District 9

Upcoming Summer movie (Patrick versus Summer Movies to come). Looks neat, I'm definitely going to see this when it comes out.

'Peter Jackson' and the weirdo alien kinda jolted me out of my anticipatory trance. It's like seeing Papa Smurf pop up in the middle of a school shooting broadcast on the news or something.

I'm skeptical. If I didn't know any better, I suspect this film will amount to little more than a barely concealed socio-political commentary of some sort.

Peter Jackson is producing, not directing, so I don't know what you're complaining about. It's like all those Asian actions movies that say "presented by Quentin Tarantino" when all he did was get the movie released in the US.

Neill Blomkamp is the director. It's basically a full-length remake of his short film Alive in Joburg (highly recommended viewing).

I found out about this movie a while back and I'm looking forward to it. At the very least it's not going to be another retarded action shoot-'em-up toy commercial pretending to be a sci-fi movie.

david_a said:

Peter Jackson is producing, not directing, so I don't know what you're complaining about.

Doesn't change much if he isn't.

But that's not where my opinion comes from, really.

Hmm... Seeing how it's Aug 9 i'll be in plattsburgh by then and I barely see movies when I'm up there. Perhaps.

Looks promising.

TheeXile said:

Doesn't change much if he isn't.

But that's not where my opinion comes from, really.

Please. The definition of "producer" is so vague we really have no idea what he's doing. I would guess he's dealing with Weta for the effects shots, but his main impact is probably just to get the word out about the movie and pulling the strings in order for it to get made in the first place.

And I don't think there's any question this is a political commentary.

Yeah, producer is a pretty open-ended word and differs in definition between industries. In the film industry it can either mean anything from someone who is down in the shooting locations managing everything to someone who just threw a bunch of money at the project. Usually you can see who fits into the latter category because they're called "Executive Producers", but sometimes they just call them producers.

Anyway, this might look interesting if it didn't look like just another version of Alien Nation or V. The documentary angle is getting kind of old.

Looks very much like the original inspiration "Alive in Joberg".

I'm looking forward to this movie.

Seems promising. The alien looks cool. :)

Indeed, it looks interesting. I just hope it is a little more than a very obvious parallel of attitudes towards immigrants in the real world. If that's all it is, then it would be disappointing because you get it in the first few seconds of the trailer. No need for a whole movie. However, it does seem as if it has more story behind it than that.

At first I thought it was talking about Americans :P
It looks like something I would watch and I probably will at some point.

david_a said:

At the very least it's not going to be another retarded action shoot-'em-up toy commercial pretending to be a sci-fi movie.

Good deal, but on the other hand the only reason I'm going to see Transformers 2 is Megan Fox :P

Lord_Z said:

At first I thought it was talking about Americans :P

Awwww, c'mon, all we do is invade countries that never provoked us or asked us for help, mess things up and leave without cleaning up.

USA! USA! USA! * plays US Imperial National Anthem *

I ssaw the commercial for this when I went to go see "The Taking of Pelham 123". Honestly I thought it looked interesting, but again I was marred by seeing Peter Jackson's name mentioned. Regardless, it just felt like he was a major person in the making of this film, and I don't know how it's gonna turn out. I hope for it to be something really interesting, but I still have doubts :/

Why are people treating Peter Jackson like Michael Moore around here?

I saw Peter Jackson in a new light after I realized that Dead/Alive (AUS: Brain Dead) was his first directing gig.

Mancubus II said:

Why are people treating Peter Jackson like Michael Moore around here?

Too-famous-for-the-Internet syndrome. Kindly ignore.

I dunno, it was all pretty good up to King Kong but he certainly dropped the ball a bit on that one IMO.

I think he did a great job with LotR but my favourite of his is still Bad Taste.

I still don't understand how he got the LotR series. Some rich guy behind the scenes must have been a massive splatter fan...

Heh, yeah, I remember when I realised that it was someone called Peter Jackson that had LotR, I checked and double checked that it was the same Peter Jackson that I was thinking about.

I went to go see this today. Despite what everyone else seems to think, it was very "meh." Another kind of generic Hollywood alien movie.

Some overclocker magazine whose RSS feed I subscribe to has called this the "movie of the year", better even than Harry Potter 6.

Movies these days have sucked for a long time, but they seem to be getting better recently. My last few trips to the cinema have been enjoyable.

Anyway my gf gets free movie tickets at work so we're gonna try go see D9 on Saturday.

Fucking wow. You guys have to see this! It was good on so many levels, and was anything BUT a generic Hollywood alien movie.

It's made by a New Zealander and set in Johannesburg. There are no big names, all the actors are unknown South Africans. It's in the style of a documentary, there are interviews and newscasts and stuff, but switches to the "live" storyline when appropriate.

It's about an alien spaceship which just appears in 1982. After a few weeks, humans decide to cut in and find a million undernourished aliens who are then evacuated into temporary housing on the ground which becomes a permanent slum. It deals with the human rights travesties and crime on both sides with honesty, as in such a shitty situation it's probably hard for any side to be "right".

It also has a fucking great story, and given the lack of ties to the usual American patriotism rubbish, it's hard to pick how it ends. Right until the end you're left guessing as to whether it'll end on a downer or a happy ending.

There is also no product placement even though there are ample opportunities to do so. The CGI looks very believable, I didn't even think of special effects until the dude starts walking around in a mech towards the end. I'd be interested to see the Making Of, as the human-alien interaction is very believable.

Go and see this movie. It's definitely the best thing I've seen all year, and one of the most unique films I've seen ever. Definitely enjoyable if you're into sci-fi, or are sick of the usual commercialised rubbish that appears in cinemas these days.

Yup, saw it already. It was very awesome.

Super Jamie said:

Fucking wow. You guys have to see this! It was good on so many levels, and was anything BUT a generic Hollywood alien movie.

The premise was fantastic. It's nice to see a realistic depiction of how aliens would actually be, in somewhere not the USA, with a realistic depiction of people's reactions. That was the only good thing. The beginning of this movie was one of the most brilliant setups for a movie I've ever seen. After a superb setup and premise, the tons of bullshit came predictable falling down.

I beg to differ.

Hmm, This or Inglorious Basterds is going to be a very very tough call.

It would help if the nearest cinema worth a damn wasn't 30 miles away. Nothing good came out when i lived a minute's walk from one!

deathbringer said:

Inglorious Basterds

Everyone I know who's seen it has said it was disappointingly rubbish.

First hour or so was fantastic. Last thirty minutes could not sustain the movie.