Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Movie I Might Actually Go See

Hey, Elysium looks interesting:
Sony’s viral marketing campaign for District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp‘s second feature film Elysium might have been the most interesting thing I encountered on the show floor on preview night at Comic Con 2012. They had an border checkpoint booth with a human-shaped automated system to find out if you qualify for homes on Elysium — a pristine man made spaceship oasis for the super rich. The film takes place 150-or-so years in the future where the Earth is overpopulated and ruined, and the rich live on this luxury space station protected by intense anti-immigration laws. The booth at Comic Con contained a bunch of photos of what your home on Elysium could look like, and flyers full of sales information. The flyer points to a website, itsbetterupthere.com, which allows you to apply to become a citizen of Elysium. We took photos of the booth and materials, and have included all the images after the jump for you to explore.
Is there a better recent science-fiction movie than District 9? Pointers please.

17 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

No, I think that's it.
~

mikey said...

Huh. Y'know, I've had "District 9" sitting on my Dining Room file server for a long time, and have never watched it. I'll have to go back and check it out.

The one I want to see (not that I'd ever go to a theater and sit in the dark in a crowd of strangers, but as soon as the DVD comes out I'll download it) is the new Oliver Stone picture "Savages"...

Substance McGravitas said...

It's not a perfect movie for sure, but the style and the lead actor and the premise were terrific. It was matter-of-fact about its premises and very funny besides.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

For a non-zombie movie, it was pretty good.

fish said...

Also too Serenity.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

I. AM. SO. EXCITED. OMG,this is so my kind of movie. BTW, "WALL-E" was kind of a light riff on this, but I look forward to seeing a darker take. Because I really do think there are no kidding people who are bound and determined to make this world a wasteland for all but a lucky few.

"District 9" was amazeballs. I can't believe that guy had never acted before.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

"Serenity" was AWESOME. Zombies in space? Yes, please!

wiley said...

Seeing the ridiculously rich portrayed as extraterrestrials sounds spot on.

Kordo said...

It's a little old, so maybe not recent, but "Children of Men" was amazing.

"Primer". Again, not exactly recent, but stunning.

"Equilibrium". The original Matrix redefined movie fight scenes, and some of Equilibrium's suffer by comparison, but still a great flick.

Galaxy Quest! Most awesomest Star Trek tribute EVAH!

Blade Runner: Director's Cut (or, really, any version but the theatrical version.

Wow, all of these films are kind of old. Here's hoping Elysium lives up to it's potential.

Also, too, Serenity. When I die, I want to be re-incarnated as Gina Torres' underwear. Soryy, little TMI there...

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

I'm with VS here... it seems like a rehash of "Wall-E".

Kordo said...

The double post is Google's fault, not mine. Not sure what happened there. But, everyone gets to hear from me twice, and who doesn't love that?

Substance McGravitas said...

Shhh! I like cleaning those up and you can pretend they never happened.

I haven't seen Primer or Equilibrium. I remember the Primer hype though...

About the Wall-E thing, that wasn't original in itself and it's a common science-fiction theme.

Hmm... I think Gattaca was pretty good for a proles-on-Earth-elite-in-the-sky premise...and a reversal of the premise, sort of, was Moon.

Kordo said...

I forgot Gattaca! I really liked that film.

Cloverfield. I realize that's a love it or hate pick, but I dug it.

Yes, I'm still wandering thru the past (to answer the original post: No, District 9 is the best scifi movie I've seen in a while), but the subject is dear to my heart.

I'll fight any man who claims "Contact" was bad scifi. (h/t Bruce Sterling).

The one I'm still holding out for is a decent version of "Dune", though I realize that that book might be impossible to film. So much of the story depends on what's going on under the surface, or inside the characters heads'. Lynch's version had the atmosphere right, IMO, but did things to the story that would embarrass a scat porn director. The SciFi Channel made a brave effort, but the budget was WAY to small. It needs a Peter Jackson with half a billion dollars to spend.

While I'm rambling, why are there so many shit scifi films? There's no lack of good material, and budgets don't seem to be a problem for some of the worst ones (hello, Battle Los Angeles!).

I've had Moon recommended to me a few times, I'm gonna hafta check that one out.

Substance McGravitas said...

Idiocracy counts of course...

Hamish Mack said...

I haven't seen any good scat porn for a long time.
Jeepers, have children, see no movies for 10 years and you just lose track of it all.

Kordo said...

Yeah, all the good talent has moved to the "little people/amputee" genre, but the story-lines are all just re-hashes these days...

Remember when "Debbie Does Dallas" was considered the Death of All Morality? That film just seems sort of innocent & touching these days...

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Well, touching was involved.