District 9

[A-Tex Devil]

I am not going to put any spoilers in here yet. But if you enjoy good movies, GO. SEE. THIS. MOVIE.

It's unlike any other movie I've ever seen. I thought I knew what I was getting into with the faux-documentary, "aliens among us" context you get from the trailers and commercials, but that's only part of the story.

Caution -- it's cartoonishly gory (but it works).

Anyone else seen it?

[accfanfrom1970]

Saw it Friday - also highly recommend it. No high profile actors, but good performances all around. Different than most summer flics and that made it more interesting.

Also saw The Hurt Locker, and I would also highly recommend it too....another movie without the typical summer Hollywood approach, or the big name actors.
I good character study as well as a glimpse into the Iraq war.

[bjornolf]

I saw it on my sojourn to meet my half brother. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of profanity though, so if that ruins a movie for you, you might want to avoid it. It was very well done, and the CGI was pretty impressive. They did an interview on local radio with the guy that played the main character.

Apparently, he's done a lot of BEHIND the camera work, and the producer was using him for fill-ins and test scenes and liked him so much that he had Peter Jackson check him out, who ended up choosing him for the role.

Also, he said they did NO green screen work on this movie at all. They did it on location, then added the aliens later. In scenes where he interacted closely with the aliens, they'd have him talking to a guy roughly the size of the aliens, who kind of faked the dialogue back to him. When he was at a distance from the aliens, they just told him to imagine where they were, and they'd put the aliens in the right place for him. I found that pretty interesting.

[Tommac]

Saw it today. My son loved it but I did not. I only thought it was ok. The moview came across as kinda weird. I wouln't want to see it again and I certainly wouldn't buy the dvd. I can think of 5-6 better movies I've seen this summer.

[Fish80]

Saw it Sunday with my son. We both loved it! Best movie I've seen in a few years. I knew it had great reviews, but usually when the critics love it then I don't. Not this time. The critics got it right.

The message can be quite deep if you want to think. But it doesn't come across as preachy at all.

Great movie. Five stars!

*****

[JasonEvans]

Folks may find this interesting -- it is a link to watch Neil Blomkamp's short film "Alive in Joberg," which served as the basis for what he did in District 9. You will even see District 9 star, Sharlto Copley, in a tiny role.

Not sure if everyone knows this, but Copley has never appeared in a feature film before. He is a producer, writer, and director who works with Blomkamp a lot. They are good friends. The story, as I heard it, was that Copley was standing in while they were blocking some shots and Peter Jackson suggested that Copley play the starring role in the film. The financial folks/studio behind District 9 wanted a name star for the lead, but Jackson had the track record and clout to convince them otherwise.

--Jason "I have not seen it yet, but am planning to in the next few days" Evans

[moonpie23]

i thought is was awesome...great story and copely was incredible...just goes to show you that you never know when good talent is gonna poke it's head up..


highly recommend it....

[Lord Ash]

Hm, I thought it was okay, but not "all that." More action-y than I expected, and lots of people getting pulped. I didn't really think the aliens were terribly visually interesting, I didn't quite buy the entire "juice/20 years to get/one guy is flying away" plotline, and the kid alien did nothing for me. I don't know, I thought it had some very interesting visuals and concepts, but at the same time I certainly didn't feel like it was some sort of classic sci-fi film. 6 out of 10, maybe 7, for me.

[roywhite]

I saw it on my sojourn to meet my half brother.

Have we heard about bjornolf's sojourn (and try saying that 4 or 5 times) to meet his half brother?

Sounds interesting...if you care to expound on it?

[bjornolf]

Not sure if everyone knows this, but Copley has never appeared in a feature film before. He is a producer, writer, and director who works with Blomkamp a lot. They are good friends. The story, as I heard it, was that Copley was standing in while they were blocking some shots and Peter Jackson suggested that Copley play the starring role in the film. The financial folks/studio behind District 9 wanted a name star for the lead, but Jackson had the track record and clout to convince them otherwise.

Jason, I didn't say it as eloquently as you, but check out post number three in this thread.

[JasonEvans]

Jason, I didn't say it as eloquently as you, but check out post number three in this thread.

Woops. Totally my bad. Sorry.