homage: independence day

Ok. I'm going to confess.

Independence Day is one of my favorite movies. And a rarity because I still enjoy watching it even after substantial mocking (by me and others) while viewing.

I watch it every 4th of July.
I know, I know - there are more patriotic/less fluffy movies I could watch to celebrate the birth of our nation, but I try to limit most heavy movie watching to my annual Memorial Day Tear Fest.

So join me if you will in a slightly lengthy, tongue-in-cheek look at my favorite disaster movie. So far.
(I've heard that Day After Tomorrow is pretty mockable.)


This guy obviously flunked his cadet training on "Decision Making in Crisis Situations: Or Why You Should Never Park Your Patrol Car in the Middle of the Road".


Anyone else remember cordless phones the size of Cadillacs? Me either.


Of all the disaster victims, this guy would have to be my favorite. I think he was listed in the credits as "Guy Who Sits and Watches a Firetruck Sail Across the Sky and Crash Through His Windshield".


To save money, the studio used some of this same footage in Pearl Harbor.


Memo to me: Add learning to drive a diesel truck to your life skillset toolbox. Just in case.


Boy, it sure was handy that they had a giant see-through wall map in the bunker of Area 51, just in case the President should happen to drop by and need a visual tracking board for worldwide destruction!


"Didn't anyone tell you? ... Mountains always look better in neon green."


This is the part where I silently cursed my friends for dragging me to see this movie in the theater on opening night. I NEVER go to the movies on opening night - and ESPECIALLY not some tricked out alien movie!! Darn them!...


...okay, wait. Nevermind. I'm okay now.


I'm not sure what it says about me that that this is my favorite part in the movie. "Is that glass bulletproof?" "NO SIR."


Able to kick alien butt without breaking a sweat and still looking GOOD? Check.


"David, why must you ALWAYS wear flannel?"


I've never said this aloud, but I thought it was somehow fitting that Houston was the testground for nuclear annihilation.


It's probably good that she died off early - every time she came on screen all I could think about was Dances With Wolves.


I bet he wears this fake wedding ring to ward off amorous coworkers.


And here is the token black man (see Undercover Brother for reference) - which he's really not, considering that Will Smith plays the main character. But don't mention this to Dan - he can't take a joke.


I still marvel at how the aliens missed Morse Code in their Earthlings 101 coursework.


"We will not go quietly into the night! We will now go down without a fight! We do not like green eggs and ham! We do not like them Sam I Am!"


"Oops."


"Stay on target...stay on target!" "I copy, Red Leader." Oh, wait. Wrong movie.


I have no logical explanation for why an alien air traffic control tower makes me giggle. But it does.


Protects children, screaming women, and small animals? Check.


Polling the audience: Better than the explosion of the Death Star or better than the explosion of the Death Star?