Director Tim Burton unleashes MARS ATTACKS! a vicious affectionate brightly-colored homage to 1950s alien invasion movies. When a shiny silver flying saucer lands in the Nevada desert a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful they promptly vaporize a gathering of unfortunate Earthlings kicking off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects. This studiously campy sci-fi spoof based on a series of Topps bubble-gum cards gleefully parodies not only schlock B-horror movies but also overblown blockbusters such as INDEPENDENCE DAY. This subversive film is helped along by an all-star cast including Jack Nicholson in dual roles as both a clueless U.S. President (with First Lady Glenn Close) and a Las Vegas sleazebag. The film follows the wacky WAR OF THE WORLD--like proceedings from the points of view of numerous colorful characters from the inane U.S. Press Secretary (Martin Short) to a trailer-park family (Lukas Haas and Sylvia Sidney) singer Tom Jones (as himself).
