tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post9216162761053127228..comments2024-03-12T20:26:10.916-04:00Comments on Critic After Dark: District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-72055097205046195012009-09-13T05:13:16.058-04:002009-09-13T05:13:16.058-04:00I'm not the biggest fan in the world of po-mo ...I'm not the biggest fan in the world of po-mo storytelling, but I like some practitioners--Rico Ilarde comes to mind. <br /><br />It's just that I think those first twenty minutes set up expectations, that we're going to see savage social satire done girtty, done hilarious, and it turned into a standard-issue bug hunt. Disappointing, in my book.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-9235395415795280242009-09-13T04:49:00.871-04:002009-09-13T04:49:00.871-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Wow Goldhttp://www.randyrun.itnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-73019677743589561022009-09-13T04:48:49.499-04:002009-09-13T04:48:49.499-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Wow Goldhttp://www.mmozone.denoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-91325365570149066762009-09-13T02:33:23.155-04:002009-09-13T02:33:23.155-04:00i think district 9 is very post modern with its tr...i think district 9 is very post modern with its treatment, the mixing of genres and flow. i really think that it worked.<br /><br />and we dont always have to give away facts or situations. like, why the aliens are there, etc. some things are better if they're not told. it keeps your imagination working. that's why you leave the theater wanting morejavnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-57352828185111398532009-09-06T20:12:06.548-04:002009-09-06T20:12:06.548-04:00Oh, I've always been following your blog, but ...Oh, I've always been following your blog, but have not posted until now.<br /><br />Anyway, yeah, long time no see.DKLhttp://dklreviews.deviantart.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-16324294264984662982009-09-06T18:47:58.867-04:002009-09-06T18:47:58.867-04:00Hello, DKL, was wondering where you went. The Pino...Hello, DKL, was wondering where you went. The Pinoyexchange scene seems dead, apparently. <br /><br />Blood Diamond among others uses this classic storyline, of outsiders coming into a troubled community and being our eyes and ears, not to mention our heroic surrogates, mainly because they're white and human like us (Christopher is portrayed as sympathetic, the heroic minority with not a lot of humor, or teeth to his characterization). Blood is probably my favorite of Zwick's films, mainly for the subject than for the film itself. <br /><br />Point of view shifts from doc to drama as indicated by the time code or whatever that was, sure, but my question is WHY does it shift? A doc would never do it that way--would at most mark certain scenes as 'dramatic reenactment;' either use the doc as an intro and go straight into regular storytelling or leave it out altogether. Otherwise people--well I do--ask: from whose point of view is this story being told? <br />I submit that if you just shift from one POV to another, that's lazy storytelling.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-28732809858978305382009-09-06T17:05:27.515-04:002009-09-06T17:05:27.515-04:00There's a part in the movie where Wikus heroic...There's a part in the movie where Wikus heroically tells Christopher to go on without him and I actually started laughing in the theater (but, no one could hear me over all the explosions, probably)...<br /><br />Essentially, the movie turned into Blood Diamond, but with aliens.<br /><br />(that being said, I remember being a lot more pleased with Edward Zwick's action staging in said movie... but it's been a while, so I might need to see it again, but I do distinctly remember that the part where DiCaprio got shot actually made sense)<br /><br />That being said, I had a lot of problems with this, among them being the switching around with the narrative (from documentary to movie); I think one of the vague indicators as to when the movie was in "documnetary mode" was when there would be this watermark over the screen, indicating that it's stuff being caught on footage.<br /><br />Still, the jumping around was kinda haphazard and not used as well as it could've been: for example, when we escape the confines of the "documentary universe", there's barely ANY insight into the prawns; our perspective of the prawns (which isn't the right word we should be using considering the message that the movie is trying to hammer in, I guess) is voyeuristic, at best.<br /><br />I mean, how many on-screen interviews did we have with the prawns in the movie? How really submerged were we into their daily lives other than facts that were fed to us by a HUMAN perspective?<br /><br />Where is the PRAWN perspective?<br /><br />(there's Christopher and his kid, but it still feels kinda thin considering how large the actual population is... for the most part, all the prawns seem kinda homogenous... you know, even NieA_7 [TV anime series directed by Takuya Sato] proposed the idea of factionalization WITHIN the alien race via a caste system)<br /><br />I was under the impression that good documentaries actually sat down with the victimized populations it talks about (though, the lack of documentary coverage on the prawns may be part of the point, but then this again brings up the issue of when the movie does escape the confines of the documentary universe, why not use it to tell us more about these abused prawns?).<br /><br />Here, it feels like an animal planet special or something; doesn't exactly get the prawns out of the roles of "nameless victims".<br /><br />Why should I care about these prawns like I would a human? The movie only proposes a vague sense of "humanity" in the prawns.<br /><br />Also, the passiveness of the prawns is rather distressing given the hints of their power superiority over humans.<br /><br />(no, seriously... they seem to have access to all these amazing weapons, but they never used them to fight back... like, the biggest conceit of the movie is that the first prawn to actually fight back on a large scale is... a human turned into a prawn)<br /><br />That being said, yeah... I do wish this was more like Borat and satirical or something, but they had to have all these other things and explosions and whatever most likely because... I dunno...<br /><br />Maybe people wouldn't watch it if there wasn't any action and explosions.<br /><br />That being said, have you seen Michael Mann's new movie yet?<br /><br />I thought it was really good.DKLhttp://dklreviews.deviantart.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-70907623659865746232009-09-06T03:42:23.507-04:002009-09-06T03:42:23.507-04:00The docudrama part is what sets it apart from stuf...The docudrama part is what sets it apart from stuff like Cloverfield and Independence Day and puts it closer to stuff like Borat; that's why I thought it was interesting. When the satire died down, then it was a standard-issue bug hunt. <br /><br />Point of view the filmmaker ignores at his peril. It's not as if 'this is science fiction, so what with point of view?' Philip K. Dick was a master of the shifting point of view, and what made him so unique was that his sense of reality was slippery and impossible to pin down, yet the characters who suffer through them are absolutely real, like people you'd meet in the street. That's great storytelling, this is just fitfully amusing entertainment.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-27041358661465607002009-09-06T03:17:03.855-04:002009-09-06T03:17:03.855-04:00Well, it is a parable. The story itself is timeles...Well, it is a parable. The story itself is timeless in essence. <br /><br />And frankly I had no problem with the shifts in perspective. I just suspended my disbelief. Hehe.Sting Lacsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10728085726181867621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-87460674119603454972009-09-05T08:17:53.395-04:002009-09-05T08:17:53.395-04:00I enjoyed it a lot. I dunno why I was the only one...I enjoyed it a lot. I dunno why I was the only one who laughed on the "interspecies prostitution" part. It was so loud, I embarrassed myself. I also liked a bit about the trading part, where the prawns exchange for catfood their weapons, to the folly of the renegades. The docu-reality part was a bit confusing; the only indication I think was the barely visible logo of the "MNU". I agree immensely on Copley as Wikus; he's like the life of this story. He should get some attention on the acting part, I think the character was kind of hard to portray, with the mix of eccentricities, sentimentality and all.jayclopshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15292414049532804276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-55604135440774163942009-09-05T04:59:43.319-04:002009-09-05T04:59:43.319-04:00Dessert.
No watermelon in District 9, either, mor...Dessert.<br /><br />No watermelon in District 9, either, more's the pity.Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-48660181740564851232009-09-05T03:41:34.423-04:002009-09-05T03:41:34.423-04:00Now that you reminded me about Buckaroo Banzai, wh...Now that you reminded me about Buckaroo Banzai, why was there a watermelon in the lab when they were chasing those aliens?<br />quentintarantado<br />(for some reason I can't use my google account to comment. bother.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com