On Saturday I drove past this.  Kind of weird that all the Iranians in America are shocked about this.  At least the Iranians didn’t have the supreme court appoint their “winner.”  (instead they had – like out of a sci-fi film- their “supreme leader”)  You tell me if this looks like “thousands of protestors.”  Of course this was taken at 5:30 (from the rooftop LA Fitness parking down the street) and by 6:30 they were all gone, so maybe this was the dwindling from the larger crowd earlier.

I also drove past this on Sunday.  Sam and I were on our way to Pearl Art Supply so I could buy a tiny brush for one of the portraits I’m doing (stubble is not easy for acrylic paint).  This was of course after watching Moon.  I won’t say Moon was great, but it was pretty good for a low budget film.  Clint Mansel did the score, but it wasn’t really noticeable (and maybe that means it was done right) until one of the last scenes where the “sad piano” starts to get laid on a little thick.  The special effects were good for the most part, certain exterior shots of the moonbase and vehicles were obvious CG, but with a small budget I think they pulled it off fairly well.  Better than something like thisanyway.  I could see most of the surprises ten minutes before the characters in the movie, but thankfully the “wow” moments were done realistically (no close-ups on gaping mouthed actors).  Most of my gripes (of which there aren’t many) would give away too much of the movie to anyone that hasn’t seen it (which, for a while, is anyone not in New York City or Los Angeles).  One thing I can give away though is that the movie appears to take place (due to dates on “old” video that is watched) between 2015 and 2030.   This creates a problem with the multiple “flights home” that Sam watches.  Since we later find out that a key character from his past is a teenager, that means there could have only been a maximum of five “missions” on the base, yet we watch more than five astronauts on the tapes.  This may have been something that the director chose to overlook for effect. However, everything else, the logic the characters use about their situation is very scientific (they are astronauts after all), so for them not to deduce that there would have only been 3 or 4 astronauts before them is kind of weird.  The true purpose of the “rescue” crew was obvious to everyone in the audience long before the characters on the screen, which was weird because they should be the most suspicious.  And why were they suspicious?  Because one of them overheard the station computer, Gertie, talking to the bosses on Earth.   Surely the computer could talk to the bosses on earth on their end… not requiring an actual vocal response at the  moon.  This would be like me checking my email by calling the google server on my telephone and having it verbally read me my mail instead of logging into my account via the internet.  Surely video transmissions from the Moon are more expensive than data.

I was going to rant about the nonexistent delay of signal between the earth and moon as well, but it turns out that is only about 3 seconds in real life, so I’ll give the movie a pass on that point (I think I was thinking of Mars, which is something like twelve minutes of signal delay).

Gertie, the station robot, was an obvious nod to HAL9000, although at a crucial point in the film, it seems like we’re presented with a far better vision of how humans and robots interact.  Perhaps this is only because Gertie is somewhat “dumber” than HAL.

In that same vein, before Moon is the new trailer to 9 which reveals the cause of humanities destruction… once again… “the machines.”  Kind of disappointing, but it explains the machines that are hunting “the 9.”  The new trailer also explains how these little puppet men are “alive” – they were given “the essence of life” by a scientist before the humans were destroyed (by the machines).    But… why?  If all humans are going to die, why would a human care about giving inanimate objects “the essence of life.”  I hope we’re given a reason in the film, because otherwise that doesn’t make much sense.  I guess we’ll find out in September.

Oh, and the “AMC preview” (the crap BEFORE the “real” trailers start) was a piece on District 9 that actually shows a lot more about the movie than any of the trailers so far.  We see more of the aliens, some action, and actually the main character/s in the film (which we don’t see in the current trailers).   And we also learn that Peter Jackson (the film’s producer) lost a LOT of weight (but not any of that crazy hair).  Although this “preview” basically reveals everything about the aliens, I think this was a calculated decision by the director and producer.  I think they’re showing that the movie is more of an action drama and not dominated by reveals of aliens and their ships/weapons/etc.  Very similar to how Moon was not dominated by special effects shots, there is nothing effects wise that you don’t see in the trailer, but that is okay, because the story is a drama play about the value of life and what “human” means.  …which is similar to District 9 as well.  This new era of cheap but passable computer generated effects means that directors are free to make movies about the story, rather than about the effects (I’m sure Michael Bay hasn’t got the message yet).  Indie films can be set in space without looking cheesy, revealing a cheesy effects shot can sometimes ruin a film no matter how great the actors are.