Posts Tagged ‘District 9’

With Oscar season now officially upon us, it is time to take a look back and see which films have made Movie-Thoughts’ Top 10 of the year. Granted we’ve only been around since last August, so our list isn’t as well crafted as it might be if we were around for a whole year. However, such lists are just meant to be fun anyways, right? So let’s get to it.

Our list is based solely on how writers Clifford Bugle and Marisa Carpico rated all the movies they reviewed on a scale of 1.0 to 10.0. There were lots of ties, but they were sorted out according to the suggestions of the writers.

1. Avatar -  9.0
2. A Single Man -  9.0
3. Inglourious Basterds -  8.5
4. An Education -  8.5
5. The Hurt Locker -  8.5
6. District 9 -  8.5
7. 500 Days of Summer -  8.5
8. The Book of Eli -  8.5
9. Precious -  8.0
10. The Merry Gentleman -  8.0

How does our list compare with yours? We’re excited to know, so send us your list of the Top 10 movies of the year via our Contact page or this post’s comments section.

It's that time of year again!

Oscar nominations were released today! See which of your favorite movies/people were nominated, and tell us if you disagree with any of them. Are there any snubs?

We here at Movie-Thoughts are soon going to be starting a continuing piece dissecting these nominations one category at a time, so be sure to check back regularly!

The 82nd Academy Awards will be aired on March 7th, and will be hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Best picture
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best actor
Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

Best actress
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

Best supporting actor
Matt Damon, “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Best supporting actress
Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious ”

Best director
James Cameron, “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels, “Precious”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

Best foreign-language film
“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophete” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany

Best adapted screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, “District 9″
Nick Hornby, “An Education”
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, “In the Loop”
Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious”
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air”

Best original screenplay
Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man”
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, “Up”

Best animated feature film
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Best art direction
“Avatar”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine” “Sherlock Holmes”
“The Young Victoria”

Best cinematography
“Avatar”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The White Ribbon”

Best sound mixing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Best sound editing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up”

Best original score
“Avatar,” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes,” Hans Zimmer
“Up,” Michael Giacchino

Best original song
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog,” Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog,” Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36,” Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine,” Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart,” Ryan Bingham and T Bone       Burnett

Best costume design
“Bright Star”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“The Young Victoria”

Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

Best documentary short
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit a la Berlin”

Best film editing
“Avatar”
“District 9″
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”

Best makeup
“Il Divo”
“Star Trek”
“The Young Victoria”

Best animated short film
“French Roast”
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”
“Logorama”
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”

Best live-action short film
“The Door”
“Instead of Abracadabra”
“Kavi”
“Miracle Fish”
“The New Tenants”

Best visual effects
“Avatar”
“District 9″
“Star Trek”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoe Deschanel in director Marc Webb's "500 Days of Summer," written by Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber

The Writer’s Guild of America has announced its nominees for the year’s  Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplays. The nominees for Best Original include the following:

500 Days of Summer (Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber), Avatar (James Cameron), The Hangover (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore), The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal), and A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen).

The nominees for Best Adapted include the following:

Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper – based on novel by Thomas Cobb), Julie and Julia (Nora Ephron – based on separate books by Julie Powell and Julia Child), Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher – based on the novel Push by Sapphire), Star Trek (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman – based on Star Trek as created by Gene Roddenberry), and Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – based on novel by Walter Kirn).

Notable films that were not eligible for the WGA awards because they were not written under the guild’s jurisdiction were: District 9, Inglourious Basterds, The Road, A Single Man, and Up.

Source: Variety

Director/Producer/Writer Peter Jackson

The Hollywood Reporter has given out its own Producers of the Year Award to Peter Jackson, his lifelong partner Fran Walsh, and Carolynne Cunningham, for their work on District 9, which released earlier this year.

The Hollywood Reporter’s website includes an extended article detailing the story behind Jackson and his team’s efforts to first produce a film adaptation of the Halo videogame, and how that project turned into the independently financed District 9. The main reason why the Halo project was canned was because Jackson insisted that it be directed by first-time feature film director Neill Blomkamp, which then financiers Universal and 20th Century Fox were not comfortable with. The article then goes on to talk about Jackson’s involvements as director and producer for The Lovely Bones, set to release January 15.

In Other News…

Today NBC Universal inched closer towards being sold by General Electric (which holds an 80% stake in the company) to Comcast. The two came to an agreement on NBC Universal’s worth, which they estimate to be at around $30 billion. Under the deal that is being proposed, Comcast would buy a 51% share of GE’s stake.

However, Vivendi (who owns the remaining 20%) has the option of vetoing the deal if it wishes too. Also, the FCC withholds the right to undercut the deal under anti-trust grounds if it so chooses, so nothing appears set in stone.

Source: Variety

District 9

I came across a particularly interesting review of District 9, written by a reverend named Robert Barron. Published for WordOnFire.org, Fr. Barron brings up an interesting interpretation of the film’s main conflict between the aliens and humans, referencing such philosophers as Hegel and Levinas. Without giving anything away, the philosophical relationship that is introduced is one of the most valid that has been mentioned in any review about the film I have yet read. It is worth a good, contemplative look, and instantly makes Fr. Barron a reviewer to keep an eye on.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out our review of District 9 here.