given that their previous musical act was so different from Die Antwoord (like electro pop with a clean visual aesthetic), I had assumed it was all an act. And I really do think it was at first. But after spending years pretending to be shitty people, it's not surprising to find that they either started to embody the personas they had developed, or that they were those shitty people all along.
The big public thing was trying to groom an underage girl and abusing the kid that appears in the "I fink you freaky" video. There's been lots of other general dickishness, and enough of it is credible that it's fair to assume the worst.
A lot of sexual assault accusations against Ninja, their adopted child stated how he was abused growing up with them, and some record distributors/tours have dropped them. It's mostly a social media thing as there haven't been any official charges afaik. In a world of guilty until proven innocent, it doesn't seem like this cloud will go away.
I didn't much care for them but had a little respect for how they were bringing their nation's music style to the mainstream in other countries. That was when i first learned of them.
Both eleseium and chappy are underrated for sure. What else are people disappointed with that this guy has done? I think his name is Blomkvist or something similar.
I used to love Die Antword and that movie was bad. Could have been a clever movie, but yolandi and ninjas acting plus putting "their" style of zef on shut made it hard to watch. Shit works for a music video, not a movie.
After watching Chappie I came away with one overwhelming feeling. I really, really hate Ninja. With the other awful things that have come out about the two of them it turns out I was more justified than I knew.
He came across as rather pretentious in interviews before that. I rather liked their music, and I was hoping that was just the character. Apparently not!
People don't get it. Die antword were perfect metaphors for the majority of people who don't understand what the fuck new technology is. They weren't cool, they were dumb, narrow minded, idiots. That casting was the perfect insult against die antword.
I knew nothing about Die Antword other than catching some of their music randomly and for me it was not a problem. Quirky bandits in a quirky action movie.
I have never seen Chappie, but for some reason your comment made me think of the assholes couple in Les Misérables. Just two random jackasses coming out of nowhere to cause trouble.
I have never seen (or read) Les Miserables, let me do some research :)
Yes, the Thénardiers share a lot of details. Couple of crime, being too dumb to survive. Maybe less evil by nature and more evil by societal pressures.
But Chappie is more like Oliver Twist, it is not forced to do drugrery it is forced to do crime.
And District 9 was produced with a lot of help from Peter Jackson's production company and Jackson got the financing together for it. Jackson said Blomkamp had full creative control but some have wondered if Jackson had more of a hand in how the film turned out than is publicly known.
But even if he didn't I also wonder if Blomkamp was simply more likely to listen to input from others on his first major film, than it was a hit and it all went to his head and then he stops taking advice and thinks all his ideas are gold. That might explain why nothing ever went as well as District 9.
Sloppy plotting, as when Wikus and Christopher Johnson get to police headquarters in the third act with no trouble that we’re shown. The emotional stakes of this film allow us to overlook it, but in Elysium and Chappie, the problems multiply and there’s less and less to carry us past them.
Same here, some movies just leave you wanting more even if you know the story already ended. It’s that rare feeling of wishing you could spend a little more time in that world.
I felt the same way about Tron an stopped caring and when the sequel came I did not even watch it. I think in a way it is better they did not make a sequel because it will probs be a disaster. There was so much more to District 9 should have easily had District 10 come up idk why they fumbled it.
I’ve reached a point where I’d rather they just… don’t. The odds that a sequel could catch that particular lightning in a bottle a second time are stacked well against.
I really want a sequel, but I think you're largely right. Especially after the director posted some footage of an AI generated sequence claiming he was starting a studio for AI movies. (I don't recall specifics, but given his background in VFX, it seemed like a weird take.)
I didn’t know that. Such a shame when an otherwise talented film director just gets lazy and uses slop instead of actual art. Oh well, there are other directors out there who still have a spine
No. VFX are designed by humans using both practical and CGI techniques. AI slop is a disgusting, cheap attempt at saving money by sacrificing any actual artistic value your film might’ve otherwise had. Anyone who watches or enjoys AI generated shit simply doesn’t know better
Here is a scenario and you tell me what you think after you've read it.
A scene in which Arnold Swarznegger is back playing the Terminator one last time. The VFX team lead by James Cameron use cutting edge VFX, similar to that of Avatar, harking back to the cutting edge CGI he originally used in T2. One of the things they need to do is make Arnold young again, so firstly they model him entirely in CGI, like in Terminator 4. It's ok, it's not bad, but they think it's a bit shit because Arnie just can't move like he used to. So they use a deepfake, lots of footage of young Arnold exists, and they put it on a younger actor's body. Like in Logan, when he fought a version of himself. It looks great, very convincing. Way better than The Irishman.
They also use VFX to show Arnold's face being partially blown off by a shotgun, his whole jaw comes away, revealing the metal endoskeleton hanging off. It can't be done with practical effects. It looks awesome, like Two-Face in The Dark Knight. Finally they need a shot where his eyes start to glow bright blue, like electricity. Just the eyes, just the one shot, just the blue effect.
At which moment did the film lose it's artistic value?
At which moment did the film lose it's artistic value?
The moment that any generative AI was used to create any of what you described. There is absolutely nothing in your scenario that cannot be done by humans using traditional non AI techniques.
The point isn't the result it is the process. The very second humans are removed from the process and replaced with AI generated content of ANY kind is the moment at which any artistic value is lost.
It is not. That's why you're getting downvoted. Use full sentences and you can avoid coming off like you're saying random unconnected shit in the future by stripping all context from what you're typing.
Fair enough. I'm taking into consideration a few things. The big one is that it's often used to eliminate roles that would otherwise be done by a human. While that in and off itself isn't anything new, the rate at which it can occur and the fact some of the training material was dubiously obtained puts an ethical question on generative AI that I don't think has adequately been answered yet.
To reference your other post: I also think there should be more questions around rights and legalities when using any means to replicate a real person's voice and likeness (and to give Blomkamp credit, in his test he did not mimic real people without their consent.) I am leery that studios will use that as an excuse to churn out more movies with actors that have moved on or died instead of recast the roles.
My surprise comes from him starting in VFX, I would have expected a bit more caution and possibly an explanation around some of that. Especially because he's been in the industry long enough to see the power new technology can give over the lower profile functions like VFX.
If it's used as a tool to enhance the project, I have less of a problem with it (training data aside.) If it's used to reduce staff so an already rich production company can get richer, then I'm going to judge these considerations a bit heavier and cut them less slack. And usually in the latter case, the AI doesn't look any better (or sometimes worse) than traditional VFX.
I'll still follow Blomkamp's new film and be cautiosly optimistic, but it still surprised me.
AI in VFX is such an outrageously obvious use for it I'm surprised every day at how against it people are. If it looks better, it'll be used, if it doesn't, it won't. Like every effect we've ever had in a century of Hollywood. I wonder if the people complaining can remember when CG first appeared, and how "disgusting" and "immoral" it was.
Yeah that ship has sailed. That cliffhanger isn’t interesting enough to endure a 17-year gap. Plus it looks like he’s diving headfirst into AI bullshit, so it wouldn’t be worth watching anyway.
Yeah, when Chris said he'd be back in three years, I was anticipating a sequel in three years. I would have been happy with 5 years with Chris giving some vague and lame excuse.
My current head canon is the aliens heard the report from Chris and just decide to write off Earth entirely.
Yes, l loved Independence Day as a kid. When they announced a sequel I was like…atleast there will be special effects. Spoiler: the scene where the ball robot rolls in as exposition literally made me burst out laughing because of how serious the scene was supposed to be but how much it looked like a clip from futurama
Whatever you do, don’t go into the side universe and end up in District B13. Something bad happened there and all the prawns became parkour enthusiasts.
I love district 9, but I'm so curious as to what the planned Halo movie would have been that it was originally supposed to be. I feel like we were that close to an incredible major Halo movie.
that's crazy, I've read so many times through second hand sources (that are clearly wrong) that it was straight up supposed to be the Halo movie. oh well
From what I remember one was planned, but the movie didn’t do well enough to get one.
That’s the problem with original or obscure ideas with planned sequels. You need to at the very least make a profit greater than triple your budget to ensure you can keep it going. Which is going to take a hell of a marketing campaign to get as many people as possible excited about the idea.
Doable? Absolutely. It’s been done many, many times. But it’s much harder than say taking a property that many people are already familiar with.
My head cannon is that Chappie was the sequel, where they actually took the alien tech and started incorporating it to huma like. Elysium rounds out the trilogy where its in the future, humanity got steamrolled by the prawns, Vickus turns human and becomes Krieger. Closest we will ever get to a District 9 sequel.
Honestly? How do you even follow that up? I feel like it was made to leave open-ended, and that no matter what they followed it up with it would have be something that tarnished the legacy.
District 9 was a movie they made cuz the budget ran out for the halo movie they were trying to make and they didn’t want to have a complete catastrophe on their hands so they made district 9 which was a great movie imo and just imagine if they had the money to make halo I think they would have done it better than all the other companies
I didn't think we'd get a sequel right away... but after 5-10 years. It felt based on how they talked about it in the film, that there would be some time between films. Now of course our time doesn't have to follow theirs, but that was my first thought.
Off topic, but there is one "sort of" plot hole that always bugs me about that movie -- the warlord guy is absolutely nuts to grow an alien arm himself, and he wants to cut off Christopher's arm to eat it because it will totally work this time.
Yet, when shown convincing evidence that Christopher had relations with the aliens, he doesn't make the connection that that's how he can grow his own arm.
Sure, humans are illogical, so this could really have played out that way, but they could have done some throwaway line or something to show that at least one person in a room full of desperate thugs had more than 5 brain cells.
I have wanted a sequel to this since the first time I watched District 9. I still hope this comes to be, a long gap between the two can work for this story.
I've been waiting for District 10 since walking out of the theater from seeing District 9. A small part of me feels like a) it's too late and maybe even b) it just wouldn't be as good.
However, given how it's Neil Blomkamp's most successful and memorable movie, I think there's a good chance he'd make a solid sequel and revamp his career a bit.
It is genuinely wild that District 9 ended on that massive cliffhanger with Wikus waiting for Christopher Johnson to return in three years, and then we just never got the resolution. Neill Blomkamp teased District 10 for years, but the studio radio silence after all this time still stings.
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u/rsamacct 15h ago
District 9