"District 9"

Last summer, if you turned on your TV for even a moment, you'll remember the insane marketing campaign that was going around for the movie District 9. It was everywhere, you couldn't cut to a commercial break without seeing a trailer for the film.

At the time, I remember thinking the movie looked really interesting and I really wanted to see it, but because I was so busy trying to get my school stuff all straightened out before the semester started, I never did manage to go.

Flash forward to last night, I opened my Netflix for this week forgetting I had put District 9 in my queue, so I was pleasantly surprised when I remembered I still wanted to see it. I popped the movie in my DVD player and prepared to wind down for the night. Of course, as has been really typical for me lately, I was exhausted from staying up late doing homework and I figured as much as I wanted to watch the movie, I was most likely going to fall asleep during it.

Boy, was I wrong.

First off, the movie was not what I expected at all. From what I gathered from the trailers, I assumed the movie was going to be a faux documentary type thing about aliens in "District 9" and the politics behind it and such, blah blah blah, boring yet interesting stuff at the same time. And while the movie does start off in faux documentary form, it doesn't stay that way for long before switching to different character points of view.

But I have to say, what I absolutely love, and I mean LOVE!! in all caps with exclamation points and little hearts surrounding it, is the writing for the movie. The character development is done insanely well. Especially, with the main character.

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who might not have seen it, but the main character is a bit of an anti-hero. He starts out doing a lot of despicable things to the aliens in "District 9" and as the movie progresses, and because of his situation, you can't help but empathize with him (even when he does stuff that makes you sit straight up in bed and shout "NO!" at your TV at 1:30 in the morning when you're supposed to be sleeping, but instead you're so into the movie you just can't shut it off). And the best moment of all is when he gets his last chance at redemption for every thing he's done.

I don't know how many different ways I can say I love this movie, but I do really love it. As soon as I was finished watching it, it immediately jumped to the top of my list of favorite movies.

So, imagine my excitement when I read today that District 9 received two well deserved Oscar nominations, one for best picture and the other for best adapted screen play. I told you the writing was phenomenal, now do you believe me?

Now the question remains, does District 9 have a shot at winning? As far as winning for best picture, I doubt it, especially with the the high profile Avatar in the running. But as far as the screen play goes, I think it has a very good shot at winning with that one.