Entertainment For Lively Minds
District 9 - The best film of the last year?
Posted by Uncle Wheaty on 26 January 2010 - 8:57pm.
I watched District 9 on Sunday and cannot remember a film in many years that I have enjoyed as much.
It is a truly great film.
This is the awards season for "The Movies" so what else can anyone recommened?
- More from Uncle Wheaty.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Sorry Unky
I thought it was thee worst fillum I saw last year.
And I sat through Max Payne, Prince Caspian, The Boat that Rocked and Slumdog...
wait a minute... no, Slumdog was the worst, D9 had some decent CGI
Let the right one in...
Yes it's been hyped to high heaven, and it's certainly not to everyone's taste, but it's got to be my film of last year. Fantastic performances, direction and cinematography and really touching and disturbing at the same time.
District 9 was good though (for a big CGI-laden blockbuster that is)
'District 9''s really good
But 'the Hurt Locker' and 'A Serious Man' were even better.
Seriously good trailer
Absolutely
Thanks to being on gardening leave at the time - I was able to see it at the cinema on my own in the middle of the afternoon.
Perhaps it was the normally unimaginable luxury of having the time, not having the kids and having only my own thoughts for company - but I found District 9 utterly compelling.
With an ounce of the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster but a ton more imagination - it's a thrilling, imaginative, moving experience.
For me - only Trainspotting, City of God and Amores Perros come close for impact in the last decade or so.
Completely agree with City of God - a marvellous film
An Education
Up for a few Baftas and a real treat - funny and touching story showing how the decisions you make as a teenager can shape your life. Super cast (especially Alfred Molina as heroine's dog-faced dad) and the London settings are lovely.
The Hurt Locker
really stood out for me. Dramatic, relevant and the way it treated its stars added to its power (I don't want to say any more). District 9 was very good, and a real return to form for Peter Jackson (in a producing role) after all that Tolkien nonsense.
'A Prophet'
Best film of this year...
I know its only Jan but it wont be bettered.
A Prophet...
I saw this last night, and don't understand the hype surrounding this film. Throughout, it has a good (I think realistic) depiction of a prison, and some excellent, convincing violence, but a lot of the times the story is really poor. There's a good hour in there where the plot has completely stalled (and get this, it's the hour when he actually starts getting out! What's that about!?) Watching a man walk around doing odd-jobs may be some people's cup of tea, but not mine, particularly when it's so tedious, repepetive and meaningless.
Plus, it has the incredibly annoying "Scene where the characters disscuss the title". Like so:
A: You're a prophet.
B: A what?
A: A Prophet.
B: Oh, a Prophet. hey, C, do you think I'm a prophet?
c: A what?
And on to infinity. It's pretty good, don't get me wrong, but if I was so certain that this was the best thing I would see all year, I would be monumentally depressed, and stop ever going to the cinema. last year's Hunger is similar, and better.
Last year
I was mostly watching: Let the right one in - not quite as good as the hype suggests, but nevertheless a very interesting and mostly successful attempt at making a horror(ish) film with an art-house sensibility.
I'd also recommend Moon - a cerebral SF film reminiscent of 2001 or Silent Running. It is a chamber piece with a good plot that isn't totally reliant on plot twists but picks out the emotional repercussions of the central premise. Sam Rockwell really shows what a good actor he is, and I would have thought that anyone on this site would be curious about this film as it is directed (very elegantly) by Duncan Jones.
In my opinion, District 9 was an okay bit of hokum, although it is a story that has been done before. Also, in spite of its themes, I was uncomfortable with the, pretty much, overt racism it displayed in places.
I too was surprised
at the racial tone. I have watched it twice now and find myself mentioning this when discussing the movie with friends. I though it was a very good movie non the less.
Moon
That was the film I watched straight after District 9 and I agree it was also excellent.
The FPO and I congratulated ourselves on an afternoon well spent!
Up in the Air
Great movie and wonderful performances by George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.
Another vote for Moon too
Coraline in a world of hurt.
District 9 I enjoyed.Movie of the year,nah.The Hurt Locker good,very good,but not as thought provoking as it thinks it is especially when compared to some of the great films about men,women and conflict,Apocalypse Now,The Deer Hunter,Paths of Glory are just a few that come to mind.Maybe the Iraq conflict is still to current to get a clear perspective on at the moment.I must say that of all the films I have seen in the past twelve months,and their's been a lot,I enjoyed Coraline very much,maybe I was just in the right mood that night.Totally agree with Sheev about City of God and Amores Perros both stunning films.Might add The State of Others and The Three Colours Trilogy to that short list.Looking forward to watching both parts of Mesrine on Blu-Ray this weekend.Pip Pip.
Where the Wild Things Are
The film I enjoyed most last year was the above. Its for children but well..... not. How can sadness and melancholy be so accurately depicted by big furry puppets? Great voice acting by a 1st rate cast helps, superb script and direction is a good building block. Thats how you make a masterpiece out of a 30 page childrens book.
I just watched District 9 yesterday
It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be.I thought it was going to be a high octane Sci-fi romp but I wasn't disappointed that it wasn't.The actor in the lead role (whoever he is) put in a stunning & moving performance and I too was thinking 'Oscar'.The overt racism in the film was an obvious parallel to apartheid.Interesting also because the racism against black people was non-existent.In fact they took part in it against the 'Prawns'.
I was talking about
the racism towards Nigerians. To me, it looks as if the (largely white) South Africans on the film didn't want to have Black South African gangsters with voodoo believes, so they turned them Nigerian and laid it on with a ladle.
I'll have to watch it again...
but was that racism? If so,who is the more maligned? the white South African or the Nigerian?
That's what I was referring to
The way the Nigerians were portrayed. I was surprised they could get away with being that specific in a work of fiction( I hope that makes sense).
Great movies, but...
District 9 and Hurt Locker were both excellent, but, the best movie of last year by several blocks was UP. If you have not seen this latest Pixar masterpiece, it is, most definately not, a kids movie. And, in this age where movies always seem to have to have a "message", the message that old folks are not necessarily feeble, is one that I heartily applaud. Do yourself a favor etc...
I need to start a
"Movies I hated last year" thread all of the above are in there
but no one would add to it