District 9
Have you ever heard about a movie, saw previews for a movie, even read the back of the movie and yet still be surprised when it blindsides you and comes out as so much more than you ever could have expected? This is how I truly feel about District 9, I read the back and was so worried that it was about a human who finds an alien weapon and then is alone with them being hunted in their shanty towns, I am happy to report that this is not what it is about. This movie is so amazingly well done I feel as if I am not even qualified to talk about it. When we rented this movie Fish said “After Avatar I bet it sucks” and I commented that it was probably not in the same category as Avatar and I was partly right. District 9 takes the stance of what if Aliens landed on Earth and ended up being dominated by us, forced to live in shanty towns and are now being evicted to a concentration camp setting. The aliens come to a stop over Johannesburg in South Africa. The movie has direct parallels to the political situation in South Africa but the director wanted it first and foremost to be a good Sci-fi action movie. He did a great job, the movie is produced by Peter Jackson (like you don’t know that he made Lord of the Rings!) and came from the failed attempt to make a Halo movie (THANK GOD!). The movie follows a worker at MNU the organization that is put in control of alien affairs. Several back stories were thrown around while writing this movie but generally the director said that he believed that a virus spread through the ship killing all the intelligent commanding aliens and left only the worker aliens, who fell to Earth and were destitute so MNU was organized to take care of them but have now become a huge weapons dealer as well. The main character Wikus goes through many levels of characterization in this movie and you follow suit with several emotional responses to him. The special effects are again very well done in this movie. The aliens called “Prawns” are so incredibly well made; they look like they could walk right off the screen! They shot it in a real shanty town where ironically the residents had been evicted from! They used real environments and props as much as possible. They even shot it in an old radiation hanger that still held two bombs!! However, it is the overall story that sells this movie to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. However if you have a squeamish stomach or don’t like blood you better prepare yourself for this movie. There is a lot of blood and a lot of violence but it all makes sense to the story. The movie shows how we would act if aliens really did show up on our doorstep and the ending is perfect! I loved it! It is intelligent and it is involving and effective.
Extract:
Mike Judge is the man, I am not denying that. He has made some fantastic movies and cartoon series. I think he is a genius, disagree? See Idiocracy! He makes poignant, witty, and funny movies/shows. Extract is about an extract factory and it is much like Office Space except set in a factory. Jason Bateman stars as a frustrated owner who invented an addition to extract to make it taste as good as before it is heated. The movie has Mila Kunis as a con artist woman who is playing all the guys in the movie. Also Ben Afflect is in the movie as the drug supplying best friend. Overall the movie is a smile movie, some funny parts but nothing made me laugh out loud. No LOLs for me :-P I laughed more at the previews for When in Rome with Kristen Bell than the actual movie. Now it is not a bad movie, I want to stress that, it just isn’t as good as his other works. So, check it out if you just want to smile and see Ben Afflect with long hair! :-P
Paper Heart:
I watched this movie a while ago and forgot to write a review. This movie is a documentary about how Charlyne Yi doesn’t believe in love and how she travels across the country to find out if love really exists. She interviews all different kinds of people in all different states. Along the way she meets Michael Cera and they don’t really hit it off but as time goes on they get together. They are pretty prefect together and many people hate this movie because Charlyne is just a normal girl, there is nothing special or particularly gorgeous about her. She is a comedian and so is he. They both play music and they get along great. It is a movie that is incredibly charming. They were really dating (supposedly) and it is very sweet. According to her they never dated but from the movie they look super cute. The movie has some very funny parts and Charlyne is quite the artist and has segments of handmade puppets as well. Overall this is a great little movie; you should all go see it.
Julie and Julia:
Good Movie, Amy Adams is always a joy! Meryl Streep is always wonderful! The movie is made from two books that are combining the story of Julia Child’s journey to learn to cook and then Julie who over 50 years later decides to blog about her attempt to cook all Julia’s recipes in 365 days. :-P The movie switches back and forth between the two stories and Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are never in the same scenes ever. In fact it isn’t until the end of the movie that their lived ever come into contact at all with each other. The movie is funny and has a lot of charm. It has humor; Meryl is very, very funny with her gruff voice and boorish American attitude. It is a good rental and you should pick it up if you get a chance.
So, over all the ratings would be District 9= FANTASTIC! Extract= Alright, but nothing special; Paper Heart= Pretty Good in an artsy sort of way; Julie and Julia= Good movie, great stars
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