District 9

[tiermat]

I watched it last night

Yes it is inconsistent

BUT it is:

Funny in places

Mindless (in a good way)

Trashy

So it gets a  from me (bearing in mind my favourite film of all time is Repoman, which will probably explain why I like this)

[Jakob]

7 Features Continue in VFX Oscar® Race

Beverly Hills, CA (January 6, 2010) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 82nd Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

    * “Avatar”
    * “District 9”
    * “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
    * “Star Trek”
    * “Terminator Salvation”
    * “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
    * “2012”

On Thursday, January 21, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

I'd be more happy to get in the last 3 with this one, than when we won with LOTR.

[LEE]

Avatar will win it by a mile.  Whether or not you liked the story or not the visuals are light years ahead of anything I've ever seen. 

It's taken animation/CGI to a new level,  I'll never be be satisfied with "Noggin the Nog" graphics ever again.

[Jakob]

Avatar will win it by a mile.  Whether or not you liked the story or not the visuals are light years ahead of anything I've ever seen. 

It's taken animation/CGI to a new level,  I'll never be be satisfied with "Noggin the Nog" graphics ever again.

The outside chance is that the Academy award isn't awarded for 'best visual effect', but 'best use of visual effects', ie how it helps the story.

[redshift]

Plus, they may whip out the old extra-curricular 'Scientific and Technical' award, or somesuch - thereby neatly circumventing the need to give Avatar one of the mainstream ones.  After all, the camera design has input from Sony, Cameron and Vince Pace.

[LEE]

Avatar will win it by a mile.  Whether or not you liked the story or not the visuals are light years ahead of anything I've ever seen.  

It's taken animation/CGI to a new level,  I'll never be be satisfied with "Noggin the Nog" graphics ever again.

The outside chance is that the Academy award isn't awarded for 'best visual effect', but 'best use of visual effects', ie how it helps the story.

I think it will win it on that count too.  There is no story Pandora without the visual effects.  Avatar is more visuals-dependent than any film I've seen.

[geraldc]

I loved District 9, and I mean loved it.
 
South African cat food looks very different to European cat food.

I can see why Nigerians took offence to the film.

[kyuss]

I was expecting more. It is absolute rubbish. It passed the time I guess, but I'd have been very annoyed had I spent money to see it. The CGI was very good, and the fairly weak/obvious plot wouldn't have bothered me so much if it had been done well, but like Kathy said there are just no characters to care about. At all. The whole thing just felt empty. Who give's a f**k about some geeky, emotionally weak, arrogant, corporate kiss-ass out of his depth? If the main character had something going for him in the first place I might have thought differently about the whole film, but from 5 minutes in I disliked him immensely. It was trying to hard to be indie, and at the same time trying to be Hollywood.

Not something I'll ever willingly watch again.

[Julian]

Warning:  I have no taste in film.

But I really liked it.  Kyuss is dead right in saying that the main character is a geeky, emotionally weak, arrogant, corporate kiss-ass out of his depth but I thought that was the whole point:  in this film, the hero isn't a blond American go-getting muscle-man.  He is Everyman, with the fallibilities that keep a prejudiced system going, the self-delusion to believe that a system that favours him must be for the best, and the selfishness to try to save his own skin at the expense of others.  I can't bear films where the blond American go-getting muscle-man croaks "No really.  Go.  I'm... staying" and then saves the universe.  Bleurgh.

I very rarely have the patience to sit through a whole film, but I really enjoyed District 9.  And I'm looking forward to the inevitable sequel. 

[redshift]

I finally got to see this the other day.  I had a double bill: District 9 followed by In Bruges.

I quite liked it, for similar reasons to Julian - i.e. all the reasons I didn't like Avatar.

In Bruges is better.

[mattc]

But I really liked it.  Kyuss is dead right in saying that the main character is a geeky, emotionally weak, arrogant, corporate kiss-ass out of his depth but I thought that was the whole point:  in this film, the hero isn't a blond American go-getting muscle-man.

Indeed.

I suspect some of the film's detractors were just expecting something very different (I'm not being snobbish - I've done the same thing).

It sounds like Avatar may have served up the other angle on human-alien culture-clash movies!

Both films seem to be Marmite experiences.

[Zoidburg]

I found the bit when they trying to evict the prawns funny.

It is was how ethnic cleansing would look if the task fell to the local borough council.

Ethnic cleansing in it self not being funny of course - but petty pen pushers being completely out of their depth is.

[andyoxon]

I quite enjoyed D9.  It was different, with the SA connection etc, and kept my attention.  I'll probably give District 10 a go if they make it.  BTW what was he holding right at the end?

[Zoidburg]

A flower for his wife, made from a drinks can.

[Jakob]

And...it's nominated for a handful of BAFTA's, including best VFX 

[border-rider]

Saw this last night.

Er.

Well, on the plus side, it was pretty, and had good effects.

The bad thing was that that was about all it had going for it.  

There were no characters that you could feel interested in, let alone attached to.

You must have seen a different film.

We've just finished watching this and we thought it really good.

I dunno, maybe it's just us, but we found the main protagonist and the alien both people we were fully-engaged with.

I loved the evocation of SA, and the way it was all so shitty and real.

Gets a Volio 4.5/5

[andyoxon]

Saw this last night.

Er.

Well, on the plus side, it was pretty, and had good effects.

The bad thing was that that was about all it had going for it.  

There were no characters that you could feel interested in, let alone attached to.

You must have seen a different film.

We've just finished watching this and we thought it really good.

I dunno, maybe it's just us, but we found the main protagonist and the alien both people we were fully-engaged with.

I loved the evocation of SA, and the way it was all so shitty and real.

Gets a Volio 4.5/5

I've since gone back to the DVD and watched some bits again.  The first time, mrs ao came in about 15mins before the end, and watched the remainder, saying after  'I'm glad I didn't watch all that'...       But she did enjoy Avatar 3D on Fri night.

[geraldc]

It's up for the best picture oscar. I have taste! Yay!

[Jakob]

And....best VFX!!! Woooooot!!!

[nicknack]

Just watched the dvd. I thought it was excellent. Sure, you can pick holes in it along the lines of, "Why didn't they do so-and-so?", but, equally, you could say that not everything is explained and it's just as easy to think of reasons why it may not have been possible to do so-and-so. Suspend disbelief and enjoy. All those Disney films were totally implausible too - if she had half a brain she'd have never bitten that apple.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I watched it on Friday and liked it. Nice to see a film that hasn't been 'hollywoodised'.

[Martin]

went to get it tonight on Blockbuster's "2 for £6" midweek offer; but they didn't have Sunshine; could I find anything else I remotely wanted to watch?  

(I've been highly recommended Let the Right One in (vampires / zombies  )
and I've seen Moon)

[Jakob]

Well, we did beat Avatar in one category at the VES awards!

VES Announces 2010 Winners of the VES Awards | Visual Effects Society

[Martin]

saw it last night; excellent film, gritty and very watchable; not often in a film you want (some) humans to get annihilated by aliens at the end.

[andygates]

Got it from the local viddlyo shop at last.

Outstanding.

More ideas in the first ten minutes than Emmerich's entire career.  Sneaky as feck, making the prawns good and gross so you're squicked over the idea of space sex then making you feel bad about that.  Playing with race in every angle, and not giving any pat answers.  Wikus is great - superbly acted in a role that could have gone Mr Bean without great care. 

Oh, and lightning. fucking. guns. 

Really well done stuff.  Stands as my fave of the moment, and I loved Avatar and Moon, so that's big praise.