I am with Ebert on this one. I just watched this for the first time and I couldn't stop thinking "Did Tim Burton intentionally try to make this movie as if Ed Wood made it?". At one point I even thought to myself "I wonder if he went as far to only use the first take in some scenes".
But that WAS exactly the intention... It's a loving tribute to the 50s flying saucer B-movies that were indeed shoddily made. I'm surprised someone as intelligent as Ebert didn't get that.
@zufgh the intention was for that to be funny. Like, being bad in a good way. That's not what ended up happening. It wasn't funny. Even in comedy films, meant to parody older film, there still has to be some interest in the characters and such in order to be engaging. Those older films were terrible, not just because of the effects, but also the story and characters. So a good comedy film would use that stuff to subvert and do things in a way to make the characters and story actually engaging, memorable, and of course, funny, but this film failed at that. None of the characters were interesting or funny, many of the jokes got repetitive or were predictable, and it just seemed like it was trying to parody something without actually knowing how parody works. Making something just as bad as something else intentionally doesn't make something good. There has to be a level of sophistication to it.
This was an entertaining movie and well worth watching. The campy 1950's aliens were great. Was it designed to win awards? lol...nope but it was still fun to watch
As a kid, I thought this movie was a scary. As an adult, I find it boring but I do admit Jack Nicholson was the best in the film as the inept president
Ebert missed the point of lots of things, one I can think of is Meet The Applegates. he passed it off as a series of gags when it's actually about western culture/consumerism destroying conservative america , xenophobia, and the cold war. (it's not subtle either).
I'm kinda with Roger except there are some things I do like about Mars Attacks! The martians work very well. I get that the humor is based on mostly on satire, but it's clunky and never really lands on its intended target. Aside from Pierce Brosnan no character seems to on the same page as far as being a send up of 1950's flying saucer films. The cast is completely bloated with characters either off key, unremarkable, unfunny, or just plain unnecessary. Like what does Mars Attacks gain or lose from Danny Devito's role?
Devito’s role just just an extended cameo. He was put in because he was the Penguin in tim burtons Batman returns. Same for Nicholson playing as burton’s joker. Nicholson was just given the larger role
My only issue with Mars Attacks is that, as a story, there's no anchor for the audience. Almost every seemingly major character gets killed off after relatively short screen time. Which can work well in a drama (e.g., having the lead character die in Psycho), but with an epic comedy, it just makes the whole thing feel like a collection of vignettes pretending to be a story. Still, I admire it, and I give it a thumbs-up. And kudos to Tom Jones for being in a movie that pokes fun at his music.
Cutting edge movie that has a sense of humor more intelligent than pretty much anything that's come out since. Plus an all star cast how can you hate it?
I wish I'd liked this movie, being a big fan of Tim Burton. It's supposed 1950s, flying saucer hysteria. Maybe i should take it as a satire, comedy. I'm with Ebert with this one!
@CORTEZ CASTILLO well Mars Attacks was easily the worst film I've ever seen. It makes no difference if it's satire, it's still shit. It has all these big name stars and none of them do anything worthwhile and then get killed as if they don't matter. Garbage!
@CORTEZ CASTILLO I don't care about any of that, I just think it's a giant troll film. The first half of the film is just so fucking boring with scenes that are pointless and often have no context or any relevance later. It's not even funny or entertaining, it's just garbage. I hated hated hated hated hated this piece of shit film
It's much more funny and relevant in the time it was made (the Topps cards). The problem with Burton is that he's been fighting against "bullies" that are long dead and maybe never existed.
If I want Jack Nicholson's character to die in a movie as I did in this movie then that means it is a bad movie. Nicholson is one of my two favorite actors but I really wonder if he and the all star cast as well as Burton were all desperate for money in making this. It was bad. I know it was supposed to be a tribute to bad movies but it just didnt work.
What movie was Siskel watching? His observation that Tim Burton "liked the aliens better than the Earthlings" was idiotic. He said the aliens were "a blast"? How? In how moronic they behaved?
The first time I saw this film (And I believe it was opening week, the same week of either Haley's comet or Levi 9 can't quite recall), I absolutely hated it and Ebert was right. But I get was Siskel is saying and I didn't really understand the meaning of 'Lampoon' back then like I do now. Does anyone remember John Landis' _Kentucky Fried Movie?_ That film is comparatively as vacuous and silly as Mars attacks, yet for some odd reason I had a blast watching it; they're almost the same film; Austin Powers similarly with its overdone toilet humor, yet it isn't _those_ aspects of the film I now realize the audience laughs at and enjoys. As Siskel points out, it's the _Martians,_ the logic of the characters in response to what's happening that is the joke. You can choose to laugh, but it's "just a tasteless joke" since there is no proper way to respond to the situation; anyway you choose you lose in this film, and that is the whole premise Burton conveys over and over. There is no punchline, no build up, no reason or rhyme to it, no climax, no context. Just the World caught up in an incredibly futile circumstance that in substance is so ridiculous that all you can do (if you choose to) is laugh... that nothing in the Universe ever made any sense. The Martians are here, they're going to kill everyone on this planet...just for fun, and there is NOTHING we can do. Humanity in contrast to the Martians is just as absurd and meaningless as long as this is happening. That is the big Lampoon of this film.
“Don’t run… we are your friends.”
2:06 Giant moth lands on Siskel's eyebrow
Of all the characters, I thought Annette Bening's was my favorite. It was over the top, but her delivery was just so great.
Just saw it. It was fun! my god the president pissed me off, GO TO WAR!!
Based on the TOPPS trading card games
I had the whole set as a kid. They would have to be worth something now.
I am with Ebert on this one.
I just watched this for the first time and I couldn't stop thinking "Did Tim Burton intentionally try to make this movie as if Ed Wood made it?".
At one point I even thought to myself "I wonder if he went as far to only use the first take in some scenes".
But that WAS exactly the intention... It's a loving tribute to the 50s flying saucer B-movies that were indeed shoddily made. I'm surprised someone as intelligent as Ebert didn't get that.
@zufgh the intention was for that to be funny. Like, being bad in a good way. That's not what ended up happening. It wasn't funny. Even in comedy films, meant to parody older film, there still has to be some interest in the characters and such in order to be engaging.
Those older films were terrible, not just because of the effects, but also the story and characters. So a good comedy film would use that stuff to subvert and do things in a way to make the characters and story actually engaging, memorable, and of course, funny, but this film failed at that. None of the characters were interesting or funny, many of the jokes got repetitive or were predictable, and it just seemed like it was trying to parody something without actually knowing how parody works.
Making something just as bad as something else intentionally doesn't make something good. There has to be a level of sophistication to it.
Go Siskel!
This was an entertaining movie and well worth watching. The campy 1950's aliens were great.
Was it designed to win awards? lol...nope but it was still fun to watch
Ebert had it right when he said that Men In Black was the movie this could have been.
That was a better movie. But Mars Attacks is a fun silly lampoon of 70's disaster flicks, Ed Wood style.
As a kid, I thought this movie was a scary.
As an adult, I find it boring but I do admit Jack Nicholson was the best in the film as the inept president
2:06 Fly on his forehead. Leaves quick though.
Hashtag Mike Pence your table is ready hahaha
Ack Ack! Ack ACK!
Ack ACK!!! 👽
The only time Ebert missed the point. He seems to usually stand up for movies like this and Siskel is the one who doesn't get it.
He’s missed plenty. He reviewed thousands upon thousands of films and you can’t expect to agree with him on all of them.
Just watched it on Hulu and I really expected this to be right up Ebert's alley with his love of 50's sci-fi
Ebert missed the point of lots of things, one I can think of is Meet The Applegates. he passed it off as a series of gags when it's actually about western culture/consumerism destroying conservative america , xenophobia, and the cold war. (it's not subtle either).
Hardly the only time.
I'm kinda with Roger except there are some things I do like about Mars Attacks! The martians work very well. I get that the humor is based on mostly on satire, but it's clunky and never really lands on its intended target. Aside from Pierce Brosnan no character seems to on the same page as far as being a send up of 1950's flying saucer films. The cast is completely bloated with characters either off key, unremarkable, unfunny, or just plain unnecessary. Like what does Mars Attacks gain or lose from Danny Devito's role?
Devito’s role just just an extended cameo. He was put in because he was the Penguin in tim burtons Batman returns. Same for Nicholson playing as burton’s joker. Nicholson was just given the larger role
Yeah I agree. It was a fantastic idea but didn’t stick the landing.
My only issue with Mars Attacks is that, as a story, there's no anchor for the audience. Almost every seemingly major character gets killed off after relatively short screen time. Which can work well in a drama (e.g., having the lead character die in Psycho), but with an epic comedy, it just makes the whole thing feel like a collection of vignettes pretending to be a story.
Still, I admire it, and I give it a thumbs-up. And kudos to Tom Jones for being in a movie that pokes fun at his music.
Mars Attacks shows how bad a film can be. It has a huge budget and a great cast, but literally wastes all of it
My friend had the same reaction after we saw the movie, but I noticed that all the "good" people in the movie survive.
Well if you get the Topps cards it tells a story.
@@Dim4323, this video (and by extension my comment) is about the movie.
Siskel, ✊
Cutting edge movie that has a sense of humor more intelligent than pretty much anything that's come out since. Plus an all star cast how can you hate it?
I wish I'd liked this movie, being a big fan of Tim Burton. It's supposed 1950s, flying saucer hysteria. Maybe i should take it as a satire, comedy. I'm with Ebert with this one!
One of the best. I had the set of cards as a kid so I kinda knew th whole movie. Ebert was way off on this one.
No, you're way off, this film is pure garbage and it will always be garbage
@CORTEZ CASTILLO well Mars Attacks was easily the worst film I've ever seen. It makes no difference if it's satire, it's still shit. It has all these big name stars and none of them do anything worthwhile and then get killed as if they don't matter. Garbage!
@CORTEZ CASTILLO I don't care about any of that, I just think it's a giant troll film. The first half of the film is just so fucking boring with scenes that are pointless and often have no context or any relevance later. It's not even funny or entertaining, it's just garbage. I hated hated hated hated hated this piece of shit film
@@rockys201 You can't have seen a lot of movies if this is the worst one you've ever seen.
@@zufgh you can't have seen a lot of movies if you like it, it's shit
I think Roger Ebert was right on his last point. This was easily the most expensive B film ever made.
It was based on the Topps trading cards.
It's much more funny and relevant in the time it was made (the Topps cards). The problem with Burton is that he's been fighting against "bullies" that are long dead and maybe never existed.
“The creatures… ”THEY ARE ALIENS! For F’s sake!
If I want Jack Nicholson's character to die in a movie as I did in this movie then that means it is a bad movie. Nicholson is one of my two favorite actors but I really wonder if he and the all star cast as well as Burton were all desperate for money in making this. It was bad. I know it was supposed to be a tribute to bad movies but it just didnt work.
Who's Jack Nicholson? Sounds familiar 🤔 Jackkk, Jackkk? Postman? No ...uh, plumber? No, (keep thinking)
What movie was Siskel watching?
His observation that Tim Burton "liked the aliens better than the Earthlings" was idiotic.
He said the aliens were "a blast"?
How? In how moronic they behaved?
lol this was funny the original spoof
The first time I saw this film (And I believe it was opening week, the same week of either Haley's comet or Levi 9 can't quite recall), I absolutely hated it and Ebert was right. But I get was Siskel is saying and I didn't really understand the meaning of 'Lampoon' back then like I do now. Does anyone remember John Landis' _Kentucky Fried Movie?_ That film is comparatively as vacuous and silly as Mars attacks, yet for some odd reason I had a blast watching it; they're almost the same film; Austin Powers similarly with its overdone toilet humor, yet it isn't _those_ aspects of the film I now realize the audience laughs at and enjoys. As Siskel points out, it's the _Martians,_ the logic of the characters in response to what's happening that is the joke. You can choose to laugh, but it's "just a tasteless joke" since there is no proper way to respond to the situation; anyway you choose you lose in this film, and that is the whole premise Burton conveys over and over. There is no punchline, no build up, no reason or rhyme to it, no climax, no context. Just the World caught up in an incredibly futile circumstance that in substance is so ridiculous that all you can do (if you choose to) is laugh... that nothing in the Universe ever made any sense. The Martians are here, they're going to kill everyone on this planet...just for fun, and there is NOTHING we can do. Humanity in contrast to the Martians is just as absurd and meaningless as long as this is happening. That is the big Lampoon of this film.
Kingpin sucked but they liked it. Go figure.
Kingpin ruled and they liked it. Go figure.
Kingpin was good, Mars Attacks was dogshit
This movie sucked
Worst film I've ever seen
Maybe you don’t like the human bean.
@@lorddowski no, just bad movies
I’ve seen worse. MUCH worse.
@@Unqualifiedmedicalperson I haven't
@@rockys201 Watch The Room