District 9 - "Landmark Film"

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  • #61
    Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

    Originally posted by haroldhecuba View Post
    SPOILERS:


    My biggest problem all had to do with that craft buried in the ground. I'll go with the convenience of the black stuff being both a fuel/DNA-changer, and I'll even go with a little kid able to pilot the shuttle craft, AND I'll go with the ability of 'Christopher' and Wikus making it through the city to get to the MNU building, but...BUT...

    Why didn't Christopher just go ahead and use the stuff in the beginning? He's got the stuff, use it. Go underground, and just go. Also, when the shuttle was downed, there should've been a perimeter set up around the craft by the soldiers/mercs. This was the piece of the mothership that they never found so there would've been more urgency in getting to that craft.
    I could be wrong, but I thought they the fluid was created in a different location than the ship. And Christopher didn't want to risk taking it with "MNU everywhere". But it's hard to remember back as all the locations in D9 looked the same (i.e. slums).

    There were certainly a few minor plot holes, but nothing that the overall creativity and strong acting couldn't overcome brilliantly. Just kind of refreshing to actually have something new and different in cinema's for once...
    http://thekillbox.wordpress.com/

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    • #62
      Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

      Saw the movie this weekend, loved it.
      R.K. Bentley
      My Blog, My Design Studio
      "Little hand says it's time to rock an' roll." - Hot Fuzz.

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      • #63
        Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

        STOP READING NOW. Just go see it. Really. Don't let all the hyperbole spoil what promises to be a truly unique moviegoing experience. Just go — now. Tonight.

        SPOILERZ

        I can't stop thinking about this film. "Swept up in it" is a great way to explain the experience. I've enjoyed reading everyone else's comments ... and while I can certainly concede the fuel/virus plot point as problematic ... I so don't care. Don't focus on the chipped button of an otherwise marvelously designed and perfectly tailored suit.

        If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that type of criticism can only come from writers specifically. Folks who are no longer able to simply enjoy movies as movie goers — to stare up at the screen, lost in wide eyed wonder at the magic happening there. (Okay, that's a bit much ... but you get my point) Sure, as writers we want to deconstruct these things, so that we can better understand them — but don't kill the patient trying to find the cure! This is storytelling at it's freshest, finest and most fantastic. The movie has so much wonder and imagination, we can certainly forgive it its VERY minor flaws.

        And I'm not sure who pointed out Sharlto Copley's character arc, but you're so right. The guy goes from an unlikeable, prickish, very flawed, (comic) everyman to a supremely empathic hero. Just great writing. Can't say it enough.

        The only reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes who's really nailed it so far (IMO) is Amy Biancolli (from the Houston Chronicle of all places?!)
        Every now and then, a film comes along that both defies and compels description. District 9 is one such movie: a science-fiction action vehicle so brilliantly and fully imagined that real life, when it resumes after the credits, arrives with a new sense of dread. this is categorically one of the best releases of the year so far — a spellbinding genre flick that's also a corrosive assault on the baroque inhumanity of common human beings.

        What else can be said about it? That District 9 deftly weaves the faux-documentary gimmick with more forthright narrative segments and all-out, upscale action mayhem. That it bound me so closely, and so emotionally, to the central characters that I spent the entire running time in three agonized postures: gripping my seat in suspense, grabbing my head in panic and covering my mouth in alarm. This is unlike any other human-versus-extraterrestrial film in recent memory, though it's closer in spirit and conceit to Alien Nation than the macho hooey of Starship Troopers — and closer still to a couple of sci-fi/horror classics (plus a certain German novella) that I won't even name for fear of blowing the plot.
        I simply refuse to spoil it for you. It's that good. Bloody, suspenseful, excoriating and flecked through with pathos and humor, District 9 is science fiction at its best.

        Last edited by loopdesign; 08-17-2009, 05:09 AM.
        "People spend so much time focusing on rescuing the princess, they forget how much fun it is to fight the dragon."
        - Simon Pegg & Nick Frost, DAVE

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        • #64
          Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

          *MINOR SPOILERS*

          Saw a sold out show last night and I thought it completely lived up to the hype. Jaw-dropping sequences that would make Lucas drool with envy, intense storyline, emotional moments, political undertones and social commentary, touching cinematic imagery, action-packed battles, AMAZING effects, great acting, envelope pushing techniques. This director is going to do big things, after he's done filming the D9 sequels. This flick is going to clean house with such a small budget. While watching it, I thought of ALIEN and BLACK HAWK DOWN and 2001 with a little bit of ENEMY MINE mixed in there. My favorite sequence was the robot suit in the third act (which evoked ROBOCOP's ED-209). The minor little plot holes mean nothing in the grand scheme of this vision. Well worth your time and money, I could've kept watching for another two hours. Seriously, I want to know what happens! I want to see Christopher on his planet, I want to see the anti-hero become a John Connor type character, I didn't want it to end!

          SMASH TO:

          BLACK

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          • #65
            Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

            Originally posted by loopdesign View Post
            MINOR SPOILER

            I can't stop thinking about this film. "Swept up in it" is a great way to explain the experience. I've enjoyed reading everyone else's comments ... and while I can certainly concede the fuel/virus plot point as problematic ... I so don't care. Don't focus on the chipped button of an otherwise marvelously designed and perfectly tailored suit.

            If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that type of criticism can only come from writers specifically. Folks who are no longer able to simply enjoy movies as movie goers — to stare up at the screen, lost in wide eyed wonder at the magic happening there. (Okay, that's a bit much ... but you get my point) Sure, as writers we want to deconstruct these things, so that we can better understand them — but don't kill the patient trying to find the cure! This is storytelling at it's freshest, finest and most fantastic. The movie has so much wonder and imagination, we can certainly forgive it its VERY minor flaws.

            And I'm not sure who pointed out Sharlto Copley's character arc, but you're so right. The guy goes from an unlikeable, prickish, very flawed, (comic) everyman to a supremely empathic hero. Just great writing. Can't say it enough.
            SPOILERS

            I'm the guy who first brought up the alien fuel/infectant and I agree with you, haha. I only really brought it up because I'm on a writing board. So you're right on all counts.

            Copley as Van de Merwe was the most unexpected part of a very surprising movie for me. He started out as this bumbling ass, straight out of the Peter Jackson Bad Taste/Dead Alive school for buffoons. But I liked him right off the bat for his David Brent/Michael Scott style total unawareness. Even after he unplugged those eggsacs and torched those baby Prawns to death. Which is impressive. Then of course by the end he's this Robocop/Brundlefly like tragedy of a man and if I stuck with him through torching Prawn fetuses then I'm on his side when he's fighting the army and Nigerian criminal syndicates. It's amazing that this guy never acted before because he's a complete natural. You don't see anywhere near the range of emotions coming out of this guy in most action movie performances. It may turn out that this is the one exact thing he can do, but he did it perfectly this first time.
            Last edited by Gwai Lo; 08-16-2009, 11:32 AM. Reason: SPOILERS

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            • #66
              Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

              SPOILERS?

              Originally posted by loopdesign View Post
              If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that type of criticism can only come from writers specifically. Folks who are no longer able to simply enjoy movies as movie goers — to stare up at the screen, lost in wide eyed wonder at the magic happening there. (Okay, that's a bit much ... but you get my point) Sure, as writers we want to deconstruct these things, so that we can better understand them — but don't kill the patient trying to find the cure! This is storytelling at it's freshest, finest and most fantastic. The movie has so much wonder and imagination, we can certainly forgive it its VERY minor flaws.
              If I feel engaged by a film, I can still totally lose myself in the experience. But if I feel the creative minds involved can't be bothered to connect the dots in a basic manner, I feel that the audience is being treated as a dim mass... that the writers are goin' "What, that? Oh, they won't notice..."

              Within the mockumentary framework, some minor quibbles could have been addressed (why would authorities bring the aliens dirtside when they were already contained, where the hell were the aliens getting access to the weaponry, how could the alien protag diagnose and offer to treat a human 's side effect if the aliens had never encountered humans before?)

              It's the writer's obligation not to aim solely at the lowest threshold of comprehension, and leave it at that. But then, I also don't want to be spoonfed information and have subtext made overt, either.

              And I'm not sure who pointed out Sharlto Copley's character arc, but you're so right. The guy goes from an unlikeable, prickish, very flawed, (comic) everyman to a supremely empathic hero. Just great writing. Can't say it enough.
              Aside for his operatic redemption moment*, he was pretty much a clueless, selfish dick right up to the final shot. Moping instead of engaging.

              The only reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes who's really nailed it so far (IMO) is Amy Biancolli (from the Houston Chronicle of all places?!)
              [...]though it's closer in spirit and conceit to Alien Nation than the macho hooey of Starship Troopers[...]
              Not sure I'd trust the opinion of someone that didn't grasp that Starship Troopers was a satire of macho hooey. And by no means a subtle one.

              *If that's even what it was... more likely the realization that his only hope of being returned to normal was about to be whacked.
              Last edited by Signal30; 08-16-2009, 12:49 PM.
              "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

              My YouTube channel.

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              • #67
                Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                i thought it was a good movie. it engaged me enough to not try and pick it apart. i'd recommend it to anybody that asks if it's worth seeing.
                One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

                The Fiction Story Room

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                • #68
                  Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                  MINOR SPOILER??
                  I thought this movie was going to be about alien/human action. Instead it was about alien/human interaction. Boo. Still an okay movie.
                  The Best Impersonation of Christian Bale Freak Out!!

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd5631H6KuE

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                  • #69
                    Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                    This is the only movie I know of where in the dedicated talkback on AICN I could not find a single negative comment about the movie. Normally that place is rampant with hate.

                    --WW
                    Trying to write, failing miserably.

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                    • #70
                      Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                      Originally posted by Signal30 View Post
                      SPOILERS?


                      If I feel engaged by a film, I can still totally lose myself in the experience. But if I feel the creative minds involved can't be bothered to connect the dots in a basic manner, I feel that the audience is being treated as a dim mass... that the writers are goin' "What, that? Oh, they won't notice..."

                      Within the mockumentary framework, some minor quibbles could have been addressed (why would authorities bring the aliens dirtside when they were already contained, where the hell were the aliens getting access to the weaponry, how could the alien protag diagnose and offer to treat a human 's side effect if the aliens had never encountered humans before?)

                      It's the writer's obligation not to aim solely at the lowest threshold of comprehension, and leave it at that. But then, I also don't want to be spoonfed information and have subtext made overt, either.

                      Aside for his operatic redemption moment*, he was pretty much a clueless, selfish dick right up to the final shot. Moping instead of engaging.

                      Not sure I'd trust the opinion of someone that didn't grasp that Starship Troopers was a satire of macho hooey. And by no means a subtle one.

                      *If that's even what it was... more likely the realization that his only hope of being returned to normal was about to be whacked.
                      Perhaps you're too smart to write movies. Or even watch them!

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                      • #71
                        Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                        @Signal30

                        You ask how Christopher could promise that he had the technology to change him back to human if he had never encountered the species before. I don't believe that he did have that technology, I believe he was just saying what he had to so that he could escape, fly back to his planet and inform them of the way their species is being violated on earth.

                        Will he come back in three years? If so, will it be to save his species and help change the protagonist back into a human? Or will it be to wage war on humanity for the atrocities committed by the humans? These are questions that I hope nobody ever definitively answers (IE I hope they never make a sequel) because the way it is now we can all have different ideas of what happens next and of what Christopher's intentions truly were.

                        At first Christopher made it sound like he had some magic pill he could give the protagonist and bam! He's human again. Later he tells him it will take three years and that he can't even start on his transformation until he has saved his species. I'm pretty positive that he was lying. But, that's just my opinion, maybe he wasn't. That's up for you to decide...

                        As for the weaponry, apparently a LOT of alien technology both fell out of the ship and came out when they were airlifting the aliens out of it in masses.
                        I would imagine that the weaponry came down with the aliens, some weaponry was found inside of the ship when the military went in and that's where all those test weapons came from. Maybe more weapons (like the mech suit) were built when the aliens were on the ground, I mean, they did have two decades to build those weapons and technology, which was probably a big reason why the military treated an alien standing by a bunch of (broken?)monitors like a criminal, that's why they made it illegal for them to possess any sort of computer technology, because they knew how to make weapons and alien technology out of it. At least the smart ones did.

                        --WW
                        Last edited by WalterWhite; 08-16-2009, 02:54 PM.
                        Trying to write, failing miserably.

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                        • #72
                          Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                          Brilliant. 10/10.
                          I read to the first typo

                          -Hollywood agent

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                          • #73
                            Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                            Originally posted by WalterWhite View Post
                            @Signal30

                            You ask how Christopher could promise that he had the technology to change him back to human if he had never encountered the species before. I don't believe that he did have that technology, I believe he was just saying what he had to so that he could escape, fly back to his planet and inform them of the way their species is being violated on earth.

                            Will he come back in three years? If so, will it be to save his species and help change the protagonist back into a human? Or will it be to wage war on humanity for the atrocities committed by the humans? These are questions that I hope nobody ever definitively answers (IE I hope they never make a sequel) because the way it is now we can all have different ideas of what happens next and of what Christopher's intentions truly were.

                            At first Christopher made it sound like he had some magic pill he could give the protagonist and bam! He's human again. Later he tells him it will take three years and that he can't even start on his transformation until he has saved his species. I'm pretty positive that he was lying. But, that's just my opinion, maybe he wasn't. That's up for you to decide...

                            As for the weaponry, apparently a LOT of alien technology both fell out of the ship and came out when they were airlifting the aliens out of it in masses.
                            I would imagine that the weaponry came down with the aliens, some weaponry was found inside of the ship when the military went in and that's where all those test weapons came from. Maybe more weapons (like the mech suit) were built when the aliens were on the ground, I mean, they did have two decades to build those weapons and technology, which was probably a big reason why the military treated an alien standing by a bunch of (broken?)monitors like a criminal, that's why they made it illegal for them to possess any sort of computer technology, because they knew how to make weapons and alien technology out of it. At least the smart ones did.

                            --WW
                            There's no point debating the points with him. Those were some of the most "thin" plot hole questions I've ever read. If someone was actually sitting in the movie theater and rolling their eyes at those ridiculous questions... Then they're never going to enjoy the film, anyway, because for some reason or another, they have preconceived notions.

                            Not everything needs to be handed to people on a silver platter. Some people get that, some people don't.

                            I hate a bad plot hole as much as anyone, but the ones Signal listed weren't even on the radar.

                            I honestly hope I never get to the point where I'm so much of a "writer" that I can't enjoy cinema anymore. That would take a whole lot of f'ing fun out of the process, wouldn't it?

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                            • #74
                              Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                              Originally posted by mikeb View Post
                              Perhaps you're too smart to write movies. Or even watch them!
                              lmao!
                              One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

                              The Fiction Story Room

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                              • #75
                                Re: District 9 - "Landmark Film"

                                Originally posted by mikeb View Post
                                There's no point debating the points with him. Those were some of the most "thin" plot hole questions I've ever read. If someone was actually sitting in the movie theater and rolling their eyes at those ridiculous questions... Then they're never going to enjoy the film, anyway, because for some reason or another, they have preconceived notions.
                                Wow... how much do you charge by the hour, drmike?

                                FWIW, I didn't say it was a bad movie or that I was rolling my eyes at it. Just that I found myself occupied with internal logic questions that a tighter script coulda covered. And as far as preconceived notions, I went into this one blind... I had heard about the basic premise, but knew absolutely nothing else about it. I was even surprised when Peter Jackson's name came up in the credits.

                                As a writer, I can still be sucked into a movie. This one didn't do it. I'm in the minority, obviously.
                                "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

                                My YouTube channel.

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