District 9

[gryeyes]

Well deserved

[DraconianOne]

True but it's easy to keep the cost down when you a) have no named cast (therefore lower than normal above-the-line costs b) have copious contacts in the sfx industry c) are filming in South Africa d) are filming on digital (albeit a Red One). It would be interesting to see a budget breakdown - but I bet most of the costs where racked up by using WETA and I also bet they didn't include any of the marketing budget in that either (and, let's face it, it's the marketing which really sold this film).  I also bet that Jackson (and perhaps Blomkamp) would not have taken a salary in favour of percentage of profits. That'll also keep the cost down.

[gryeyes]

Of course its easy to make a cheap movie, the difficulty is making a cheap movie that makes multi-times its cost. Especially with no name actors and less than first rate support. I hate on movies with little provocation, its good shit. And when you think about it the last 30 minutes was the most uninteresting, and that was probably a large chunk of the budget.

[DraconianOne]

Of course its easy to make a cheap movie, the difficulty is making a cheap movie that makes multi-times its cost.

Marketing. Studio support.

District 9, like Cloverfield before it, have both been released on over 3000 screens. (Cloverfield had a prod budget of $25 million). Compare Memento which cost $9 million to make but still took in $40million globally ($25million at home) but only got a release on 500 screens. Or Shaun of the Dead which cost ~ $6million to make but took $30 million worldwide ($13 million in the US) and had a limited US release of 600 screens.

I'd rant about this all morning but I have to go to work.

[Mrbloodworth]

How is the gore level? I've heard conflicting reports.

Id like to know this too, is it just creatures and suspense, or is it horror gore splosions? Going to try to talk the girlfriend into seeing it.

[Kirth]

How is the gore level? I've heard conflicting reports.

Id like to know this too, is it just creatures and suspense, or is it horror gore splosions? Going to try to talk the girlfriend into seeing it.

Think Saving Private Ryan with energy weapons.

[HaemishM]

And when you think about it the last 30 minutes was the most uninteresting

You are horribly broken in some way that I just cannot figure out.

[kaid]

yes I would concur with saving private ryan with energy weapons is a pretty good way to describe the gore. The alien weapons when used do some pretty amusingly brutal things to people

[Mrbloodworth]

looks like a guys night out then!

I'm a huge horror fan, and i have been with a girl that does not watch them for 5 years now. I guess its the difference that makes the relationship interesting. (Though she loves GWAR too  )

Thanks for the heads up.

[gryeyes]

You are horribly broken in some way that I just cannot figure out.

The generic chase and shoot em up sequence was by far the weakest part of the movie. Thats not to say shit being shot and blown up isn't cool. Mrbloodworth its not a horror movie in the least bit.

Marketing. Studio support.

No arguing that both have huge impact.

[Hoax]

I thought it was good and fun, glad its done well for itself.  Wasn't amazing by any stretch but well worth watching once.

[Fraeg]

I enjoyed it, nothing original as far as sci-fi books go, but this type of sci-fi so rarely makes it to the big screen.   Movie sci-fi is all too often pew pew pew look at the spaceships fly and the mighty warriors fight.   I like to think it is exposing a lot of people to the idea that Star Wars is not the be all end all of what sci-fi is about.

Anyways, chalk me up as another hoping they don't fuck this up by coming out with a sequal.

[Samwise]

I finally saw this over the weekend.  Really liked it.  Wouldn't mind having a sequel.

[Mrbloodworth]

I finally saw this over the weekend.  Really liked it.  Wouldn't mind having a sequel.

It feels like one of those that are best left wanting a sequel. But not getting one.

[Abagadro]

Let the guy make Halo instead.

[fuser]

Really liked it, was a good scifi film and I hope they stop with this. Soon as it started in johannesburg started picking up on Tsotsi right away (thomas and zola) 

[K9]

Saw this tonight, was very pleased that I did. Highly recommended; the pacing was spot on, the plot was interesting and the setting was interesting. Probably the best film I have seen so far this year.

[Mrbloodworth]

Let the guy make Halo instead.

It felt more like Halflife.

[shiznitz]

I finally saw this over the weekend.  Really liked it.  Wouldn't mind having a sequel.

It feels like one of those that are best left wanting a sequel. But not getting one.

The sequel would be the extinction of the human race from orbit 3 years after the events depicted in the movie.

[Bunk]

So Stewie and I argued over this movie on the way in to work this morning, as he saw it last night for the first time. His complaint being that the director made no effort to explain away any of the glaringly stupid seeming plot holes - such as why the aliens mostly acted like idiots, why they didn't use their guns, why they behaved like the did in general.

After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the director elected to explain none of this on purpose. My argument, was that the movie was being told exclusively from the eyes of the humans, and in this director's vision of humanity, the humans didn't give a rat's ass. They didn't care what made the aliens act the way they did, or why they were there. All they cared about was how to make their guns work. So the director intentionally didn't answer any of the glaringly obvious questions, because his characters in the movie didn't ask those questions.

Stewies's view, is that the movie would have been more enjoyable with a little exposition worked in to set the framework. I think the director managed exactly what he wanted by leaving the audience seeking answers to those questions.

Thoughts?

[croaker69]

It's been a few months since I saw it but I remember there being some exposition early on to the effect that the reason the ship arrived in the first place was due to a calamity of some sort that wiped out the alien's ruling caste.  The workers that remained generally have no initiative on their own.

[Mattemeo]

The aliens are basically listless and without direction, their leading bodies, or government, or whatever you want to call it, have all but died out. They don't know what to do without being told, and so have been easily subjugated by either the South African beaurocracy or the Nigerian Gangsters, all of whom only seek profit and care little for cooperative social understanding. There's a great deal of subsurface plot basically suggesting that the entire alien workforce is made up from a mixture of original 'prawns' and genetically resequenced sentients of unknown origin - there's the big question as to why the MacGuffin Fluid not only provides power for inter-stellar travel but forcibly changes Wikus.

The hope for the Aliens lies in Christopher, and more importantly, Christopher's son, who is a genius and clearly the first of a new generation of the leader caste.

[Ratman_tf]

Let the guy make Halo instead.

D9's tale is told. I'd rather he move on to do Halo than go all Highlander on us.

[Ratman_tf]

So Stewie and I argued over this movie on the way in to work this morning, as he saw it last night for the first time. His complaint being that the director made no effort to explain away any of the glaringly stupid seeming plot holes - such as why the aliens mostly acted like idiots, why they didn't use their guns, why they behaved like the did in general.

After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the director elected to explain none of this on purpose. My argument, was that the movie was being told exclusively from the eyes of the humans, and in this director's vision of humanity, the humans didn't give a rat's ass. They didn't care what made the aliens act the way they did, or why they were there. All they cared about was how to make their guns work. So the director intentionally didn't answer any of the glaringly obvious questions, because his characters in the movie didn't ask those questions.

Stewies's view, is that the movie would have been more enjoyable with a little exposition worked in to set the framework. I think the director managed exactly what he wanted by leaving the audience seeking answers to those questions.

Thoughts?

I agree with you. I was left with the impression that there's a reason why things happened the way they did, but we'll never know because of the culture gap, and the fact that the humans didn't care to ask.

[Slyfeind]

When you start asking why shit in movies is the way it is, you get midichlorians.

[HaemishM]

Actually, if you look back in this thread, the director did explain it in an interview. The Prawns were a worker caste that was connected to a hive mind - when the top level of the hive mind died, they had no real individual initiative on their own, like ants when the queen is killed they go off in all directions.

[schild]

I'm watching this now. It's fairly terrible.

[schild]

Finished it, still terrible.

[Nebu]

I watched it last night with low expectations.  I enjoyed the social commentary, but felt that the message was clouded by the overuse of pointless gore.  I wouldn't watch it again, but felt that it was a decent value for a rental.  It entertained, but it could be summed up by saying that the person I watched it with fell asleep halfway through.

[Tairnyn]

Saw this two nights ago and it was worth one watch but nothing amazing. While the style of storytelling was interesting and the movie provided a decent commentary on human nature I feel like I would have enjoyed the story about the arrival of the ship and the reaction, exposition, and internment of the aliens more. I feel like there could be a whole movie about ruining the potential for a meaningful cooperation with another species due to greed, power, superiority complex, and the xenophobia of the populace. The cavalier attitude of the people dealing with death and dismemberment was a bit too comical and the "energy source is also a mutagen" concept was too much of a stretch. I did giggle a few times during the last half hour though as the gratuitous violence kicked into gear, though.

[shiznitz]

So Stewie and I argued over this movie on the way in to work this morning, as he saw it last night for the first time. His complaint being that the director made no effort to explain away any of the glaringly stupid seeming plot holes - such as why the aliens mostly acted like idiots, why they didn't use their guns, why they behaved like the did in general.

After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the director elected to explain none of this on purpose. My argument, was that the movie was being told exclusively from the eyes of the humans, and in this director's vision of humanity, the humans didn't give a rat's ass. They didn't care what made the aliens act the way they did, or why they were there. All they cared about was how to make their guns work. So the director intentionally didn't answer any of the glaringly obvious questions, because his characters in the movie didn't ask those questions.

Stewies's view, is that the movie would have been more enjoyable with a little exposition worked in to set the framework. I think the director managed exactly what he wanted by leaving the audience seeking answers to those questions.

Thoughts?

I agree with this.

[schild]

I think the director managed exactly what he wanted by leaving the audience seeking answers to those questions.

No, because then you could call it art, which it wasn't. It was just a movie, and a mediocre one at that. I thought too much information was given really, I didn't need a couple minutes and like 10 moneyshots of aliens needing cat food to fucking get it. Bleh, did not like.

While the style of storytelling was interesting

The Falls is a better fauxumentary without a hollywood movie tacked on.

[Khaldun]

Finished it, still terrible.

Man, you are hard to please. I don't think I've ever run into someone who has as sharp a binary switch around culture: it's either terrible or Robot Jesus most of the time.

[Ironwood]

I Am Legend :  BE THERE.


 

[Riggswolfe]

Finished it, still terrible.

Man, you are hard to please. I don't think I've ever run into someone who has as sharp a binary switch around culture: it's either terrible or Robot Jesus most of the time.

Thank you! I'd been wondering if I was the only one who noticed that!