LANDMARK

With his masterpiece (and debut feature film) District 9, writer/director Neill Blomkamp has announced himself as a major cinematic talent. Easily one of the best movies of the year (if not the best), District 9 is a brilliantly executed piece of semi-realistic science fiction blended with topical political overtones and hard-wired with a breathless sense of action and visceral thrills. Made for a reported budget of only $30 million, the film looks like it cost over $100 million, and the seamless visual effects are on par with Michael Bay's work in the Transformers movies, work that I consider to be the best to date. But here, because of the narrative and the subject matter and the overall aim and intent, the effects are even more impressive because everything else around them are equally as good. I have a feeling that over the years, District 9 will be seen as a piece of trendsetting, genre defining work, much like Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Terminator 2. I cannot wait to see this film again and again. I'll have a full review up soon.