Skip to main content

Entering District 9!!!!!!!!!!

So this movie basically ruled. Finally, after a summer of cinema crappiness comes a great movie.

It's too easy to spoil plot elements from this movie, so I'll keep the story as bare boned as possible. So about 20 years ago, an alien mother ship broke down on Earth and of all places, came to a halt right above Johannesburg, South Africa. The alien colony settled in an area of the city called District 9, monitored by the government. After years of occupation, D-9 became a slum, and a group named Multinational United (MNU), were hired to move the 1.8 million inhabitants to a place called District 10, several kilometers away from Johannesburg. The movie follows a field operative named Wikus who becomes the leader of this eviction program. On a routine operation, Wikus becomes infected from an alien substance he finds from one of the slum's huts. The rest of the movie follows Wikus as he discovers what he's infected with and as he seeks a cure for his disease with the help from some aliens.

A monument depicting the peace between aliens and humans.

What's unique about the movie is that the first third of it is shot in a documentary style; using clips from interviews, news footage and CCTV cameras. The subject of the documentary is on Wikus, where they speak of him in such a manner that alludes us to something grave that may have happened to him. In all the interviews they do, they speak of Wikus in a past tense, which was a great way of building up the mystery and the eventual reveal.

The movie then switches gears and becomes more of an action movie. Shooting with the shaky cam with South Africa as the backdrop really gave it a raw and rugged edge, a very visceral style. It felt like we were right there with Wickus in the middle of the action. It also helped that all the kills within the movie were so gory. I am a gore hound, I don't hide it. I loved all the exploding bodies and flying heads. Still, in the end, it was the documentary portion of the movie that had me gripped. It was a very original way of setting up the action portion of the movie. I also liked how they left it open for a sequel, with a few unresolved plot points and even the mentions of District 10.

The movie was directed by a young and relatively new director named Neill Blomkamp. This was his first major feature and quite a success. That he was able to make this movie on a $30 million budget is another impressive thing about the movie. In its first weekend, it already recouped its cost, so that can only be good news towards a hopeful sequel.

The film was produced by Peter Jackson's Wingnut Studios. I only bring this up because Blomkamp and Jackson were originally attached to Microsoft's Halo movie. In fact, Blomkamp directed a short movie to show what his Halo would of looked like. I'm not sure of the facts, but the two sides eventually went their own ways. Microsoft even turned down Steven Spielberg who was interested in the movie. You know something's awry when you turn down someone like Spielberg.

Anyhow, this was a great movie. If you haven't already seen it, do yourself a favour and go see it. I've also attached the Halo short film below for your viewing pleasure. The style is almost the same as District 9, which is not a bad thing at all.

Until next time, later geeks!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW HAIKUS!!!! (#3)

It's time for another edition of Review Haikus; a feature I like to write when I'm too lazy to write out full reviews~!!! The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Tony Scott schlockfest~! All his movies seem the same. A needless remake. Denzel's a bad-ass. Given up on Travolta. 1 of 2 ain't bad. Public Enemies Well? Disappointed. I expected more from Mann. The pacing felt off. Acting was good though. Man-crush on Depp and Bale. 5 more syllables! Saw VI Yes, another Saw. Harder to tell them apart. Blood, guts, bad story. Why more Saw movies? Each movie makes less and less. End this series now. ====== Later geeks!

Sam Raimi's Dragging Someone To Hell!!!

It's great to see Sam Raimi back in his form with his latest entry Drag Me To Hell . Simply glorious, it is a horror geek's dream. This is the Sam we all know and love from Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness , before he got all caught up in the comic book geek universe of Spider-Man . After 10 years (from the first time I watched Evil Dead 2 ), he has remained my favourite film director... although he did try my patience with Spider-Man 3 . I know this euphoria that I'm feeling now will be short lived, as even as I type this review, Raimi is already at work on the pre-production of Spider-Man 4 (yay?). So what is there to say about Drag Me To Hell ? This is the way a summer movie should be, touching on all those senses that make movie going an actual experience. There were thrills, chills, laughs and cheers; the way things should be! Drag Me To Hell tells a story of a young loan officer named Christine, who in an effort to advance her own career, has to turn down an

Lt. Aldo Raine wants his scalps!!!!!!!!!!!!

I missed The Inglorious Basterds during its theatrical run and it's a shame too because I'm a fool for Tarantino movies. But I finally got to see it this weekend and I'm happy to say that I mostly enjoyed it. I don't think it's his best movie, but it was damned entertaining. The Inglorious Basterds takes place during World War II and tells its story by following three different groups of characters: from Lt. Aldo Raine and his squad of soldiers infamously known as the Basterds, Col. Hans Landa, a Nazi colonel better known as "The Jew Hunter", and from a young Jewish girl named Shosanna, who had her family murdered by Col. Landa. We follow the Basterds in their Nazi killing business (and business is good) as they lay out a plan to take out several high ranking officials all at once. We follow Shosanna as she operates her theater and lays down her own plans in exacting revenge on the Nazis. And of course, the "Jew Hunter" is hot on their trail