Happy 4th of July!

Whew! I am recuperating from the rodeo last night, so bear with me if I'm a little slow on the draw today. I'll have to tell you about it later, but right now I'm here to talk about Independence Day, The 4th of July for us here in the United States. It's a day where our pride in our country swells, and our differences are put aside in order to come together and celebrate the lives and values we hold so dear to us.

Now I could go the normal route and talk about patriotic movies, but that's been done. So today I am going to feature the alien invasion movie. Outer space aliens try to  come to our country, nay, our planet and we kick butt! Sure they have technology and fancy ray guns, but we've got pride! We've got glory! We've got crazy notions that we could win an alien attack! You mess with one of us, you crazy alien, you mess with us all!

I have talked about this movie before but it really is one of my favorite campy movies. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a classic and I don't care what you say Ed Wood is not the worst director in the world. The worst director is that guy who directed all the Transformer movies and the other guy who directed the last Indiana Jones movie. Pee-Ewww! That is some stinky directing. Now, let's see, where was I? Oh yes, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Aliens resurrect the dead, make them zombies and try to take over the world.  Guess who stops them-that's right! A red-blooded American! Not only do we out-think those stupid aliens, but we also throw in a few punches for good measure. How dare those aliens call earthlings stupid. Would a stupid earthling scratch his head with his loaded gun? Would a stupid earthling say "there" 10 times in one sentence? Would a stupid earthling...okay, the alien was partially right, but this is a fun movie that I never get tired of.

This next little gem combines two of the worst things in the entire universe. Teenagers and alien invasions (insert scream here). Teenagers from Outerspace is a delightful little romp showing that our youth of today really can make a difference. They save their small town from the horrible teenage space aliens, who, by the way, want to feed us to their monster lobster pet! One of the alien invaders loves our country and our planet so much that he decides to help us and eventually wants to stay in the good ol' US of A.

Have you ever been to Chicago? Let me tell ya, don't mess with those people! They will cut you! Okay, not really but they are a strong group of people. If you don't believe me, just ask the aliens in Target Earth. What alien, in their right mind, would go to Chicago and rough it up? The only alien dumber than that is the one from that movie Signs. Your weakness is water and yet you come to a planet that is covered by 75% of the stuff? I'm glad we kicked your butt. Now, back to the Target Earth, a group of strangers have to come together to fight off an attacking alien force and defend the United States against any further invasion. There is a wonderful plot twist that makes this film rise a bit above the normal "B" alien movie and it definitely shows how the good old American spirit of helping your neighbor is one of our strong suits.

So, what have we learned on the Independence Day? Well, for one thing, we can make some pretty bad kitschy movies but more importantly than that, when faced with adversity, we rise above our petty differences and take care of the business at hand. In a time where we seem so divided, I take great pride in today, because we can come together as Americans and enjoy a bad movie! Happy 4th everyone, don't blow off an arm.