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District 9


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This is actually a feature length version of an earlier short flick also by Neil Blomkamp,

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Though the original seems to be more mock documentary oriented. Both the original and the new D-19 film is a veiled sci-fi story that actually explores apartheid.

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Wow. That looks really really cool. Hopefully it doesn't suck!

Almost has a touch of Half-Life 2 vibe to it. Maybe because the aliens look so much like Vortigaunts, and there's a strong "Combine" feel to the "control" ethic.

Vostok 7

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I saw the trailer for District 9 before watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine on May 1. District 9 appears to be shot almost like a documentary and is some kind of alien asylum story. The director is a fellow named Neill Blomkamp, who is some kind of past collaborator with Peter Jackson (according to the IMDB). So naturally, they splashed Jackson's name all over the trailer, much like they do with Spielberg's name whenever his company produces something in which he personally has no direct involvement :roll:

Ahem, digressing...the trailer wasn't bad. It definitely does a good job at grabbing your interest. In fact, the trailer plays like a some kind of documentary on human rights abuses in the middle east, until you get hit with a shot of a giant floating ship hanging over a vista of broken desert.

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Ahem, digressing...the trailer wasn't bad. It definitely does a good job at grabbing your interest. In fact, the trailer plays like a some kind of documentary on human rights abuses in the middle east, until you get hit with a shot of a giant floating ship hanging over a vista of broken desert.

The original short film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813999/, which takes place in 1990, is a critique of South Africa's apartheid (racial segregation) policies which ended in 1994. Presumably District 9 has a similar twist, but it's probably been hollywood-ified to remove "hard to understand and controversial elements" from the movie... it also seems to have an actual plot as seen by the interrogator asking the alien about the weapons, whereas the original was 100% short documentary.

... and I hope Will Smith makes a cameo in a F-18... we got super-hornets now son!

Edited by Ghost Train
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The original short film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813999/, which takes place in 1990, is a critique of South Africa's apartheid (racial segregation) policies which ended in 1994. Presumably District 9 has a similar twist, but it's probably been hollywood-ified to remove "hard to understand and controversial elements" from the movie... it also seems to have an actual plot as seen by the interrogator asking the alien about the weapons, whereas the original was 100% short documentary.

... and I hope Will Smith makes a cameo in a F-18... we got super-hornets now son!

Welcome to EARF!

Vostok 7

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  • 1 month later...

I have to say that for once, Hollywood is really playing the promotion game well with District 9. Columbia and Sony are really marketing this thing smartly rather than just hitting everyone over the head with the typical cliched "In a world where..." trailers and dumb crap. District 9 has been skillfully teased with posters and viral marketing, passed through word of mouth and disseminated over the net for months. It’s got this great print promotion, where you’ll see random posters and billboards of District 9 with a very eye-catching graphic design all over your city. It’s getting to the point of subliminal propagation. Almost everyone has seen something of District 9 for most of the year, but few know anything about it. It’s making the potential audience incredibly curious.

This latest trailer is filled with tension and suspense. I gotta say, for better or worse, the promotion for District 9 has really dug under my skin. I'm curious to see this film in spite of myself. Clever work.

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oh shi- sweet. I was looking forward to this ever since I first heard about it, but now I want to see it Just for the power armor. :D

This movie actually reminds me of the original X-Com (or UFO Enemy Unknown), in that it's apparently a secret organization that's battling an alien threat. But then again, that's pretty generic...

However, it does look cool, and I'll go and see it when it comes out in a bit.

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This movie actually reminds me of the original X-Com (or UFO Enemy Unknown), in that it's apparently a secret organization that's battling an alien threat. But then again, that's pretty generic...

However, it does look cool, and I'll go and see it when it comes out in a bit.

Except that in the X-com, the secret organization are actually the good guys. At least in the trailer and other viral material, the MNU from D9 seemed to be a modern 21st century evil PMC a la Blackwater.

... and yea, X-com was the greatest game ever, loved climbing the tech tree.

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Except that in the X-com, the secret organization are actually the good guys. At least in the trailer and other viral material, the MNU from D9 seemed to be a modern 21st century evil PMC a la Blackwater.

... and yea, X-com was the greatest game ever, loved climbing the tech tree.

I don't know... Sometimes in the Terror missions I wind up killing just about everything that moves. Baster Bombs are purely outside toys...

Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun. Aka, it's all in the perspective.

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This movie actually reminds me of the original X-Com (or UFO Enemy Unknown), in that it's apparently a secret organization that's battling an alien threat. But then again, that's pretty generic...

However, it does look cool, and I'll go and see it when it comes out in a bit.

I thought something similar. Although I'm getting a vibe of X-Com mixed with Half-Life 2. Especially the sets of shanty towns, helicopters and squads reminded me of imagery from City 17.

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I thought something similar. Although I'm getting a vibe of X-Com mixed with Half-Life 2. Especially the sets of shanty towns, helicopters and squads reminded me of imagery from City 17.

Don't forget the weapons and powered armors. :p

Since the movie is probably going to play out like a documentary, I hope they don't liberally employ the "shaky cam" during chaotic scenes. I'm starting to get tired of not being able to see what's going on.

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It's interesting how gaming has become so mainstream that we're now comparing films to them, and not the other way around :p . When Children of Men came out, every video game nerd (myself included) cried "City17!" during the final shoot out in the slums.

And I still stand by my original assertion that the MNU is an evil PMC, I mean come on the flick is a clear allegory of apartheid after all.

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With the advent of CGI in film I'm not surprised that the video game influence is so strong. These are computer geeks building most of the special effects for these films, so naturally a lot of them are going to be fans of gaming. That gaming influence will assuredly filter through the creative process to end up on screen. You've also got the majority of the business doing pre-visualization on computers, so producers and set designers are now more influenced than ever by what is happening in the more creative realms of computer entertainment.

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As I live South Africa and that Neill Blomkamp is South African, there is alot of hope here that he will finally bring a South African vision in sci-fi. Gavin Hood, another South African, unfortunately stumbled with Wolverine... Though there I blame Hollywood producers that took advantage of his novice experience and told him to follow the script.

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As long as it isn't a thinly veiled, false analogy of the previous US presidency (not that I'm a supporter, it's just a tired concept) I might like it. Looks very interesting though.

it's a thinly veiled analogy for south African apartheid.

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I started a thread for this movie to talk about the new trailer but put it in as sector 9 instead or District 9 by mistake sorry. I was not thinking apparently. I did a search, but put in sector 9 to search for a thread non came up because I put in the wrong name for the movie.

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