big year for another genre: the intelligent Sci-Fi film. Over the past 15 years or so there have been a slew of big Hollywood science fiction movies that, while fun, were nothing to write home about (Independence Day, Transformers, Men in Black, among many others) with only a handful really standing out as truly great film making (The FIRST Matrix, I, Robot, Wall-E). In the past, films like Alien, Total Recall, and The Thing, among others, showed that just because a movie is about creatures from another planet or futuristic worlds doesn't mean it has to be completely stupid. However, this year has already given us three films that will undoubtedly be at the top of many critics lists at the end of the year: the brilliant rebirth of Star Trek, the low-key Moon (which I STILL haven't seen), and an "alien-invasion" movie that might just be the best alien movie since, well....Aliens!
In newcomer Neill Blomkamps District 9, an alien ship essentially "runs out of gas" above Johannesburg, South Africa. The extra-terrestrials, derogatorily known as "prawns", aboard the ship are extremely malnourished and are put into slums blocked off from any interaction with the outside world. The creatures are heavily monitored and guarded by a group called MNU, headed up by a brilliant, if somewhat naive, desk-worker named Wikus Van De Merwe (played perfectly by relatively unknown actor Sharlto Copley).
I don't want to say much after that because the movie throws
so many different turns at you that it is best to be completely surprised. A mix of mockumentary-style interviews and straight-ahead hand-held sci-fi action, you very quickly realize that this movie is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill "aliens=bad; humans=good" summer flick. This is a bold piece of science fiction art that should go down as one of the most original, exciting, breath-taking and down-right great alien movies in film history. BAM! Said it....
so many different turns at you that it is best to be completely surprised. A mix of mockumentary-style interviews and straight-ahead hand-held sci-fi action, you very quickly realize that this movie is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill "aliens=bad; humans=good" summer flick. This is a bold piece of science fiction art that should go down as one of the most original, exciting, breath-taking and down-right great alien movies in film history. BAM! Said it....Oh, an
d I also saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (which I have nothing to say about whatsoever...except that it is one of the most pointless things I have ever had the di
spleasure of looking at) and Funny People. The latter, like District 9, is also original and not what you would expect from a Hollywood summer blockbuster. And while it is a funny and interesting look at comedians in show business, it is also kinda long and somewhat monotonous. SO DON'T BE A MORON! GO SEE DISTRICT 9! FUNNY PEOPLE WILL SOON BE A DOLLAR AT REDBOX, PEOPLE!
d I also saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (which I have nothing to say about whatsoever...except that it is one of the most pointless things I have ever had the di
spleasure of looking at) and Funny People. The latter, like District 9, is also original and not what you would expect from a Hollywood summer blockbuster. And while it is a funny and interesting look at comedians in show business, it is also kinda long and somewhat monotonous. SO DON'T BE A MORON! GO SEE DISTRICT 9! FUNNY PEOPLE WILL SOON BE A DOLLAR AT REDBOX, PEOPLE!
