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Cailon wrote:It's not Almodovar here, and Almodovar would probably never do a space opera^^

The result would probably be scary.

Just seen District 9 here.
Well, I really enjoyed it, but for me it is clearly a B-movie (despite the very very good SFX, we will all agree on that), and not a masterpiece at all.
First part : apartheid with aliens instead of black people. Of course in Johannesburg, to make sure that the public will catch the allusion. Got it
Second part : great and supra fun shoot them up with the big weapons and the big mechas. Got it.
The hero (well portayed) is first a complete egoistic asshole, but at the end he almost sacrifices himself for his alien friend. And he continues to love his wife, even at the end (the very last scene is very touching). Ok

For the bad guy, well... I completely disagree with BeastSoulEyes. The mercenaries colonel in D9 is even more stereotypical than Quaritch in Avatar. And, contrary to Quaritch, he isn't charismatic at all and has almost no personality (I've explained previously why Quaritch is quite an interesting character for me) : he is just a bastard who likes to kill, and you are just happy to see him dying at the end. Of courses, he dodges all the bullets and remains the only mercenary at the end in front of the hero.

And I will ask the same question that you asked about Avatar : what should we learn with District 9 ? That apartheid and medical experimentation on aliens are bad ?

But don't take it wrong, I repeat that I've really enjoyed this movie : an interesting hero, a catchy story and very good SFX. But I cannot compare D9 to Avatar, sorry.

I've found a good article about JC and Avatar: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/ff_avatar_cameron

There are several pages in it, so read it fully.

And I will ask the same question that you asked about Avatar : what should we learn with District 9 ? That apartheid and medical experimentation on aliens are bad ?

Moreso, I'd say that the moral is that multinational corportations CAN NOT be trusted to act in the public interest. I think there's a pretty strong Blackwater allegory at work there, and maybe it's the just timing with the Iraq war and all but I doubt it. I mean it's not just The Army who plays the bad guy here; an important distinction to make because it's really telling about the way that our wars are actually going to be fought in the future.
It's subtly about a government who wants to do the wrong thing while keeping their hands clean, so they push the job off to a private corporation who doesn't need to observe the human rights laws that a nation must hold its actual army to. More WTO paranoia here than fourteenth-generation hippie shite. That's what got me all worked up about District 9, personally. It's easy and obvious to say the military are bad, but nobody in the capitalist moviemaking infrastructure wants to make any kind of plausable scenario with a corporation acting with zilch-o regard for humanity in a way that actually resonates.

That's where smaller budgeted outsider filmmaking gets ya!

DDTL wrote:Just seen District 9 here.
Well, I really enjoyed it, but for me it is clearly a B-movie (despite the very very good SFX, we will all agree on that), and not a masterpiece at all.

Of course it is B-rated movie for you, the thing was made with 10 million dollars. Guess how much Avatar costed, 300 millions, 300!!! Just for the fact that they managed to make such a movie with only this few money make it a chef-d'oeuvre.

DDTL wrote:First part : apartheid with aliens instead of black people. Of course in Johannesburg, to make sure that the public will catch the allusion. Got it

I have to admit they could have done better on this part. However, they choose a very original setting for once, you can see how most movies would have chosen typical places like NY and stuffs . So yea, it's all good on this side

DDTL wrote: Second part : great and supra fun shoot them up with the big weapons and the big mechas. Got it.

They did it for the show man, for the show .

DDTL wrote: For the bad guy, well... I completely disagree with BeastSoulEyes. The mercenaries colonel in D9 is even more stereotypical than Quaritch in Avatar. And, contrary to Quaritch, he isn't charismatic at all and has almost no personality (I've explained previously why Quaritch is quite an interesting character for me) : he is just a bastard who likes to kill, and you are just happy to see him dying at the end. Of courses, he dodges all the bullets and remains the only mercenary at the end in front of the hero.

WHAT? WHAT??? You didn't liked his extreme tenacity, the fact that for once he is not a typical American NRA member and that he actually thinks unlike his copy in Avatar? He was BADASS, realistically badass, unlike this Quaritch that seems to be genetically enhanced when in fact his only power is to be american (Grahooo I'm from the same country as Arnold Scwarzeneger, so I can hold my breath for ages and look badass even when not trying).

I'm just teasing here, don't hate me . You know what, I will say it, both characters are cool, mostly because they correspond to the same archetype. The only difference for me is that the guy in Avatar didn't benefited from a cast of interesting characters to enhance himself.

DDTL wrote: And I will ask the same question that you asked about Avatar : what should we learn with District 9 ? That apartheid and medical experimentation on aliens are bad ?

That corporations are ready to cut everyone in half a thousand times to make more money.

The difference between D9 and Avatar is that D9 DO NOT judge the human race as Avatar does.
The aliens in D9 are not portrayed as perfect, they have several issues, as you have seen.

DDTL wrote: But don't take it wrong, I repeat that I've really enjoyed this movie : an interesting hero, a catchy story and very good SFX. But I cannot compare D9 to Avatar, sorry.

Glad you liked the movie . Still Avatar is a failed D9, at least when it comes to the story. The budget of Avatar should have been given to the director of D9, but hey we live in a stupid world!

PS: Je suis aux Etats-Unis actuellement, je suis plus habituer a parler anglais actuellement , c'est pour ca que je m'exprime principalement en Francais. D'ailleurs vu que je suis aux Etats-Unis je peux voir pourquoi Avatar est un aussi mauvais film, c'est un film fait pour deux choses, du fric et pour viser les gosses. Ils ont fait un jeu video, et l'on sortis le jour meme ou ils ont sortis le film, ils ont aussi fait un partenariat avec McDonalds pour vendre des Bigmacs utilisant l'image d'Avatar et du heroe. Ce film put le film fait pour la masse et fait pour l'argent, et cela en fait un mauvais film de maniere automatique.

They did it for the show man, for the show

Of course, and it is very well done ! Very exciting and very funny (especially when the hero is driving the mecha) By the way, D9 has one thing that Avatar cruelly lacks : BLOOD. I'm not a gore addict at all, but I wanted to see more blood in Avatar... But well, it is a PG-13 movie, so...

That corporations are ready to cut everyone in half a thousand times to make more money.

Yeah, it is well showed when the hero is at the hospital after they made him use the aliens weapons, but this kind of message is not very fresh... Very true, indeed, but not fresh. Avatar tells basically the same with the character of Parker Selfridge. (And the Avatar's script was written something like twelve years ago)

PS: Je suis aux Etats-Unis actuellement, je suis plus habituer a parler anglais actuellement , c'est pour ca que je m'exprime principalement en Francais. D'ailleurs vu que je suis aux Etats-Unis je peux voir pourquoi Avatar est un aussi mauvais film, c'est un film fait pour deux choses, du fric et pour viser les gosses. Ils ont fait un jeu video, et l'on sortis le jour meme ou ils ont sortis le film, ils ont aussi fait un partenariat avec McDonalds pour vendre des Bigmacs utilisant l'image d'Avatar et du heroe. Ce film put le film fait pour la masse et fait pour l'argent, et cela en fait un mauvais film de maniere automatique.

(sorry to answer in french)
T'inquiète, moi aussi ça m'énerve ce genre de pubs et produits dérivés (quoique y'a eu pire : Star Wars, le SDA...), mais bon, faut bien rentabiliser le film. C'est comme pour le scénario classique et les personnages parfois survolés, ils ont pas voulu prendre de risques avec le grand public... Quand tu fais un film qui sort au cinéma, que tu t'appelles Jean Luc Godard ou James Cameron, c'est aussi pour rapporter de l'argent (sinon les projections seraient gratuites). Et il paraît que Cameron et Landau ont eux-mêmes investi une grande partie de leur fortune personnelle dans le film... Ils ont quand même attendu une dizaine d'années pour faire le film, ils ont même du inventer une caméra spéciale que Spielberg utilise pour tourner son Tintin. Je te conseille de jeter un oeil au scénario original d'Avatar (cherche "Welcome to Josh Sully world"). Mais bon, perso j'attends la version longue d'Avatar en DVD, à l'origine le film devait faire plus de 3h10.
(french off)

DDTL wrote:Je te conseille de jeter un oeil au scénario original d'Avatar

Translated:

DDTL wrote:I advise you to take a look at Avatar's original scenario

Yeah, here you go : (link)

Hahaha...

But hey, regarding the whole world of Pandora (not counting minor plot holes) it was well thought through.

Anyway, it has grossed enough so that we can laugh a little more, I found this one :

http://www.thewrap.com/article/james-ca ... 929?page=2

Apparently, Zoe Saldana WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALITA (look around the middle/last part of the article).

OH MY GOODNESS an actual cast member (almost) to Battle Angel.

She's kind of cute from internet pics, I don't think she looks like Alita, though.

What do you all think?