District 9

Just came back from the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC).

Saw an advance screening of District 9.

Peter Jackson introduced the film along with the director, Neill Blomkamp, and the star of the film, Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus van der Merwe (It was sooo cool seeing Peter Jackson in person as I love Lord Of The Rings. I am one of those people who has the extended dvd edition for all three movies and has watched all the extras and listened to all the director audio commentary for all three films.).

I've viewed other reviews for the film which were overall positive and agree with what was said about the movie. So some of their comments are cobbled together with my own when I agree with what they say. I'll list the sites I used at the bottom of my post.

If you've seen the trailers, the movie is not what you'll expect, but in a good way. I was expecting a generic action alien movie, but was given an alien action movie with heart (i.e. I thought it was orignal.). Lead actor Sharlto Copley brings a dynamic human performance to the role while going through an extremely satisfying character arc. And in a sci-fi movie to boot. Wikus, the main character, is not you're average hero and even at the end of the movie I'm not sure I even liked him, but I did respect him for his courage. The action is amazing. The aliens aren't cheezy and appear realistic. Other CGI images (humans getting shot, shots of the alien ship, etc.) are also excellent.

The movie starts out SLOW in a documentary style of shooting and transitions into a traditional style as things start to go wrong for the main character, Wikus.

Plot (Taken from Sci-fi Squad.com):

Back in the 1980s, a massive spaceship hovers over Johannesburg, Independence Day-style. While the city braces for an attack ... nothing ever happens. Eventually military forces cut their way into the ship, and they find a million aliens inside in deplorable conditions, sickly and dying. They're brought down to the city and housed in a slum (District 9), and the ship continues to hover over the city.

During the raid on the ship, a vast array of alien weaponry is found, but none of the guns work in human hands despite the best efforts of the government. Flash forward to 20 years later, where the government and the people have grown increasingly uncomfortable with District 9, which continues to swell in size. Like any slum, it has its own black market dealing in alien weaponry, despite its inability to fire, and aliens trade with humans for food, raw meat, and sexual favors. They decide to relocate the aliens to a new center filled with tents and surrounded by barbed wire, 20 kilometers outside the city.

This effort is spearheaded by the Multinational United (MNU) arm of the government, with newly appointed and nebbishy Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) in charge of the eviction and relocation. Although the aliens are presented as animals at first, the audience definitely empathizes with them through the second half of the film.

Don't watch G.I. Joe Watch DISTRICT 9.
If you haven't watched Transformers 2 watch District 9 first.

P.S. Sharlto Copley is much better looking as himself.

But who cares?

Opinions and words were mostly taken from:

http://www.scifisquad.com/2009/07/24/sdcc-first-impressions-peter-jackson-and-neil-blomkamps-distr/

Why being an auditor for a big four company sucks

1. Almost never a reasonable hourly budget for a job/project.
2. Due to number 1, almost always being asked to account for overages (overtime).
3. As the appropriate answer to number 2 is not number 1, you basically eat time or write in the time report that it took less than it actually did. So your manager doesn't think you're a total idiot.
4. Due to number 3, always working to much and too late.

More to come.

Publish Post

Thoughts on the movie "Knowing"

Dude this movie sucked.

Why does this movie suck?

1. Why does the little boy in the film, have a hearing aid? What does that have to do with the plot?

2. Nicolas Cage's character, John, calls in to the police to warn of one the disasters. He then goes to the site of where the disaster is supposed to happen and asks one of the police officers why they have not blocked the area. Why would you do this? Does he want to be arrested? How stupid!

3. Why does Diana take the kids while John is trying to find the coordinates that he believes will be safe and save the children? Why does she not believe him when previously in the story she has? Then she gets into a car accident and dies? Her death adds nothing for the main plot.

4. What is up with the aliens/angels leaving all those rocks everywhere?

5. Something else confusing, the introduction of Abby's ability to also hear the whispers. Why is it confusing? Because there is no introduction!

6. No close relationships between any of the characters.

7. Why does John's son, Caleb, start writing more numbers near the end of the film, if the world is ending that day, and the numbers are supposed to be prophecy's of disasters in the future?


The only things I liked about this film are the idea that we may have started over in the past, and the imagery of the new "earth."

Something different about this film is that the humanity is destroyed, no last minute miraculous save via human ingenuity, and some people are saved not by doing of our own, but through aliens/angels.

I was actually angry at this film because it sucked so much.

But who Cares!