Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Ghosth on March 26, 2010, 07:00:47 AM
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Anyone see this movie? Caught my eye in the video rental shop, took it home and was blown away.
Directed by Peter Jackson (LOTR director)
Awesome story, awesome special effects, kept both me and the wife right on the edge of our seats throughout.
Best pure Sci-fi film I've seen in years.
Would love to see what Jackson would do with Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
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We watched it some time back. I liked it very much. The way it ended makes me think it'll have a sequel. :pray
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It was a good flick. I liked it and it made my wife queasy :aok. Don't think he could screw up Starship Troopers any worse than the other guy did. Don't get me wrong it was a good movie but compare the book to it and the movie goes from good to ok. I would love to see a version that was a hell of a lot more faithful to the book.
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I made the mistake of buying it. Mistake, because I did not see it when it was in the theater, but alway have enjoyed a good sci-fi movie. I started watching it and pulled it from the player about 30 minutes into it.
I got angry at myself for wasting the money on it.
I have never seen the point in 'grisly' depictions. It is not something I find entertaining.
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GREAT FILM.
Based on District 6 in Cape Town during aparthied.
Great social commentary...and Wikus Van de Merve was frigging hilarious. Afikans accent was great and so typical in that film.
Don't understand Skuzzy's take at all...but each to his own.
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'Alien Nation' knock off..
:D
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GREAT FILM.
Based on District 6 in Cape Town during aparthied.
Great social commentary...and Wikus Van de Merve was frigging hilarious. Afikans accent was great and so typical in that film.
Don't understand Skuzzy's take at all...but each to his own.
My wife had pretty much the same take on it as Skuzzy does. 15 minutes into it and she was done. But she sat all the way though "Earth Girls Are Easy" :lol Go figure :rolleyes:
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I liked the 1st 1/2 hour very much, filmed like a war documentary
Then it turns into the average action/sci-fi movie and I wasn't impressed anymore.
And there are a LOT of inconsistencies:
<<SPOILER ALERT>>
Scroll below only if you've already seen the movie
- dog food is gourmet food for aliens? Weird but, ok... But why aren't they fond of other meaty food like cheap raw hamburgers?
- why don't the aliens use their überweapons to steal the dog food from the war lords?
- I don't remember the primary use of the dark liquid contained in the tube (wasn't it an energy source for the shuttle?) but why does it precisely turn humans into aliens??
It could have been an awesome movie but it was a big disappointment for me.
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I liked the 1st 1/2 hour very much, filmed like a war documentary
Then it turns into the average action/sci-fi movie and I wasn't impressed anymore.
And there are a LOT of inconsistencies:
<<SPOILER ALERT>>
Scroll below only if you've already seen the movie
- dog food is gourmet food for aliens? Weird but, ok... But why aren't they fond of other meaty food like cheap raw hamburgers?
- why don't the aliens use their überweapons to steal the dog food from the war lords?
- I don't remember the primary use of the dark liquid contained in the tube (wasn't it an energy source for the shuttle?) but why does it precisely turn humans into aliens??
It could have been an awesome movie but it was a big disappointment for me.
please it was CAT food. and it was explained somewhat that it was an addiction.
2: they needed to stay on the warlords good sides in order for a constant supply of meat.
3: It was DNA marked in a way that it could mutate human DNA into alien. and yes it was a fuel source for the shuttle...
I liked the movie. I want a sequel. and i should probably read the book. The ending was pretty cool in the movie
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GREAT FILM.
Based on District 6 in Cape Town during aparthied.
Great social commentary...and Wikus Van de Merve was frigging hilarious. Afikans accent was great and so typical in that film.
Don't understand Skuzzy's take at all...but each to his own.
It's easy really. I do not go to movies for "social commentary". When I am off work, I want mindless entertainment. On occasion I will see a drama. I do not need a movie to make me think. I just want to be entertained. I want a distraction so my mind can get a rest. "Avatar" was probably about as serious as I care a movie to be. That was entertaining sci-fi. The last "Star Trek" movie was also good. So was "Aliens vs Monsters" or "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs".
"Watchmen" was just over the line. I sort of liked it, but did not pick it up for the DVD collection. Grisly movies just hold no interest for me, no matter what the topic is.
I tossed my copy of "District 9" in the trash. I just did not see any entertainment value in it.
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Warning, some what of a spoiler.
I liked District 9, I thought the story was great, I definitely hope that they make a sequel so we can find out if he comes back to help him, plus to see what happens when he gets reinforcements to come save his people.
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I enjoyed it quite a bit, but just to clarify Peter Jackson produced it -- he didn't direct it. Jackson liked the style of a young new director named Neill Blomkamp, and kind of took him under wing to make this one. Like all sci fi movies, you needed to suspend your disbelief a bit -- particularly with the fuel...but all in all I enjoyed the flick.
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Yeah, it wasn't directed by Jackson. I liken it to those films that have Tarentino's name plastered all over them only for you to find out he watched it on an in-flight movie at some point and said "yeah, it was ok"
I did not enjoy it at all. The wife did though.
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I slept through the middle hour of it...won't be making my video collection.
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I made the mistake of buying it. Mistake, because I did not see it when it was in the theater, but alway have enjoyed a good sci-fi movie. I started watching it and pulled it from the player about 30 minutes into it.
I got angry at myself for wasting the money on it.
I have never seen the point in 'grisly' depictions. It is not something I find entertaining.
Don't worry Skuzzy, I'm sure the director's cut of "Space Chimps" will be out soon :)
-Sik
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Don't worry Skuzzy, I'm sure the director's cut of "Space Chimps" will be out soon :)
-Sik
Did not see that one. Did you find it entertaining?
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Space Chimps was a cartoon version of Mr. Woodcock in the beginning...then it went south from there...Madagascar 2 was much more entertaining.
you got to move it move it...i like to move it move it...we like to move it move it... :D
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"Doun't point yoor @!*!& tentacles at me!"
It's an epic sci-fi and a future classic. It's gory and violent, so if you're squeamish it may not be for you. Also it helps if you know something about African history and social issues.
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Watch the 15 minute "prequel" that you can find on YouTube. It's the story of how the aliens arrived and how they were set up in townships. This video is what caught Peter Jackson's eye.
ack-ack
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Any movie taking place in South Africa is probably going to be an inhumane flick..........
The woman I hope to one day marry is South African......... Born in Pretoria, lived in J-Burg until she came to the states 5 years ago.............
I have seen some of the worst places on Earth, but from the way she speaks, Mos Eisley is Disneyland..... SOrry for the Sci-Fi reference......... Private homes have electric fences in J-Burg. You do not stop at a red light. Every woman in public carries at least a knife.
It's a very sad place on this planet of ours.
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Any movie taking place in South Africa is probably going to be an inhumane flick..........
The woman I hope to one day marry is South African......... Born in Pretoria, lived in J-Burg until she came to the states 5 years ago.............
I have seen some of the worst places on Earth, but from the way she speaks, Mos Eisley is Disneyland..... SOrry for the Sci-Fi reference......... Private homes have electric fences in J-Burg. You do not stop at a red light. Every woman in public carries at least a knife.
It's a very sad place on this planet of ours.
Ehhhhhh I'd take that with a grain of salt, despite your infatuation with the source. In most cases those who speak most strongly against the "real" Johannesburg are those from the northern suburbs, which judging by the fact that she is now in the US is more than likely where she grew up. (sorry for the generalization) Is the downtown unsafe? You bet it is. Many of the sectors are on the rise though, as there has been a large push to develop the old commercial downtown. I wouldn't quite call it a wretched hive of scum and villainy. I'll save that title for Lagos.
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Watch the 15 minute "prequel" that you can find on YouTube. It's the story of how the aliens arrived and how they were set up in townships. This video is what caught Peter Jackson's eye.
ack-ack
As ack-ack says, ...caught Peter Jackson's eye.
He produced it. It was directed by Neill Blomkamp, based on the short film he originally worte and directed, Alive in Joburg.
After the feature film based on the Halo (2001) (VG) video game series which was to be directed by Neill Blomkamp fell through, producer Peter Jackson went to Blomkamp and offered him $30 million to make whatever he wanted. The result was this film.
wrongway
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It's easy really. I do not go to movies for "social commentary". When I am off work, I want mindless entertainment. On occasion I will see a drama. I do not need a movie to make me think. I just want to be entertained. I want a distraction so my mind can get a rest. "Avatar" was probably about as serious as I care a movie to be. That was entertaining sci-fi. The last "Star Trek" movie was also good. So was "Aliens vs Monsters" or "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs".
"Watchmen" was just over the line. I sort of liked it, but did not pick it up for the DVD collection. Grisly movies just hold no interest for me, no matter what the topic is.
I tossed my copy of "District 9" in the trash. I just did not see any entertainment value in it.
You might enjoy "UP" --one of the best movies I've seen in a while.
I
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"Up" was good. Very entertaining. I think the most fun animated flick was "Aliens vs Monsters", although "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" was a close second or third. My interests in animation goes a long way back. I had applied for and got a scholarship to the Disney animation school in the early 70's. My Dad forbade me to go or that is what I would be doing today. So my interests in that particular art form has more to do with the technical aspects and appreciation of it all than anything else. Back to the real world.
There were a bunch of enjoyable real world flicks as well. "2012", "Star Trek", "Transformers", "Men who stare at goats", and a mess of others.
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None of the plot weaknesses described above are evident in the movie.
The only aliens the humans have identified are of a sub component of their race that cannot lead, cannot make decisions cannot do much of anything. The view the humans have of the whole species is based on the limited capabilities of these alliens. There is a hidden cell of leaders or technicians that are trying to extract enough of the fuel they need from the remains of other components that the starving, idiot masses of drones have mostly destroyed or do not understand. The leader aliens hid themselves for reasons that are made obvious in the film.
The remains that the leaders need to have access to in order to extract the fuel in minute bits, will not be in district 10, so they must act quickly to finish their project before they are moved.
The cat food addiction is like the low tolerance for alcohol that native indians had and how that was used by the european traders and settlers to incapacitate the natives they traded with. Why didn't the natives just wipe out the local hudson bay post and take the rum? Well they might have, but then you find out that the store is empty and no more rum is coming.
The rum doesn't originate in the store and lots of men with guns come after you do that.
Certainly though, people who do not like to think at movies will not like this movie much, or they wont understand what they are seeing. It doesn't tell you what to think like avatar does.
The concept in the movie, that the aliens are contemptible due to their own behavior and that they are treated like they are by the humans for very good reasons is an interesting and not very politically correct one.
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District 9 surprised me. Based solely on the previews which seemed to revolve around the mechanized exoskeleton suit thing, I thought it was going to be "Transformers done better by Peter Jackson". It turned into a lot more than that. It is one of those movies that more than makes you think, it requires you to think. I for one have no problem with that. There's plenty of brainless movies out there, they are the vast majority. Its refreshing to have a movie that challenges the viewer (without being a documentary or having a blatant political agenda).
That said, I wasn't prepared. I was expecting Transformers done better. I saw it opening night, so there wasn't a lot of reviews to go on at the time. I enjoyed the movie, but not in the way I expected.
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Surprised the hell out of me too.. Although, I usually don't like the "social moral" (Like Avatar) sort of stuff, I thought District 9 was well done.. :aok
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District 9 surprised me. Based solely on the previews which seemed to revolve around the mechanized exoskeleton suit thing, I thought it was going to be "Transformers done better by Peter Jackson". It turned into a lot more than that. It is one of those movies that more than makes you think, it requires you to think. I for one have no problem with that. There's plenty of brainless movies out there, they are the vast majority. Its refreshing to have a movie that challenges the viewer (without being a documentary or having a blatant political agenda).
That said, I wasn't prepared. I was expecting Transformers done better. I saw it opening night, so there wasn't a lot of reviews to go on at the time. I enjoyed the movie, but not in the way I expected.
Totally agree.
Loved the fact that the ship perched over Jo-berg rather than New York.
Found Van de Merve's character to be almost like the guy from "The Office"...but much better, with a great Afrikans accent.
Thought the whole play on Aparthied facsinating. Blacks felt the same as whites about the prawns.
Nigerians in District 9 were like...well...Nigerians. lol
etc etc
I don't think they should do a sequel. Leave it alone.
Great film imho.
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One story flaw did bug me.
How did the main ship defy gravity for so long without power?
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Who said it was without power?
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I'm surprised no one have posed a link to the trailer. Allow me to rectify that oversight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PDlMggROA
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District9 totally took me by surprise. Haven't heard a word of it before I saw it (through a Chinese peer-to-peer video service while I was in Beijing ;) ). I really like the main character as well as the story. The CG was breathtaking but subtle - the suspense of disbelief perfect.
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You might enjoy "UP" --one of the best movies I've seen in a while.
I
UP was the fun silly equivalent to WALL-E. I liked WALL-E better because of the background theme based for adults...It actually hit some of my friends hard enough to say "hey... lets stop that from happening".
One story flaw did bug me.
How did the main ship defy gravity for so long without power?
It was never without power, only the navigation command shuttle which was the ship that the father and son were trying to resurrect.
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"WALL-E" was a technically brilliant movie. Take a featureless, ovoid shape and give it a strong character using only audio, 2 changing shapes (eyes), and two sticks/weapons (arms) (I would mention the hands, but they were not integral to shaping the character). Very well done. Then the sheer amount of assets for the movie was incredible.
I have to say though, I think "UP" had more for the adults than "WALL-E" did. The opening few minutes of "UP" was aimed right at adults. I think very few children got it. Many women in the theater were in tears during that first few minutes, including my Wife. The characters drew on many common aspects of good adult relationships making it easy for most people to relate to, at one point or another.
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"WALL-E" was a technically brilliant movie. Take a featureless, ovoid shape and give it a strong character using only audio, 2 changing shapes (eyes), and two sticks/weapons (arms) (I would mention the hands, but they were not integral to shaping the character). Very well done. Then the sheer amount of assets for the movie was incredible.
I have to say though, I think "UP" had more for the adults than "WALL-E" did. The opening few minutes of "UP" was aimed right at adults. I think very few children got it. Many women in the theater were in tears during that first few minutes, including my Wife. The characters drew on many common aspects of good adult relationships making it easy for most people to relate to, at one point or another.
thats true. never thought of that actually
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stupid movie, full of stereotypes with an underlying "hate whitey" message! Truely terrible!!
should have used my $4 for corndogs!!
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You prawn!!!
Maybe you would like a movie called shreck better.. :banana:
Just kidding. IM in violent agreement on most of the points made.
I like the overall concept it could have been so much better.
I didn't like the stereo type political message either. Just like X- men turn into a mess. oh and Matrix. The first one was great the other two got lost on the whole ........ skuzzy would probably hit me with the rule stick.
I wanted to like it overall but hate someone subltly telling me what to think. yuck.
Ive owned a gold stock in S.Africa since 2000 It should have gone through the roof now but they can't even get electricity to run the mine now.
It used to be the largest gold producer in the world. What a shame.
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Reminiscent of many Disney movies that do not live up to their previews. All that advanced alien technology captive to inferior Earthlings? Sure. To paraphrase Terminator. "They'll be baaaaccckk!:
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"WALL-E" was a technically brilliant movie. Take a featureless, ovoid shape and give it a strong character using only audio, 2 changing shapes (eyes), and two sticks/weapons (arms) (I would mention the hands, but they were not integral to shaping the character). Very well done. Then the sheer amount of assets for the movie was incredible.
I have to say though, I think "UP" had more for the adults than "WALL-E" did. The opening few minutes of "UP" was aimed right at adults. I think very few children got it. Many women in the theater were in tears during that first few minutes, including my Wife. The characters drew on many common aspects of good adult relationships making it easy for most people to relate to, at one point or another.
With two 4 year olds I've seen more animated movies lately than I care to remember, and they didnt really get into "Space Chimps", really liked "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", and "Planet 51" but Pixar movies rule the roost especially "Cars" and "Wall-E" (I'm forever stepping over Cars die cast toys). They really get the Wall-E character and better still the characterisation isn't spoon fed to them say like Shrek, its far more subtle and engaging much like I probably did with R2D2 when I was younger.
As for District 9 I thought it was brilliant, and sure it could have an apartheid angle, but just like another scifi fav of mine "Alien Nation", I thought it was more about our own natural xenophobia and the effects of poverty. But even so it was a great sci fi movie.
Tronsky
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Was a great movie, I fell asleep 15 min into it at the theater and woke up about 5 min before the end. my son said he liked it.
semp