Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope

In cinemas: 13th August 2009

Directed by newcomer Neil Blomkamp and produced by the almighty Peter Jackson. District 9 is set in an alternate reality South Africa where an Alien spacecraft has landed and its occupants quarantined to the titular District 9. The plot is still somewhat under wraps, but this new trailer sheds a little light on it.
The film appears to be shot in a semi-documentary style, which really helps with the immersion of the special effects and the reality of the world. Here’s hoping for some ultra long shots like we saw in Children of Men.

Review:

Racial segregation is a big deal in South Africa. It has been since colonial times. In 1948 new legislation allowed different racial groups to be segregated and housed in separate residential areas by forcibly removing people from their homes. Black people were given inferior education, medical care and public services to that given to white people. Violent riots ensued. This legalized racism was abolished in 1994 but the country still has a complicated, serious and often violent racial problem… And you thought District 9 was about aliens!

The science-fiction genre has long been the ideal arena to disguise social commentary with fantastical stories. Director Neill Blomkamp has, with his debut feature constructed a science-fiction masterpiece worthy to be stacked alongside Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Bladerunner.

Thirty years ago a giant alien spacecraft came to rest above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Rather than finding peaceful greys or triangular headed monsters bent on Earth domination, they found malnourished insect-like Refugees. The humans set them up in a large slum known as District 9. Tension between the aliens and human grew over the next few decades until finally the government is pressured into a mass eviction plan to move the aliens to a new area outside the city unimaginatively called District 10. Which is where we come in. Enter funny, flawed and frankly endearing Wikus Van De Merwe (played by newcomer Sharlto Copley who also played a sniper in Alive In Joburg, the short film from which District 9 was expanded), the MNU worker put in charge of the operation. When Wikus is accidentally infected with a DNA-altering alien virus things really get interesting…

All those wonderful flaws are paraded in District 9. Greed, hatred, exploitation. Sharlto Copley is perfect as Wikus, a deeply flawed and very human protagonist. We are made to first question his abilities (for the first 20 minutes Wikus could easily be mistaken for a Chris Lilley character), then question his morals (he delights in the sound of alien babies being burnt alive and popping “like popcorn”). Each of his heroic acts seems to spring from selfish motives. There are no Hollywood good guys in District 9. In fact there’s little sign of Hollywood at all, aside from the occasional homage.

The story weaves in an unconventional way. The style switches freely from documentary to film and back again. The special effects are close to flawless as the aliens blend perfectly with their environment. The action is insane! Alien weapons = enormous body count that would make Johnny Rico wet his futuristic fatigues. People explode, are electrocuted, even smashed in the face with a floating pig. There’s a huge amount of humour to be found, both in the goofiness of Wikus himself, and in the generally insane landscape (including some hilarious moments of interspecies erotica).

District 9’s flaws are few. A handful of small plot holes are left unanswered and it should also be said that whilst Blomkamp goes to great efforts to point out the racial disharmony of the country in which it’s set, it fails to suggest a way to fix the problem; its one thing to fly the flag of protest but another thing entirely to help work toward change… Anyway, I’m going to climb down off my high-horse now and go see it again.

Four stars.

We’ve gathered together trailers for, District 9, Funny People, The Last Airbender, 2012, Toy Story 3, Shutter Island, 9 and The Informant. So sit back, maybe grab a snack, and enjoy!

District 9

Directed by newcomer Neil Blomkamp and produced by the almighty Peter Jackson. District 9 is set in an alternate reality South Africa where an Alien spacecraft has landed and its occupants quarantined to the titular District 9. The plot is still somewhat under wraps, but this new trailer sheds a little light on it.

The film appears to be shot in a semi-documentary style, which really helps with the immersion of the special effects and the reality of the world. Here’s hoping for some ultra long shots like we saw in Children of Men.

District 9 is set to hit our theatres on the 13th of August.

View District 9 Trailer

Funny People

With a cast an all star cast including Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, Leslie Mann, Jason Schwartzman and Adam Sandler (in a role that doesn’t suck!) FUNNY PEOPLE is set to be a tour de force for comedy gold. Written and directed by Judd Apatow the man behind The 40 Year old Virgin and Knocked Up, not to mention the producer of Superbad, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and a host of others, this is probably my most anticipated comedy of the year (along with season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but that’s a TV series and probably shouldn’t be compared, sorry).

In a surprising twist, this trailer gives less away concerning the plot than the previous trailer. Weird, but better in my opinion.

One last note, it’s good to see Eric Bana returning to comedy. He was hilarious in Fast Forward and his own comedy series back in the 90s.

Funny People will light up the screen on the 10th of September.

View Funny People Trailer

The Last Airbender

Based on the hugely popular faux-anime series (it adopts anime styles of animation, but is produced in America) Avatar – The Last Airbender is written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan just in case you didn’t notice his name plastered all over the teaser. If you can’t quite remember who he is, he’s the writer/director behind The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water and The Happening. I’m a huge fan of his first three films – they’re near perfect in my eyes – but his later works have been severely disappointing. Fortunately, if this teaser is anything to go by, it looks like he could be back on track!

A genre change and the adaption of a property which he didn’t create seems to be a allowing him to take a fresh approach to his work.

The story has quite a full on mythical history, so I’ll let you research that, but needless to say it’s set in a fantasy world where certain ‘benders’ can control the elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air.

Dare I say, I’m back on board the M. Night train. I’m loving the fact that there are only two long shots in this teaser, can’t wait to see the full trailer!

The Last Aibender is currently slated to be released on the 9th of September 2010

View The Last Airbender Trailer

2012

What can I say about this one? It’s from Roland Emmerich the director of Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow. This guy has a fetish for end of the world settings and 2012 seems to be a culmination of all his previous films. This time the entire world has gone to hell and that means a bucket load of CGI landmarks crumbling to pieces. The effects in this trailer look amazing, but I’m not so sure the story will be any good.

Having said that, I’ll definitely be coughing up the cash to buy a ticket to this one, it’s pure spectacle!

2012 will destroy our screens on the 12th of November this year, which gives you plenty of time to prepare for the REAL end of the world when it’s actually 2012.

View 2012 Trailer

Toy Story 3

We’ve featured this one in a recent news round up, but it’s too good to leave from this list. When Toy Story 3 hits our screens next year, it will have been 15 years since the original film was released! Time sure flies eh? I think this speaks volumes about Pixar’s attention to detail and dedication to their stories, they could have pumped out many more Toy Story sequels if they wanted to. This teaser gives us no info on the plot whatsoever, but it’s just so damn awesome to see these characters again. They’re like old friends and I can’t help but smile every time I watch this.

Toy Story 3 will be coming to life on the 24th of June 2010.

View Toy Story 3 Trailer

The Informant

Here’s the stock standard plot description for The Informant: “The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre.”

Doesn’t sound like the most exciting movie in the world right off the bat, but after watching the trailer, I can safely say I’m very excited for this. Under the always-awesome direction of Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon looks as though he will deliver a very interesting and humorous character at the centre of this corporate/thriller/comedy.

The Informant will sneak onto screens on the 22th of October 2009.

View The Informant Trailer

Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mystery/Thriller, do I need to say anymore?

Set in 1954, DiCaprio plays Marshall Teddy Daniels, who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.

Watch and enjoy.

Shutter Island will creep onto our screens on the 1st of October this year.

View Shutter Island Trailer

Zombieland

Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss — but when you’re afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-toting, zombie-slaying’ bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

Looks like a lot of fun!

Zombieland will infect theatres on the 10th of December 2009.

View Zombieland Trailer

That’s all for now, if you feel we’ve missed something, or want to point us to a new trailer, feel free to e-mail me at:
jon(dot)d(dot)asquith(at)gmail(dot)com
Or pop in and say ‘hi’ on twitter at:
Twitter.com/spikeshinizle

Aside from trailers, we’ve also received updates on a number of anticipated (or not so anticipated) upcoming projects, so let’s have a look shall we?

G.I Joe Trailer

The first full length trailer for the upcoming G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra was released this week. We were given a glimpse of the movie when the Superbowl TV spot aired, but this gives us more of a look into the highly professional, intelligent and cunning world of G.I Joe. Okay, so maybe it isn’t going to win any Oscars, but it looks like a lot of silly fun and some of the action shots are pretty impressive.

Rise of the Cobra is expected to hit Aussie screens on the 6th of August.

The sequel to the 2006 film….Night at the Museum. Ben Stiller is back with an even larger cast playing various historical figures who spout pop culture reference and do things you wouldn’t expect them to do. Monkeys slapping Ben Stiller in the face? I’m there!

In all fairness, I must admit I haven’t seen the first film, but this could prove to be an entertaining family film.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian will bring dead people to life on the 21st of May.

Michael Bay returns to direct the sequel to his 2007 over the top epic, Transformers. I’m happy to admit that I’m a huge fan of the original film and can’t wait for this follow up. This trailer sheds a little more light on the films plot. It looks like it’ll deliver on what you’d expect from an action sequel, more action, bigger explosions and ridiculously huge robots! Hell yeah!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen rolls out on the 24th of June.

Coming somewhat as a surprise, the teaser trailer for District 9 was released this week. What is District 9? You may well ask yourself, and with good reason, so far the film has been kept pretty quiet. Directed by Niell Blokamp (who was slated to be the director of the Halo movie before the plug was pulled) and produced by Peter Jackson, it appears to be a documentary about an extremely interesting – albeit other worldly – subject. I won’t give any more away, because the reveal in the teaser is simply astounding. This film has rocketed onto my radar and I can’t wait to hear/see more about it. Sci-Fi fans take note.

District 9 will invade our cinemas on the 15th of October.

Switching over from huge budget blockbusters to the indie side of things, have you ever heard of a movie titled Troll 2? Me neither, but I think I’m going to have to check it out after seeing this trailer. Best Worst Movie is a documentary showcasing the making of Troll 2. Made in 1989, it is considered to be the worst movie of all time. The doco revisits the cast and crew members to see where they have ended up, and examines the cult following the movie has gathered over the years.

There has not been a date announced for an Australian release of Best Worst Movie, although we hope there is one soon!

David Slade (Director of Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) has signed on to direct the third Twilight feature, titled Eclipse. It seems like a slightly odd choice for him, considering his previous films have been extremely adult orientated… coupled with the fact that he apparently had no interest in seeing the first film:

“Twilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid. Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me.”

Twilight sequel with a massive paycheck behind it? I think David Slade says ‘yes’.

It’s official. Hugh Jackman and 20th Century Fox are developing a sequel to the newly released X-Men Origins: Wolverine (you can read my thoughts on that film right here at MN!). The story is rumored to follow Logan as he travels Japan, a storyline which was apparently in a comic series. Here’s hoping the team learn from all the mistakes they made with the first film.

We want to do it. Fox wants it. We know what we want to do with it. It’s just a question of finding the time…There’s so much to do for a weekly animated series — twice as much as you have to do for a live-action show. So, we’re finding time where we can. We’re in the early stages right now.

The show seems to have fallen in and out of popularity over the years, with some people tired of the formula it’s established. Personally, I still think it can be pretty funny and I’m looking forward to seeing what these guys can do without the restrictions of television.

Thanks @6Mman [Andrew Stanton] for turning me on to “Summer Heights High” — hilarious show.

If you’re on Twitter, why not follow these guys?
Lee Unkrich can be found at: twitter.com/leeunkrich
Andrew Stanton can be found at: twitter.com/6Mman

Both of these accounts have been confirmed real. Oh, and if you’re interested you can follow me at: twitter.com/spikeshinizle