Just saw District 9. Nathan Fillion was sitting right in front of me the whole time. He seemed to enjoy the film, and either he is really looking forward to The Final Destination, or he just enjoys watching the trailer a little too much. Also, he's taller than I expected and wears his sunglasses both at night and inside.
Anyway.
Dear Michael Bay, Paul W.S. Anderson, Stephen Sommers, Uwe Boll and anyone else who makes shitty action movies: THIS is how you make a fucking action film. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. ASHAMED. Know how big GI Joe's budget was? 175 mill. Know how big Transformers 2's budget was? 200 mill. Know how big District 9's budget was? 30 mill.
In two weeks Gi Joe still hasn't made back its budget, but by now District 9 has. Know why? Because Neill Blomkamp was more interested in telling a story with great characters than he was in blowing shit up or landing an A-list star. Throwing money or Shia LeBeouf at a story does not make it better.
Thank the maker, this movie is making money. Go see it if you haven't already.
i saw it yesterday... WOW, what a superb film...this has got to be the best sci-fi masterpiece in a long time.
ReplyDeleteand yeah, fuck Michael Bay. Such a fuckin sexist, racist douche-bag, I hate him.
Yo -
ReplyDeleteIt has to make $90M to make its money back. Still has a while to go but DISTRICT 9 IS the little engine that could.
I was just looking at production costs, not advertising. What studios spend to advertise is a sales issue. What they spend to make the movie is a more important telling issue here. To me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear, NOTHING is made better by throwing Shia LeBoof at it.
ReplyDeleteA wood chipper, maybe.
I enjoyed the shit out of D9.
ReplyDeleteI got a little sick in the middle with all the jerky camera shots but I pulled through.
My kind of Sci-Fi.
Did you see anyone walk out? Seemed like we had a few go at about the 15-20 minute mark.
-Jim
Yeah the shaky cam got me a little queasy too. I sat way too close to the screen. I didn't see anybody walk out, but at one point the woman next to me made an annoyed moaning noise that lasted for like two minutes. I was about to hit her.
ReplyDeleteI think she was really pissed she and her boyfriend weren't watching The Time Traveler's Wife.
I saw it first showing on Friday. First movie I've seen in a theater in, like, a year (I HAZ KIDZ).
ReplyDeleteAs you've said, THAT'S the way to make a kick-ass action movie... make sure it's got a good story.
I sat farther back than I normally would, dunno why, but for which I was glad with the shaky-quakey camera work.
Why is it called show business?
ReplyDeleteIt's a business. Don't put high concept and high budget movies down and degrade them.
I'm really getting tired of screenwriters who think they know how the film culture works.
The founder of Script Shark said that it's a directors and producers medium.
Distrit 9 is not a classic like ALIEN etc.
And who are you that you're such an expert, Anonymous Guy?
ReplyDeleteOK, Anon...I don't even have exactly where the founder of Script Shark said that (and of all people to get all uppity with their quotes about the industry, you'd think you might pick someone who, I dunno...makes movies), but I'm going to go ahead and say that 1) your quotation didn't actually back up any argument, so I'm going to assume that you meant it to mean that film is meant as a place for director's and producer's to ply their craft, not writers and 2) way to take that quote of of context.
ReplyDeleteWhat it means is that in that medium, that's who has the control.
In TV, it's called a writer's medium because they're the ones with the control. They are the exec producers and they drive shows forward.
In film, directors and producers decide everything, they get films made.
(true, the job of a TV director is inherently different that that of a film director, but that's a whole different thing).
No one is bashing high concept (because it's the writer's who come up with the concept...it's their damn job) or high budget. What's being bashed is the tendency of the high budget films to have bad stories (and not all of them do, just some).
It's a business, yes. You're Fucking A-right. So, putting all the effort into the explosions, the CGI, etc and and piling that all upon of piece of crap story is bad business.
Here, you have a product without a price wars. All movies cost the same for us. We go to the ticket booth and a romance, sci-fi, western, frog porn, frat com...all costs the same. Not part of the equation. So what is.
I want explosions.
OK...lots of movies got 'em.
So if you have a movie with 'splodey and a crap story and 'splodey with an awesome story, which one are you gonna pick.
It applies to all business. You gonna buy the hot car, with the rad engine and the leather seats or the hot car with the rad engine and two dining room chairs nailed in. Same price for either one.
The Dark Knight cost as much as this years summer blockbusters (give or take) and it's the 2nd highest grossing movie ever. A high concept, high budget action flick. Because it was made well and had a solid story.
G.I. Joe...not gonna make that much money.
But think how much money it would have made with a decent script. Not something to hang effects on. SOmething that uses effects (copious effects) to tell a GOOD story. Is that not good for business...does that not get MORE asses in seats.
Good business is a good product. Some producers/studios are being half-assed. It's that simple. They're leaving money on the table.
District 9 not a classic? I don't fucking care. You can't make the argument about this being a business and then end on a completely non business note.
And by the way, Alien was made for 11mil, which today would be about 30mil. Three times less than D9. It was followed by a sequel with a rocking story that made a tone of cash and by two with crappy stories (though good directors) that did shit. That's for making the argument for me, I was getting tired.
Now, I've given over too many keystrokes to some guy who didn't even put his name on what he said (poorly).