baseline movie reviews: "mars attacks!" "independence day," four others

8/13/2019 Baseline movie reviews: "Mars Attacks!" "Independence Day," four others

1/7

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Close Encounter of the First Kind:Sighting (Poor)Close Encounter of the Second Kind:Physical Evidence (Fair)Close Encounter of the Third Kind:Contact (Good)Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind:Invasion (Excellent)Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind:Colonization (Masterpiece)

IN THEATERS NOWMARS ATTACKS


2/7

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4:g$f:gllored spectacle as two-dimensional as the trading cards that,inspired it, MARSATTACKS is a kitsch.homa_geto every 1950s drive-in scielnce-fiction-mo'vi" "fi"ft"-n"vuns fry,. salrcelq fly, gianj robots topple, and Martian brains explode... OK, so mayb e thlthtt-qun is_the filmmakers'y?y of appealing to modern sensibilities. It's aligreatly amusing,if ultimately a little unsatisSring.*ft9t a stunning.opening sequence, U.S. President Dale (Jack Nicholson) announces that afleet of apparently.benign spaceships is approaching. Asihe world waits, we meet theimmense cast in trild-and-true ({l_gs_s than sfrccessfut; aEaster-movie asnion. nmongthem: news anchor Jason Sjonq (Yig$"t J. ry*), {t9i fy interviewer Natalie I.ake (SarahI-e;$Sa Parker), bus driver Louise Williams (Pam Gri6r), former heavyweight cliampEf;;Wlliams ({im_nr-ory12, pipe-.smoking scientist Dr. Donald Kessler (Piercebrosnan)-, FiiJ:lady Marsha Dale (Glenn Close), Prels gsslstary Jerry Ross (Martin Short), a trailer-trashdad (Joe Don Baker), a grandmothel (sylvia Sidney, who gives the movie'jbestPllforyrance), and.a white-trash casino developer ffichotson again) and his New Age-ywife (Annette Bening). Directors Jerzy Skolimowdki and Barbe"t Sihroeder have smill rolesas, respectively, a scientist and the President of France.The introductions take a fair bit too long,. q0 9y the time the Martians start killing off therymP cast (starting with Fox and Paul Winfield), they're way overdue. Their eventualdemise, conversely, comes a bit too soon and anticlimacticaily. In between are some goodgags, sveral inventive weapons,-a couple of audacious human experiments, and a fe#minor but annoying inconsistencies.The-c_ult-classic, 1962Topps ggrds stressed ? hld,pulpy tone of impending apocalypse --the Martians looked equally ridiculous, but the death and devastation wereri.t 1ituy".i'fotJaughs. The film's 9ndlng_ig different from the Earth-attacks finale of the cardi,ahd the plot4q::qtrylly.been dumbed down. And for the record, the reportedly $70 million MARSATTACKS isn't the first movie adapted from trading cardi -- TH-E GARBAGE pAILKIDS MOVIE (1987) holds that distinction.

--Written by Frank LoveceSTARRING: Jack Nicholson - President James Dale/Art LandGlenn Close - First Lady Marsha DaleAnnette Bening - Mrs Barbara LandPierce Brosnan - Professor Donald KesslerDanny DeVito - Rude GamblerMartin Short - Press Secretary Jerry RossSarah Jessica Parker - Natalie LakeMichael J. Fox - Jason Stone. Rod -


3/7

II\TDEPEIYDENCE DAY(United States, 1996)SYtr{OPSIS:REVIEW:Utt y_U"Jyi r_g t Zone cloaked morality plays in paranormal trappings,INDEPENDENCED,AY uses sci-fi sp_ectacle to tell a good o1' fashioned war story.ALIENS (1986) did the same thing: When the bad guys are murderous extraterrejtrialsrather than poor-sucker enemy draftees, it's deliciously easy to cheer on the troops.{nd th{ we do, after Clinton-esque President Thomas J.'Whitmore (Bill Pullman) andGeneral William Grlf (R9be{ Loggia) have made 9very attempt to iommunicate peaceablyyjtn $ aliens. By then, they've already seen a mother itrfu Aisfatch three dozen_15-mile-wi_de {lyiqg saucers, which have perched over major cilies. Math whiz DavidLevinson (Jeff_Goldblum)_deducg tlt? th. ships are using Earth satellite signals tocoordinate, so he and dad Julius (Judd Hirsch) rush to the-White House, whire David'sex-wife (Margaret _Co]in) is p^res_s secretary. Then the hovering hoard begins blasting away,turning cities into fireballs of collapsing dominoes.Other heroes-in-the-making include drunken vet-turned-crop duster pilot Russell CasseBg*9v Qgaid), top-gun Cagtag Slevel Hiller (an eye-openingly teriific Will Smith), hisgir]{en{ Jasmine_ (Vivegg_A. Fo4 andhis ud y Captain Jimmy Wilder (Harry ConnictJr, D^avid's-boss {r{y (Harvey-Fierstein), the First Lady (MaryMcDonnill;, tire Secretaryof Defense (Jam9s Rebhorn), and a scientist (Brent Spiner)'at Area 51--wher6ihegovernment really is hiding Roswell aliens.Though pre-openingbuzzpainted it as a big-budget B-movie, INDEPENDENCE DAl'transcends its genre roots. Though quickly sketched, its characters are three-dimensional.Urrlike TWISTER (1996)--which is populated by automatons--INDEPENDENCE DA1'features interesting people with recognizably human concerns. Some of its best momentsinvolve not special-effects, but genrrine emotion. Whitmore's speech to his ragtagtroopsbefore their final assault is a well-delivered masterpiece of one-world patriotiim-that only amisanthrope would find corny.The science? It's no more implausible than usual, and while INDEPENDENCE DA1'ultimately gngages Jhe-.eVe more than the brain, it also engages the heart--something mostcurrent action-movie directors have forgotten how to do.


4/7

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MPAA RATING: PG.I3RATTNG:E- &EiTOY STORY(United States, 1995)SYNOPSIS:Woody, a traditional pull-string talking cowboy, has longenjoyed aplace of honor as the favorite among six-year-oldAndy's menagerie of toys. Quick to calm their anxietiesabout being replaced by newer arrivals, Woody finds hisown confidence shaken, and his status as top toy injeopardy, upon the arival of BazzLightyeir, simpty ttrecoolest space action figure ever made. Woody plots to getrid of Btzz, but things backfire and he finds himself lost inthe outside world withBuzz as his only companion. Joiningforces to find their way home, the two rivals set out on anadventure that lands them in the clutches of Sid, a sadisticneighborhood kid who is notorious for dismembering and

reassembling "mutant" toys in his bedroom. As "guests" of Sid and his dog, Scud, tlie twofugitive toys forge a genuine friendship and learn that only through mutual trust and respectdo they have any chance of survival.REVIEW:It'd be easy to applaud TOY STORY as a breathtaking visual accomplishment. The firstfully computer-animated feature film, this adventure comedy is a jaw-dropping parade ofstate-of-tlie-art images with the art so artfully concealed thal the fict that itiscomputer-animated is quickly forgotten.Yet TOY STORY isn't an instant classic just for its visual inventiveness: The tricks are inthe service of a wonderfully imaginative story. It's filled with cracklingly kinetic set-piecesand verbal jokes, like the real-estate brokerage called Virtual Realty. An escape sequencerivals those of TOPKAPI or TV's "Mission: Impossible." And the antagonist's comeuppanceis so brilliantly eerie, it's like "The TwilightZone" crossed with FREAKS.In an ordinary world in which toys come to life when no one's watching, Andy Davis (voiceof John Morris) receives supercool action figure BuzzLigI'fiyear (voice of Tim Allen) as a 'gift. This upsets pull-string cowboy Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) who genially presidesover snappish Mr. Potato Head (voice of Don Rickles), dinosaur Rex (an amusinglyneurotic Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (voice of Jim Varney), love interest Bo Peep (voice


5/7

DIRECTOR: John asse er dU.S. DISTRIBUTOR: Buena Vista Distribution CompanyRUNNING TIME: 81 mins.MPAA RATING: GRATING:Si&$giJ

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DR. DOLITTLE(United States, 1995)SYNOPSIS:A skilled ghysician, Dr. John Dolittle has longsupp_ressed a very special talent he possessedis achild: the abilify to communicate with animals.Forgotten are his childhood memories of counsel witha four-legged friend until a near accident awakens hisI long-dormant talents._Now owls, horses, guinea pigs -anything that could claim a spot in the animalkingdom -- seek his medical -advice. Dolittle'sconfusion, his colleague's terror and his family'sconcem are all alleviated as a healthy dose of animalbehavior reminds him what it meanito be human.


6/7

-WrifienbyFrek l.oveceSTARRING: Eddie Murphy - DrJohnDoliJtleDIRECTOR: Betty Thomas (I{YF)U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century FoxRUNIYING TIME: 95 mins.MPAA RATING: PG-13RATTNG: E-51

hnp ://chaplin.pkbaseline. com/screer/strange/reviews/deeprisi.htrnlDEEP RISING(United States, 1998)REVIEW:More dumb fun that it ought to be, DEEP RISING is this year's CONGO, updating adventure-moviearchetypes with hip humor and a visually-powerful monster. Its one big fault: It doesnt know when to stop.Charter-boat operator Finnegan (Treat Williams) has a motto: "If the cash is there, we do not care." That'ssensible since his entire boat looks like a greasy engine room and his passengers tend to be the type who sneakaboard boxes oftorpedoes, put guns to each other's heads for fun, and speak the accented English preferred byinternational mercenaries. Led by the dour Hanover (Wes Studi), the current band of brigands plans to rob agigantic cruise ship called the Argonautica, the dream project of an oily American (Anthony Heald) whopresides over the monied multinationals of this Monte Carlo of the South China Sea and has a hidden agenda.None of these human matters matter after the ship gets rammed straight into THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE


7/7

http ://chapli'n.pkbaseline. com/screen/strange/reviews/hh20.htmlHALLOWEEN H2O(United States, 1998)REVIEW:Despite its awkward title, this seventh film in the franchise begun by John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN is a sharplittle bundle of scares and the sort of self-referential humor perfected by co-executive producer KevinWilliamson's SCREAM. It's hard to gauge the scope of Williamson's input: The press kit reports he wrote theinitial screenplay, though (perhaps for labyrinthine Writers Guild reasons) Robert Zappia is credited with thestory, and Zappia and Matt Greenberg with the script. Whatever the case, it's a jolt of fun, with some fun jolts.H20 finds one-time terrorized baby-sitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) living under an assumed name, havingfaked her death. A single mom teaching at a private school attended by her l7-year-old son, John (JoshHartnett), functioning alcoholic and control freak Laurie lives in terror of her apparently unkillable brother'sreturn.And tonight is Halloween 1998, twenty years since psychotic sibling Michael Myers went on his homicidalrampage. The third through sixth HALLOWEEN movies, in which Curtis did not appear, dont exist in thischronology. Accordingly, the "late" Laurie's daughter, Jamie Lloyd (HALLOWEEN IV) is never mentioned.Handsomely mounted and filled with such suspenseful touches as Laurie fearfully seeing things that arent there--at least not most of the time--the film strikes a leisurely pace after its literally gut-twisting opening sequence (inwhich Nancy Stephens reprises her role as Nurse Marion Wittington from the first two films). Suspensefulthroughout (especially a harrowing bit involving a mother and small daughter at a roadside rest stop), H20becomes beautifully unrelenting once the hunter and hunted finally face each other. The characters'pathologiesfeel truthful, and the finale is both poignant and a hammering knockout.Oh, and Jamie Lee's mom, Janet Leigh, plays the school secretary and drives what looks an awful look like hercharacter's first car in PSYCHO.

--Written by Frank LoveceSTARRING:Jamie Lee Curtis - Laurie Strode/Keri TateDIRECTOR: Steve Miner

U.S. DISTRIBUTOR:Dimension FilmsRUNNING TIME: 85 mins.MPAA RATING: R

baseline movie reviews: "mars attacks!" "independence day," four others

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