In the not too distant future

The end of summer is approaching quickly--or summer is running out--and it certainly shows in the disposition of the general populus. I know I'm finding myself a little more lethargic, a little more antsy, a little more stressed. Let's hope the promise of the new year flushes that. Watching friends go back to school one by one certainly didn't help.

Anyone know where I can get decent dress clothes? I spent 45 minutes in Macys only to realize that they do not have a single shirt in any style of any brand in the size small. Pleeennntttyyy of XL though. You know, for a country that is constantly being criticized for our weight problem, I can't help but wonder why every single store's XL products go untouched until they make it to the clearance rack where they are (probably) eventually thrown out. It just doesn't make sense.

Video for the day comes from an EP that I avoided picking up for about two years before I finally realized that I had to own it. It was far too expensive considering its length, but it's really an excellent bunch of songs. This one is by far the best; it's called The Nature of the Experiment and it's by Tokyo Police Club:

Anyone know a good store in NJ for teaching supplies? Posters? Boxes for holding things? Etc.? Sorry...digression...

#26: District 9

I was torn about seeing this because I couldn't help but be reminded of Cloverfield: a sci-fi movie loaded with unmaterialized potential. The trailer suggested that it would far outperform the aforementioned disappointment because I love that fake-documentary presentation and, however brief the appearance on screen was, the creatures seemed well-crafted. Once I found someone willing to go with me I decided I probadbly have seen worse movies this summer and I had to roll the dice on this one.

My friend didn't really like it, but I had a dilemma somewhat similar to the one I had with Public Enemies or Best in Show earlier this summer. I didn't dislike the movie by any means. I certainly didn't consider it a waste of my time or money. It was a solid enough effort, but while nothing tipped the scale in favor of cons nothing was able to push it into the "great" category, either.

The first half of the movie was excellent regardless of whether or not it was sustained. This is probably what the majority of the trailers you've seen consist of. The sociological implications of the aliens being first welcomed and then held in Johannesburg were perfectly depicted. The documentary was so realistic that it was able to retain the contemporary setting while effortlessly integrating something as foreign as an alien. What's funny is that the word "Alien" has gotten such a poor treatment in the media through B-movies and laughable renditions that it's hard to take the word seriously, but District 9 utilized both dimensions of the word to successfully avert coming off as silly--the creatures were as much social outsiders as they were visitors from another planet.

Unfortunately my perception of the alien design shifted between the trailer and the movie in its entirety. For the brief moment the alien is being interrogated in the one version of the trailer it's truly unnerving with its giant insect look. I've always subscribed to the philosophy of less is more, however, especially when it comes to creature design in sci-fi and horror movies. Watching them for two hours is really detrimental to their appearance; they look more like something out of Men in Black than a serious alien movie. A lot of the situations the aliens were put in didn't help the matter. One scene had one of the creatures wearing a hair-net and bright pink bra despite the fact that no other creature in the camp wore clothes. Another scene had one of the creatures urinating even though something like bodily functions could have just as easily gone unaddressed in the movie without it being distracting. Inclusions like this were hard to justify or even simply make sense of.

The protagonist of the story, Wikus Van De Merwe (I suggest not even trying to pronounce it as it's even jumbled whenever someone says it in the movie) represented a very strong performance by Sharlto Copley at times, but he ultimately succumbed to inconsistency in the grand scheme of the plot. His timid, well-intentioned, naive character at the film's strongest point spontaneously transformed into an aggressive, heartless law-enforcer. The audience was given every indication that he would show compassion for the creatures but from his very first encounter with them a little while into the story his disposition took a turn for the worst. The biggest problem here is that Copley played the timid character flawlessly and had the movie focused the conflict upon Wikus' unfortunate position between the untrusting but unfortunate aliens and the inhumane but powerful government it would have been much easier to become invested in him as a character. Instead sympathy becomes only partially restored for him by the end of the film.

But there seems to be a common complaint for where the movie went wrong--the complete change in focus from the first half to the second. What started as a tense, interesting, and intelligent film ended up in the ranks of the summer's shoot-em-up action flicks, which is all well and good if that's what you're gunning for. District 9 initially seemed to want more for itself until it sacrificed psychological drama for futuristic violence. All of the sudden the dimensions of the film faded as the public's voice receded, the government was reduced to a single army general serving as a foil for Wikus, and the aliens were reduced to one representative seemingly isolated from his ilk. The documentary style was abandoned for the usual wide shots and quick cuts of a self-aware blockbuster. Essentially the film devolved from something truly memorable to another passable appeal to the senses.

Just a few little things: I understand that giving the aliens pathetically common names was supposed to signify oppression and forced assimilation, but without addressing this calling the main alien Christopher Johnson throughout the last half hour of the film really just served for awkward humor. My friend and I giggled every time his name was said because it sounded like something out of South Park. And speaking of something out of South Park, for as well-written as so much of the dialogue was (again, especially at the beginning), I can't help but wonder where that cringeworthy line from Wikus came at the film's end: "Just go! Go before I change my mind..." Melodrama at its finest.

For whatever reason it's easier to point out why something didn't live up to its potential than it is to acknowledge what kept it afloat. With that in mind, District 9 really wasn't a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. It was an incredibly interesting concept in a generation when unique ideas are becoming increasingly rare. As I mentioned before, its first half was one of the most entertaining things I've had the pleasure of watching all summer. Even the second-half shoot-'em-up extravaganza would have been enjoyable had that been the direction the movie originally seemed headed. My major complaint is that the movie seemed to take the easy way out when it could have been one of the few science fiction stories capable of transcending the genre to become an investing drama. It was a really enjoyable movie that could have been so much more if it didn't let the big "What if?" go unaddressed.