Mission to Mars

After losing contact with the first humans to land on Mars, a rescue mission lead by Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise and Don Cheadle discovers that a metallic outcropping underneath a Martian mountain is, in fact, a giant face-shaped spaceship. In Brian De Palma's spectacular-looking but dumbed-down, slow-paced and commercialized stab at Kubrick-dom, all but one of the picture's big set pieces are either overwhelmed by expensive special effects or riddled with unintentional laughs and its montage of ideas are lifted wholesale from much better films. There's a fine line between homage and rip-off, and this movie crosses it with impudence. Very optional. (R. Blackwelder)