District 9

[Chimerical]

I'm laughing at his numbers because which actors have a quote of $30m these days? Perhaps if you're talking about Tom Cruise or Will Smith, but those two are exceptions rather than the rule.

But let's say you stick in Will Smith and you have some other reasonably well know actors playing other parts - you're still struggling to get anywhere near the standard for a summer blockbuster budget these days which is $150m+.

Whichever way you look at it, producing District 9 was a fantastic achievement for $30m all in.

He has got a point in terms of crew costs and the like.

You know Hero cost $30 million...the most expensive Asian film ever if I recall correctly. The Hollywood equivalent would be much more expensive mainly because hiring thousands of extras would cost a lot more and that $30m figure for District 9 could be sexed up for marketing.

Also, didn't Peter Jackson fund this film and didn't it use WETA (that he owns) for its CGI? So maybe there was some cost-cutting going on there...

You do realise camera crews and unit directors and cinematographers can cost millions also? Not just actors. Its true for stuff like Avatar and Watchmen the actors probably didn't cost a lot but that's not always what the money gets spend on. District 9 may have required people to take paycuts or something aswell. Could be some profit sharing going on also.

Basically, its not as simple as it 'just' costing $30m.

 

[Tummy]

Guess i'm one of the few that absolutely hated it. I'm surprised i actually watched the whole film in the end. Don't think i'll bother with it again.

What did you think of Avatar?

 

[Pottsey]

The film was full of massive plot holes and was not well written. Like the aliens are meant to dumb and cannot think for them self’s. The humans bought the aliens down from the ship via helicopters. Somehow the aliens who are not that smart managed to smuggled giant machs onto the helicopter and hid them in the camp!!!

Ok I can perhaps see in all the confusion a few smarter aliens smuggling small weapons . But just how did they get the machs and large guns down without anyone noticing? Just how did they fit the giant robots into the helicopters?
Then there are the things like I just got exposed to an unknown alien liquid, my finger nails are dropping out and I am being very sick. Let’s not tell anyone or get help from a doctor.

Its a good film as long as you dont use your brain or think about whats going on. As soon as you start thinking about the film you realise how little of it makes sense.

 

[Tummy]

The film was full of massive plot holes and was not well written. Like the aliens are meant to dumb and cannot think for them self’s. The humans bought the aliens down from the ship via helicopters. Somehow the aliens who are not that smart managed to smuggled giant machs onto the helicopter and hid them in the camp!!!

I'm sure it was explained that the aliens were "workers" or something.
The humans might have dropped tech down, the aliens might have taken some with them or they might have fallen off with other parts of the ship.

 

[bledd]

@bledd. - I guess i felt this film had more potential after watching the trailer initially and hearing good things, it took a direction I found abit boring to be honest, the film never really took off for me, and I thought it was a bit weird how these highly advanced alien race were more like a herd of peasants. although it was a while ago since I saw the film and I don't remember it too well so hard to remember specifically the bits I didn't like.

The main actor was good though as were the visuals and the setting, but if the story's not upto scratch then it's not good enough for me personally. Overall I was just bored

Fair enough, thanks for the reply

Out of interest, what did you think of Moon, Avatar, Cloverfield..?

All these films seem to have a marmite reaction

 

[Sankari]

Somehow the aliens who are not that smart managed to smuggled giant machs onto the helicopter and hid them in the camp!!!

No they didn't.

Ok I can perhaps see in all the confusion a few smarter aliens smuggling small weapons . But just how did they get the machs and large guns down without anyone noticing? Just how did they fit the giant robots into the helicopters?

They didn't. They built the weapons and the mecha out of scrap which they found in District 9 once they were living there. This is clearly explained and demonstrated throughout the film. They didn't bring anything down from the mothership.

Then there are the things like I just got exposed to an unknown alien liquid, my finger nails are dropping out and I am being very sick. Let’s not tell anyone or get help from a doctor.

Wikus didn't get help because he was worried about what might happen to him if he told anyone. Considering that the corporation later kidnapped him, experimented on him and tried to vivisect him, his fears were obviously well founded. This was a perfectly logical part of the plot.

 

[daz]

You do realise camera crews and unit directors and cinematographers can cost millions also? Not just actors. Its true for stuff like Avatar and Watchmen the actors probably didn't cost a lot but that's not always what the money gets spend on. District 9 may have required people to take paycuts or something aswell. Could be some profit sharing going on also.

Well this was part of my point... My original LOL was DM's insistance that actors make up the bulk of film budgets - which isn't really true in this day and age.

 

[Flibster]

Watched the bluray today.

Interesting idea and well executed.
I liked the setting, showed the parallels nicely.
Well shot, CGI was very well done.
I didn't feel anything for any of the characters though. Wickus just plain annoyed me most of the while - may well have been intentional though.

6.5/10

 

[Stumble Bum]

Fair enough, thanks for the reply

Out of interest, what did you think of Moon, Avatar, Cloverfield..?

All these films seem to have a marmite reaction

Nearly finished watching moon last night, feel asleep because i was knackered, so still got the very end to see, i liked it overall, it is slow paced in parts but I liked it, i guess the films something a bit different, which always makes a nice change. I'd give it an 8/10.

Avatar, over-hyped for me, visually it's fantastic but again I just didn't think the story was strong enough. If it wasn't for the 3D, the film wouldn't get half the attention or praise. Still fairly good though. Just a few Cliche moments 7/10

Cloverfield, liked this one quite a lot, but i do like JJ Abrams' work, nice filming style which again is something abit different. The film kept me entertained from start to finish. would love to see a sequal. 8.5/10

Perhaps Independence Day would be more your thing? Hackneyed plot, feeble attempts at characterisation, and predictable finale.

Am I not aloud to dislike a film because the majority love it? I've even clearly stated why. I think a lot of people don't understand that a justified opinion can't really be 'wrong'.

Just find it amusing that you "absolutely hated" it, not that maybe it wasnt your thing, or you didnt get it, but that everyone else in the world is wrong and that it was dire

Again, it's an opinion, the world would be a pretty boring place if everyone liked the same thing, why can't you accept that I really didn't like it? And now your also putting words into my mouth, everyone else is more than welcome to say they loved it, that's great. I'm just saying that I really didn't and it bored me.

 

[glitch]

They didn't. They built the weapons and the mecha out of scrap which they found in District 9 once they were living there. This is clearly explained and demonstrated throughout the film. They didn't bring anything down from the mothership.

Erm, are you absolutely sure about that?

I must admit I wasn't paying attention during every single second of the film, but I can't recall anything being mentioned about the weapons and mechs being crafted by the aliens from scrap found in the slum. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered it if that were the case. Mainly because I'd have found it hard to believe that they could create weaponry and technology that advanced from stuff humans have been throwing away.

On the other hand, I'm at a loss to explain how they got it all off the ship in the first place. But I certainly can't stretch my imagination to them being able to make mavity weapons from our rubbish.

If you can point out the parts of the film where it's specifically mentioned or heavily implied that the Prawns made the weapons from scratch, that'll give me an excuse to re-watch the film and see if I get more out of it the second time around.

On a related note, did I miss the part of the film where one of the aliens is being interrogated/interviewed in a dimly-lit cell? I'm sure there was a part of the trailer where that was shown.

 

[taz488]

better than avatar.

 

[bledd]

On a related note, did I miss the part of the film where one of the aliens is being interrogated/interviewed in a dimly-lit cell? I'm sure there was a part of the trailer where that was shown.

I know that scene was not in the cinema release, it may be on the dvd/bluray somewhere, I'm yet to watch it

 

[Fenris]

Just got this on Blu-Ray and damn does it look good, highly recommend it.

 

[arknor]

i doub the aliens were suposed to have made the weapons from scratch because they were suposedly trapped on the spaceship unable to work it

there alien society onboard the ship had broken down for some reason, nobody knows why in the film.

 

[Tombstone]

Erm, are you absolutely sure about that?

I must admit I wasn't paying attention during every single second of the film, but I can't recall anything being mentioned about the weapons and mechs being crafted by the aliens from scrap found in the slum. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered it if that were the case. Mainly because I'd have found it hard to believe that they could create weaponry and technology that advanced from stuff humans have been throwing away.

On the other hand, I'm at a loss to explain how they got it all off the ship in the first place. But I certainly can't stretch my imagination to them being able to make mavity weapons from our rubbish.

If you can point out the parts of the film where it's specifically mentioned or heavily implied that the Prawns made the weapons from scratch, that'll give me an excuse to re-watch the film and see if I get more out of it the second time around.

On a related note, did I miss the part of the film where one of the aliens is being interrogated/interviewed in a dimly-lit cell? I'm sure there was a part of the trailer where that was shown.

The weapons werent made from scratch, but the one and only mech in the film (yes there was only one) was pieced together by them over time, that bit was shown in the film. The hand weapons though werent built from scraps.

 

[Sankari]

Erm, are you absolutely sure about that?

I must admit I wasn't paying attention during every single second of the film, but I can't recall anything being mentioned about the weapons and mechs being crafted by the aliens from scrap found in the slum. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered it if that were the case. Mainly because I'd have found it hard to believe that they could create weaponry and technology that advanced from stuff humans have been throwing away.

On the other hand, I'm at a loss to explain how they got it all off the ship in the first place. But I certainly can't stretch my imagination to them being able to make mavity weapons from our rubbish.

If you can point out the parts of the film where it's specifically mentioned or heavily implied that the Prawns made the weapons from scratch, that'll give me an excuse to re-watch the film and see if I get more out of it the second time around.

I could be wrong; I'll have to watch it again myself.

On a related note, did I miss the part of the film where one of the aliens is being interrogated/interviewed in a dimly-lit cell? I'm sure there was a part of the trailer where that was shown.

I've watched the movie twice and that scene definitely does not appear. It might be part of Alive in Joburg (the original short movie upon which District 9 was based) or it might be a DVD extra.

 

[Tummy]

Hmm.

How did the "prawns" come to possess their highly-advanced weaponry?

It's made clear in the movie that the aliens have no way back up to the ship, and they only came down with the assistance of the humans. Therefore there's the obvious question of why the aliens have so many weapons in the slums. The movie does not address this. Some options:

1) The weapons are taken from the ship by aliens when evacuated, and are not confiscated. Plausiblity depends on who is responsible for the evacuation, how organised the evacuation is, and how obvious it is that the items are weapons (e.g. stowed/unstowed).

2) The weapons are taken from the ship by humans at any time, or are confiscated from the aliens by humans during the evacuation, but wind up back with the aliens somehow. Plausibility depends on who holds the weapons, when the weapons are stolen, who steals the weapons and why, and how the weapons are passed back to the aliens.

3) The weapons arrived on the dropship. Plausibility depends on the number and type of weapons. Certainly there was room for no more than a few of the Mech suits in the dropship.

4) The weapons literally fell from the sky off the mothership, like the other garbage items which Christopher scavenges, and were repaired. Plausiblity depends on where the weapons fall from and where they land.

5) The weapons were discarded by the humans on the assumption that they do not work. They may not have been aware that the weapons work when an alien holds them. Plausibility depends on where the humans discarded the weapons.

6) The weapons were brought in pieces, unrecognizable to humans at the time, and reassembled later, much like Christopher taking a few pieces of what looks like scrap metal from MNU and snapping together a bomb in a couple seconds.

7) They recreated the weapons from memory or instinct using scraps from the ship and available human technology.

 

[trent]

A very good film. I thought it felt original.

 

[Kanpai]

I personally think it was too overhyped, same with avatar :/

 

[Tummy]

I personally think it was too overhyped, same with avatar :/

You see I didn't see much about District 9 at all, didn't hear much hype.

I heard a bit about Avatar but mainly from films friends I have, so again not much.