Movies as mythologically informed literature. Cinema Discourse looks at current and classic movies from a literary, and particularly a mythological, point of view.
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20th January 2010

On Moon

Moon: A Movie Review

by John David Ebert

Duncan Jones’ Moon has the word ‘classic’ written all over it. It is one of the best science fiction films in a long, long time, one that is faithful to the development of the genre and to the tradition of the battle against the Machine that was inaugurated with Kubrick’s 2001. In many ways, the film owes a great debt to Kubrick’s masterpiece, but also to Tarkovsky’s Solaris, for it reworks the latter’s themes of isolation, alienation and identity confusion. The film was reportedly made for only 6 million dollars, but it has the look of a 60 million dollar film, one that happens to have a fresh and innovative screenplay. Read the rest of this entry »

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14th January 2010

On District 9

District 9: A (Belated) Movie Review

By John David Ebert

I finally got around to seeing Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, which is, indeed, a better film than Avatar. The difference between the two films is instructive, for Blomkamp’s film succeeds because it inherits a cliched premise–an alien invasion of the earth–which it then proceeds to subvert by turning upside down, while Cameron merely lines up a string of sci-fi cliches and assembles them with all the craftsmanship of a prefabricated tract house. Cameron’s film is the celluloid equivalent of styrofoam packaging: it makes a lot of noise, but there’s not much to it; Blomkamp’s movie, on the other hand, is fresh and inventive. Read the rest of this entry »

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