District 9

[freeflychris 0]

Dont waste your money.

[pbwing 0]

Really??!

Geez, all the reviews are saying it's the best movie of the summer!!

What didn't you like about it? - without spoiling it

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Ah damn. We've been waiting to see that one!

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[GaryRay 0]

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Dont waste your money.

dont come on here and make a stupid statement with no explanation, i thought it was one of the better movies that came out recently, i actually thought it was a really fucking good movie.

go see it, worth every penny.

JewBag.
www.jewbag.wordpress.com

[Zep 0]

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Dont waste your money.

I thought Gone with the wind was a load of crap, but millions of people proved me wrong.

It's all a matter of taste, ( Something I'm severly lacking )

Gone fishing

[WatchYourStep 0]

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Dont waste your money.

dont come on here and make a stupid statement with no explanation, i thought it was one of the better movies that came out recently, i actually thought it was a really fucking good movie.

go see it, worth every penny.

Does anyone see any irony in Gary's response?

"You start off your skydiving career with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience up before your bag of luck runs out."

[karlm 0]

I'd have to disagree with it being a waste of money, the movie is great and well directed and edited.

If you miss the irony across the entire story line, one should pay closer attention to the world around us and what has and continues to happen on a daily basis. The movies message is strong and deliberate (in my opinion).

But like most things it's not everyones cup of tea, much like some movies are not mine, however tis one sure is ..... I recommend going to see it and appreciate it's message.

On a side note: Being born in SA, it was great to see such a powerful movie rise up from there, after such triumphs as "Tsotsi" in 2005.

Better never to have met you in my dream than to wake and reach for hands that are not there.

[swoosh13 0]

I've seen it twice in the 3 days its been out cause I had two different groups of friends who wanted to see it. I really liked it. I thought it was gonna be another social commentary movie that spent so much time on being subtle about its message that it just kinda ruins it and has the audience yelling "I GET IT! ITS THE HUMANS! THE HUMANS ARE THE MONSTERS JUST GET ON WITH IT!"

I really like the directing style and the fact it wasn't shaky cam all the time like Cloverfield. It was a nice mix of still security camera/news feed/ect views and a more cinematic view.

I can see why some wouldn't like it but to me it was a very entertaining movie.

[GaryRay 0]

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Dont waste your money.

dont come on here and make a stupid statement with no explanation, i thought it was one of the better movies that came out recently, i actually thought it was a really fucking good movie.

go see it, worth every penny.

Does anyone see any irony in Gary's response?

=D Shhhhhhhh

JewBag.
www.jewbag.wordpress.com

[karlm 0]

Here is the short film by the same director that was the basis for the District 9 movie:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1185812222812358837

And some info on how the movie came to being made:
http://www.news24.com/Content/Entertainment/SouthAfrica/1043/3efc0077bfca429e9aac05fe73ecb6b7//SA_director_causes_a_stir

If he can do the same for the Halo movie as he has for this one, it would be a great movie if it got the green light.

Better never to have met you in my dream than to wake and reach for hands that are not there.

[PLFXpert 0]

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On a side note: Being born in SA, it was great to see such a powerful movie rise up from there, after such triumphs as "Tsotsi" in 2005.

Tsotsi was wonderful.

I have seen the trailer for District 9 and warily put it in my queue...

It is unclear what the OP was looking for in a movie, and you seem to be about the message. Me? I am not one to go for Hollywood special effects and fast-action scenes (though the Bourne movies were pretty good
To the OP: Was it because it did not live up to typical alien-encounter, high-action movies such as Independence Day? If not, why did the movie not live up to your expectations?

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[LouDiamond 1]

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The film's central character, Wikus van der Merwe

HAHA, thats one I'm sure the SA crowd picked up immediately.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[ltdiver 3]

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Dont waste your money.

Just got back from seeing District 9. Sure there's a message (which btw is blatantly driven IMO).

However, it made me physically ill. No kidding. I don't know if it was the closeness of the screen, or the camera style of shooting, but I came very close to exiting the theater as the actual feeling of hot/cold chills and nausea almost overcame me.

Not a movie I would have run out to see, nor do I recommend it. Not really my flavor, nor directorial style.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[ianmdrennan 2]

Just got back, and loved it. Nothing like I expected, but very entertaining.

It's great to see the homeland getting so much screentime.

That, and the fact that my wife giggled when they said "doos" cause she knows what it means
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[quade 3]

I think it fails on a couple of levels. Mainly it does it by mixing sub-genres in a way that doesn't really work for either of them.

There's a great big world filled with people that like stories that have a point to them and conversely, there are a lot of people that like special effects and just want to see stuff blowing up.

Act 1 sets up what I see as good classic science fiction; take a premise, change ONE key thing and see how that applies to the current situation in the world. It doesn't have to be "preachy" to do that either. This was done very well in books by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. For example War of the Worlds which is about Victorian imperialism, social fears and racial prejudice. In the 1953 film this gets turned into fears of Soviet invasion. Great stuff really and District 9 had set itself up for a potential discussion along the same lines.

Unfortunately, the end of Act 1 changes everything and devolves into a mess of a shoot-'em-up based of people trying to use something the aliens have to control other things they have that simply don't make sense in that context. If the aliens have and can use these things, they should, by all rights, have much greater power over the people that are trying to oppress them. It would be as if Jews in Auschwitz always had the ability to fight the Nazis and in fact had MORE power than them, but simply choose not to.

It doesn't make sense.

Layer on top of that a search for a mysterious third thing which could solve everyone's problems but is being kept a secret for no reason whatsoever and all you're left with is a special effects movie made for no particular reason that has huge plot holes in it.

Are the special effect great? Yes.
Is it shot and edited well? Yes.

Does the story work? No. Not at all.

I think that pisses off the guys that just want the special effects and stuff blowing up AND pisses off the guys that want a classic science fiction story that makes sense and has a point to it.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[muff528 3]

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.................
If you miss the irony across the entire story line, one should pay closer attention to the world around us and what has and continues to happen on a daily basis. The movies message is strong and deliberate ........................

Crap! I was planning to see this one.

[LouDiamond 1]

Just saw it and I thought it was indeed a good movie and worth seeing. Very entertaining but with a real world parallel theme that was simplified enough for almost any audience to grasp without being a typical "Mighty message" movie. IMO, it was brilliantly done as it has enough action to appeal to the ADD/ Action, shoot em up crowd while having a sub text that is apparent to the more intellectual and current event savvy crowd. I found this to be a refreshing change from the usual Hollywood crap.


Paul, your observation about the prawns having the power and not using it was very briefly and very quickly covered in a narrative statement that the prawns lacked leadership and motivation, hence their not using the resources available to them(trying not to be too specific and post any spoilers) to change their situation.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[quade 3]

And yet, somehow the Prawns could figure out quid pro quo? They certainly were violent enough in other ways when they wanted stuff, why not simply take it by force with the power they had?

Seems silly.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[LouDiamond 1]

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And yet, somehow the Prawns could figure out quid pro quo? They certainly were violent enough in other ways when they wanted stuff, why not simply take it by force with the power they had?

Seems silly.

MY GOD MAN!! Don't you see the ironic parallel?

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Butters 0]

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Dont waste your money.

Agreed.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[riddler 0]

I think there was a key line that wasn't emphasized, how the prawns in the district were a warrior caste. To me, it implied that they were soldiers that did what they are told, and did not do what they were not told. It's also an easy out for sci-fi - they don't have to act the way that humans would. In this case, humans would be tempted to take by force, where the prawns were more likely to not act because they weren't told that they could take by force. This would explain why they originally did not come down from the ship, and were malnourished, even though there was obviously food on the planet. It would also explain why they didn't take up arms themselves if they were never authorized to do so.

In Sci-Fi movies, there are often a lot of concepts that are packed into a short timeframe, but I enjoy the subtlety of why characters or groups may be acting a certain way. I found it hard to root for the main human character, since he was so flawed. I found all of the characters compelling, but the only characters I liked were the main alien, and his son.

I definitely agree with you about mixing genres. The original concept of stranded aliens coming from 'Alien Nation', the racial prejudice and separation theme motivated by Apartheid, the reality-tv look of 'Cops', the battle scenes from 'Halo'. It reminded me of the book 'Eragon', which had no new or redeeming ideas, just mixed a lot of ideas from previous fantasy work.

Overall, I thought it was worth seeing at the theater. Not great, but entertaining enough to pay $10 for.

Edit - and I think it's safe to say that in three years, we'll be in for the sequel, District 10

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[1969912 0]

Watching it right now. I'm no sci-fi enthusiast, but it's pretty damn good. It's probably best seen on the big screen in a theater, so I'll do that next week.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[JohnRich 4]

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GaryRay: i actually thought it was a really fucking good movie.

I thought it was pretty good. Those big insect aliens were disgusting. Who would have thought they were intelligent and capable of compassion and love?

As for the word "fucking", let's pronounce it the way the South African main character pronounced it: "fooking". As in, "Are you fooking kidding me?", and "Fook you!"

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ltdiver: However, it made me physically ill. No kidding. I don't know if it was the closeness of the screen, or the camera style of shooting, but I came very close to exiting the theater as the actual feeling of hot/cold chills and nausea almost overcame me.

I admit I closed my eyes a few times. The amount of puking-up disgusting substances was too overdone.