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Montgomery 
"F**k!"
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 Posted - 08/24/2009 : 22:17:57
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Finally saw it this past weekend. Still thinking about it. Brilliant. Why is there not already a topic thread on this? Or is there and I just haven't found it?
Let's discuss.
EM :) |
Edited by - Montgomery on 08/24/2009 22:18:48 |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 08/24/2009 : 23:24:02
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Just not out over here yet - but liked the trailer and looking forward to it.  |
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 08/25/2009 : 02:08:18
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I thought it was brilliant, too. Usually if I really like something everyone else here thinks it's rubbish.
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MguyX
"X marks the spot"
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Posted - 08/25/2009 : 04:42:19
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quote:
Originally posted by silly
I thought it was brilliant, too. Usually if I really like something everyone else here thinks it's rubbish.
I loved it; but if silly thinks it's good, then I'm changing my opinion!  
(just kidding; haven't seen it yet; was going to sneak in after seeing Inglourious Basterds," but I was too geeked on IB to check out anything else that quickly) |
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damalc 
"last watched: Sausage Party"
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Posted - 08/25/2009 : 17:14:29
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liked it a lot, didn't love it. i think all the positive reviews (89% on Rotten Tomatoes) got my expectations too high. i thought Copley's acting was great.
SPOILERS BELOW:
one problem i had -- just because he has a prawn arm doesn't mean he instantly has the knowledge to work prawn technology (weapons, ship, exo-skeleton).
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 08/26/2009 : 19:02:50
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quote:
Originally posted by damalc
SPOILERS BELOW:
That wasn't a huge hangup for me; most of it looked more like beginners luck than skill. He had help (advice), too. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 08/27/2009 : 02:10:55
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It's a good summer movie, but not the groundbreaking transcendent movie everyone seems to believe it is. It's problematic.
Point one is that while there is a whole lot about this movie that is novel, it's extremely cliched plotwise. This movie loves its cliches -- the slaveringly evil weapons makers, the African warlords, the cute baby aliens, the Enemy Mine style working together. That doesn't bother me very much, but it does bear pointing out. I think a much larger concern is the documentary style that eventually fades away. That honestly bothers the living hell out of me. I was constantly wondering who was filming this and how, even after it became clear that they had pretty much given up on that conceit. The documentary thing keeps things moving at a brisk pace, but it's also distracting as hell. |
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RockGolf
"1500+ reviews. 1 joke."
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Posted - 08/27/2009 : 15:23:16
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I also couldn't figure out why an item so critical to the alien's plan a) was not better protected, b) had the remarkable dual qualities of being a spaceship fuel and a genetic transmogrifying agent.
Other than that, I thought it was quite well done. But I agree, there should have been some visual cue as to when the "documentary" aspect ended and the other parts began. A shifted colour scheme, a change in aspect, anything.
And I'm looking forward to 3 years from now. |
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Montgomery
"F**k!"
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Posted - 08/27/2009 : 20:11:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Ro�k G01f, MD+
I also couldn't figure out why an item so critical to the alien's plan a) was not better protected, b) had the remarkable dual qualities of being a spaceship fuel and a genetic transmogrifying agent.
Other than that, I thought it was quite well done. But I agree, there should have been some visual cue as to when the "documentary" aspect ended and the other parts began. A shifted colour scheme, a change in aspect, anything.
And I'm looking forward to 3 years from now.
He might have meant 3 Prawn years, so who knows how long/short that would be. I really enjoyed this movie. I understand what MBI is saying about the loss of the documentary style a ways into the film, but I was riveted. And I have to say, it seemed feasible. Sorry world. I don't have more faith in you. I think we would treat aliens that looked like that and didn't try to fight us and showed up in a space ship with over 1 million of them for us to contend with, just that way.
The fuel thing didn't bother me. I wondered about it, but figured -- hey, it's alien.
EM :)
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 09/06/2009 : 11:41:06
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I'm with you all the way on this one, Em!
It's such an original take on the genre, and thinking about it, I can find sort-of explanations for the seeming anomalies. I think the whole doco thing was from the start mixed with camcorder rec footage, cctv or equivalent, and straight-forward interview stuff recorded/broadcast by unidentified sources.
I think what that mix adds to the feelings the film induces, is a similar sense of panic, paranoia, ignorance, and mob anxiety that any society would experience whether they are the captured or the captors. In that sense the film poses truly interesting questions about the concept of alien-ness and everyone's search for identity. When that identity is called to question we have to scurry about in our own ways finding a path to survival that offers real choices.
Our hypocrisies come out of hiding, as do our more noble instincts.
It's the most Kafkaesque film I've ever seen since Cronenburg's The Fly. Except it's much wittier, and darker at the same time.
I don't care how many times you may have read that Sharlto Copley is a real find, I'll say it again. Of course, as his wikipedia entry shows, he's not, as has been widely mis-reported, completely new to cinema. But he's a natural talent, and I'd love to see him in other roles that challenge him.
Don't even think about, just go see this! 
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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 10:46:29
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Like the main character this movie was flawed and thoroughly enjoyable to watch.
As Coleridge coined, suspend your disbelief with the plot and you'll enjoy it.
(Coleridge LOVES Alien movies) |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 13:34:27
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Pretty decent on the whole - kudos to a South African director for even making a film that is so clearly politically loaded; as with the best Sci-fi it's usually about something important and not just guns and aliens. But the guns and aliens were what made it fun; I particularly liked it when the alien weaponry got a proper showing in the second half of the picture, and the awesome full body mech suit. My inner 14 year old was doing back flips. Problems? A few. The paper thin characterisations were a shame: from the evil racist military leader with the skinhead and the piercing eyes to the cute alien son who can fix anything. Ho hum. I was also a bit perplexed about a race of aliens who are subservient and meek but simultaneously are taller and stronger than their persecutors, probably more intelligent, not to mention far more technologically advanced and have weapons of extreme destruction at their disposal. If they are peace loving species then why the weapons in the first place, and if the weapons are available (hidden away in District 9) why aren't they using them? I didn't take much for a couple of them to do some bare handed dismembering late in the film. With millions of them couldn't they actually obliterate the humans?
Anyway - loved the slop and grime and body horror- certainly owes a debt to Cronenberg with all the vomit and body parts falling off. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 13:37:28
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I'm not into films about aliens (unless they're really cute with fingers that light up or they're extremely musical and like to visit flat-topped mountains). But I've read a few reviews of this and almost everyone is panning it. Now, after reading this thread, I'm truly curious and maybe I'll go see this one.
(One person complained that the space ship wasn't big enough to hold all those millions of aliens. That wouldn't bother me. I know all about the "Tardis Effect".)
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 13:57:45
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Think 'The Fly' and 'Aliens' meet 'Cry Freedom' and your somewhere in the right direction. |
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MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 15:32:11
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"But I've read a few reviews of this and almost everyone is panning it. "
Buh? It's the most rapturously received movie of the summer! Anywhere that disliked it has had hordes of rabid fanboys descend on them in outrage! |
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benj clews
"...."
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Posted - 09/07/2009 : 15:46:59
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
I think a much larger concern is the documentary style that eventually fades away. That honestly bothers the living hell out of me. I was constantly wondering who was filming this and how, even after it became clear that they had pretty much given up on that conceit. The documentary thing keeps things moving at a brisk pace, but it's also distracting as hell.
Yeah, this bothered me immensely too and the fact so many people seem to be pointing it out implies it wasn't handled too well. It's kind of like this film wanted to be Cloverfield but there was too much parallel story for it to work purely that way.
I was trying to think about how they could have managed this in a less slap-dash manner and the best I could think was to have 'Actor Reconstruction's or talking heads recounting the backstory in amongst the interviews and 'actual' footage. Still, even then, how anyone would know the alien side of the story is a major stumbling block. Either that or give the alien pilot dude a camera (that was later recovered), which actually sounds bonkers now I've typed it out.
Still, real shame this- it was a romping film, but a flawed concept perhaps  |
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District 9. (PROBABLY SPOILERS)
