So the movie with which I return to the regular feature is Mars Attacks. Released in 1996 to a disappointed box-office, this is a Film I truly enjoy, but I suspect it was also going to be for a rather limited audience.

Mar Attacks, from director Tim Burton is a silly, nonsensical film of Earth subjected to invasion from Mars. It is based upon a series of trading cards from the Topps Company, which cause a mild sensation with their gruesome graphics and somewhat sensual nature.

Anyone coming to the movie expecting realism, or even logic is likely to be disappointed. However if approached from a less judgmental frame of reference and particularly if you are familiar with the disaster films of the 70s and alien invasion films of the 50s then this is a quite funny, and touching homage to that style of filmmaking.

Like the disaster films that proved so popular in the wake of The Poseidon Adventure, Mars Attacks boasts a cast of stars; none are a protagonist and all are subject to violent death from the invaders. Sitting on the ‘A-List’ in no ways means you will survive this movie. The performances are far from naturalistic, but rather overblown in a style of acting that vanished sometime around One The Waterfront. I particularly liked Pierce Brosnan’s dry, perpetually wrong scientist.

The other half of this film is the 50s SciFi invasion film. Burton even decked the soldiers out in the olive drab uniforms of the 50s rather than the correct modern camouflage fatigues of the 1990s. If you have not seen films like, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, then you will miss a lot of the references and the general style of the special effects.

A word about the special effects, especially for a mid 1990s production the CGI Martians look quite good. While even on DVD I could spot things that would not pass muster today, the film was still quite good looking and I enjoyed the viewing.

If you watch the film, look for an early performance from Jack Black before stardom found him and he slipped into playing one character with one voice.

Mars Attacks is not a film for everyone, but it is one I enjoy and have not regretted buying on DVD.