District 9 has Adam and Matty pretty much on the same page here. They start out by pointing out the rather generic pitch the script must have been, but director Neill Blomkamp has previously shown that he has a unique take on this type of storytelling with his short Alive in Joburg. The guys both enjoyed some of the subtlety of the film in the first half, but feel that the last action-heavy section devolved in a way it probably didn’t need to. The film is shot in a naturalistic, documentary style, and the special effects seem to fit in seamlessly with the world and style. Matty rounds out the discussion by pointing out that there are some good political messages in this film that he hopes people key into.
The passing of John Hughes has been the talk of many film circles and things are no different here. Adam and Matty, just like most who grew up in the mid ’80s to early 90s, hold a special place in their hearts for many of his movies and recount their favorite characters in their top 5 this week. Picks include favorites from Uncle Buck, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science and more.
:13-17:32 – Review: “District 9″
Music: Psychedelic Furs, “Pretty in Pink”
18:32-34:16 – Polls, Feedback (Food Movies)
Music: OMD, “If You Leave”
35:07-44:27 – New DVDs/Donations
44:28-49:33 – Mass. Theatre (Winner: M. Startsev)
49:34-1:09:50 – Top 5: John Hughes Characters
1:11:12-1:14:01 – Close/Next Show/Outtakes
Runtime – 1:14:33
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2 Comments
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Some weeks I just cant stand filmspotting, and this is one of those weeks – they are the weirdest people when it comes to tone, are blind to so much humor, that I cant trust their review on anything involving action or comedy, even when i agree in the overall ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ judgment. They just expose every time they have no idea what they’re talking about, little sense of genre conventions or what is being brought that is new. They’re drama people who know the drama world, and when they stray into those other worlds and look at everything through that same lens they just expose how much Tarantino would whip their ass any any genre movie debate.
I think I can see your point – Adam and Matty clearly have a more firm grip on dramatic films than on at least action movies. For this particular movie, though, I’d tend to agree with their assessment mostly because I think the first act sets up the movie as a drama rather than an action movie. I definitely did appreciate the third act of District 9, though, because I think Blomkamp did action really well and it wasn’t nearly as out of context as the guys thought.