Best Picture nominee #2: District 9

No, this is not a joke. District 9 is indeed nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. Although the nomination is surprising, the film itself is pretty good.

The film centers around the arrival of an alien spacecraft over South Africa. After several months of inactivity from the craft, an exploratory team raids the ship and discovers over a million extraterrestrials who are given refuge on Earth in a military guarded slum known as District 9. An organization known as Multinational United or MNU takes charge of relocating the aliens to a larger area known as District 10. Wikus van de Merwe, an MNU operative is in charge of evicting the aliens and relocating them. After searching the shack of one of the aliens, Wikus discovers a canister that sprays him with black fluid. He begins to feel ill and his arm soon begins to mutate into an alien appendage. He is quickly taken into MNU custody where they discover he is now able to use alien weapons due to his mutating DNA. Scientists intend to study Wikus but he escapes and discovers that the canister that sprayed him contained fluid that could reactivate the alien mothership. He is told by one of the aliens that if he can retrieve the canister and help the aliens escape, his mutation can be cured. The irony is that as Wikus becomes more like an alien, the more humane he eventually becomes.

District 9 is an excellent action packed sci-fi thriller and deals with many real issues such as racism and social segregation. Though it may be a long-shot to win the award, District 9 is still a great film.

imdb.com rating: 8.3/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 90%

The Byrd's Eye View: 7.8/10

Best Picture Nominee #1: Avatar

The Academy Awards are only one week away. As promised, I will review the 10 Best Picture Nominees with the exception of The Blind Side, which I didn't get the opportunity to see. The nominee that I will focus on today will be Avatar. As you all may know, Avatar shattered box office records and was the first film to ever earn over $2 billion worldwide. Avatar had finally taken the record of highest grossing film away from Titanic, and rightfully so.

Avatar would be considered by many to be the front runner for this year's Best Picture award. It's groundbreaking visual effects make it a wonder to see in 3-D and IMAX.

The film is set in the year 2154 when humans are mining for a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a moon in a distant star system. Pandora is inhabited by a tribe of 10 ft. tall humanoid aliens known as the Na'vi. In order to facilitate relations with the Na'vi as well as conduct research on Pandora, scientists grow Na'vi human hybrid bodies known as avatars operated by genetically matching humans. Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine is given the opportunity to infiltrate the Na'vi and gain their trust after scientists discover that the Na'vi colony is sitting on top of the largest deposit of unobtanium on Pandora. Sully is told that if he succeeds in getting the Na'vi to cooperate, he would receive treatment for his paraplegia. Sully's loyalties are soon shaken after he becomes close to the tribe and ultimately results in a full scale war.

Avatar is without a doubt one of the best movie-going experiences I've ever had. It is definitely a front-runner for the Oscar this year.

imdb.com rating: 8.5/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 82%

The Byrd's Eye View: 8.0/10

Introduction

Hello everybody! Welcome to the debut of The Byrd's Eye View. This blog serves as my personal branch of PB & J Reviews, a movie reviewing group starring myself and my partner J. Look us up on facebook and youtube. J also has his own blog called Experiencing Electronic Entertainment, so check that out as well. I will frequently post reviews of upcoming films and give my final overall rating (The Byrd's Eye View) as well as ratings from imdb.com and rottentomatoes.com.

Since it is almost time for the Oscars, my primary focus for future posts is reviewing the Best Picture nominees. Prior to the Oscars, I will also post my predictions.

Feel free to email me any time at p_byrd23@hotmail.com and continue to check back. Also, feel free to leave me suggestions for films to review. Thanks and enjoy!