Friday, August 14, 2009

VERDICT: District 9

I saw District 9 this morning and I must say, I was completely unprepared for that movie. The first 30 minutes or so lay the groundwork/mythology of the film while concocting a pressure cooker of a scenario. You just know that at any moment very bad things are going to happen. But the film teases and ups the tension a little more. Until finally you're pretty much a passenger on an out of control roller coaster. District 9 is one of the most intense films I've seen in some time.

On the surface District 9 contains elements of films you've seen before. Little bits of Starship Troopers, The Fly[the Cronenberg version], Independence Day, The Defiant Ones, and Robocop. The main character - Wikus - reminded me of Michael Scott crossed with Borat. But Disctrict 9 rises above being a mere rip-off by taking it's [presumed] influences and using them as reference points and inspiration to create a new work of art. This is a well-made film that is thought provoking AND entertaining. The running time pushes the two hour mark though it seems about 40 minutes shorter. This is a film that will completely absorb you and have you on the edge of your seat.

Verdict: I'll be seeing this film again!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pieces of the puzzle


Them Crooked Vultures have their first show in the can and by all accounts it seems like everyone was blown away. Over the past couple of days the band's been sending out tweets a couple of times a day with links to their store [which for now features only a $30 t-shirt] or the browser version of Google Earth [though frankly I haven't been able to get the GE thing to work as I'm having issues downloading the appropriate plug-in]. There has been an album title [Never Deserved the Future] bandied about that may or may not be the actual title. It all depends on who you ask.

Four hours ago the following photo was sent out via Twitter:


And just a few minutes ago the following Youtube clip was sent out:


That's a pretty epic 14-seconds of music right there folks! I expect a tsunami of information in the coming days. It's about to get very interesting!