Box Office Roundup – Aug 17, 2009

Two new genre films out this weekend and none of the “crew” had a chance to run out and see them. 

The Returns

  1. District 9
  2. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
  3. The Time Traveller’s Wife
  4. Julie & Julia
  5. G-Force

District 9 has some positive reviews floating around (81/100 on MetaCritic). The Time Traveller’s Wife, didn’t fare so well (47/100). A lot of people (on both sides of the gender aisle) that I’ve talked to enjoyed the book, but the critics seem to be pointing out that the movie is a thin remake of a good story.

Did other members of the bureau make it out to the theaters this weekend?

6 replies on “Box Office Roundup – Aug 17, 2009”

  1. I went and saw District 9 and a one word review would be “wow”. A three word review would be “Wow. Wow. Wow.”

    D9 was a full length two hour movie made for $30 million and every single penny of that is right there on the screen multiplied by 10. CGI was totally seamless. I literally couldn’t even tell what was real and what was not, whether ships, slums, aliens, whatever. You could run it with the sound off and forget the story and it would be worth watching for just the visuals. This movie defines the term “popcorn flick”.

    The acting was also really well done, particularly by the guy playing Homer Simpson / Michael in The Office / Joe Anybody. That guy is now a star just by playing what appears to be just himself.

    Even better was the editing. If this film doesn’t get at least a nomination, much less a win, for best editing Oscar then there is no justice. The sustained sense of motion and action is incredible. You Are There.

    They got willing suspension of disbelief on me within 10 seconds with their whole faux 1980s / present day documentary footage approach. Brilliant storytelling.

    The ONLY nitpick I have is that several aspects of the story don’t hold water very well after you go home and think it over. Trust me, you will not see these plot holes while sitting in the seat. There is no time to think – just to duck for cover.

    Go. See. This.

    • Concur with everything rickyjames posted…that was a “wow” movie. Definitely lots of gore, but it wasn’t gratuitous IMHO. Though one couple sitting next to me left immediately after the 1st foray into District 9, I think the gore got to them.

      The Mech was awesome, as in someone just opened a can of whoop-ass awesome. I might go see it again just to try to catch things I missed.

  2. D9 was great, no doubt. FWIW, the actor wasn’t just playing himself – he created a role of an ineffectual slightly-racist South African middle-manager, complete with accent, and went with it. I do like that the character isn’t completely likeable, and though the first act was slow it rapidly picks up.

    I didn’t like the gory bits (I squirmed through the whole “cut-the-hand-off” scene, and a couple other body-mod parts), and I can’t figure out the reasoning behind the trailers before the movie (5 horror flicks in a row. WTF?!).

    Overall, a stunner that came from nowhere. (okay, _we_ knew about it, but _we_ didn’t spend $40m on tickets). The shakycam could’ve been toned down, but it had a good message, a good story, several poignant parts, and a nice message about Being Human.

    That being said, Moon was even better. The fact that I get to mention that there are _two_ awesome science fiction flicks this year is quite nice.

  3. Ahh crap, I chose G.I. Joe over District 9 because of a pang of 80s nostalgia. What a horrible choice :|

    I want my 2 hours and 15 minutes back. It was truly a horrible movie in almost every respect. Even the CG was bad! What the hell did they spend their budget on!

Comments are closed.