Summer days are drifting away. There is no use fighting this fact anymore. What this means for the world of cinema is that we will be getting a few more end-of-the-summer blockbusters and then we are right into horror movie season. I admit I do have a certain affinity when it comes to the macabre. Unfortunately most modern horror is just too ridiculous to take seriously. As soon as September hits we are inundated with crap that is supposed to terrify, but barely amuses. More on those thoughts a little later.
Before I get into my usual tirade of snap judgments on cinema that has yet to be seen, I have a very special Trailer Trashin’ preview. What makes it special is that I have in fact seen the movie I am about to review. A rarity, but perhaps a necessity in proving that I do get to theatre from time to time.

District 9

It is not often that I have the opportunity to attend a midnight screening for a film. In fact, it confuses me as to why a person would want to wait in line for an hour before a show just so they can be the first one to see it. However, when the idea was floated that we go see District 9, the much-hyped sci-fi film from director Neill Blomkamp, I jumped at the chance.

District 9 tells the story of a race of aliens who had unexpectedly landed in Johannesburg some twenty years ago. While residents of the city were initially excited to make first contact, the cultural differences between the two species has led to human beings isolating the ‘prawns’ into a slum like ghetto known as the titular District 9. Now in the present day, the settlement has grown so much that the government hires weapon manufacturer, Multinational United (MNU) to evict all the aliens and transplant them outside of the city to a new camp. Put in charge of the evacuation is bumbling bureaucrat Wikus van der Merwe (newcomer Shartlo Copley). Needless to say, things do not go quite as planned for Wikus and his life is soon changed in a very profound way.

District 9 works as a fine addition to the sci-fi and action genre. Because it is presented in a faux documentary style, we are forced to watch the film in such a way that even the alien presence takes on an air of realism. By making the prawns so outwardly hideous by our standards of beauty, Blomkamp has presented a strange duality. It is easy to see why the aliens are hated so much by the humans, but it is hard not to feel sympathy for these truly oppressed people. In fact if the atrocities committed by MNU had occurred in real life, human rights groups all over the world would have a conniption.

Even though the film does eventually fall into the trap of becoming a hardcore action movie in the third act, it was absolutely still worth the price of admission, and the disruption of my normal sleep schedule. Anybody with any affinity towards true science fiction will enjoy this movie. Now, back to my regular habits of prejudice towards every trailer I see.

Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is one of the most polarizing filmmakers today. People seem to either love him or hate him. Those who love him claim that his outstanding dialogue brilliantly contrast his use of graphic, over the top violence. His detractors claim that his visual style is simply borrowed from other less mainstream films and bastardized to suit his own needs. While this might be true I do have to admit that I find myself in the former group.

Every time that Tarantino releases a new film I cannot help but get excited. I begin to foam at the mouth slightly and my thoughts degenerate into vivid fantasies involving Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs or Uma Thurmond in her blood stained yellow jumpsuit. I am fairly certain that it was the mention of this love that kept me out of the film studies program at University.

Tarantino’s new film, Inglorious Basterds is his take on the war movie. Using his unique touch, Tarantino has crafted a story about a squad of Jewish-American soldiers (led by Brad Pitt) who have an affinity for scalping their Nazi prisoners. What results is the usual blood fest and visceral reactions that we are all used to from a movie like this.

Like I said, I am a fan of Quentin. That perhaps has tainted my view on this upcoming picture. A war movie is so hard to do correctly that most of the time it is either pro-war or anti-war with little in leeway in between. With Inglorious Basterds, it seems that Tarantino has made more of an adventure film, set on the backdrop of WWII. Trailers have reminded me of a feel that is similar to The Dirty Dozen. However the film turns out, I will do my best to keep my fanboy urgings under control until I get the chance to see it.

The Final Destination

Now we begin the awful horror movie season not with a bang, but with a whimper. That whimper however is one of unmitigated and unoriginal crap. It is almost like there are no more original ideas left in some circles in Hollywood. The only options that these producers can come up with is to rehash and idea that was played out two sequels ago.

In this case we have The Final Destination, the fourth film in the Final Destination franchise. The premise for the new film seems to be the same as the first three: a teenager has a premonition about an accident that will result in his demise and warns his peers about it. They all manage to escape with their lives. Unfortunately, they cannot cheat death and what results for each is a series of Rube Goldberg-esque mishaps that kill them off one by one.

The gimmick in the new film is that old tried and true stand-by, the third dimension. Yes it seems that the wonderful producers think that the movie going public will be more amused by the already ridiculous death scenes if they seem to jump off of the screen. This disturbing trend with the horror genre, the knack for style over substance plotlines, is what is slowly killing it. It bothers me that so many original horror plots never see the light of day while schlock like this continues to be made. Please, for the love of God, avoid this abomination of a film.

Gamer

As human beings we love to find amusement at the suffering and exploitation of others. What started out as gladiatorial games in Roman times has evolved into the less bloody, but still barbaric practice of the paparazzi. Imagine if we combined our love of bloodsport with our love of modern media, can you picture the mayhem that would ensue?

Gamer proposes to do just that. The story follows a frenzied game where real prisoners are forced to fight to death for our amusement. The catch is that all actions of the convicts are controlled by real nerds living in their basements as some sort of modern video game. It is all running smoothly until the main convict (Gerard Butler) rebels against his corporate overlords.

While this may seem like an interesting premise, the idea of modern barbarism for the media has been done many times before.

Both Rollerball and Death Race 2000 have almost identical plots to Gamer. In fact, both films were remade in a modern context and both remakes were horrific abominations against nature. Rollerball in particular had plot holes so large that I actually fell through them. Despite the fact that Gamer has a solid cast, it will fall very short.

Other Films

Curious about what else I was unimpressed with this month? Here is a list of other films with trailers that are really hit and miss, but mostly miss.

The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard: Jeremy Piven can’t keep this film from sucking hard.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Sure to be gimmicky and depressing

Shorts: Hey Robert Rodriguez, why aren’t you making Sin City 2?

Halloween II: See my review for The Final Destination

Extract: Good cast, maybe the right amount of Ben Affleck.

9: Intriguing new animated feature from Tim Burton

Sorority Row: Awful, just awful. Sure to be fun in the right circumstances though