The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I wasn't the biggest fan of DISTRICT 9. In fact, it was very overrated. Still, D9 had a clever premise and it delivered enough on a modest budget that one could look forward to Writer-Director Neill Blomkamp's follow-up. ELYSIUM has quadruple the budget, Oscar talent in Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and, again, a decent germ of an idea (basically the rich folks in METROPOLIS living not underground, but, in an orbiting spaceship a la WALL-E). But, ELYSIUM is just a big mess.

What message it has is buried under its garbled storyline. It mixes social commentary, with a undernourished romance and then devolves into a dystopian ROAD WARRIOR type action film (complete with an often mad hero (Damon) who's even named 'Max' for Mel's sake!). Speaking of Gibson. His most fervent Hollywood defender, Jodie Foster, turns in perhaps her worst ever performance as the secretary of defense in full Maggie Thatcher/Hillary Clinton mode (with a bizarre accent that could be a hybid of both women!). Damon does better, but, not nearly enough to save the movie. His personal predicament will remind noir film fans of the 1950's D.O.A.. The "exciting" action sequences have camerawork so shaky at times I thought the projection booth having an earthquake. I did like the lived-in look of the earth scenes and Elysium is a decently mounted contrast (if highly questionable in being feasible).

There are huge plot holes and unconvincing science all about. We are to believe that all these millionaires and billionaires (and by then, trillionaires) entrust their safety in their nirvana like world from the poor huddled masses below not by some space shield or fleets of space-cruisers, but, by hired mercenaries ON THE EARTH? And, the ultimate technological way in which the earth is to be saved is as ridiculous as any concocted since Jeff Goldblum hacked the aliens with a mid-90s-era laptop in INDEPENDENCE DAY! And, just about the only human interest story in the film is that hoariest of cliches - the sick child! What?! Blomkamp couldn't figure out how to incorporate a cute puppy as well?

I give Blomkamp credit for trying to instill his science fiction films with some substance, but, he needs better writers to fuel his ambitions.

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

I agree the writing was clunky, and you are absolutely correct about Jodie Foster, I don't know what the hell was going on there.
There were flaws for sure, most of which I only noticed after thinking about it for a bit.
All that being said... I loved the shit out of this movie. I guess the action was so relentless and the pacing so crisp that I overlooked any and all nit-picky stuff as I was watching it.

I guess what I'm saying is I understand your argument and most of the time would probably agree with you, but for some reason the timing of seeing this in the theater with friends and a good crowd allowed me to "just go with it," and as such was a wonderful experience for me.

Does all this sound like I would recommend it for the marathon? Absolutely!
Of course, my recommendations don't mean squat or else they would have shown DREDD and LOOPER last year when I spoke highly of them.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

I read somewhere that the orginal cut came it at around 3 hours, so apparently, a bunch of stuff was cut - including some of Jodie Foster's character's background. I just think that what is presented here is a just a jumbled mess. I also strongly think that Blomkamp needs much stronger writing. He has "ideas", but his story construction is woefully lacking. Maybe James Cameron is available.

As to LOOPER. Not sure how it didn't show in Ohio or Boston in its first year of "eligibility". Seemed like a natural.

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

I'd rate both Looper and Dredd ahead of Elysium.

Dredd would be a good choice for the marathon. One sorta problem with Looper and Elysium is that they weren't "small" like Dredd. Lots of folks have already seen them. But they're not "big" like Inception either. They won't draw in fans on name alone.

That said, I wouldn't mind watching Looper yet again next year.