An afternoon in August
Aug. 22nd, 2009 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
opera142Moe and I tried Smashburger today. Deep-fried asparagus and carrots. Only in America, only in America. The fries are tossed with rosemary and thyme, which was novel for a couple of bites then wore quickly. I'm not a huge rosemary or thyme person. Going forward, I'll go with plain fries (or deep-fried asparagus, omg).
After lunch, we saw
Spoilers by the shipload. FYI.
Quickie boring fact about me: My co-worker Paul and I like going to the US Official time website, then asking each other "True or false, it's dark right now in City/small country?" That game has led us to search out trivia/fun facts about various cites and countries around the world. Anyway, last week, we read up on Johannesburg, South Africa.
District 9 is set in Johannesburg. Fun bit of coincidence.
I was worried going in because I thought Peter Jackson was the director (he only produced it). I HATED King Kong. Get to the fucking monkey already. The island has a weird and scary wildlife. I GET IT. I don't want to watch 87512145669855 people vs. bugs fight scenes. Ugh, imagine the repetitive boredom PJ could do with an entire alien culture.
No boredom. A few logic holes and hard sales on suspensions of disbelief kept this good-to-great movie from being awesome. Though, the hard sells added enough to the story that they weren't distractions.
It was hard to believe the rest of the world wasn't all up in this alien business, even benignly like tourism or hippy-dippy types. Johannesburg has a big alien ship hovering over it! Also, no one seemed to care about the ship. Sure, it's broke. It's still an alien ship and it should have had scientists crawling all over it, poking around and dismantling stuff. Also, I don't know their technology but heading back into space with a huge hole in your hull seems unwise.
Why was the government of SA tolerating gang members trading alien weapons? Why did the weapons ever make it out of the ship(and into civilian hands)? The gang members were one of those hard-sells that also made the story better. I adore stories that have additional complications, and especially complications that arise from greed and evil and selfishness.
This movie shined in the storytelling. Despite having a message, it worked well as flat-out action and flat-out political thriller. That's where a lot of genre movies and fiction trip up. If it's genre-based, it still needs to be told well and the characters need to be engaging. The explosions and double-crosses will be more intense for it. (and likewise, lit stuff would be better served with interesting premises and visceral situations)
Lastly, just because I'm a batty fangirl, this movie should be required viewing for wrestling bookers/writers. The face/heel turns were amazing, and not always from character change. Sometimes it was the situation. It was brill the way that movie manipulated you in the cheering one group and despising them the next or vice-versa.
After lunch, we saw
Spoilers by the shipload. FYI.
Quickie boring fact about me: My co-worker Paul and I like going to the US Official time website, then asking each other "True or false, it's dark right now in City/small country?" That game has led us to search out trivia/fun facts about various cites and countries around the world. Anyway, last week, we read up on Johannesburg, South Africa.
District 9 is set in Johannesburg. Fun bit of coincidence.
I was worried going in because I thought Peter Jackson was the director (he only produced it). I HATED King Kong. Get to the fucking monkey already. The island has a weird and scary wildlife. I GET IT. I don't want to watch 87512145669855 people vs. bugs fight scenes. Ugh, imagine the repetitive boredom PJ could do with an entire alien culture.
No boredom. A few logic holes and hard sales on suspensions of disbelief kept this good-to-great movie from being awesome. Though, the hard sells added enough to the story that they weren't distractions.
It was hard to believe the rest of the world wasn't all up in this alien business, even benignly like tourism or hippy-dippy types. Johannesburg has a big alien ship hovering over it! Also, no one seemed to care about the ship. Sure, it's broke. It's still an alien ship and it should have had scientists crawling all over it, poking around and dismantling stuff. Also, I don't know their technology but heading back into space with a huge hole in your hull seems unwise.
Why was the government of SA tolerating gang members trading alien weapons? Why did the weapons ever make it out of the ship(and into civilian hands)? The gang members were one of those hard-sells that also made the story better. I adore stories that have additional complications, and especially complications that arise from greed and evil and selfishness.
This movie shined in the storytelling. Despite having a message, it worked well as flat-out action and flat-out political thriller. That's where a lot of genre movies and fiction trip up. If it's genre-based, it still needs to be told well and the characters need to be engaging. The explosions and double-crosses will be more intense for it. (and likewise, lit stuff would be better served with interesting premises and visceral situations)
Lastly, just because I'm a batty fangirl, this movie should be required viewing for wrestling bookers/writers. The face/heel turns were amazing, and not always from character change. Sometimes it was the situation. It was brill the way that movie manipulated you in the cheering one group and despising them the next or vice-versa.
