Jeradactyl Reviews

Taking Woodstock (2009)

Captures the Spirit of Woodstock in a Unique Way

[8/10 · 26 August 2009]

From reading some of the other comments it sounds like most people that are disappointed in this film were mainly put off due to their expectations for a film that focuses on the music.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I loved the unique focus on the small town that hosted the festival and how it affected all of their lives. I believe it was a great way to really capture the vibe of Woodstock without getting too rapt up in the actual musicians that were playing, which to me has been focused on enough over the years.

If you have been to a multiple day festival before you will have a wonderful sense of nostalgia. This movie completely captures how amazing people can be when they remove themselves from the hum drum monotony of their day to day lives and get together with like minded strangers for a few days of complete freedom and joy.

A great feel good movie with a lot of veiled depth about the people that helped make Woodstock one of the most famous events the world has known.

District 9 (2009)

Best movie experience ever. (No Spoilers)

[10/10 · 12 August 2009]

I'd been following along keenly to all the news stories about this movie leading up to its release. I'd seen the trailers and advertising that teased something would be special about this film. And being a sci-fi fan it looked like someone was finally going to make an amazing 'what if...' style flick that was acted and filmed in a realistic manner.

So I excitedly popped along to the New Zealand preview screening tonight in Wellington. All the while hoping some special guest like Richard Taylor from Weta would pop along. The head of Sony NZ pops out and says he'd like to introduce a special guest, and Peter Jackson walks out to spend about 10 minutes talking about the making of the film and how it came about due to the demise of Halo. He talked in depth about how they'd felt so bad for Neil that Halo had been canned by the studios and that they'd like to help him make another film.

I am sad that Halo never came to fruition, but am over the moon that this movie was made instead. Never would Halo have been as raw and gritty as this. With a $100,000,000 plus budget the studios would never have allowed it. It would have been too much of a risk.

This movie is an unflinching look at ourselves and speaks volumes about all the things that are wrong and right about being human. If you are in to science fiction that is really intelligent and entertains you with more than just amazing special effects and weapons (which this movie has in spades) you will be blown away by this. Go see it this weekend and show these corporations that this is the way to make movies, and they made a huge mistake to pull out on Neil and Peter.