Just a quick rap on these hotly anticipated releases. D9 - absolutely brilliant! I did a bit of background reading and found out why. The premise for this movie is not too dissimilar to the 1998 US film, Alien Nation - a bunch of aliens get stranded on Earth and the local govt tries to integrate them into society with xeno-rascist results. Only in D9 we get this concept handled South African style, which means xeno-rascism without any of the US sensitivity or remorse. It's no surprise that writer/director Neill Blomkamp imposed his own experiences of apartheid South Africa so heavily into the film. The result is horrifically hilarious, especially in the portrayl of the reluctant protagonist, Wickus Van De Mewre (played by unknown and hitherto non-actor, Sharlto Copley). There is no way this film could have worked out so well if Peter Jackson tried it in a US setting. Also, this movie would make one badass video game based solely on the action alone.
By contrast, Inglorious Basterds was disappointing to me. I've had a hit/miss history with Tarantino films, though I agree this one was well produced, scripted and cast. The tense dialogues, suspense and characteristically explicit violence all feature in this work, as do certain ironies that play out in this alternate universe where Jewish revenge fantasies see Hitler and his chief cronies meet their grisly fates. But for all that I still didn't enjoy it so much. Why? It was just too fucking long (2 hours and 28 minutes before the credits roll). I could handle such sagas with Watchmen and LOTR trilogy flicks because I knew walking into the cinema that they were based on really long stories, but I expected something tighter with Tarantino. The afore-mentioned tension and blood-work should have made the time fly, but half the film is in French/German/Italian so I had to read over an hour's worth of subtitles to boot. I guess I would have felt the same way if Kill Bill was released in a single volume.
