Why do you (the fans) keep mocking RLM for being old and frail? Old age and frailty come to everyone. Nothing you can do about it, unless you join to the 27 (or lower) Club.
I absolutely adore this movie. My dad was born in 1950, so he grew up with the mars attack cards, and i grew up with him sharing them with me. So when this came out the two of us had so so so much fun pointing out scenes and shots that were directly from the topps cards. Not the greatest movie, but man it means the world to me. Miss ya dad.
I'm shocked these guys did not review extemporaneous information about the film. They would have learned the film was based on effects and layouts from 1950s and 60s monster/alien B grade films that were made in the LA area using free casts of high school students.
My dad would always fall asleep in the movie theatre, but I remember that Mars Attacks was the one movie he stayed awake for. He was laughing hysterically. He thought it was so funny that almost none of the celebrities made it "haha they even killed the president!"
Mine too. Dozy tw@t 😂 Not a movie guy at all. In The Mummy (1999), the baddies were chanting “Imhotep” over and over and he thought they were saying “Tomotei” which is a brand of shampoo 😂.
Mars Attacks terrified me as a child to no end. Found the visuals incredibly creepy, but it was also my first real encounter with the concept of death, maybe sticking out so much because of how quickly and unceremoniously everyone dies. Couldn't get to sleep for a month afterwards. Very weird film to have that happen on reflection.
I always look for this sort of comment when Mars Attacks is discussed online. It's always somewhere, too. I loved horror as a little girl, but Mars Attacks hit different. I think, for a lot of kids growing up around that time, it was our first run-in with casual cruelty/mass murder played for laughs. Baby's first cosmic horror Rated PG-13
It was a little bit shocking in that sense, with how so many characters are introduced and you start getting to know them, but then so many of them are just killed abruptly, and I remember thinking that the vaporization looked incredibly impressive, almost a little disturbing. I was legit bummed when DeVito's character gets zapped, just because I really liked him as an actor, even when I was a kid. I had seen plenty of death and killing in movies and games before that though, so it wasn't too new for me. In fact scenes from James Bond movies were more shocking to me in that sense, particularly License To Kill, because then instead of weird and not-human monsters cruelly killing humans, you've got humans cruelly killing humans.
Maaaaan yeahhhh totally. Mom saw the vhs thought it was a cartoon comedy like toy story, got it rented for family night... I was so disturbed man i think i hid and cried and i constantly had nightmares of the dog body horse lady
Thank you, I felt the same thing and it's nice to have it pointed out. Maybe it was because the comedy aspect fell flat, but a lot of the deaths just felt... mean spirited. There were a few other movies around this era that gave me the same feeling and no one seems to notice. I don't think a single person that died gave off the "damn I'm glad they died" feeling.
@@tyranusfan True. In today's information age, people often seek more depth and realism in the narratives they encounter. Understanding the practical aspects of a story, such as the affordability of an apartment or the financial circumstances of the characters, can add to the plausibility and relatability of the narrative. Viewers and readers have become more curious and critical, desiring a deeper understanding of the world depicted in stories. They may question plot holes, character motivations, or the feasibility of certain situations. This desire for coherence and realism is partly influenced by increased access to information and a greater awareness of real-world complexities.
This movie actually really scared me as a kid. I was too young to find it funny. The ray guns just instantly making you a skeleton was so much more brutal and graphic than normal Hollywood gunshots. And the fact that the aliens couldn’t be reasoned with made me more afraid lol
Dude, I'm glad someone feels the same way. I must have seen this when I was around 13 or so and I fascinated by how deeply morbid the whole thing was. Something about the way the cast was killed off somewhat randomly meant you never knew which character you were going to develop an attachment to only to watch them reduced to a screaming skeleton without almost any warning and it really kept my nuts in my throat.
Probably the biggest cultural impact this movie had was Craig McCracken said that Pierce Brosnan in this was the inspiration for Professor Utonium on The Powerpuff Girls.
There's a problem with your statement. The timeline of PPG's development doesn't agree with it! PowerPuff Girls was created in 1992 when McCracken was attending CalArts, second year. For most of that year, he worked on the pilot film and barely attended classes. Mars Attacks was released theatrically in 1996! I've seen the original pilot of PPG (when it was called "Wh00p@$$ Stew!) and Utonium was mentioned. The opening is almost the same as what was used in the TV series. Yes, it's possible the Professor character WAS redesigned after McCracken saw Mars Attacks but the pilot film already existed! They aired a version of the pilot on Cartoon Network in 1995 (after CN made McCracken change the title to PowerPuff Girls). I don't know if it's the same inked and painted version of the pilot film I've seen in pencil test and final form.
@@Emplordxiii Really?!? Then why did the OP mention that McCracken said Utonium was modeled after the Brosnan character in Mars Attacks?!? Oh, you really don't read other people's responses before you post, do you?
@@AvengerII Why are you overcomplicating this? Professor Utonium's first canonical appearance was in 1998. He certainly doesn't show up as an actual character in the original pilot, whether he's mentioned or not. His mannerisms in the show (including the pipe he used to smoke, that was later dropped) are very similar to that of Brosnan's character here. Surely McCrackend had an idea for the character to exist as a creator/mentor, but didn't come up with his personality and mannerisms until later, likely inspired by this movie.
@@Dreadjaws God, you guys really are this stupid, aren't you? Reading comprehension isn't your strength, is it? You just get emotional and attack people when reality doesn't align with your views! Watch the original cartoon and STOP DEPENDING on the Wikipedia and some yahoo off the Internet for your answers! Utonium is in the pilot! Also, READ and UNDERSTAND what people write! I said McCracken changed the design to LOOK more like Brosnan! I feel bad you're the next generation of voters and leaders. If people edit stuff online and you can't read a book OR look for things on your own, you're doomed!!!
I used to see a girl who kept her "Jesus and Coffee" mug at my house. She was a stripper so it was an irony thing, but the best part was that it was part of a gift basket a group of church ladies brought to the club. Apparently that's a thing they do lol
Funnily enough, today (after many many years) I learned that was not Michael Keaton! I always thought it was Michael Keaton and was blown away when they said it was Nicholson.
@@Masteroftheweb Bet that dude is living his best life somewhere, watching Mars Attacks once a year with the love of his life and their 3 kids, and the dog has been trained to fetch beer from the refrigerator.
Ironically, the trading cards had a full story written in sequential parts on the backs. If you collected them all, you could read it like a little novel.
True, though "full story" is stretching it. The majority of the cards were basically just set pieces showing gruesome deaths and weird alien monsters or technology. The very light story basically just consisted of "aliens invade earth, aliens destroy cities, humans fight back, humans invade mars, humans blow up mars." Very loose, no real characters or plot.
Brosnan's character yelling at the aliens that they can't be aggressive because they were too advanced, as they're blowing everything up is my absolute favorite bit.
As a Chicagoan this rings true. The Kim Basinger character from 8 Mile callout by Mike - having a southern accent despite living in Detroit was hysterical.
@@TheMarc388 It is funny, but unfortunately Mike is mistaken. Eminem was born in Missouri. His mom really had a Southern accent. They didn't move to Michigan until Eminem was practically a teenager. Eminem and his Mom moved around throughout the South before moving North and settling down outside of Detroit in Warren, Michigan.
It was more him being offended FOR southerners as hollywood just portrays anyone who's poor and uneducated as being "of the south". I, however, have definitely met my fair share of shoe-size IQ Californians.
Apparently Tim Burton pitched this film by showing studio executives the cards the movie is based on and relating it to scenes in the movie. Which beyond just a funny image of a grown man showing 15 men in a board room a trading card game as a movie, but also explains why the movie ended up how it did.
I went to a talk last year by a stop-motion puppet fabricator who was involved in making the test puppets for this movie before they went the CGI route. I even got to see a brief test shot that they animated. One of the tricky parts about doing it with stop motion was that the glass domes on the alien's heads had to be removed and reattached every frame so that the animators could access the face.
I can see why they went the route they did, that would have been hellishly obnoxious to pull off, I can only imagine desperately trying to keep things looking consistent for each frame.
Mike, I was raised in the deep south. As an educated, employed, and not impoverished individual who had his accent stigmatize him, I would like to thank you for speaking out against the Hollywood trope that has branded and burdened me all these years. Due to the drawl, when I point out that the Southern accent is a moniker for stupid, people hone in on my accent and disregard what I am saying. Thank you.
I was born and lived in the South until I was 12 before moving to New England, and although I didn't have an accent (which people couldn't believe at all), I had to constantly let people know that we did indeed have electricity and running water and shit. I know it was before social media but it was crazy that everyone thought I lived in a cabin on a field because that's all the South was. I spent the better part of 2 decades defending it, though I've had to give that up over the past 8 years or so due to the fact that a very certain type of Southern people are the ones always being outspoken on social media and TV, so it's kind of a fool's errand at this point.
You can see the pain that Jay feels watching Mike's dementia progress. Jay is slowly watching his friend decay into nothing but unfunny jokes, nonsequiturs, and Star Trek references.
@@23randomuser age affects us all in different ways … we shouldn’t be too harsh on the elderly. then again: mike likes to make fun of the elderly, so this is a beautifully twist in a way … it’s almost like poetry. perhaps it even rhymes.
The best part of Dinosaur Attacks! is that it not only has a storyline with the main antagonist being Dinosaur Satan, it also has a Mars Attacks! crossover with dinosaurs and aliens traveling through time wrecking stuff
I watched a youtube documentary about Dinosaurs Attack! and it mentioned that Tim Burton wanted to do that originally but because of the dinosaur hysteria after Jurassic Park he then went with Mars Attacks!. Edit: or Jurassic Park was in production... don't remember clearly
We are living in exciting times, knowing that Mr. Plinkett probably will be awakened again for Indiana Jones 5: The Dial of Dementia! All we have to do is wait 10 years, tops!
I used to work in a mental health stabilization facility (the place you go when involuntarily placed in a psych review), and this was one of the few of VHS tapes the clients could watch (or Joe Dirt, On Golden Pond, or Golf Channel) in their free time. I dunno, it always struck me as a little absurd this was approved for them when some of the clients might be having audio-visual hallucinations or experiencing massive paranoia--but this vividly-colored, satirical gag-fest was okay.
I've always assumed Jay's theory about the massive all-star cast getting nothing to do but get vaporised was correct. It fits the shock humour tone of the original cards, even if it wasn't executed perfectly. I think it may be due to the wackiness of the characters. If the all-star cast were doing their little bits like they were gunning for an Oscar in a gritty drama, it would make the schlock stand out all the more.
In an interview, Martin Short explained that early on, he was the only name that had signed on, and they were having trouble getting more names. But after Jack Nicolson joined the cast, there was a deluge of actors taking the production seriously.
@@Vzzdak Makes sense. Nicholson had a lot of pull at the time. Honestly, I feel like this film could have been an Airplane!-tier comedy if tweaked and smoothened out.
@@stuartdunlop8834 Inverse has a December 13, 2021 oral history that provides insight into the production. Notable that Burton originally wanted stop-motion, but it was too expensive for what they intended. Everyone involved seemed to feel they had a hit, and it was successful internationally. The observation is that marketing failed the film's debut in America.
Mars Attacks was our final for Film Theory. The professor wrote three words at the top of the white board: THEMES/ MOTIFS/ MISE EN SCENE Then he put on Mars Attacks and just left. We were supposed to watch it and then write out all the aspects of the film which belonged in those 3 columns. Afterward, I asked the professor if I could see how his columns for Mars Attacks compared to mine. He laughed and said, "I never wrote any but they'd just have the words 'nonsense' written out 3 times. That whole movie is just Burton masturbating." "Then why..." "I teach people how to watch movies. I give you a final because the board requires me to. Everyone who took the final is getting an A. I just figured Mars Attacks would be a nice change of pace for our last day." "Oh... Then can I have an A+?" And that was how I got an A+ in Film Theory.
Even when I don't agree with what you guys are saying, these videos are always so fun and entertaining. I love Mars Attacks! The weird, unstructured script and vapid characters just kinda work for me. It all feels so off-beat and unique, and it's fun to see a bunch of mega-stars in such a weird, bizarre movie.
Agreed. Jay and Mike talk about the movie like they really wanted this to be some tightly-scripted Summer blockbuster when it was always intended to be as wild and stupid as they could get away with -- and in that Burton succeeded spectacularly! They're complaining about the performances when everyone knew what kind of movie they were making and purposely leaned into it.The reason the movie flopped was because audiences took the intentionally-bad movie seriously. If you're watching this looking for high art, you're going to be disappointed.
@@Zipshysa I have no idea how they could miss that Tim was making an Ed Wood film. I agree with the op even though they completely missed the point of the movie their review is still entertaining.
Yeah, that's what drew me to it originally. I'm really not a big movie watcher, as it takes something that kinda sticks out for me to want to see it, and this fits that. The cast, the theme, and just how weird it seemed, so I rented it and I pretty much got what I was expecting. I don't really recall watching any other movie like it, which is why it's always like in the back of my head and kind of a guilty pleasure.
@@BackwardsFish86 That's exactly what it is -- an homage to Ed Wood. One of my favorite moments I haven't seen mentioned in here is how Jack Black's entire story is him striving to be the ultimate soldier and when his moment finally comes, this guy, who in his establishing character moment can put together his weapon blindfolded in a timed test, he IMMEDIATELY chokes and hits the mag release, disarming himself after all his effort. It's hilarious for people who don't know anything about guns, and for people who know things about guns, it's even funnier.
When I was growing up my mom owned exactly two "scary" movies I could watch as a young kid which were Mars Attacks and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. For a while I thought music killing the bad guys was a really normal thing that most movies would do
I always thought the intent of Mars attacks was to make an Ed Wood style ridiculous movie, complete with the weird use of high tier actors in such shlock.
Yeah, it's very odd that Jay and Mike didn't pick up on that, especially after learning that the Martians were supposed to be stop motion puppets. Also, Burton did Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, and Sweeney Todd after this, so he definitely didn't abandon his signature style. Big Fish was different, but it was really good. There was also Frankenweenie. The Wonka and Wonderland movies being so bad have killed his mystique.
Fun fact: Tim Burton originally wanted to make a Dinosaurs Attack movie but Jurassic park was already in production so they decided to make mars attacks instead
Meanwhile, Roger Corman rushed _Carnosaur_ into production specifically *because of* _Jurassic Park's_ impending release - and managed to secure it a limited theatrical run a month before _JP_ hit cinemas.
They liked it fine. They just didn't throw a fit about it being "the greatest thing ever made" or "an unappreciated gem" as is the norm for UA-cam videos. And I'm not blaming you for this, to be clear. It's just how meters are calibrated now.
I first watched Mars Attacks at a church youth group ski retreat when it came out on VHS. For some reason, they chose to stuff like 16 of us, un-chaperoned, in a lodge that had a bar. Like a fully stocked mini bar. We were all between age 12 and 17. So im like 13, hammered, watching Mars Attacks. It was a great time.
Oddly enough, there is a term for "large miniatures." Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop coined the term "Bigature" during production of the Lord of the Rings movies for the oxymoron that is large miniatures. It's thought they tried to make a bigature of Jay's hair, but it ended up being a full-size construction and was thus scrapped for overblowing the production budget.
Tops had re-released the Mars Attack cards in 1994, including nearly 100 new cards. As a comic book reader, the film didn't seem out of place at the time.
Fun fact: Burton actually wanted to make a Dinosaurs Attack! movie first, but Jurassic Park had already been released so the studio said not to compete so he decided on Mars Attacks! instead (not knowing Independence Day was also coming the same year).
Ironically, Dinosaurs Attack was also originally intended to be a Joe Dante movie in 1989-ish with the dinosaurs done in stop motion. This didn't go far once Jurassic Park was in development. Even when Burton got involved, they still had to face the consequences when The Lost World Jurassic Park was also being worked out, which also featured a T-Rex invading a city and eating a dog as a dark gag.
Originally, it was planned that Jack Nicholson would only play President James Dale in the film, with Michael Keaton playing Art Land. These two had played off of each other in Tim Burton's earlier film Batman (1989). Producer/director Tim Burton was told repeatedly that he could not kill Jack Nicholson's character in a film. This led to his decision to cast Nicholson in two roles in this film and then kill him in both of them just to spite everyone who had told him this. Got this from IMDB.
In the novelization of Mars Attacks, it turns out it was The President's idea to build a War Room after seeing it in Dr. Strangelove, and being shocked that one didn't actually exist. I wish they'd left that explanation in the movie. AND Jim Brown's character doesn't return in the end -- his death is mourned by his family, and he never reappears, so when he pops up in the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see him alive. He must have died in the original script, but he must have tested highly with test audiences.
@@stephennootens916 Actually, Reagan may have been the one that was referenced in the book, and not Nicholson's character, I haven't read it since 1996 so I may be misremembering it. I DO know that it's revealed that crying are how Martians vomit, so that single tear was actually mocking the President's final plea.
When they highlight the flaws like this, it does seem like a clumsy and not very well put together movie, but I remember seeing it on TV when I was like, 7, and I thought it was pretty goddamn funny, and I remember it pretty fondly for what it is, even if it's a mess.
It's hard to predict whether RLM will enjoy something for being campy fun or will instead tear it up, but I've started noticing that the year of release plays a big role. You can almost pinpoint exactly when they became cynical in life haha
Nah, Mars Attacks was just shitty. What they said about it was dead on. I remember feeling so let down when I saw it in the theatre. Like wtf is this shit, what was Burton thinking?
When I was a kid and saw Mars Attacks I thought it WAS a parody of Independence Day because of how weirdly similar the plot structure was. It never even occurred to me that they were being made at the same time since as a kid a 6 month difference in release feels like such a long time that the idea that a movie could be conceived, shot, and released in that period feels plausible. I would almost think it was one of those cases of a script being shopped around Hollywood where one studio turns it down but hires someone to write their own knock-off version while another studio buys the original script.
To be honest, a lot of those really crappy spoof movies from the 00s like “Epic Movie” and “Meet The Spartans” actually _did_ have incredibly short production times because they were made so cheaply, and the studio was desperate to get them out quick enough to cash-in on all the stuff they were -stealing from- parodying.
I've probably only watched it twice, but I've always had a soft spot for it in large part because of the criticisms Mike and Jay discuss here. It's a silly yet horrific tale and a glorious mess of a movie, an absurd mix of different styles, elements, characters, and tones. So fascinatingly off-kilter. We never have any idea why the Martians do what they do, and the way the movie itself feels to the viewer (and evidently the way it feels to thoughtful critics as well-yes, I just called these hacks thoughtful) sort of mirrors that utter confusion. It's also got a few genuinely good laughs, even if some of the more overtly 'hey this is funny' stuff doesn't land. It is certainly unique and deserves its due for that at least.
I genuinely like this movie in spite of any criticism that could be lobbed its way; I was just chuckling like an idiot all the way through your video at all the clips you showed. 😁 That said, I think this SIMPSONS quote sums up the movie well: Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story. Homer: Exactly. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened. Bart: But it certainly was a memorable few days. Homer: Amen to that!
The point of the movie was the Martians' perspective: There is no point Their human experiments, destroying landmarks, harming humanity while saying "We are your friends" It was all just a pointless 'joke' That was the point, there is no point This movie did this far better than "Freddy Got Fingered" yet Mike is lambasting this one
Jay is right about the animation of the Aliens. I got to see an early test of the Martians stop motion before the movie was released. It looked like something Ray Harryhausen would have animated and worked so much better for the tone of the movie . Like he said it was the 90s and everyone was trying to use CG if they had access to it.
I saw this movie in the theatre in 1997. My best friend and I took a college day. We got the recruiter to sign our papers and we left. That feeling of being out of school during the day was indescribable. We drive about an hour to where a big multiplex was and watched Mars Attacks. I loved the movie and it just went perfect with that amazingly fun day.
This movie genuinely scarred me as a kid, i would get up in the middle of the night and check the window for aliens. My mom and sister still think it’s funny and bring it up, I just didn’t want us to get disintegrated
Literally same here. My dad took me to see Mars Attacks in theaters when I was only 6 and its been responsible for more nightmares in my life than anything else.
Yeah, I saw some of the alien attack scenes on tv when I was about 7 or 8 and it kind of traumatised me for a while. It wasn't until years later that I even realised the movie was a comedy
Same here! I had nightmares about those green skeletons their weapons left behind, and when the alien lady's face disguise gets ripped. Then as an adult I found out it was a comedy.
Same here, completely disturbed me at age 7. Watched it three times in a row as an adult to finally not slightly jump anymore every time I unexpextedly see some picture of those aliens somewhere lol
In my early 20's I saw this in the theater while on acid, which I thought would make the movie more fun, but made it even more freaky and surreal. Never watch Mars Attacks on acid, kids.
There was a series of Mars Attacks novels that came out around the same time. One of them was called War Dogs of the Golden Horde where a group of modern Mongolians take on the Martians. I remember getting real misty-eyed reading that book with its well-developed characters and actual plot. It was so much better than it had any right to be.
i saw this on cable as a kid and it gave me recurring nightmares about being trapped in a mars attacks! themed pinball machine that were so vivid that i once woke up in a panic, tried to run downstairs to my parent's room, slipped, fell, broke a bone and threw up all over myself. thanks tim burton
I actually watched this movie in black and white as a kid, on my grandma's old soviet TV. My brother and I had nightmares for days, we thought this was the scariest horror movie ever. Later I found out it was actually supposed to be funny.
I grew up thinking that black and white equals funny because of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. So when I saw Miss Marple watching a woman get violently choked to death in the next train over it was the funniest shit I've ever seen.
When I was a child, maybe 4 or 5, couple of years after the film came out, my sister played this movie for me. It literally gave me ,my first existential crisis and I had nightmares for like a week straight. Needless to say, I've loved it ever since.
I rewatched this movie a year ago. The first half was quite slow because they had so many characters to introduce, but I laughed my head off for most of the second half. I just took the jokes as they came and didn't examine it for a deeper meaning. I assumed the "flying saucers" and the mid-century army ordinance was part of the 50s aesthetic.
This movie has a special place in my heart because I watched it young enough that I had no idea if it was a fever dream, was a documentary, or was the wildest Star Wars movie I had ever watched. Jack Black, Jack Nicholson, the yodeling, the head swapping. What a buck wild movie.
The nuttiest parts are the kids who skip school to play the alien shooter arcade game, and that makes them able to save the president, and Lucas haas at the end, when he suggests everyone should live in tipis instead of houses, when they rebuild. It's a celebration of stupidity, and that's awesome
Indeed! If anything, the plot and characters are in the way of Martians being dicks to people for no other reason than that they think it is hilarious.
The long list of top-tier actors playing ridiculous caricatures only to be killed off only adds to it. We get not one but TWO Jack Nicholson performances!
Which at least, M41 Walker Bulldogs were a staple of US Marines in the 1991 Gulf War. By 1995 they would have been relegated to reserve units, so it's plausible. But really, it's because after the Marine switch to the M1, there was an abundance of them really cheap for directors.
I love this movie, the aliens are hilarious, the mischievous little looks they give each other, the childish glee they take in killing everyone. And then theres that model the aliens disguise themselves as, she played it so well, one of my favourite parts of the movie. Its just a fun movie imo.
I saw this in theaters and absolutely loved the pure chaotic energy of it. Don't know if you'd call that a guilty pleasure or not, but I think this and Sleepy Hollow were around when the wheels on the Burton Wagon started to fall off for me.
Honestly this is one of my very favorite movies, the plotlessness of it is perfect, it's adapting the story of a 55 card set, there is nothing there to begin with but gore. The card set was actually so controversial when it was released in the early 60s that it only got limited distribution in a few mostly East Coast states before Topps cancelled the line and killed the product. Because of this is became infamous among a generation of kids, leading to a revival of the brand in the late 1980s, with Topps reissuing the cards in 1994, around the time Burton was getting to work on the film. It's a loving hommage to mid-century grade B scifi (very much in the spirit of Ed Wood), combined with a tonally accurate recreation of a controversial scifi card set made camp by social changes over the 34 years between the release of the cards and movie. Dinosaurs Attack was hyperviolent because, as a 25th anniversary sequel to the Mars Attacks set, they wanted it to be as controversial as the original set. Unfortunately parents never flipped out at Dinosaurs Attack in the same way.
💯💯💯 Couldn't agree more! I think Jay and especially Mike approached the film with expectations of certain plotting, character development, and structure. That's simply not what it is, no wonder they didn't think much of it. Also surprised they didn't make more of a connection between him making an Ed Wood biopic, only to follow with a 1950s/'60s inspired sci-fi B-movie of his own. Sometimes I wish they just did a little more research. I recommend the Mars Attacks episode of the Blank Check podcast. 👌🏻
@@blakesby I will check it out. Thanks! Mars Attacks is one of my favorite things in pop culture, I actually have the two US theatrical posters framed and displayed in my living room. Also, most of the card sets, comics, and merch... and a couple of copies of the film. Even a print set of Wally Wood's concept sketches that Bob Powell and Norm Saunders worked from to create the original cards!
I was a projectionist At AMC theaters when Mars attacks came out. I worked at flagship theater in the city at the time. The day before Mars attacks opened we had a sneak peek set up through a local radio station, 104 KRBE. They had me working a double that day to cover the sneak peak as I was the most experienced projectionist at the theater. However our print did not come in so they had to send me 40 minutes across town to pick up a print from another theater. I brought it back to our theater where we proceeded to start the screening that only two people showed up for and they left about a third of the way through the movie. The radio station DJ showed up saw nobody was there and they left before the movie started. I'm still friends with the projectionist at the other theater to this very day that I took his print from because I had to take it back to him at the end of the night and boy did we have a laugh.
This hands-down my favourite UA-cam channel. Every time a new video pops up, my heart races, and I stop whatever I'm doing just so I can watch. You guys are wonderfully entertaining. Keep up the good work.
I was about 14 when the movie came out and saw it 3 times in the cinema. I loved, that it didn't seem to care to show anything you would expect, that it had this huge cast and it gave them almost nothing to do exept to die. It seemed to me like the total antithesis to Independence Day. I still love this movie for its daring unconventionality and weirdness.
The story I've heard behind Jack's bizarre second character is the studio was thrilled they got him to play the president but refused to let the aliens kill him because he was such a huge star. So Jack and Tim made a second character and killed them both just to stick it to the producer.
All rational criticism aside, I love this movie, always have. Maybe I’m too deluded by modern “comedy” but I appreciate how everyone in the movie commits to the joke and doesn’t do a “can you believe that just happened?!?!?”
The scene where Jim Brown is sitting in his “apartment” must have been filmed at the Glass Pool Motel. It’s the only conceivable location. Directly between the motel and the Luxor is the compound where I worked for Mandalay Resorts between 2002 and about 2005 (who owned the Luxor at the time). The Glass Pool was a “rent by the hour” motel and myself and my colleagues enjoyed watching frequent police raids on the place.
I frickin love this movie, the cheesy, the campy, the performances from a-list celebrities.......it's a movie that will never be attempted again. I'm so glad it made it to my face.
I never knew this was a flop at the time. In my mind though this was one of my favorite comedies growing up and even now every joke still lands and I laughed out loud remembering them as you were criticizing them.
I grew up watching Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure and Airport '75 on HBO when it was fairly new.... so Mars Attacks was absolutely HILARIOUS to me!
I watched Mars Attacks on HBO a bunch as a kid. Rewatched it about a year ago and was pleasantly surprised how well it actually held up for me. Very cynical and dark sense of humor, lots of great political subtext. Glenn Close's death scene is hilarious.
yeah it's not bad at all as an adult. scary and rough as a kid though! haha. i went to burton's vegas sign museum exhibit and it was well-represented there
This Re:Visit spin-off show looks really interesting, can't wait for the next episode in six years.
As long as they aren't talking about fuckin Star Trek, I'll take it
@@knicknevin9975 I thought this was a Star Trek UA-cam channel though?
Mike and Jay talk about Re:Visit
@@hivetyrant7podcast actually.
Still haven't had another Mike and Jay talk about in like a year 😭
You’ll notice Freddy Got Fingered is not included as a “Re:visit” in the description, meaning they consider it on par with Ghostbusters and The Thing.
As they should, it's top tier. Lmao.
Re:views are more like appreciations and Freddy Got Fingered was getting praise by Mike and Jay for being a meta-masterpiece.
It broke new ground
“That’s right, Jay!”
Because it is, good sir.
Mike complaining about Jay's hair is peak old age coming through.
The second is the weird, barely-attached tangents.
@@Xepscern they're the best part
Why do you (the fans) keep mocking RLM for being old and frail? Old age and frailty come to everyone. Nothing you can do about it, unless you join to the 27 (or lower) Club.
@@mendelovitch It's because we're not cynics. We're hypocrites.
@@mendelovitch because funy
I absolutely adore this movie. My dad was born in 1950, so he grew up with the mars attack cards, and i grew up with him sharing them with me. So when this came out the two of us had so so so much fun pointing out scenes and shots that were directly from the topps cards. Not the greatest movie, but man it means the world to me.
Miss ya dad.
That's really sweet and heart warming, in the end memories are all we have.
Wait, was your dad once married to @tomgrappin4438 's mom...?
This comment made cry
23:13 For as goofy as the movie is, the Grandma's reaction to Congress being vaporized is absolutely realistic and appropriate
That’s the main thing I remember from the trailer
I'm shocked these guys did not review extemporaneous information about the film. They would have learned the film was based on effects and layouts from 1950s and 60s monster/alien B grade films that were made in the LA area using free casts of high school students.
@Josh Meyers It gets funnier and funnier the more time passes.
That would be a perfect clip to play when everyone exploded in the Congress scene in Batman V Superman 😂
My dad would always fall asleep in the movie theatre, but I remember that Mars Attacks was the one movie he stayed awake for. He was laughing hysterically. He thought it was so funny that almost none of the celebrities made it "haha they even killed the president!"
Mine too. Dozy tw@t 😂
Not a movie guy at all.
In The Mummy (1999), the baddies were chanting “Imhotep” over and over and he thought they were saying “Tomotei” which is a brand of shampoo 😂.
Hysterical film ... I worked with a lot of people that did not get a single gag from the film.
Sadly I've become that dad . Everytime my son's and I go to the movies they seem to be waking me up every 15 mins 🤤🤣
@@CursedWheelieBin your dad is a Lucky Star fan
To invoke a dead meme: The virgin Jay and Mike "this movie has no plot" Vs the chad dad "haha they even killed the president!"
This is still the best movie adapted from a series of bubble gum cards.
The competition being Garbage Pail Kids
@@RobertJRoman And _Field of Dreams._
@@johnsensebe3153haha 😂
I’m sure Michael Bay is developing a Big League Chew adaptation as we speak.
@@justincoleman3805 Nah, it'll be Bazooka Joe, but with real bazooka's!
I always love the conversations where Mike just starts rambling and ends up on a runaway train of thought where he fixes the movie
Mars Attacks terrified me as a child to no end. Found the visuals incredibly creepy, but it was also my first real encounter with the concept of death, maybe sticking out so much because of how quickly and unceremoniously everyone dies. Couldn't get to sleep for a month afterwards. Very weird film to have that happen on reflection.
I always look for this sort of comment when Mars Attacks is discussed online. It's always somewhere, too. I loved horror as a little girl, but Mars Attacks hit different. I think, for a lot of kids growing up around that time, it was our first run-in with casual cruelty/mass murder played for laughs. Baby's first cosmic horror Rated PG-13
It was a little bit shocking in that sense, with how so many characters are introduced and you start getting to know them, but then so many of them are just killed abruptly, and I remember thinking that the vaporization looked incredibly impressive, almost a little disturbing.
I was legit bummed when DeVito's character gets zapped, just because I really liked him as an actor, even when I was a kid.
I had seen plenty of death and killing in movies and games before that though, so it wasn't too new for me. In fact scenes from James Bond movies were more shocking to me in that sense, particularly License To Kill, because then instead of weird and not-human monsters cruelly killing humans, you've got humans cruelly killing humans.
Maaaaan yeahhhh totally. Mom saw the vhs thought it was a cartoon comedy like toy story, got it rented for family night... I was so disturbed man i think i hid and cried and i constantly had nightmares of the dog body horse lady
Thank you, I felt the same thing and it's nice to have it pointed out. Maybe it was because the comedy aspect fell flat, but a lot of the deaths just felt... mean spirited. There were a few other movies around this era that gave me the same feeling and no one seems to notice. I don't think a single person that died gave off the "damn I'm glad they died" feeling.
I had the exact same reaction. This film scared me more than any horror movie I saw at that age.
Jay looks like he’s about to rent out a cabin and write a 600 page horror novel during a 2 week bender
He's got that 70's Stephen King vibe
Alan Wake 2: Bauman Unleashed.
I’m his number one fan.
Great reference lol
And it'll suck
When they attack congress and grandma laughs hysterically, cracks me up every time.
Was this on January 6th?
"THEY'RE KILLING CONGRESS HAHAHA"
Grandma was incredibly based.
@@garrettmetting6938 J6 made the alien attack look like a backyard bbq in chicago.
@@garrettmetting6938 Unfortunately December 37th was fake
The most unbelievable thing about Mars Attacks is that Pam Grier is able to afford a house in DC on a bus drivers pay.
The 90's were a different time
her husband is an ex pro boxer
It was the 90s, like how in Friends they can all afford a fancy appartment in NY on low wage jobs
@@ketchupkatsup9805 Even in the 90s, that wasn't possible in NYC. 😁
@@tyranusfan True. In today's information age, people often seek more depth and realism in the narratives they encounter. Understanding the practical aspects of a story, such as the affordability of an apartment or the financial circumstances of the characters, can add to the plausibility and relatability of the narrative. Viewers and readers have become more curious and critical, desiring a deeper understanding of the world depicted in stories. They may question plot holes, character motivations, or the feasibility of certain situations. This desire for coherence and realism is partly influenced by increased access to information and a greater awareness of real-world complexities.
Not a vaporization, but an honorable mention for Paul Winfield getting eaten alive by radioactive cockroaches in DAMNATION ALLEY.
Came here looking specifically for this comment, and sure enough!
That shit terrified me as a kid!
The film with baby Rorschach!
Thats raw AF
deep cut!
1, I love Mars Attacks!
2. Jay should NOT cut his hair, it looks great!
Susans hair is designed to be that way but we can diminish the effects of it.
Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave
I second both points.
he looks like a hippy and its digusteng
add facial hair too... he's aging like a fine wine
This movie actually really scared me as a kid. I was too young to find it funny. The ray guns just instantly making you a skeleton was so much more brutal and graphic than normal Hollywood gunshots. And the fact that the aliens couldn’t be reasoned with made me more afraid lol
Dude, I'm glad someone feels the same way. I must have seen this when I was around 13 or so and I fascinated by how deeply morbid the whole thing was. Something about the way the cast was killed off somewhat randomly meant you never knew which character you were going to develop an attachment to only to watch them reduced to a screaming skeleton without almost any warning and it really kept my nuts in my throat.
Oh hey, another person with random childhood trauma from this movie.
Yeah, it's just not... funny? I still don't find it funny.
Yep saw this at the movie as a seven year old and it scared the crap out of me. Those ray guns man…
this was a horror movie as a kid but then each time it was on you got more courage to watch more and soon it became a comedy
Same.
Paul Winfield's character is a spot-on impression of Colin Powell, in appearance, tone and (most importantly) philosophy.
War criminal Colin Powell?
Has anything changed between then and now?
Thought I was the only one who made the connection but it makes sense given the time period.
Probably the biggest cultural impact this movie had was Craig McCracken said that Pierce Brosnan in this was the inspiration for Professor Utonium on The Powerpuff Girls.
There's a problem with your statement.
The timeline of PPG's development doesn't agree with it!
PowerPuff Girls was created in 1992 when McCracken was attending CalArts, second year. For most of that year, he worked on the pilot film and barely attended classes.
Mars Attacks was released theatrically in 1996!
I've seen the original pilot of PPG (when it was called "Wh00p@$$ Stew!) and Utonium was mentioned. The opening is almost the same as what was used in the TV series.
Yes, it's possible the Professor character WAS redesigned after McCracken saw Mars Attacks but the pilot film already existed! They aired a version of the pilot on Cartoon Network in 1995 (after CN made McCracken change the title to PowerPuff Girls). I don't know if it's the same inked and painted version of the pilot film I've seen in pencil test and final form.
@@AvengerIIit’s obvious it’s after the student film.
@@Emplordxiii Really?!? Then why did the OP mention that McCracken said Utonium was modeled after the Brosnan character in Mars Attacks?!?
Oh, you really don't read other people's responses before you post, do you?
@@AvengerII Why are you overcomplicating this? Professor Utonium's first canonical appearance was in 1998. He certainly doesn't show up as an actual character in the original pilot, whether he's mentioned or not. His mannerisms in the show (including the pipe he used to smoke, that was later dropped) are very similar to that of Brosnan's character here. Surely McCrackend had an idea for the character to exist as a creator/mentor, but didn't come up with his personality and mannerisms until later, likely inspired by this movie.
@@Dreadjaws God, you guys really are this stupid, aren't you?
Reading comprehension isn't your strength, is it? You just get emotional and attack people when reality doesn't align with your views!
Watch the original cartoon and STOP DEPENDING on the Wikipedia and some yahoo off the Internet for your answers!
Utonium is in the pilot!
Also, READ and UNDERSTAND what people write! I said McCracken changed the design to LOOK more like Brosnan!
I feel bad you're the next generation of voters and leaders. If people edit stuff online and you can't read a book OR look for things on your own, you're doomed!!!
Jay drinking from a "I run on Coffee and Jesus" mug is why I love these people.
Jesus (from the Manhole)
sorry, had to
I used to see a girl who kept her "Jesus and Coffee" mug at my house. She was a stripper so it was an irony thing, but the best part was that it was part of a gift basket a group of church ladies brought to the club. Apparently that's a thing they do lol
Watching it again, I think Jack’s second role as the casino guy must have originally been written for Michael Keaton. He’s totally doing Beetlejuice
This was my thought, honestly
When I was little I always thought it was supposed to be Beetlejuice before he died and became a ghost.
@@denniscornetta9456 Whoa...
@@denniscornetta9456 I really like this idea
Funnily enough, today (after many many years) I learned that was not Michael Keaton! I always thought it was Michael Keaton and was blown away when they said it was Nicholson.
Prior to meeting my dad, my mom divorced her first husband and she attributes it entirely to the fact the Mars Attacks was his favorite movie.
Your mom sounds like a winner... And your notdad dodged a bullet.
That's fair.
Sorry, but that's funny. My babe likes things I like so I guess I'm lucky😅
@@Masteroftheweb Bet that dude is living his best life somewhere, watching Mars Attacks once a year with the love of his life and their 3 kids, and the dog has been trained to fetch beer from the refrigerator.
Your mom sounds like a classy broad
Ironically, the trading cards had a full story written in sequential parts on the backs. If you collected them all, you could read it like a little novel.
Loot boxes are a plague on man
Be sure to drink your ovaltine
Also there is a proper comic sequel about the dinosaurs, then followed by the aliens, then both. It’s super good
There's a book, has all the cards shown. It's worth oicking up.
True, though "full story" is stretching it. The majority of the cards were basically just set pieces showing gruesome deaths and weird alien monsters or technology. The very light story basically just consisted of "aliens invade earth, aliens destroy cities, humans fight back, humans invade mars, humans blow up mars." Very loose, no real characters or plot.
Brosnan's character yelling at the aliens that they can't be aggressive because they were too advanced, as they're blowing everything up is my absolute favorite bit.
Yeah the satire in this movie is a mixed bag but I think Brosnan spoofing every scientist-hero in 1950s sci-fi movies is note perfect.
I know someone who talks exactly this same way, so this resonated particularly well with me.
“It’s not logical!” Ha
Mike and Jay always stand up for people from the Midwest
Atleast somebody does
As a Chicagoan this rings true. The Kim Basinger character from 8 Mile callout by Mike - having a southern accent despite living in Detroit was hysterical.
@@TheMarc388 It is funny, but unfortunately Mike is mistaken. Eminem was born in Missouri. His mom really had a Southern accent. They didn't move to Michigan until Eminem was practically a teenager. Eminem and his Mom moved around throughout the South before moving North and settling down outside of Detroit in Warren, Michigan.
It was more him being offended FOR southerners as hollywood just portrays anyone who's poor and uneducated as being "of the south". I, however, have definitely met my fair share of shoe-size IQ Californians.
He just hasn't heard the David Cross standup bit that explains that accent is no longer confined to the south
Apparently Tim Burton pitched this film by showing studio executives the cards the movie is based on and relating it to scenes in the movie. Which beyond just a funny image of a grown man showing 15 men in a board room a trading card game as a movie, but also explains why the movie ended up how it did.
it wasn't a 'game' they were just trading cards
Mike is so judgmental of Jay and Rich's appearances while wearing exclusively old navy and wal-mart clothes lmfao
I have that exact Target hoodie Mike is wearing 😂
I'm just an asshole from California, but isn't that standard midwest shit?
@@Hayley123454Living in northwest Indiana, and yes it's how we dress
@@Hayley123454 Fellow Wisconsinite here, yes.
Yeah...some of us don't need over priced designer shit
There’s a parallel universe where Joe Dante’s Mars Attacks was a certified hit and Tim Burton’s Small Soldiers won Oscars.
I think it would've been the other way around
I went to a talk last year by a stop-motion puppet fabricator who was involved in making the test puppets for this movie before they went the CGI route. I even got to see a brief test shot that they animated. One of the tricky parts about doing it with stop motion was that the glass domes on the alien's heads had to be removed and reattached every frame so that the animators could access the face.
Why not do the dome in the computer and stop motion everything else
@@chickenitza8 This was being made in 1994/1995
That's brutal
I can see why they went the route they did, that would have been hellishly obnoxious to pull off, I can only imagine desperately trying to keep things looking consistent for each frame.
Mike, I was raised in the deep south. As an educated, employed, and not impoverished individual who had his accent stigmatize him, I would like to thank you for speaking out against the Hollywood trope that has branded and burdened me all these years. Due to the drawl, when I point out that the Southern accent is a moniker for stupid, people hone in on my accent and disregard what I am saying. Thank you.
I read this in Daniel Craig's Knives Out character's accent and cadence.
I was born and lived in the South until I was 12 before moving to New England, and although I didn't have an accent (which people couldn't believe at all), I had to constantly let people know that we did indeed have electricity and running water and shit. I know it was before social media but it was crazy that everyone thought I lived in a cabin on a field because that's all the South was. I spent the better part of 2 decades defending it, though I've had to give that up over the past 8 years or so due to the fact that a very certain type of Southern people are the ones always being outspoken on social media and TV, so it's kind of a fool's errand at this point.
As a European, i love the southern accent!
"I was born a poor black child" - Steve Martin
@@thebadtraveler my favorite comedy of all time.
Jay hopelessly trying to dissuade Mike from overindulging in the Wayne Knight idea is hilarious.
You can see the pain that Jay feels watching Mike's dementia progress. Jay is slowly watching his friend decay into nothing but unfunny jokes, nonsequiturs, and Star Trek references.
@@23randomuser age affects us all in different ways … we shouldn’t be too harsh on the elderly. then again: mike likes to make fun of the elderly, so this is a beautifully twist in a way …
it’s almost like poetry. perhaps it even rhymes.
Mike’s finally having that big, messy, public breakdown that we’ve all been anticipating for the past decade.
2:45 yup Mike is completely unhinged.
Foreshadowing how Mike will be when they finally put him in the old folks home in four months.
His tongue is well suited to the bit though.
We knew this when he said he thought Star Trek Picard S3 was good
@@aarondavis8943 Eerily so.
The best part of Dinosaur Attacks! is that it not only has a storyline with the main antagonist being Dinosaur Satan, it also has a Mars Attacks! crossover with dinosaurs and aliens traveling through time wrecking stuff
That must have been such a fun gig for the artist, those cards look amazing.
The Supreme Monstrosity is great, truly a wild concept.
shoutout to all the Tims in the audience 😉
I watched a youtube documentary about Dinosaurs Attack! and it mentioned that Tim Burton wanted to do that originally but because of the dinosaur hysteria after Jurassic Park he then went with Mars Attacks!. Edit: or Jurassic Park was in production... don't remember clearly
That little jim brown tribute is the most sincere thing i've ever seen from these hack frauds, either way rest easy, king
We are living in exciting times, knowing that Mr. Plinkett probably will be awakened again for Indiana Jones 5: The Dial of Dementia! All we have to do is wait 10 years, tops!
Do you really think Mike manages another 10 years?
@@poppers7317 Mike is eternal
Remember. The 6th Neil Breen movie has been accepted to a film festival Can't wait for RLM to review that
Sounds like it's gonna be more The Dial of Depression, from what I heard.
@@motherplayer The dial of somber reflection on a wasted life.
I used to work in a mental health stabilization facility (the place you go when involuntarily placed in a psych review), and this was one of the few of VHS tapes the clients could watch (or Joe Dirt, On Golden Pond, or Golf Channel) in their free time. I dunno, it always struck me as a little absurd this was approved for them when some of the clients might be having audio-visual hallucinations or experiencing massive paranoia--but this vividly-colored, satirical gag-fest was okay.
They understood the movie, these two fellas no
@@arnieslove I'm with Mike and Jay on this one, Mars Attacks was kind of a mess.
@@hippocratesnoah8642 yes
I will forever enjoy Mike and Jay fixing a movie on the fly and Mike then acting it out with voices.
“We don’t know…. What’s in that snow…”
The only bad part is I'm left really wanting their ideas to be real films. That Wayne Knight idea would be hilarious to see.
If only they fixed their own movies...
The only thing is I don't want this to be a good movie, or fix. Do you know how much worst this movie would be if it was good?
I've always assumed Jay's theory about the massive all-star cast getting nothing to do but get vaporised was correct. It fits the shock humour tone of the original cards, even if it wasn't executed perfectly.
I think it may be due to the wackiness of the characters. If the all-star cast were doing their little bits like they were gunning for an Oscar in a gritty drama, it would make the schlock stand out all the more.
In an interview, Martin Short explained that early on, he was the only name that had signed on, and they were having trouble getting more names. But after Jack Nicolson joined the cast, there was a deluge of actors taking the production seriously.
@@Vzzdak Makes sense. Nicholson had a lot of pull at the time.
Honestly, I feel like this film could have been an Airplane!-tier comedy if tweaked and smoothened out.
@@stuartdunlop8834 Inverse has a December 13, 2021 oral history that provides insight into the production.
Notable that Burton originally wanted stop-motion, but it was too expensive for what they intended.
Everyone involved seemed to feel they had a hit, and it was successful internationally. The observation is that marketing failed the film's debut in America.
Mars Attacks was our final for Film Theory. The professor wrote three words at the top of the white board:
THEMES/ MOTIFS/ MISE EN SCENE
Then he put on Mars Attacks and just left. We were supposed to watch it and then write out all the aspects of the film which belonged in those 3 columns. Afterward, I asked the professor if I could see how his columns for Mars Attacks compared to mine. He laughed and said, "I never wrote any but they'd just have the words 'nonsense' written out 3 times. That whole movie is just Burton masturbating."
"Then why..."
"I teach people how to watch movies. I give you a final because the board requires me to. Everyone who took the final is getting an A. I just figured Mars Attacks would be a nice change of pace for our last day."
"Oh... Then can I have an A+?"
And that was how I got an A+ in Film Theory.
Actually that's 5 words. Owned
@@Revacholiere Now that was friggin epic bro
I like this guy
What exciting careers opened up for you with A+ in watching movies?
@@AnaIvanovic4ever zero media literacy person found
Even when I don't agree with what you guys are saying, these videos are always so fun and entertaining. I love Mars Attacks! The weird, unstructured script and vapid characters just kinda work for me. It all feels so off-beat and unique, and it's fun to see a bunch of mega-stars in such a weird, bizarre movie.
Agreed. Jay and Mike talk about the movie like they really wanted this to be some tightly-scripted Summer blockbuster when it was always intended to be as wild and stupid as they could get away with -- and in that Burton succeeded spectacularly! They're complaining about the performances when everyone knew what kind of movie they were making and purposely leaned into it.The reason the movie flopped was because audiences took the intentionally-bad movie seriously. If you're watching this looking for high art, you're going to be disappointed.
@@Zipshysa I have no idea how they could miss that Tim was making an Ed Wood film. I agree with the op even though they completely missed the point of the movie their review is still entertaining.
Love this movie. Every scene is ridiculous and hilarious, intentionally so.
Yeah, that's what drew me to it originally. I'm really not a big movie watcher, as it takes something that kinda sticks out for me to want to see it, and this fits that. The cast, the theme, and just how weird it seemed, so I rented it and I pretty much got what I was expecting. I don't really recall watching any other movie like it, which is why it's always like in the back of my head and kind of a guilty pleasure.
@@BackwardsFish86 That's exactly what it is -- an homage to Ed Wood. One of my favorite moments I haven't seen mentioned in here is how Jack Black's entire story is him striving to be the ultimate soldier and when his moment finally comes, this guy, who in his establishing character moment can put together his weapon blindfolded in a timed test, he IMMEDIATELY chokes and hits the mag release, disarming himself after all his effort. It's hilarious for people who don't know anything about guns, and for people who know things about guns, it's even funnier.
When I was growing up my mom owned exactly two "scary" movies I could watch as a young kid which were Mars Attacks and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. For a while I thought music killing the bad guys was a really normal thing that most movies would do
Anime recommendation, watch the original Macross or the Macross-based episodes of Robotech...
@@TetsuDeinonychus YAK DECULTURE?!
Uh sure
@@MrTonemaster I still have the VHSes, if it mattered I could post photos of myself with them as a child lmao
@@legacy9171 ya cool
I love it when Mike just spits out an entire script for a better movie. THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WALLS
Let me know when that happens, cause it certainly didn't happen here.
Man I didn’t know Mars attacks had such a passionate group of commentators😉
Every Mike movie pitch should have Thomas Edison in it
Old lady in the walls!
"We don't know what's in the snow"
Mars Attacks! is like Tim Burton actually making an Ed Wood movie with the cheap UFOs & obvious backdrops
I always thought the intent of Mars attacks was to make an Ed Wood style ridiculous movie, complete with the weird use of high tier actors in such shlock.
I think all that time making Ed Wood made him finally wanna do his own garbage schlock B-movie.
@@joelsmith5938How fun it must have been tho
Yeah, it's very odd that Jay and Mike didn't pick up on that, especially after learning that the Martians were supposed to be stop motion puppets. Also, Burton did Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, and Sweeney Todd after this, so he definitely didn't abandon his signature style. Big Fish was different, but it was really good. There was also Frankenweenie. The Wonka and Wonderland movies being so bad have killed his mystique.
Mike's impression of Punda Baba was so impressive that I expect to see him cast in Episode 10.
You mean butt face?
He'll be a funnier character than they've ever had before.
Sounded like Gollum
@@MagikarpMaestro Like if Yoda had the ring for a few hundred years
IT BROKE NEW GROUND
Fun fact: Tim Burton originally wanted to make a Dinosaurs Attack movie but Jurassic park was already in production so they decided to make mars attacks instead
The dinosaurs attack cards are insane!
Was looking to see if anyone else mentioned this
aw man we were denied of dinosatan from another dimension!
"I will always love you, Helen" *dies of dino radiation burns*
Meanwhile, Roger Corman rushed _Carnosaur_ into production specifically *because of* _Jurassic Park's_ impending release - and managed to secure it a limited theatrical run a month before _JP_ hit cinemas.
I’m actually kind of surprised that Mike and Jay didn’t like the movie more. I always thought it was hilarious and stylistically bold.
They liked it fine. They just didn't throw a fit about it being "the greatest thing ever made" or "an unappreciated gem" as is the norm for UA-cam videos. And I'm not blaming you for this, to be clear. It's just how meters are calibrated now.
@@MegaZeta Yeah I'm thinkin 7/10
Mike does say in the video that he likes it more than Independence day, because it is more creative.
It may have gone to far in a few places
They couldn’t diminish the effects of it…
I first watched Mars Attacks at a church youth group ski retreat when it came out on VHS. For some reason, they chose to stuff like 16 of us, un-chaperoned, in a lodge that had a bar. Like a fully stocked mini bar. We were all between age 12 and 17. So im like 13, hammered, watching Mars Attacks. It was a great time.
Through Christ, anything is possible.
Ironically, that’s also _exactly_ what happened at the last supper.
@@Flint-Dibble-the-Don "So jot that down."
Young gentlemen, alcohol and church youth camp? This writes itself
uhhh you sure nothing got touched?
Oddly enough, there is a term for "large miniatures." Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop coined the term "Bigature" during production of the Lord of the Rings movies for the oxymoron that is large miniatures. It's thought they tried to make a bigature of Jay's hair, but it ended up being a full-size construction and was thus scrapped for overblowing the production budget.
What a Dumbature term
Tops had re-released the Mars Attack cards in 1994, including nearly 100 new cards. As a comic book reader, the film didn't seem out of place at the time.
Fun fact: Burton actually wanted to make a Dinosaurs Attack! movie first, but Jurassic Park had already been released so the studio said not to compete so he decided on Mars Attacks! instead (not knowing Independence Day was also coming the same year).
Ironically, Dinosaurs Attack was also originally intended to be a Joe Dante movie in 1989-ish with the dinosaurs done in stop motion. This didn't go far once Jurassic Park was in development. Even when Burton got involved, they still had to face the consequences when The Lost World Jurassic Park was also being worked out, which also featured a T-Rex invading a city and eating a dog as a dark gag.
Originally, it was planned that Jack Nicholson would only play President James Dale in the film, with Michael Keaton playing Art Land. These two had played off of each other in Tim Burton's earlier film Batman (1989).
Producer/director Tim Burton was told repeatedly that he could not kill Jack Nicholson's character in a film. This led to his decision to cast Nicholson in two roles in this film and then kill him in both of them just to spite everyone who had told him this.
Got this from IMDB.
That makes so much sense if Michael Keaton was meant for Art Land since it seemed like Nicholson was doing a Keaton impression.
In the novelization of Mars Attacks, it turns out it was The President's idea to build a War Room after seeing it in Dr. Strangelove, and being shocked that one didn't actually exist.
I wish they'd left that explanation in the movie. AND Jim Brown's character doesn't return in the end -- his death is mourned by his family, and he never reappears, so when he pops up in the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see him alive.
He must have died in the original script, but he must have tested highly with test audiences.
Being a President must be really disappointingly different from the movies
Little known act Reagan thought the room from Dr. Strangelove was real and asked to see it when he was first elected.
@@stephennootens916 Actually, Reagan may have been the one that was referenced in the book, and not Nicholson's character, I haven't read it since 1996 so I may be misremembering it.
I DO know that it's revealed that crying are how Martians vomit, so that single tear was actually mocking the President's final plea.
@@mrmusickhimself sounds like the novelization was more thought out the movie
@@stephennootens916the trading cards were more thought out than the movie.
Mars Attacks is barely a coherent movie and I love it. The sort of thing I can't imagine EVER getting made again, but I'm glad it happened once.
they generally don't remake bombs, the whole idea is too have a built-in guarantee of some of amount of box office success
@@asdfasdf7199 not talking about remakes friend
@@asdfasdf7199 Who mentioned remakes?
When they highlight the flaws like this, it does seem like a clumsy and not very well put together movie, but I remember seeing it on TV when I was like, 7, and I thought it was pretty goddamn funny, and I remember it pretty fondly for what it is, even if it's a mess.
Mars attacks is what you get every time you ask “what would happen if this BOTW movie had a bigger budget?”
The funniest part of this is watching Jay and Mike having to keep pointing out the things Independence Day did right.
It's hard to predict whether RLM will enjoy something for being campy fun or will instead tear it up, but I've started noticing that the year of release plays a big role. You can almost pinpoint exactly when they became cynical in life haha
Exactly right.
Nah, Mars Attacks was just shitty. What they said about it was dead on. I remember feeling so let down when I saw it in the theatre. Like wtf is this shit, what was Burton thinking?
@@etsequentia6765how old were you?
When I was a kid and saw Mars Attacks I thought it WAS a parody of Independence Day because of how weirdly similar the plot structure was. It never even occurred to me that they were being made at the same time since as a kid a 6 month difference in release feels like such a long time that the idea that a movie could be conceived, shot, and released in that period feels plausible. I would almost think it was one of those cases of a script being shopped around Hollywood where one studio turns it down but hires someone to write their own knock-off version while another studio buys the original script.
I saw them both once around the same time as a kid and for years thought Jim Brown's character was in Independence Day.
Oh yeah, I was 11 when this came out, and I totally thought it was an Independence Day parody.
To be honest, a lot of those really crappy spoof movies from the 00s like “Epic Movie” and “Meet The Spartans” actually _did_ have incredibly short production times because they were made so cheaply, and the studio was desperate to get them out quick enough to cash-in on all the stuff they were -stealing from- parodying.
I first saw Mars Attacks! a few years back and I was utterly convinced it was a spoof of Independence Day.
I've probably only watched it twice, but I've always had a soft spot for it in large part because of the criticisms Mike and Jay discuss here. It's a silly yet horrific tale and a glorious mess of a movie, an absurd mix of different styles, elements, characters, and tones. So fascinatingly off-kilter. We never have any idea why the Martians do what they do, and the way the movie itself feels to the viewer (and evidently the way it feels to thoughtful critics as well-yes, I just called these hacks thoughtful) sort of mirrors that utter confusion. It's also got a few genuinely good laughs, even if some of the more overtly 'hey this is funny' stuff doesn't land. It is certainly unique and deserves its due for that at least.
RIP Jim Brown.
RLM: STOP KILLING CELEBRITIES BY CHOOSING WHICH MOVIES TO RE:VIEW!
dude was a monster
@@wheremyshrimpsat6433 just read his bio, he was a bastard for sure
He was 87,that is a good run.
Clearly this is re:visit not re:view friend.
Big Fish is the one movie he's done in 20 years i adore, it felt so personal and not manufactured by like Disney or another body of filmmaking.
Big Fish was awesome. It’s a shame Tim Burton had fallen from grace for the last couple decades.
Big Eyes, which got almost no attention, was also quite good.
Oh, I forgot about that one. That was a great movie.
It was just Forrest Gump except everyone else was retarded
Big Fish was good, but I also liked Sleepy Hallow. It's a very visual and fun October movie, kind of like Bram Stoker's Dracula.
I genuinely like this movie in spite of any criticism that could be lobbed its way; I was just chuckling like an idiot all the way through your video at all the clips you showed. 😁
That said, I think this SIMPSONS quote sums up the movie well:
Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story.
Homer: Exactly. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened.
Bart: But it certainly was a memorable few days.
Homer: Amen to that!
The point of the movie was the Martians' perspective:
There is no point
Their human experiments, destroying landmarks, harming humanity while saying "We are your friends"
It was all just a pointless 'joke'
That was the point, there is no point
This movie did this far better than "Freddy Got Fingered" yet Mike is lambasting this one
It’s a very fun movie. It’s not deep or anything like that but it really doesn’t have to be. I love it as well.
Jay's hair looks great for someone passing the 40 milestone. Many of us WISHED we had a full head of hair at that point.
Mars Attacks is such a silly movie and I love it for that.
Jay is right about the animation of the Aliens. I got to see an early test of the Martians stop motion before the movie was released. It looked like something Ray Harryhausen would have animated and worked so much better for the tone of the movie . Like he said it was the 90s and everyone was trying to use CG if they had access to it.
Such a fun Tim Burton movie. Ed Wood would’ve been proud.
Tim Burton : "This is the one I'll be remembered for, as being my permanent downturn!"
I saw this movie in the theatre in 1997. My best friend and I took a college day. We got the recruiter to sign our papers and we left. That feeling of being out of school during the day was indescribable. We drive about an hour to where a big multiplex was and watched Mars Attacks.
I loved the movie and it just went perfect with that amazingly fun day.
Ack ack!
This movie genuinely scarred me as a kid, i would get up in the middle of the night and check the window for aliens. My mom and sister still think it’s funny and bring it up, I just didn’t want us to get disintegrated
Literally same here. My dad took me to see Mars Attacks in theaters when I was only 6 and its been responsible for more nightmares in my life than anything else.
Yeah, I saw some of the alien attack scenes on tv when I was about 7 or 8 and it kind of traumatised me for a while. It wasn't until years later that I even realised the movie was a comedy
Same here! I had nightmares about those green skeletons their weapons left behind, and when the alien lady's face disguise gets ripped. Then as an adult I found out it was a comedy.
Same here, completely disturbed me at age 7. Watched it three times in a row as an adult to finally not slightly jump anymore every time I unexpextedly see some picture of those aliens somewhere lol
In my early 20's I saw this in the theater while on acid, which I thought would make the movie more fun, but made it even more freaky and surreal. Never watch Mars Attacks on acid, kids.
Can't believe Mike missed the "Jay should re:Visit a barber" joke.
No one told Jay the pandemic is over.
Dementia
There was a series of Mars Attacks novels that came out around the same time. One of them was called War Dogs of the Golden Horde where a group of modern Mongolians take on the Martians. I remember getting real misty-eyed reading that book with its well-developed characters and actual plot. It was so much better than it had any right to be.
Get a load of this guy who cried while reading a tie-in novel for a flop alien invasion film and then admitted to it on the internet
Found and read the same book. Got it in a 98 cents store and was surprised how enjoyable the book was. Good pulp.
i saw this on cable as a kid and it gave me recurring nightmares about being trapped in a mars attacks! themed pinball machine that were so vivid that i once woke up in a panic, tried to run downstairs to my parent's room, slipped, fell, broke a bone and threw up all over myself. thanks tim burton
I actually watched this movie in black and white as a kid, on my grandma's old soviet TV. My brother and I had nightmares for days, we thought this was the scariest horror movie ever. Later I found out it was actually supposed to be funny.
Bro same. This shit was so scary to me
I grew up thinking that black and white equals funny because of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. So when I saw Miss Marple watching a woman get violently choked to death in the next train over it was the funniest shit I've ever seen.
@@bjorntantau194 lol
When I was a child, maybe 4 or 5, couple of years after the film came out, my sister played this movie for me. It literally gave me ,my first existential crisis and I had nightmares for like a week straight. Needless to say, I've loved it ever since.
I remember seeing this when it came out with like 3 other people in the theater and my grandmother and loving it.
I rewatched this movie a year ago. The first half was quite slow because they had so many characters to introduce, but I laughed my head off for most of the second half. I just took the jokes as they came and didn't examine it for a deeper meaning. I assumed the "flying saucers" and the mid-century army ordinance was part of the 50s aesthetic.
Fun to watch RLM gradually slide into being On Cinema At The Cinema
I can't believe my best friends mike and jay are wrong about mars attacks
This will hurt my strong parasocial relationship with them and I hope they know how frustrated I am with their choices
Agreed. I listened to all their complaints. Somehow they both missed the whimsy in this movie.
Tim Burton is obnoxious
Hey man opinions are like assholes, theirs are right
the movie blows... CGI aged horribly
This movie has a special place in my heart because I watched it young enough that I had no idea if it was a fever dream, was a documentary, or was the wildest Star Wars movie I had ever watched. Jack Black, Jack Nicholson, the yodeling, the head swapping. What a buck wild movie.
It's like someone wanted to make Independence Day, but failed spectacularly
same, it traumatized me in a good way lol
Their conclusion that Mars Attacks is "nothing but martian shenanigans" is not what makes the movie bad, but it's what makes it great.
Yeah, no plot getting in the way of all that delightful mayhem! Very true to the trading cards!
I'm watching it again because of this.
The nuttiest parts are the kids who skip school to play the alien shooter arcade game, and that makes them able to save the president, and Lucas haas at the end, when he suggests everyone should live in tipis instead of houses, when they rebuild. It's a celebration of stupidity, and that's awesome
Indeed! If anything, the plot and characters are in the way of Martians being dicks to people for no other reason than that they think it is hilarious.
The long list of top-tier actors playing ridiculous caricatures only to be killed off only adds to it. We get not one but TWO Jack Nicholson performances!
The hilariously obsolete tanks being used by the Army were an absurd mix of M41 Walker Bulldogs and Soviet T-54 or T-55 tanks.
this guy tanks
Which at least, M41 Walker Bulldogs were a staple of US Marines in the 1991 Gulf War. By 1995 they would have been relegated to reserve units, so it's plausible.
But really, it's because after the Marine switch to the M1, there was an abundance of them really cheap for directors.
Tanks for letting us know
@@nicholasvinenyour dad joke wasn't punny
@@ScottSuaso I think you're thinking of M60A3s. The M41 was retired from U.S. Service in the '60s...
Can't believe Mike didn't mention Star Trek Beyond using the exact same ending with the music killing the supposedly unbeatable enemies.
He is getting forgetful going into old age.
Pretty sure he's like me, actively trying to forget that movie exists.
I love this movie, the aliens are hilarious, the mischievous little looks they give each other, the childish glee they take in killing everyone. And then theres that model the aliens disguise themselves as, she played it so well, one of my favourite parts of the movie. Its just a fun movie imo.
I still laugh my ass off at Mike saying “Hey Eminem! I’m poor” lmaoo 😅
Mikes "Get off my lawn" levels are off the charts.
His ironic despise for old people is because he wants to be the highlander of the elderly.
@@vincentbatten4686 pretending to hate old people while emulating them is simply his latent self hate coming through.
He just wants the kids him alone so can drink
I still love Mars Attacks, even thought it's rather vapid. It's dumb fun, and I appreciate that it's so simple and straightforward.
I saw this in theaters and absolutely loved the pure chaotic energy of it. Don't know if you'd call that a guilty pleasure or not, but I think this and Sleepy Hollow were around when the wheels on the Burton Wagon started to fall off for me.
It's not unusual for RLM to brighten my day.
Right? My day got instantly better when I saw this posted.
It's not unusual to be loved by anyone
@@yrenekurtz5268It's not unusual to have fun with anyone
But when jay refuses, to cut his hair, it's not unusual, to see me cry.
@@rexmundi2986 oh I wanna die!
Honestly this is one of my very favorite movies, the plotlessness of it is perfect, it's adapting the story of a 55 card set, there is nothing there to begin with but gore. The card set was actually so controversial when it was released in the early 60s that it only got limited distribution in a few mostly East Coast states before Topps cancelled the line and killed the product. Because of this is became infamous among a generation of kids, leading to a revival of the brand in the late 1980s, with Topps reissuing the cards in 1994, around the time Burton was getting to work on the film.
It's a loving hommage to mid-century grade B scifi (very much in the spirit of Ed Wood), combined with a tonally accurate recreation of a controversial scifi card set made camp by social changes over the 34 years between the release of the cards and movie.
Dinosaurs Attack was hyperviolent because, as a 25th anniversary sequel to the Mars Attacks set, they wanted it to be as controversial as the original set. Unfortunately parents never flipped out at Dinosaurs Attack in the same way.
💯💯💯
Couldn't agree more! I think Jay and especially Mike approached the film with expectations of certain plotting, character development, and structure. That's simply not what it is, no wonder they didn't think much of it.
Also surprised they didn't make more of a connection between him making an Ed Wood biopic, only to follow with a 1950s/'60s inspired sci-fi B-movie of his own.
Sometimes I wish they just did a little more research. I recommend the Mars Attacks episode of the Blank Check podcast. 👌🏻
@@blakesby I will check it out. Thanks! Mars Attacks is one of my favorite things in pop culture, I actually have the two US theatrical posters framed and displayed in my living room. Also, most of the card sets, comics, and merch... and a couple of copies of the film. Even a print set of Wally Wood's concept sketches that Bob Powell and Norm Saunders worked from to create the original cards!
@@RarebitFiends amazing!
I was scared of two things as a lad. Aliens and skeletons. What did dad take me to see at the cinema?
Jesus Christ. Traumatised.
That's what dads are for.
I was scared of giant robots and dinosaurs in my house.
What about the exoskeletons in Aliens?
Holy shit
So I'm not the only one who was traumatised by fucking Mars Attacks of all things
Jesus Christ AND coffee.
I was a projectionist At AMC theaters when Mars attacks came out. I worked at flagship theater in the city at the time. The day before Mars attacks opened we had a sneak peek set up through a local radio station, 104 KRBE. They had me working a double that day to cover the sneak peak as I was the most experienced projectionist at the theater. However our print did not come in so they had to send me 40 minutes across town to pick up a print from another theater. I brought it back to our theater where we proceeded to start the screening that only two people showed up for and they left about a third of the way through the movie. The radio station DJ showed up saw nobody was there and they left before the movie started. I'm still friends with the projectionist at the other theater to this very day that I took his print from because I had to take it back to him at the end of the night and boy did we have a laugh.
Mikes impersonation abilities are stellar
This hands-down my favourite UA-cam channel. Every time a new video pops up, my heart races, and I stop whatever I'm doing just so I can watch. You guys are wonderfully entertaining. Keep up the good work.
'My heart races' 😂 That's so sweet, honestly
Jay's hair looks great.
I think Mike may be jealous. Which is too bad, cuz his hair also looks great. Just for different reasons.
I was about 14 when the movie came out and saw it 3 times in the cinema. I loved, that it didn't seem to care to show anything you would expect, that it had this huge cast and it gave them almost nothing to do exept to die. It seemed to me like the total antithesis to Independence Day. I still love this movie for its daring unconventionality and weirdness.
The story I've heard behind Jack's bizarre second character is the studio was thrilled they got him to play the president but refused to let the aliens kill him because he was such a huge star. So Jack and Tim made a second character and killed them both just to stick it to the producer.
All rational criticism aside, I love this movie, always have. Maybe I’m too deluded by modern “comedy” but I appreciate how everyone in the movie commits to the joke and doesn’t do a “can you believe that just happened?!?!?”
Yeah, it feels like a world. A ridiculous world.
Guess you made me a convert, at least on that specific part.
"modern comedy" is just add pot and or alcohol, include constant stupidity, repeat.
@@lutherheggs451 Or you could look a bit harder and find the good comedy, of which there is an abundance.
I remember even at the age of 12 or however old I was when I caught this on TV, I recognized this was kind of a "bad" but really fun movie
The scene where Jim Brown is sitting in his “apartment” must have been filmed at the Glass Pool Motel. It’s the only conceivable location. Directly between the motel and the Luxor is the compound where I worked for Mandalay Resorts between 2002 and about 2005 (who owned the Luxor at the time). The Glass Pool was a “rent by the hour” motel and myself and my colleagues enjoyed watching frequent police raids on the place.
I have to admit that this film is a guilty pleasure for me. BTW, Mike does a great impression of the aliens.
The Doves getting vaporize still makes me laugh so hard. Just so unexpected. Loved this movie as a teenager.
Its the scene i remember the most
its tim burtons second best movie
You should’ve expected it. It’s in the title of the feature.
@whitman maleman I thought the “Attack” was a dead give away but to each their own I guess.
The part that really makes me chuckle is the guy saying "they came in peace" just before releasing them. I'm laughing now just thinking about it.
I frickin love this movie, the cheesy, the campy, the performances from a-list celebrities.......it's a movie that will never be attempted again. I'm so glad it made it to my face.
Same! I tend to disagree with all of these RLM critiques... they just add to the charm of the movie!
I'm not in the same boat, but I did enjoy your "made it to my face" comment. I laughed more at that than I did at this movie.
I never knew this was a flop at the time. In my mind though this was one of my favorite comedies growing up and even now every joke still lands and I laughed out loud remembering them as you were criticizing them.
I grew up watching Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure and Airport '75 on HBO when it was fairly new.... so Mars Attacks was absolutely HILARIOUS to me!
"Every" joke? Mars Attacks just has the one joke repeated over and over.
@@steveyoung9271 Hey, at least you're not disagreeing with me. Progress!
Mike doing the tongue thing when acting like the alien from Star Wars is proof that you can reach your late 70s and still be a child at heart.
I watched Mars Attacks on HBO a bunch as a kid. Rewatched it about a year ago and was pleasantly surprised how well it actually held up for me. Very cynical and dark sense of humor, lots of great political subtext. Glenn Close's death scene is hilarious.
yeah it's not bad at all as an adult. scary and rough as a kid though! haha. i went to burton's vegas sign museum exhibit and it was well-represented there
It's more relevant today than when it first came out
(Chew on that, Jay)