Dream House, The Invasion, District 9

#1 - DREAM HOUSE

Stars - Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Elias Koteas

Director - Jim Sheridan

Memorable Quote - 'Once upon a time, there were two little girls who lived in a house.'

Review - I'll say this: Daniel Craig is an amazing actor, and this does have some nice twists and turns along with some great tricks to help you get into this particular world (loved: Craig screaming on the floor and the lights gradually coming back on. Hated: Laughter and children fading into the wall). Naomi Watts makes an appearance due to what seems to be the assumption that if you put her in it, it makes it a bona fide thriller (since she's in pretty much all of them, ever). Weisz is fair. Despite all of this and an alright storyline, I was left feeling strangely underwhelmed. There were also a few lighting-based goofs, which as a photographer tend to pretty much kill me when I notice them; all in all a strange one that I'm not quite sure where I stand on. Neither loving nor hating - almost worse than slating it is not being able to form an opinion at all. 3/5

#2 - THE INVASION

Stars - Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam

Director - Oliver Hirschbiegel

Memorable Quote - 'My husband is not my husband.'/ 'This is to imagine a world where human beings cease to be human.'

Review - This is an interesting one. From the chaotic opening of the shuttle disaster and the fake news reports, every effort is made to make us believe that this world is our own, and Daniel Craig here is no exception to the Craig-based statement I made above, even if his hair is hilarious. Kidman is even passable even if her accent is hilarious: her usual icy, slightly emotionless acting style works perfectly here, as she calculatingly attempts to blend in and survive the alien invasion, not for her own sake but for her son's. We see such staples as the zombie car scene, but these are not zombies; we see the traditional monster movie hiding in a store sequence, but these are no monsters. In the end, despite the fact that this is not an original movie, the idea behind it is very original and still makes an impact now. The final scenes of the film, though they present themselves as a happy ending, are not joyous - instead we see the sacrifice of a mother who wanted to make a different choice. Tense throughout and chilling for it, you could do a lot worse. 4/5

#3 - DISTRICT 9

Stars - Sharlto Copley

Director - Neill Blomkamp

Memorable Quote - 'We go home now?'

Review - The documentary style in which District 9 is shot leads to a quick build-up of apprehension, particularly on the part of Wikus. You feel immediately that something awful is going to happen but do not know what, which makes it more exciting to find out just what it will be. Although Wikus is at first an unlikeable character for the way he treats the aliens, you soon begin to sympathise with him, and by the end I found myself completely on his side. The consistency of the way the logos and camera details are integrated into most of the shots helps us see which parts are seen by the government and which aren't, building a clear picture of the situation and providing yet another of those details which make this film special, and one of the reasons for its success. 4/5

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