I had a double-feature Friday night: District 9 and Inglourious Basterds (I've had the discs from Netflix for quite some time, needed to get them watched).
District 9 really does a great job bringing reality to a "creature" movie. By placing the action in Johannesburg, South Africa, there is the very interesting juxtaposition of a country only very recently emerging from apartheid and a people who are more than happy to put the aliens in a slum and keep them separate from the humans. I also really liked the documentary style of the movie; I wish that Blomqvist had delineated the "documentary footage" from the film narrative that was following Vikus a little better because sometimes it got a little confusing trying to figure out what was "documentary" and what was not. The guy who played Vikus did a great job; I think it was his first acting gig so kudos. I hope no one gets it into their head to make a sequel; although the ending makes it possible, I'd rather leave Vikus's fate alone.
So then I watched Inglourious Basterds. Talk about a 180. If I didn't know this was a Quentin Tarantino written/directed movie, the construction and shooting preferences would give it away. The long takes are great - especially one that follows Shosanna down the stairway at the cinema, back up to Landa on the second floor, then following him down the stairs to the Basterds. I loved the spaghetti-western feel; I would not have been surprised if Henry Fonda or Clint Eastwood had shown up as a cameo. Christoph Waltz is an amazing actor, very deserving of his Oscar for this movie. I also loved the use of language in the film; Aldo's southern accent, the Jersey accents on some of the Basterd's, the use of French, German, and Italian (again, Christoph Waltz is amazing, he speaks FOUR languages in this movie!). I did appreciate how this movie was funny but in no way excused any of the Nazi atrocities.
Still have The Hurt Locker to watch....I have to psych myself up for that one, it'll be brutal.
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