DISTRICT 9

I just got back from the Icelandic premiere of D-9.
After being excited for months and mentally hyping the movie the whole time I was finally there to see it.
How was it?
That good.
That's right, that special level of good that can only be described as that good.
It's bloody amazing, a masterpiece of hyper-realistic Sci-fi brilliance.

Let's get this sucker started...

The plot: An alien spacecraft is one day seen hovering above the city of Johannesburg, after some time has passed curiosity gets the better of man and we break into the ship, discovering millions of sick and malnourished aliens. We, ever-gracious hosts that we are, decide to throw together a 'temporary housing' for the aliens. Soon it becomes apparent that the aliens won't be leaving any time soon and the 'temporary housing' turns into a slum. District 9.
People grow fearful of the alien presence, regarding it with hate and prejudice and as tensions build it is decided to move the aliens from Johannesburg to another district 200 km. outside of the city. In charge of this is MNU (Multinational United) worker Wikus van der Merwe, a mustached, weakly pencil-pusher.

As you can imagine this does not go as smoothly as planned (Try serving an eviction notice to a pissed off 7 ft. tall alien).
During the disaster which is the attempted forcible removal of the aliens Wikus finds a canister containing a strange black liquid and the rest...well, the rest is something you're gonna have to see for yourselves.

This is the greatest sci-fi film in years.
The plot's reflection of apartheid is obvious, yet you don't feel like the director is forcibly deep throating you with its message. It works wonderfully, heart-breaking and difficult to watch yet it doesn't insist itself upon you. It WORKS!
The first 30-40 minutes or so are told in a pseudo-documentary style which gives the rest of the film a realistic kick that really makes it so much more disturbing.
Now, while I've used the terms 'disturbing' and 'heart-breaking' that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. It's entertaining as HELL, the runtime flew by.
The action sequences have an awesome, gritty look with shakycam a-plenty.
Shaky-cam I normally hate but here - well - it worked. It just did.

The cinematography, as mentioned above, achieves what so many other films try and fail at.
It feels like the camera just happened to be there. Normally when directors try this approach it comes off as a gimmick and you just wish they'd shoot it normally but with District 9 it just feels like they were walking by with some cameras and thought "Woah, there's some crazy shit going down here - LET'S FILM IT!"
Don't get me wrong, it has a cinematic approach to the whole thing, it isn't unwatchable but you still feel like a film crew just happened to be there. A very, very talented film crew.
The lighting is great, it looks natural and gives the whole thing a sense of hyper-realism which, again, really helps get its message across. That this has happened. Take aliens out and put in black people. Take out the word 'prawn' and put in 'nigger' and you have yourself an account of what has actually happened. (Discounting robots and spaceships, naturally)
The performance by lead actor Sharlto Copley is some grade A+ stuff, his emotions and pain seep through the screen. This guy can ACT. Funny thing is, he's a technical amateur. No training, no aspirations to become an actor, he just happened to be cast in this movie.
Holy shit, this man is one to look out for.
The editing is masterful, cutting from angle to angle with fluidity. Even when suddenly you see the film through the lens of a security camera it flows naturally with the rest of the film.
Special effects? Fucking GAH! Those things were real.

All in all, this is one of the greatest films '09 has offered.
It's fun, touching and gripping throwing you between laughter and horrified silence with almost sadistic ease.
Neill Blomkamp is officially on my look-out list, this man is talented.

District 9 is a perfect 10.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Some Italian postery goodness.

As soon as the lights go dark and everyone quiets down you can feel it.
That atmosphere that seems to appear magically, making you KNOW that everyone there is as excited as you. It's almost worth the price of admission alone (not really).

The movie starts with a scene that will go down in history as one of the most "OHMYFUCKINGGODTHATSHITISINTENSE" sequences ever put on film.
Seriously, you could hear a needle drop on a cushion, people were holding their breaths.
This scene alone probably took eight years off of the audience's lives.
It also has the honor of introducing Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), a character that' probably the best antagonist Quentin Tarantino's ever written.
No, scratch that 'probably'.
He IS the best antagonist Tarantino's ever written.
Hot damn, can that guy make a glass of milk badass.

"You call THAT a pipe?!"

After the heart-stopping opening scene the surviving minority of the audience is introduced to the titular characters - the Basterds.
Headed by a tough-as-nails Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), this group plans to go through Nazi-Occupied France doing one thing and one thing only. Killin' Nazis. (Or nehzie's, whatever)
Brad Pitt had a field day with this one, the character's accent is completely over the top yet gripping and, somehow, totally convincing.
The rope burn around his neck makes you wonder exactly what this guy has seen but, alas, it is never mentioned.

"Seownd GUHD?!" Sure does.

We're also introduced to Sgt. Donnie Donowitz a.k.a. the bear jew.
A menacing entity whose name has become a myth for the german Axis powers. A Nazi-killin' machine.
What actor did Quentin Tarantino find to be menacing enough to play said character?
Eli Roth.
That's right, THAT Eli Roth. The guy that did Hostel.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Hostel (crucify me later), I thought it was a fun movie and I'd call myself a fan but when I saw Roth in the trailer my first thought was "Oh. . . really?"
However, and I can see people disagreeing with me on this one, I thought he did a great job!
He didn't really have that many lines and the ones he had were delivered convincingly so Roth gets a good grade from me! (Oh, the honor...)
He had just the right balance between a sadistic killer, an all-American boy and a likable war hero to be a well-written and realized character.

Just look at that fucking smirk.

Now, despite what the trailers would lead you to believe, the movie does not actually follow the basterds for the majority of the movie. The lead character is actually a jewish girl named Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a woman scorn who barely escaped the bloody massacre in which her family was killed.
Co-incidentally she's the most likable character in the film with her strong personality, wit and charm.
Oh, that and one of the most bad-ass 'getting ready' scenes in years. David Bowie, consider yourself on the Tarantino soundtrack wall of fame.
Plus, she's probably the sexiest Tarantino character ever (sorry, Uma).
She runs a movie theater in Paris which is chosen to show the latest
propaganda piece by Joseph Goebbels. Shosanna agrees but wheels are set in motion and she constructs a plan that just might get her revenge.

She can plot revenge on my Nazis any day.

When I left the theater I was amazed. I went to a special premiere in Iceland and it was packed, I went out, Nazi banner wrapped around my arm (guests who arrived in costumes were promised merchandise. I have yet to receive mine so the looks I got in the lobby have yet to be proved worth it) dazed and very impressed.
This is easily Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction.

The stories mix perfectly, the script is top notch, the acting is amazing, the directing is...well, it's Tarantino all right.
If you like Tarantino, hell, if you like movies in general and you haven't seen Basterds already - go see it because to paraphrase Lt. Aldo Raine, this just might be a masterpiece.