Master Pancake: Independence Day

Released in the era before 9/11 took the fun out of seeing our national landmarks explode, Independence Day is a B-movie on a blockbuster budget. Forgoing the “we come in peace” philosophies of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, it returns science fiction to its paranoid roots, pitting our soft-bellied civilization against aliens who crave our extinction, just because. Caught on the front lines is a ragtag group of heroes that includes quippy fighter pilot Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum as “Dr. Jeff Goldblum,” and President Bill Pullman, whose rallying speech to the troops has actually come to rival Henry V’s “St. Crispin’s Day” among some modern patriots. It gets the full Boston Massacre treatment here from red-blooded hecklers Master Pancake Theater.