DISTRICT 9
(Review)

Originating from South African director Neill Blomkamp’s 2005 short “Alive in Joburg,” District 9 quite possibly owes its existence in its current form to the fact that the Peter Jackson-produced Halo adaptation Blomkamp was meant to direct, died one of those nasty Hollywood deaths you sometimes hear about. (Or, as Blomkamp puts it, “imploded.”)*
So there’s a fair amount of sacrifice that went into the foundations of the District 9 feature, but let me assure you, it’s an astounding triumph for independently-produced science fiction cinema.


It’s been 20 years since a damaged extraterrestrial spacecraft settled above Johannesburg, and the marooned aliens (referred to by the derogatory term “prawns”) have been forced by circumstance and bureaucracy to live in a slum, the titular District 9.
But the time has come when the government, apparently no longer able to withstand pressure from an unsympathetic public, is readying to forcibly evict the aliens to District 10, a barbed wire-enclosed reserve far away from the human population.
And even as the eviction operation is mounted—led by MNU employee Wikus Van De Merwe (a terribly impressive Sharlto Copley, in his first feature role; incidentally, Copley was the producer on “Alive in Joburg”)—a two decade-long plan is about to come to fruition in the heart of the alien shantytown.
Those are the bare bones of District 9’s plot, and if the film only had that to offer, it may very well have already been an excellent film in its own right.
But the fact that Blomkamp (and co-writer Terri Tatchell) are able to create a very palpable reality for the narrative to take place in, while infusing the material with potent social and cultural commentary (and still manage to present its audience with destructive alien weaponry and things going ka-blooey), makes District 9 a very important genre film, one that has emerged as one of the best titles in this rather lacklustre summer.


Partially presented in interviews and documented footage from the eviction operation, District 9 is a powerful cinematic experience, a sombre document of a world which—despite first contact already having been made—still looks awfully like our own unenlightened one.
District 9—like Ronald D. Moore’s reimagining of Battlestar Galactica—is hard-hitting science fiction which is timely and relevant, managing to take on issues and problems that plague us in the here and now.
Unlike BSG though, much of the dialogue in District 9 is improvised. Keeping that in mind, it becomes clear that that’s another notch, not just in Copley’s belt (for creating a believable and authentic character, and for being and speaking for that character in front of the camera), but in Blomkamp’s and editor’s Julian Clarke’s as well, for finding the movie amidst all the multiple takes and improv.


“From [Neill Blomkamp’s] first pitching of me to what “Alive in Joburg” was going to be, which I produced for him, I got it. I got the world. I got the whole thing, and the project resonated with me very closely. Growing up in South Africa there is a lot of pain, and there is a lot of stuff that has been dealt with there in ways that it hasn’t been dealt with in other countries.” -- Sharlto Copley

Science fiction, at its best, is cautionary, warning us as a species of where we could end up, if we’re not careful.
It’s a sad statement that District 9 isn’t even cautionary science fiction, not when you live in a world where poverty is rampant, where people live in corrugated tin shacks, and rummage through mounds of garbage for their livelihood and next meal.
It isn’t cautionary when the unscrupulous and opportunistic can be found, not just in the slums, but in the board rooms as well.
It isn’t cautionary when our race’s history repeatedly describes our tendency to alienate and ostracize, to keep at arm’s length that which is different, that which is other.


District 9 is a stunning achievement, and the fact that it’s Blomkamp’s debut feature makes it all the more astounding.
This is relatively inexpensive science fiction (at a reported production cost of $30 million, it was made for 15% of the budgets of either Revenge of the Fallen or Terminator Salvation) that actually has something to say, that can spark discussion and debate.
This is science fiction worthy of the name, and is a resounding triumph, not just for producer Peter Jackson, but for the pair of feature freshmen at its centre—Blomkamp and Copley—who we’re likely to hear more of, in the days and years to come.


* Yes, it’s entirely possible Blomkamp would have still made District 9, even if Halo had happened, but given what this man’s clearly capable of, I’d like to think a post-Halo District 9 would have been saddled with a bigger budget, and if that were the case, it wouldn’t have been the same District 9 we’ve been so thoroughly blessed with…

Parting shot: We also have Fran Walsh to thank for District 9, as it was apparently her idea (thrown at Blomkamp in the Jacksons’ kitchen following the Halo adaptation’s “implosion”) to expand “Alive in Joburg” into a feature film.
Fran Walsh rules!!!

Parting shot 2: Copley actually has a feature he’s directed, Spoon, which is already completed and waiting in the wings for release. Copley describes it as “… a supernatural thriller. It’s a guy who suffers from a medical condition and blacks out when he gets stressed, and weird things happen every time he does, and he’s trying to piece together what is going on in his life.”
All sorts of potential awesome, yes?


(District 9 OS’s courtesy of impawards.com; images courtesy of filmstarts.de.)

D-WAR (DRAGON WARS)
(Review)

For a Korean production that’s clearly aiming for wide international distribution, Shim Hyung-Rae’s D-War (Dragon Wars) is certainly an ambitious undertaking; it’s even got the multiple character OS marketing thing going, as well as the short, snappy title for quick and easy recall.
Sadly, the film itself doesn’t deliver on nearly all of the other, more significant levels that it should.

The biggest, most shamed-faced culprit has to be Shim’s script: to call it “scattershot” would be charitable.
The narrative jumps from scene to scene with neither rhyme nor reason, and there are a host of inexplicable developments and decisions that make D-War a simply terrible viewing experience.
And the front-heavy exposition—which takes up the first 20 minutes or so of the film, in an awkward and annoying flashback within a flashback—serves to stop the narrative cold even before it’s had a chance to rev its engine.
There’s talk of good serpents and bad serpents and a 20-year old maiden who is destined to lay down her life so that good will emerge triumphant. There’re also brave warriors and magickal amulets and reincarnation and wisps of the production design spirit of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, rudely summoned and shanghaied for this muddled production.
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a film like this, whose narrative operates in a complete emotionless vacuum, where all the pretty pixels in the world (more on that later) cannot save a story that so utterly fails to engage the audience, it may just as well be a non-experience.

Even the presence of Robert Forster (Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Van Sant’s Psycho remake, and briefly, in Lynch’s Mulholland Drive) as Jack, the reincarnation of the elder warrior who fights on the side of good, does nothing to move things into the plus column: Forster’s not really given much to do beyond narrating that 20 minute block at the head of the film, and not very well, I might add. He also morphs in and out of the proceedings on a bizarrely irregular basis.
The other major players, Jason Behr and Flightplan’s Amanda Brooks, don’t exactly light up the screen either.
Behr, who can’t seem to escape the gravity of genre material after making a name for himself on TV’s Roswell (he’s also been in The Grudge remake and Skinwalkers, as well as the upcoming The Tattooist), doesn’t even seem to attempt to infuse his character of Ethan Kendrick with a glimmer of a personality. There’s nothing there to indicate Ethan is even a living, breathing person, much less the reincarnation of the young, valorous warrior who must ultimately sacrifice his love for the sake of the world.
Brooks fares no better with her Sarah, destined to carry within her the force that will be consumed, by either good or evil, thus determining the fate of the entire human race. There’s no struggle here, no raging against the dying of the light, just a young woman going blandly through the motions: Oh, look, a giant serpent. Run.
Meanwhile, other potentially capable actors like Twin Peaks’ Chris Mulkey and Elizabeth Pena (Jacob’s Ladder and Transamerica), are given nothing significant to do during the limited screen time they actually get.

If there is anything remotely resembling a redeeming factor where D-War is concerned, it’s quite possibly in the CGI.
Granted, this is nowhere near the level of a Transformers, and there are a healthy number of shots where the pixels are still showing. Still, for the most part, the effects are passably convincing, and the final climactic showdown between the good and evil serpents is commendable, and is marred only by the fact that it seems to be taking place not on Earth, but in an environment ripped off from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. One minute, we’re headed towards Mexico, the next, we’re in Mordor.

This may have the pretty pixels, but at heart, D-War is still a D-grade, low-budget monster movie, complete with head-scratching script and dodgy performances.
Sad, since in the wake of Bong Joon-ho‘s Gwoemul (The Host), I was really hoping Korea would give me another monster movie worth stomping up and down and roaring about. In the end though, all I can muster is an exasperated eye roll and a paltry “Pfffft.”

Parting shot: Interestingly enough, Heroes’ James Kyson Lee (soon to be seen in the upcoming English-language remake of Shutter) is part of D-War’s loop group.
Though he is best known for playing Japanese sarariman/sidekick Ando Masahashi on Heroes, Lee is actually Korean, his real name Lee Jae-Hyeok.

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Gwoemul and Skinwalkers can be found in the Archive.

(D-War OS’s courtesy of younggu-art.com.)

ENTOURAGE
Season 4 Episode 8
“Gary’s Desk”

E decides to get his own office, as working out of the condo isn’t really working for him.
His first order of business: get in touch with Peter Jackson, to try and get Vince some work on a video game. But no one knows who Eric Murphy is, so E tries to take an ad out in Variety. Of course, he doesn’t have any official paperwork to prove he’s actually Vincent Chase’s manager, so that idea goes belly up pretty quickly.
The aborted attempt at an ad reaches Shauna’s ears though (yay, Shauna!), who arranges a short profile on E. But the profile turns into a hatchet job as E is singled out as a prime example of Hollywood’s “New Nepotism” (stars’ friends riding on the coattails of celebrity).
The Variety profile does reach Jackson however, and he gets in touch with E, and they arrange a sit-down to talk things out.

The boys, meanwhile, set off to find a proper desk for E’s new less-than-glamourous office. They set their sights on a $42K piece with history: it was on Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Robert De Niro once owned it.
But it’s already been bought, by none other than Gary Busey (back for his third Entourage go-around)! Busey agrees to part with the desk, if he can paint Drama, which he does, literally, turning him blue.
But the crisis isn’t over. The desk is far too big to get into E’s rathole office, so the boys get an expensive office to go with the expensive desk, swanky work space that’s got offices for Turtle, Drama, and Vinnie too.

The episode’s subplot also kicks a$$.
Just as Mary J. Blige is about to come in for her annual meeting with Ari, there’s trouble that explodes between twin employees: one of them slept with his twin’s wife. To keep the office peace, Ari has to let one of them go. And the numbers indicate that the guy who diddled his sister-in-law is making the agency more money, so the other guy gets the boot.
It turns out though that Mary J. likes that particular twin, and when she finds out exactly why he was fired, she bails on Ari too.
Capping this one off, Ari goes on the warpath and fires the other twin as well.

This one more than makes up for the previous lackluster episode, and with the return of the Busey and the guest spots by Jackson and Blige, this one’s a keeper.

(Images courtesy of hbo.com.)

BLACK SHEEP
(Review)

Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) returns to the sheep farm he half-owns fifteen years after the misfortunate confluence of a tasteless practical joke and a family tragedy caused him to develop ovinophobia, the irrational fear of sheep. What Henry doesn’t know is that his brother Angus (Peter Feeney) has been conducting genetic experiments on the livestock.
Soon, there’s a massive flock of killer sheep, and Henry receives some hard therapy to get over his phobia.

Black Sheep, written and directed by Jonathan King, is B-movie horror/comedy by way of New Zealand. Think of it as the spiritual successor to Peter Jackson’s early low budget efforts like Dead Alive.
Appropriately enough, Jackson’s Weta Workshop executes the creature and make up effects for Black Sheep, which involves lots of old school, practical effects that make the film a fun, little bloody romp through the rolling hills and woods of New Zealand farm country.

Though the film does get some laughs at the expense of new age thinking and environmentalists, the narrative does address filial legacies and sibling rivalries; in its own B-movie way, of course. It also affords Henry a neat little character arc as he must come to terms with his ovinophobia, and all the underlying issues that the fear is a symptom of.

Granted, Black Sheep does lack a little something that keeps it from the wildly entertaining heights of recent B-movie horror/comedies like Slither and Feast, it is nonetheless a solid entry in the genre, fun, and funny—and naughty—when it needs to be.
It also plays a lot better than the mad cows of Ireland’s Dead Meat, so if B-movies are your thing, you should seriously check out Black Sheep.

(Black Sheep OS courtesy of postergeek.com.)

DEAD MEAT
(Review)

Mad cow disease has mutated in the Irish countryside, and now, not only are infected cattle attacking humans, but they’re passing on a virus that turns anyone bitten into a zombie!

Yup, it’s another zombie movie.

Written, edited, and directed by Conor McMahon, Dead Meat is the sort of low-budget horror movie that lives and dies by its gore, the sort of over-the-top, fairly ludicrous school of schlock seen in early Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson. This is the kind of movie where eyeballs are sucked out by hoovers, and shovels and high-heeled shoes become deadly weapons when hurled just so.

Sadly, this is nowhere near as horrific as The Evil Dead, nor as ridiculously entertaining as Dead Alive. Save for some passably effective bits once night falls on our erstwhile heroine Helena (Marian Araujo) and her fellow uninfected, most of Dead Meat just lies there, much as its title suggests, rotting under the merciless gaze of seasoned horror geek eyes and the shadow of far better horror/comedy efforts from the past.
Admittedly, Dead Meat is perhaps a better watch than, say, Dead And Breakfast, but it’s still far from a good way to spend an hour and some twenty minutes.
As ridiculous as the song that plays during the end credits roll is (“Dead Meat,” written, composed, and performed by David Muyllaert, who also plays local gravedigger and male lead Desmond), it does signal an end to the less-than-stellar proceedings, and that’s always a good thing.

(Dead Meat DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)