District 9

[Lazybones]

Managed to go see this over the weekend, and I really enjoyed it.

Much of it is shot documentary style but the movie doesn't take it self to seriously. The movie starts with the aliens already having landed on earth and recounts some of the events of their arrival. Despite having a huge apparent technology advantage the aliens now live in a giant slum. Much of the plot revolves around why and how so I will not go into detail.

Over all I think it was great and and a fresh take on alien fist contact.

Warning, the movies rating seems to revolve around the violent aspects which include aliens and humans loosing limbs and being exploded.

There are many unanswered questions in the film that leave it primed for a sequel.

[Thorin]

Managed to go see this over the weekend, and I really enjoyed it.

Much of it is shot documentary style but the movie doesn't take it self to seriously. The movie starts with the aliens already having landed on earth and recounts some of the events of their arrival. Despite having a huge apparent technology advantage the aliens now live in a giant slum. Much of the plot revolves around why and how so I will not go into detail.

Over all I think it was great and and a fresh take on alien fist contact.

Warning, the movies rating seems to revolve around the violent aspects which include aliens and humans loosing limbs and being exploded.

There are many unanswered questions in the film that leave it primed for a sequel.

Yet another one I'd like to go see, but not one I'd imagine watching with my son (or wife, for that matter).  I think this sums up what you're saying about the rating adequately:

(14A) Brutal Violence, Gory Scenes, Coarse Language

Content Elements:
Pervasive use of the sexual expletive and variations in non-sexual contexts; infrequent use of scatological slang and vulgar expressions
Infrequent use of crude sexual language
Frequent use of ethno-cultural slurs
Frequent gun, weapons, and hand-to-hand violence? blood, gore, detail
Infrequent portrayals of medical procedures ? blood, gore, detail
Infrequent portrayals of crude bodily functions ? no nudity, some detail

Classification Rationale:
Rated 14A for intense genre violence.

When comparing the District 9 14A rating to G.I. Joe's 14A rating, I'd say the movies are probably at opposite ends of said rating...

So I heard the main action in this movie happens in South Africa?  Did that seem weird, or was it a refreshing change from always happening in the US?

[Lazybones]

So I heard the main action in this movie happens in South Africa?  Did that seem weird, or was it a refreshing change from always happening in the US?

That is were it was set, one of the prime themes of the movie is racism and human/alien rights abuse so I think it is a great setting. It would probably be a different movie if it was set in the US, I think the setting is great.

[Mr. Analog]

I read that it's got some nice effects but little story, apparently it beats you over the head with "it's apartheid but with aliens".

I don't doubt that so far it's 2009s best sci-fi film though. This year has been pretty dry though (and no, I don't consider Star-Trek to be sci-fi).

[Lazybones]

Ya, there isn't much meat in the story. The main character sort of just stumbles through his situation, but it is entertaining.

The concept is the result of the Halo movie project failing and Peter Jackson seeing this short called Live in Joburg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GZpD6nmUI

[Mr. Analog]

I also heard there's a lot of jumble-cam (shakycam, whatever).

Ooh, yeah, I was reading about Joburg, that sounds neat actually.

[Darren Dirt]

I don't doubt that so far it's 2009s best sci-fi film though. This year has been pretty dry though (and no, I don't consider Star-Trek to be sci-fi).

Has "Moon" been released yet? I mean "wide" release, of course. (PS: just discovered this thread @ IMDB where the director actually chats with IMDB'ers. Might be spoilers in there, who knows, but a quick skim makes me think it really is the actual director, schmoozing with the average folk

[Tonnica]

Great movie for sure. This is aimed at the audience in a way that says it knows it's a summer blockbuster but you're smart here enjoy some overaching concepts that you can nerd out over.

I felt it was a very full movie. There were thoughtful moments and mindless flurries of action. Wikus was an interesting main character because he was painfully normal. He really was the product of the world around him and seeing the change in his situation was engaging.

I noticed they gave the aliens human-like eyes. That was a concious decision to get the audience to connect with the aliens but otherwise their look was great. Very chitinous and alien.

Oh and alien guns that are nice nods to many famous video game weapons (Upgraded Gravity Gun, Lightning Gun, AWP, etc.). According to the weapons imageboard the weapons of the South Africains were very accurate, sprinkled with the occasional black-market American semi-automatics. There's also a general agreement that the MNU forces rifles were ugly looking as heck. White stocks? Ew.

I think this will end up next to Shaun of the Dead as one of my favourite films. I can only hope that the World War Z movie does such a good job.

Final thought: I really hope the don't make a sequel. As good as this film was any follow-up will likely be muddled with too much shooting and action.

[Lazybones]

Final thought: I really hope the don't make a sequel. As good as this film was any follow-up will likely be muddled with too much shooting and action.

Yes a sequel could wreck it, but there is so much more I want to know.

[Thorin]

Yes a sequel could wreck it, but there is so much more I want to know.

You sound positively enamoured with this movie.

[Darren Dirt]

So would you say the film is fun, not-to-challenging "popcorn"? Or a feature-length anti-corporation rant? Cuz "Slate" thinks it missed the mark: http://www.slate.com/id/2225285/

[Lazybones]

So would you say the film is fun, not-to-challenging "popcorn"? Or a feature-length anti-corporation rant? Cuz "Slate" thinks it missed the mark: http://www.slate.com/id/2225285/

Does it matter? I think its worth seeing that is about all I can say.