Bear Flag Blog

District 9 - 7.5/10

I enjoyed District 9, and I feel a little guilty giving it only a seven and a half because I suspect that my impression is colored by the very high expectations I had going in. It was a little gorier than I would have liked, and a fair amount of the plot/premise was far-fetched. Not the aliens showing up in the first place - sure, why not? - but the ultimate resolution of the story was highly questionable, as was the rather blase ghettoization of the aliens. Space aliens are simply far too interesting to have them plunked into a shantytown and largely forgotten. Moreover, the base level of evil in the human characters in the movie - I am thinking particularly in terms of the corporate "medical" staff - was unrealistic without further explanation.

That said, the look of the film was fantastic and exceptionally believable, without resorting to nausea-cam as is so popular these days. The story was interesting and held my attention, and I really enjoyed the alien weapons.

Ponyo - 7/10

We took the 3.5 year old to see Ponyo. He enjoyed it, although ultimately the theater experience was too much and he took to wandering up and down the stairs. (Fortunately, we were literally alone in the theater.) We also enjoyed it. I'm a Miyazaki aficionado, which meant both that I enjoyed the film but ultimately recognized it as a trifle, an enjoyable diversion not on the level of Nausicaa or Howl's Moving Castle.

One of the many reasons I enjoy anime is that, occasionally, something is represented in a way that Western animation simply has not done and yet is a perfect representation; in Ponyo that thing was an overhead view of Sosuke swimming, where the splashes from his kicking were disconnected explosions of water, no feet in sight. It's nothing I would have ever pictured before and yet, seeing it, it was totally right. It looked just the way that it ought.

Outlander - 4/10

After seeing this film (on DVD), my wife and I were both dumber.

I'm okay with mixing Vikings and Space Aliens. Could be the basis for a fine movie. I like Jim Caviezel. There were some fun things in this film, such as a race atop a ring of uplifted shields during a viking mead bash.

But good God, was it ever dumb. And it got worse, and worse... the protagonists climb down a well after the monster to discover a cavern lit by molten lava. In Norway. Down a well. Whale oil explodes like C-4. A spacefaring civilization find a nice planet and prepares it for colonization by carpet bombing the whole god-damned thing. And the kicker, the final capstone of idiocy: the protagonist stands by his homing device as, above him, the landing lights of a spaceship come to rescue him draw closer. He agonizes a moment (lower and lower come the lights) and then he destroys the homing device! He will stay!

And the rescue ship flies away.

The fuck was that? "Well, the beacon cut off, let's bail." "Isn't that him down there, standing next to it?" "I said let's go!"

ARHGHGHGHG

Zombieland - 8/10

I really enjoyed Zombieland, and more tellingly, my wife also enjoyed it. It was gory, which in my book is not a plus but then one would expect it in a zombie movie, but it was also funny, uproariously so in parts. She spent the first quarter of the film with her hands in front of her eyes, and the last third laughing continuously.

Zombieland doesn't aim to be more than a zombie-riffic dark comedy, and it succeeds admirably. Lots of zombies, lots of wit, interesting characters and a solid story. What more can one ask?