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District 9 - Film Review
Sep. 6th, 2009 09:08 pm[Did a fandom poll in last post - not sure 36 is a good sample? Not that I'm doing anything remotely scientific with the poll. Purely out of curiousity. Sort of want to know where people are falling generally on the topic. Hope more people respond. If you haven't - please do. ]
Saw the flick District 9 yesterday with CW.
Two random bits of conversation with CW:
CW: I don't like movies very much.
Me: yet you go to quite a few of them and seem to enjoy them.
CW: I only go if people drag me.
Me (pondering to myself, not aloud, because didn't seem a good idea - uh, actually going to District 9 was your idea, not mine, you suggested it - just like you suggested seeing Watchman with me - and no, you did not drag me either- there was no dragging involved. Plus, you liked the film, so why claim you were dragged to it?? What's all this dragging about? It's a movie! Why can't you admit you like movies??? Bewildering.)
To the awesomely funny trailer of Zombieland (not a fan of zombie films per se, but this was hilarious. I kid you not.)
CW: Now, some people like vampires, but I prefer zombies! Zombies! (she chuckles crazily)
Me: Well to be honest, vampires are sort of hitting the saturation point, zombies may be on the upswing, then again maybe they've always been on the upswing.
CW (still cackling at trailer): Zombies! Yay! Zombies!
(I confess that I don't get the appeal of zombies. They are decaying and falling apart - which is gross. They eat people - also gross. Mindless - which is just disturbing. And somewhat stupid. Vampires on the other hand - while creepy, do still have a mind, and are a metaphor for repressed sexuality and addiction (not sure what zombies are a metaphor for - outside of group mindcontrol or mindless consumption or lemming syndrom or disease, which are my buttons and turn-offs). Granted most vampire fiction unnerves me - because vampires remind me of spiders and I'm an arachnophobe. Also, I don't tend to buy the whole vampire biting you as romantic - so much as a rape metaphor or spider, and eww. Which may explain why I don't like a lot of the vampire romance fiction out at the moment. Buffy and Angel and the Lost Boys worked for me - because being bitten was never considered a good thing. That said, I prefer vampires and zombies to werewolves. Very hard to do werewolves well - they always look silly. The only Werewolf movies I've liked were Wolf (Jack Nicholson), Ladyhawk, and An American Werewolf in London. That said, Zombieland - I might actually go to, looks like a laugh riot.)
Not sure how to review District 9 - the odd thing is, I haven't seen anyone else on my flist review it. Considering it is a sci-fi film, fringing on political allegory, and executive produced by Peter Jackson - I find this a bit interesting and bewildering. Why no reviews? Did people not see it? OR did they just have zip to say? Or did I manage miss the reviews (which is of course possible)? If they haven't seen it, is it not in wide-release? (appears to be, made the top ten box office this past weekend). Or did you hate it? Curious that more people saw the big blockbuster films and not this little gem. Granted it is a weird little gem.
District 9 is a South African film directed by Neil Blomkamp and written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. It is executive produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame). It stars Sharlto Copley who plays Wikus, a bureaucrat assigned to manage the eviction and relocation of an alien species from a refuge camp outside Johannasburg to a new one managed by MNU International Corporation - a corporation that specializes in weapons manufacture. His duties include hunting weapons and serving eviction notices, as well as capturing resisting aliens. The aliens are called "Prawns" and showed up in Johannasburg several years ago, their space ship hangs in the air above the city - a huge ship, reminiscent of the one seen in the film Independence Day. While doing his duty, Wikus accidentally sprays a can of alien fluid onto his face and arm, which combines with his human DNA and causes him to start mutating into one of the aliens.
The story is filmed in Johannasburg, South Africa. All the actors are South African. The dialect is South African. The filmmakers are South African. And it comments indirectly on the political situation in that country - the refuge camps and the violence - through the use of metaphor and aliens. It is a morality play of sorts, but not of the preachy variety - shows more than tells.
( Spoilers for the film District 9 )
The film stays with you long after it is over, which is not something I can say about most of the films I've seen this year. It is a film that makes you think, that you flip over in your head.
It is worth seeing I think.
Saw the flick District 9 yesterday with CW.
Two random bits of conversation with CW:
CW: I don't like movies very much.
Me: yet you go to quite a few of them and seem to enjoy them.
CW: I only go if people drag me.
Me (pondering to myself, not aloud, because didn't seem a good idea - uh, actually going to District 9 was your idea, not mine, you suggested it - just like you suggested seeing Watchman with me - and no, you did not drag me either- there was no dragging involved. Plus, you liked the film, so why claim you were dragged to it?? What's all this dragging about? It's a movie! Why can't you admit you like movies??? Bewildering.)
To the awesomely funny trailer of Zombieland (not a fan of zombie films per se, but this was hilarious. I kid you not.)
CW: Now, some people like vampires, but I prefer zombies! Zombies! (she chuckles crazily)
Me: Well to be honest, vampires are sort of hitting the saturation point, zombies may be on the upswing, then again maybe they've always been on the upswing.
CW (still cackling at trailer): Zombies! Yay! Zombies!
(I confess that I don't get the appeal of zombies. They are decaying and falling apart - which is gross. They eat people - also gross. Mindless - which is just disturbing. And somewhat stupid. Vampires on the other hand - while creepy, do still have a mind, and are a metaphor for repressed sexuality and addiction (not sure what zombies are a metaphor for - outside of group mindcontrol or mindless consumption or lemming syndrom or disease, which are my buttons and turn-offs). Granted most vampire fiction unnerves me - because vampires remind me of spiders and I'm an arachnophobe. Also, I don't tend to buy the whole vampire biting you as romantic - so much as a rape metaphor or spider, and eww. Which may explain why I don't like a lot of the vampire romance fiction out at the moment. Buffy and Angel and the Lost Boys worked for me - because being bitten was never considered a good thing. That said, I prefer vampires and zombies to werewolves. Very hard to do werewolves well - they always look silly. The only Werewolf movies I've liked were Wolf (Jack Nicholson), Ladyhawk, and An American Werewolf in London. That said, Zombieland - I might actually go to, looks like a laugh riot.)
Not sure how to review District 9 - the odd thing is, I haven't seen anyone else on my flist review it. Considering it is a sci-fi film, fringing on political allegory, and executive produced by Peter Jackson - I find this a bit interesting and bewildering. Why no reviews? Did people not see it? OR did they just have zip to say? Or did I manage miss the reviews (which is of course possible)? If they haven't seen it, is it not in wide-release? (appears to be, made the top ten box office this past weekend). Or did you hate it? Curious that more people saw the big blockbuster films and not this little gem. Granted it is a weird little gem.
District 9 is a South African film directed by Neil Blomkamp and written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. It is executive produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame). It stars Sharlto Copley who plays Wikus, a bureaucrat assigned to manage the eviction and relocation of an alien species from a refuge camp outside Johannasburg to a new one managed by MNU International Corporation - a corporation that specializes in weapons manufacture. His duties include hunting weapons and serving eviction notices, as well as capturing resisting aliens. The aliens are called "Prawns" and showed up in Johannasburg several years ago, their space ship hangs in the air above the city - a huge ship, reminiscent of the one seen in the film Independence Day. While doing his duty, Wikus accidentally sprays a can of alien fluid onto his face and arm, which combines with his human DNA and causes him to start mutating into one of the aliens.
The story is filmed in Johannasburg, South Africa. All the actors are South African. The dialect is South African. The filmmakers are South African. And it comments indirectly on the political situation in that country - the refuge camps and the violence - through the use of metaphor and aliens. It is a morality play of sorts, but not of the preachy variety - shows more than tells.
( Spoilers for the film District 9 )
The film stays with you long after it is over, which is not something I can say about most of the films I've seen this year. It is a film that makes you think, that you flip over in your head.
It is worth seeing I think.