Burn after Reading with Gerorge Clooney and Brad Pitt. Hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bipROceFUgs

I kind-of liked how the aliens demonstrated human qualities. I mean, they'd been on earth for 20 years. But mainly, the way in which they made the aliens have human-like mannerisms made you relate to them more and feel more sorry for them. I dunno, I liked it. And a lot of aspects of the film I didn't think were funny but instead quite sad because of the social issues they attempted to raise.

I also thought the protagonist was a good/interesting choice for the main character. And it's true that a lot of it felt like I was inside a video game but the action scenes were actually pretty stimulated and I'm normally one to be quite bored by action stuff. I agree about the whole thing with the Nigerians eating the aliens - that was a bit too ridiculous for me. I also think they could have chosen better villains.

But overall I'd have to agree it was a pretty good and entertaining sci-fi; something different from anything I'd seen lately.

Well I understand that the aliens needed some human qualities so the audience could connect with them, but I felt that there should have been a bit more effort put into making their culture and customs more unique from ours, because I'm pretty sure that if a bunch of aliens made a pit stop here, they wouldn't be just like us in the way they act. The film would have been a lot more interesting if it actually made a clear distinction between us and the "prawns", as in what makes them different from us and why we can't get along. I think that was a great opportunity that this movie missed, maybe the sequel will pick up on this. I certainly hope so.

Also this was a not so subtle commentary on racism, and I think it would have been more effective if they didn't try to make the aliens the ONLY sympathetic characters in the film (aside from the main character) and all the other humans into comic book archtypes. One could argue that the depiction of south africans as superstitious savages is, I dunno, a little racist.

I do however like how this is a twist on the usual "misunderstood alien/fantastical creatures mistreated by evil, greedy humans" formula (Day the Earth Stood Still, ET, Starman, Enemy Mine and the upcoming Avatar are good examples of this). Unlike other sci fi movies that use this plot device, the aliens were not part of some idealized utopia, they were not cute and cudley and were not to be f*cked with, and they were prone to all the same evils and shortcomings as humankind, that I liked.

So in that sense, the aliens can be sympathetic, but it's still made pretty clear that they can pose a threat to the human race, why did they come here in the first place? And why did they bring so many weapons? So the movie isn't just painting everything in black and white. As in, we're the bad guys and they're the good guys. This message would have been a lot more powerful though if so many of the human characters weren't so cartoonish. Still it IS a sci fi action movie so something like that dosen't really bother me.

I'm just nitpicking really. Jackson has yet to put his name on a less than stellar movie.

And yes guys that includes King Kong, I liked it, sue me.

Rumor is that it was originally supposed to be the Halo movie.

Heh, I forgot all about that supposed Halo movie that Jackson was working on but eventually dropped.

It's a shame, I don't even like the Halo games but if Jackson did the movie it could have been the first good video game movie ever.

Well the same director who did District 9 was supposedly going to direct the Halo movie as well.

If its true im glad they dropped it in favor of this.

Silent protagonists don't work well on screen.

Actually from what I read the movie was suppose to be about the marines with Master Chief popping up every now and then, also he wasn't a silent protagonist as he did have lines.

Anyhow this was the last movie I watched, a pretty good documentary on punk music even if it was a things I already knew before.

http://api.ning.com/files/jr5tOaGrb1...mOrL/punk2.jpg

As far as Arthurian takes go, this is one of the best even though it's still a romanticised view and historically inaccurate. A few dodgy scenes and acting apart there is still a lot to admire in the film.
http://starwrecked.com/contents/othe...-dvd-cover.jpg
Quite incredible true story of a French guy who tightroped walked (illegally) between the twin towers in 1974.
http://www.filmdetail.com/wp-content...n-wire-dvd.jpg
This superlative Miyazaki is arguably better than his much more lauded Spirited Away. Superb animated film.
http://www.newearthonline.co.uk/imag...smononoke2.jpg

I disagree strongly.

Not just because of the silent film era either. Wall-E for example.

He made more noise than that little gimp from Mac and Me, so I wouldn't say Wall-E counts.