Friday, August 13, 2010

This is Happening Right Now in Johannesburg!


Okay, not *right now* but a half hour ago. I woke up late. It's 10:00 AM here in NYC but apparently parties are still raging even as I type over in Johannesburg where it's 4 PM now. The alien ship that's been hovering over the city forever actually seemed to wake up and fly away. It's unclear what happened to Wikus.

I'd like to say this story is over. It appears to be. But I'm not sure why Johannesburg is celebrating. There's still a ton of alien prawns on the ground and the evictions and the new district to settle. And what if the mother ship returns? Someone should check in with this man to see if they will. Won't they be angry if they do?

two hours before that...
We hadn't heard any Wikus alien STD new for almost two days. But there was a terrorist bombing shortly after the last hospital security footage of Wikus Van Der Merwe was captured. Then lost of commotion under the ship in District 9. I'm sure we'll hear more.


Approximately 42/43 hours before that?


He doesn't seem to getting any worse. There's something so calming about sunsets (outside of say vampire movies) and Wikus needed a good night's sleep most of all. Coming right up I'm sure. It looks like he's had a meal and found a coat and stolen a phone. One of these calls his wife will pick up. Everything will be fine. I feel safe in turning of the South African news for awhile. Good luck, Wikus!

about 5 hours ago...
I'm sorry I'm laughing.


It's a nervous reaction. How Humiliating! We thought something was wrong with his arm but over the television they're saying that the MNU employee has contracted a dangerous alien STD. Boy did he clear that restaurant fast. Günters must be located right next to the hospital.

4 minutes before that embarrassment...
This just in from Johannesburg [It's 4:09 PM there, six hours earlier here in NYC]. Reports confirm that this IS the newly promoted MNU man Wikus Van Der Merwe. They sounded the alarm 43 minutes ago and he's still running through the hospital corridors as you can see on this monitor. 43 minutes of running. This place must be fooking huge.

The escapee

[a time stamp detail]

33 minutes before that...

OK. Something's definitely happening now. RIGHT NOW in this hospital in Johannesburg. 3:26 PM, August 11th ...it's six hours later there.


There appears to have been a scuffle and someone --on the floor, what -- has hit an alarm? Wait. This can't be Wikus?!?

previous entry, 17 hours ago...

Wikus's wife still hasn't heard from him. The random images we've been receiving suddenly aren't dated. We don't know if they're current or from hours ago at this point. The time on the internal cameras -- well who can make sense of the numbers. They seem to be in conflict. But one things certain: This man hasn't slept.



Why are MNU officers torturing one of their own? He's bleeding.

thirteen hours before that
This is not going well...

What is this? What are they doing to these prawns?
I don't think this hospital is treating this man very well. Something is seriously wrong with his arm. I'm about to go to bed but it's 7 AM in South Africa. They've kept him awake all night sticking things in his arm, wheeling him around and even hosing him down. Now they're talking about "pain threshold tests". WTF? He has no idea where he is anymore. Nobody has told his wife anything. For Christ sakes, where are they taking him?

7 or 8 hours before that.
I may have lost an hour. Exhaustion settling in.


It's 10:00 PM in Johannesburg at this very second. I'm sure they'll see her husband soon. Everything's going to be all right!

a short time before that
Crap. That surprise party was ill-timed. I hope no one was really looking forward to eating cake. Maybe they should take him to the hospital?


an hour or so before that...


After the day he's had, we bet Wikus Van De Merwe is glad to be home... Home, Quiet Home. He's just pulling into his driveway now.

5 hours and 23 minutes before that...

His days of flouting the law are over

[a time stamp detail of the incident]

We read over the wire that MNU officers have started handing out evacuation notices in District 9. Things aren't going so smoothly.

roughly half an hour before that...

This has got the markings there of some--something, it's definitely alien. But it's not a weapon. But I don't trust it. No, I don't trust anyt---
Uh-oh.
District 9
* Sharlto Copley

25 comments:

Connor said...

Gawd, that movie was awesome. Them sneakey fookin' prawns, eh?

"Hey there little guy! It's the sweetey man coming!"

Andrew R. said...

My #7 movie of 2008. Avatar was #6.

The last third of this movie is what put it behind Avatar. D9 had a great script, but the last third was all murdering and whatnot. Avatar blended action and (cheesy) story very well, at least. This movie was 2/3rds greatness, 1/3rd cheesy popcorn movie.

Good thing me and the Academy both do 10 nominees.

NATHANIEL R said...

Connor -- i've seen this a few times now and I have to say that Mr Copley's performance gets better each time. So layered. and it's his first one. How about that?

Ryan T. said...

Woo! My favorite film of last year with my favorite performance of last year. Even though I was sad to see Copley not get a nomination, it was soothed by all the Oscar love the movie itself received.

Mierzwiak said...

One of two best movies of 2009 (with Inglourious Basterds) and one of the best sci-fi ever.

Nathaniel, about the date, how are you remebering such details? : )

NATHANIEL R said...

mierzwack -- sometimes i just remember and usually it's just "times" which have no dates when movies put up time stamps.

The idea for this series was actually spurred on by a viewing of CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 which i -- TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT -- watched literally the day of the year (june something) after it took place (albeit 40ish years later) a few months ago and i was like "DAMNIT. IF I HAD WATCHED THIS YESTERDAY I WOULDA WON THE LOTTERY OR SOMETHING. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A SIGN FROM THE COSMOS. HOW WEIRD WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?!?'

sorry to shout but basically it was a thrilling accident but not quite as thrilling as it could have been.

But in this case THE MOVIE TIMELINE reminded me that today was the actual day of the evacuation notices.

I hope this wikus person is ok but that black spray looks nasty.

Stenar said...

Actually, that would be Sept 8, 2010 in Johannesburg. Didn't you learn anything from Norway?? ;) j/k

NATHANIEL R said...

stenar -- you'd think so, but i'm actually correct on this one, stay tuned.

Roark said...

this is very entertaining.

BeRightBack said...

I liked this movie quite a lot, I like alien body-blending in my science fiction (Avatar doesn't count...I really hated that movie).

(typo alert: I believe he was flouting the law, not flaunting it!)

SSA said...

Best film of 2009. This is the sci-fi film that should have broken the box office. Avatar my ass.

NATHANIEL R said...

BRB -- right you are. oops. i did think that was weird reading it back.

i'm really worried about wikus. nobody has heard from him for hours. He only hurt his arm!

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel's right; it is August - the dates actually take you to one year *after* the North American release date of the movie. I actually think the third act is much better structured than people give it credit for being: everything happens in a logical order, and logically avoids a plot stopping impasse.

Volvagia said...

I'd say Copley's the Best Actor of that year, for one reason: It was all improvised. Which means? No Screenplay nomination. On a related tack Mike Leigh may be a great director, but he's not a writer. In fact there is no writer on his films. How to define an eligible screenplay? 1. Script must exist before any actors work on their parts in any way, shape or form. Changes can occur, but a full dialogue and structure must exist before casting and filming occur. 2. Film must be released in the US.
P.S. If you were wondering where I was all this time, I was cruising the Baltic Sea.

NATHANIEL R said...

ooh how was the Baltic sea?

OtherRobert said...

Copley's been my unchallenged win since I saw District 9. I'm horribly biased towards sci-fi/horror/fantasy performances, so having other people verify that I'm not just rewarding someone for being good in a genre film is comforting. He's wonderful in this. Too bad the Academy is not to keen on awarding debut adult male performances like they do debut adult female performances.

Morgan Leigh Davies said...

I am loving this.

Volvagia said...

Great. Estonia, (Grandmother's birth place), St. Petersburg, Rostock (German Brewery. Didn't like the beer, but great pretzels), Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm (Fair bit of talk about Greta Garbo) and Amsterdam (Tried on Wooden Shoes.)

Anonymous said...

43 minutes of running through the hospital? No, some of it would have been getting the medic he took hostage to surrender his white smock.

Glendon said...

I watched this today for the first time since seeing it originally in theatres just because it's happening right now. Fun movie.

NATHANIEL R said...

agentzelda -- good point. except for that in the security footage we see him give up the hostage before he finds this smock. hmmmm.

glendon -- glad you enjoyed. I don't love it QUITE as much as the rest of the world does (sure was a surprise hit, Oscar and box office wise) but it's got some pretty stellar moments.

Anonymous said...

What a great film district 9 was...I really loved it and those fookin' prawns..South African accents are the best!



keyword ten greatest films

Volvagia said...

This is about your "Best Videography Ranking" in regards to musicians:

It's Primus. They're the best music video makers. I'd rank the videos:

1. Mr. Krinkle. (A single shot circus.)
2. Lacquer Head (A Claymation anti-drug video. Plus uses great shots of every other video they made.)
3. Southband Pachyderm (A second claymation story about Elephants turned into Airplanes)
4. My Name is Mud (An odd video that has, as it's main accomplishment, a naturally integrated re-creation of the album cover.)
5. Too Many Puppies (A War Protest heightened with performance scenes intermingling. When a band's this talented, performance scenes are a treat.)
6. John the Fisherman (Unique sequence that set the tone for the band.)
7. Over the Falls (Strange tale of someone building a safe vessel to go over a waterfall.)
8. DMV (A partially animated literalisation of a diatribe against the Department of Motor Vehicles. "If you want to know what I call hell, I spell it D-M-V. Anyone who's been there knows precisely what I mean." Again with the, in this case, much welcome performance scenes.)
9. Tommy the Cat. (Weird piece set in a bar where the bartender of O'Malley's Alley imagines he, and the entire bar, are actual cats.)
10. Wynona's Big Brown Beaver (Yes the Winona Ryder controversy song. Plastic Cowboys are always somewhat cool.)
11. Shake Hands With Beef (Only above the last video for the funny ending gag of Les Claypool flying into a bug zapper.)
12. Jerry was a Racecar Driver. (But this is barely funny, has no point and doesn't even have a story. It's one of their best songs, but it's probably their worst video.)

The Irony? I'd still probably include almost all of these (except the last one) in a list of 200 great music videos.

Anonymous said...

It's a bio-lab/pseudo-hospital! Full of people in white smocks. Maybe he found the laundry room. What I'd like to know is why if he stole blue pants from the laundry line he's wearing brown pants for most of the rest of the movie? The blue pants didn't fit? We don't see him finish trying them on. And that kid he stole the cellphone from must be the most unpopular kid in Johannesburg! No one ever calls for him; if the phone rings, it's Tania.

NATHANIEL R said...

agentzelda -- you are brilliant. i never thought about that kid and his lack of phone buddies. so sad.