fact the particular actor was even considered for the role of the President. It was Michael Keaton! Oh man, why couldn't they have done THAT? Maybe the role is a little too Beetlejuice-esque but still, the movie that would have reunited Keaton with Nicholson (and Devito) is a treat sadly lost.

Nice write up on your thoughts on the film, Cobblepot. I was unaware of Burton trying to get Michael Keaton for the role of the seedy Casino character. Although I thought Jack was hilarious in the part, the idea of Keaton in the part would have been a blast I'm sure.

One thing I remember about that time, was the fact that I was somewhat taken aback by the trailers for Mars Attacks! when I realized that Burton was playing it up as much more of a comedy than I was originally anticipating. But most of that was due to the nature of the original cards, and the comic book series being released by Topps Comics, which were much more serious/harrowing in their presentation.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Well my family and I watched it and had a blast with it! Great, underrated little Burton comedy.

Yeah I did love Jack's dual role myself. My favorite gag is when his Vegas persona has witnessed the Martian's devastation on TV and looks up from smoking a cigarette with a stunned: "Woah...." lol I can certainly imagine that being Michael Keaton's big moment had things worked out differently.

Johnny Depp actually turned down the Jason Stone part. One of the few, if only times, he decided not to work with Burton. Glad he did though. Seeing Michael J Fox working with Burton is just too cool and unique.

In watching it there seemed a few in-jokey references too. At one point when reading a newspaper headline on the Martian discovery Fox exclaims: "This...is intense!". That certainly felt like a Back to the Future reference. Marty tended to go round saying that alongside the similarly "This is heavy!" whenever problems arose lol When Martin Short invites the Martian Spy Girl into his secret room he actually flipped up the head of a JFK bust and touched a hidden switch to gain access. Batman TV series reference if ever I saw one. Just in case anybody really believed Burton didn't like the Adam West era...not true.

I'd also forgotten just what a cracking main theme Danny Elfman had composed. Alongside a damn good title sequence, Burton appears to be a master of these. With those cool, spooky Martian "whirrs" in the music I'd love if Elfman got his hands on something like the Doctor Who theme to orchestrate.

[Grissom]

SuperBowl spot.

[Silver Nemesis]

[Grissom]

I like it! I'm still a bit worried about the storyline though. I think Independence Day is one of the best stand alone sci-fi blockbusters, so to do a sequel, the story must be good and feasible. It remains to be seen how it turns out but yeah I'll go to the theatre and see it. Looks like Emmerich completely destroyed the world this time.