District 9 [Caution: Could Contain Spoilers]

[Gregg Bolinger]

There hasn't been a good movie discussion here in a while and I saw District 9 last Friday. Anyone else see it? What did you think? It has taken a few days of retrospective but I think it was a terrific film. Probably the most original scifi movie I've seen in a very long time. Friendly reminder, make sure you announce SPOILER ALERT before giving anything away for those reading this thread that might not have seen the movie.

[Henry Wong]

Having suffered through the first hour or so of king kong (before just putting the dvd back into the netflicks envelope to mail it back), my first thought was.... great, another Peter Jackson masterpiece....

But... it seems to have gotten good reviews. I may get it a shot.

Henry

[Gregg Bolinger]

Henry Wong wrote:Having suffered through the first hour or so of king kong (before just putting the dvd back into the netflicks envelope to mail it back), my first thought was.... great, another Peter Jackson masterpiece....

But... it seems to have gotten good reviews. I may get it a shot.

Henry

Peter Jackson was only the Producer and it was his studio that did the special FX. So really, he didn't have much to do with the film other than putting a known name on it, because other than him, it has no one. It was written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Directed by Neill Blomkamp. The entire cast are unknowns. I'm not even going to say it is better than King Kong because it shouldn't even need to be said. ;)

[shan Iyer]

I just love District 13 . Have watched it more than 10 times

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

I still haven't seen Districts 1 through 8!

[Mike Simmons]

I saw this over the weekend and thought it was great. Original and well done. I may have to see it again in the theater. In many ways it reminds me of Children of Men, while still being a very different film. Both have a nice mix of thoughtful, careful worldbuilding, interesting themes, and great action sequences. In this last respect, District 9 is more of an action film, but it still shares many of the other virtues of Children. Kudos to director Blomkamp and the whole team.

In other news, I rather liked Jackson's King Kong, so there. Though it sure did take its time getting anywhere - I'm glad I saw it at home on DVD, so I could hit pause when I wanted to. Henry: you probably only had ten minutes more before Kong's first appearance. But it picks up after that, with some nice action sequences and a surprisingly believable romance angle. The final battle was very well done, I thought. Moving, even.

But as Gregg said, Jackson's main contribution to District 9 was letting them use his name. Not much in common between Kong and district. Even for the effects, Jackson's WETA was just one of three different effects shops used. And I thought the District effects were much more seamlessly blended than in Kong, seeming realistic rather than flashy or obviously fake. Watching the end credits of District, I almost expected to see alien actors' names for some of the roles. OK, maybe not. But one can hope. ;)

[Mike Simmons]

So: should District have a sequel? Set in, say, three years? The ending obviously leaves room for one - but I think this is one of those stories that works best with some ambiguity in the ending. Still, a good writer might come up with something that could work well. You never know.

Then again, as a kid I always thought ET should have a sequel wherein we discover that the rest of ET's people are a bunch of marauding war-mongers, who then come to Earth and raze it. Mostly because I was tired of hearing people gush over the peaceable little prune-head, and would have enjoyed seeing that idea turned on its head. But in retrospect, perhaps it's best that idea never came to fruition, and I never became a movie producer.

[Gregg Bolinger]

A sequel has already been confirmed...can't find the link just now. But they've been talking about it even before 9 was complete. The toughest part with the sequal is going to be keeping the grittiness and realism of the first film, but without being able to shoot it documentary style. Because the events in the sequel won't have happened yet. But there is a question on what time it will take place. Will it be 3 years? At which won't it just be an aliens attack earth movie? And we've got plenty of those. It's going to be tricky to pull of, for sure. Let's hope this doesn't turn into the Matrix. ;)

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

I kinda felt right from the beginning that I was being set up for a sequel.

[Joe Ess]

Gregg Bolinger wrote:A sequel has already been confirmed...can't find the link just now.

Ugh. One of the great things about District 9 is the shroud of mystery. Any effort to answer the lingering questions would take away from the atmosphere of the movie.

******** SPOILER ALERT *******************
The other great thing about the movie was the mechanized suit of armor that throws pigs. Now that's a useful feature!
******** END SPOILER ALERT *******************

[Eduardo Bueno]

It comes to Brazil only on October. How sad

[Mike Simmons]

Dude, it takes time to translate Prawn-talk into Portuguese.