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Common sense media reviewers.
Visually stunning but scary fantasy for older tweens and up.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
Despite its often-bleak tone and some conflict amo
The character 9 is resourceful, selfless, and brav
Several scenes of frightening machines attacking a
Parents need to know that this dark, futuristic Tim Burton-produced fantasy may be animated, but it's not meant for younger kids. Violence and scary scenes are prevalent throughout the film, with the main characters frequently battling killer robotic machines -- which are merciless as they pursue (and, in several…
Positive Messages
Despite its often-bleak tone and some conflict among the characters, the movie's overwhelming messages are about banding together to battle evil, not leaving anyone behind, redemption, and self sacrifice for the greater good. As in the Terminator movies, there's a clear caution about giving too much power to machines/technology. There's also a spiritual undertone to some parts of the movie, especially in regards to how the main characters came to be.
Positive Role Models
The character 9 is resourceful, selfless, and brave from the start. He inspires the rest of his kind to band together and fight against the machines. The 7 character, who is female, is a fierce, independent warrior. Leader 1 is initially resistant to change, curiosity, and risk, but he sees the error of his ways in the end.
Violence & Scariness
Several scenes of frightening machines attacking and, in several cases, killing the main character's friends. Although the battles are between ragdoll-like creatures and robots instead of humans and aren't gory, they can be quite intense and scary. There are also disturbing images of a machine being beheaded, characters having their life force sucked out of them, explosions, and other moments of intense, suspenseful peril. Dead human bodies are shown briefly, including a mother and child, and flashbacks and newsreel footage show an intense battle between people and rampaging machines. Weapons include spears and, in the flashback sequences, guns and chemical bombs.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this dark, futuristic Tim Burton -produced fantasy may be animated, but it's not meant for younger kids. Violence and scary scenes are prevalent throughout the film, with the main characters frequently battling killer robotic machines -- which are merciless as they pursue (and, in several cases, kill) their ragdoll-like prey in frightening ways. The robots also make alarming noises and often pop up out of the blue. Dead human bodies are shown briefly, but there's no gore. On the up side, despite the movie's ominous tone and frequent peril and violence, there's no language, drinking, consumerism, or sexual content. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .
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Parents say (34)
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Based on 34 parent reviews
Great Philosophical Kids Movie
9 is my new lucky number, what's the story.
Based on writer-director Shane Acker's 2005 Oscar-nominated short, 9 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where all that's left of humanity is a band of ragdoll-like beings created by an unnamed elderly scientist. When the final ragdoll, 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood ), awakens, he sets off to explore his world. He stumbles upon another creature like him, 2 ( Martin Landau ), but they're quickly attacked by a mechanical beast, and 2 is taken. 9 joins up with the remaining ragdolls, who are split between those who want to confront the murderous machine to save 2 and those who want to hide from it. After 9 inadevertently powers up an even bigger machine, the group has no choice but to attempt to destroy the killer robot.
Is It Any Good?
Acker is a gifted filmmaker: The movie's visuals are breathtakingly crafted. Everything in a scene -- from the buttons and zippers on the ragdoll creatures' bodies to the stained-glass window in a deserted cathedral -- is amazingly detailed. The pacing is also just right. At only 79 minutes, the suspense is crisply edited, with a couple of moments earning audible gasps from the audience. Based on style alone, this is a brilliant, five-star film.
But story-wise, Acker falls a bit short. The plot is minimalist, and all of the characters -- aged and jaded leader 1 ( Christopher Plummer ), fiercely brave 7 ( Jennifer Connelly ), sweet but scared 5 ( John C. Reilly ), introverted artist 6 ( Crispin Glover ), and mute librarian twins 3 and 4 -- deserve more depth. We see 9 from his "birth," but the rest of the gang isn't nearly as strongly sewn together. Still, plot shortcomings aside, 9 is a must-see for its impressive, inventive animation.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the movie's violence and scary scenes . Is it any less scary because humans aren't involved, or is it still intense?
What is the movie saying about technology? Is technology portrayed negatively in other films?
Who do you think the movie's intended audience is? Do you think young kids will want to see it?
Movie Details
In theaters : September 9, 2009
On DVD or streaming : December 29, 2009
Cast : Christopher Plummer , Elijah Wood , John C. Reilly
Director : Shane Acker
Studio : Focus Features
Genre : Fantasy
Run time : 79 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : violence and scary images.
Last updated : January 9, 2023
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Movie Review: 9 (2009)
General Disdain
Movie Reviews
2 responses
--> September 13, 2009
In the not so distant future, mankind is all but eliminated from the face of the Earth. In the similar fashion as the Terminator films , man built machines that ultimately led to his and all of life’s eradication. Man may be gone, however, but in his place are miniature ragdoll-like puppet creatures imbued with the soul of their creator. It is these strange little creations — actually one named 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) in particular — whose mission it is to defeat the machine overlords and restore the planet to an inhabitable world.
Now, I’ve grown to expect some very strange things when I see the name Tim Burton affixed to something — he has a keen eye for the dark, obscure and awkward. He also has a knack at taking these improbable nuggets and making them shiny for mass acceptance. 9 is the latest story he’s put his collective weight behind. It’s got the bizarre factor down, but I still think it is a bit too dull for my liking.
Mostly, the lacklusteredness of 9 stems from the story itself — or more pointedly, it’s the lack of one that is really at issue. Nothing is ever really explained well enough for the viewer to know what the hell is or has gone on. What exactly are 9 and his fellow puppet creatures (each with a number for a name and voiced by talents like John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer) and how were they created? Why, if humans possess this most awesome technology, don’t they stop Armageddon from happening at all? What pissed the machines off so much in the first place that they wiped out every living thing off of the planet? These unanswered questions are undoubtedly a consequence from trying to expand the source material — an 11 minute short film of the same name (and coincidentally same director Shane Acker). Perhaps an extra ten minutes added to the 79 minute running time or the replacement of one or two of the many machine/doll chase scenes with explanation scenes would have calmed my ever curious mind. Perhaps not.
Yet, even though the film raises more questions than it answers about our eventual demise and the order of the world after we’re gone, it is still visually entertaining. The CGI by first time animation studio Focus Features is very detailed oriented. The dark, dirty and crumbling cityscape in which most of 9 takes place is eerie and depressing. The mechanized enemies are jagged, hard and ominously lifeless. The dolls are doughy-like and cute in a sad sort of way. 85% of the movie takes place under the black of night (or perhaps it is better to say in the lack of light) further adding a foreboding atmosphere to the tale and ultimately to our bleak future.
And even though I’m tired of there not being any movies highlighting sunny, happy visions of our future, I’ll toss some credit towards 9 for taking a stab at the post apocalyptic story with a new, fresh fantastical angle. I may not have understood a great deal of the underlying imagery, but that wasn’t necessary for me to at least enjoy myself more than I would have had I been cutting the lawn.
I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.
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'Movie Review: 9 (2009)' have 2 comments
September 30, 2009 @ 10:12 am Tiana
Im a huge fan of Tim Burton. But this movie was very dissapointing. The story was very jumbled and hard to follow. Its a good movie for people who like to create their own background story or who like to think about the underlying meaning. There is a moral of course, but it did not take a whole movie to point out this moral. I think it would make a great video game, but I do not suggest buying it, if you want to see it I strongly suggest rent it from the video store when it comes out.
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October 9, 2010 @ 12:55 am CMrok93
The apocalyptic 9 offers innovative images of a broken Earth inhabited by woven warriors battling machines. But it’s more style than substance – this mechanical tale needs a human touch. Nice Review, check out mine when you can!
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DVD & Streaming
Action/Adventure , Animation , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy , War
Content Caution
In Theaters
September 9, 2009
Voices of Elijah Wood as 9; Christopher Plummer as 1; Jennifer Connelly as 7; John C. Reilly as 5; Martin Landau as 2
Home Release Date
December 29, 2009
Shane Acker
Distributor
Focus Features
Movie Review
In 9 , the meek inherit the earth.
What an inheritance.
The world is a lifeless, smoking pile of rubble, the land laid waste by war between machine and man. The sky is a haze of brown-gray soot, the streets are littered with stone and metal shards and skeletons—the detritus of a civilization snuffed out. Nothing around here weeps. Nothing breathes. Nothing lives.
There, in the corner of the carnage, small, sentient rag dolls lurk. The meekest of the meek, they’re called stitchpunks, and their cloth skin covers intricate machinery that allows them to talk and walk and run. And there’s something else inside them, too: thought, feeling, ingenuity, ambition. They click and whir and live. And die.
9, our titular hero, is the last of his kind—the creation of a repentant scientist who somehow stitched a soul inside him and set him spinning. But the process kills the scientist, so 9 crawls out into this hostile world alone, only by happenstance finding others much like him.
They are, it turns out, products (offspring?) of the same scientist—they’re numbered 1 through 8—and together, they face the earth’s current master: A sentient-but-soulless machine that creates other spiritless monsters and has a strange, all-encompassing hatred for stitchpunks. The spider-like machine captures these little rag dolls and, through the use of a cryptic, unexplained talisman, yanks out their essence—killing them. We don’t know why it hates them. We don’t know why it kills them. Perhaps it doesn’t know why, either. It simply does.
So opens our planet’s final showdown—a clash in which the last semblance of humanity, sewn inside ragtag avatars, faces the force that destroyed everything.
[ Note: The following sections contain spoilers. ]
Positive Elements
9 and his fellow stitchpunks are (pardon the pun) a tight-knit group. While some are more sympathetic than others (and one, for much of the film, is a downright jerk), all seem willing to sacrifice a great deal—sometimes their lives—for the good of their “family.” Several show moments of bravery and ingenuity, and all seem to genuinely care for others—even if that concern sometimes manifests itself in different ways.
Spiritual Elements
While neither God nor religion is overtly mentioned in 9 , spiritual themes are everywhere. First, there are the stitchpunks themselves: They’ve been imbued with souls—a contrast to the heartless machinery they fight. Director Shane Acker uses his stitchpunks to question the evolutionist notion that humanity is just a pile of organic nuts and bolts. There is, he argues, something special about the soul.
“There’s some spirituality in [our] creation, some indescribable thing that can’t be broken down into scientific terms,” Acker told scienceblogs.com . “Though we can start to describe [the] brain as a complex collection of nerves that creates thought, you can say that we’re complex amino acid collections, how do you describe that consciousness that humans have?”
Second, there’s the way these stitchpunks get their “souls.” The stitchpunks are, we learn, manifestations of the creator-scientist’s own soul—the man’s essence split into nine parts. And, while the scientist uses some scientific method to achieve this (the film suggests it’s a form of “dark science,”) the effect feels more akin to magic or, as Acker himself says, “alchemy.” The devices that achieve this transfer (and the devices the machine uses to capture the souls of the stitchpunks) are engraved with symbols. And once 9 and others are able to release the captured souls, the scene feels both ceremonial and spiritual: The “souls” actually appear and walk briefly to their flags before they’re swept up into the air, turning into a green, swirling mist.
Third, the stitchpunk known as 1 may serve as some sort of metaphor for the Pope, or the Catholic church, or perhaps organized religion in general. He walks around with a pointy hat, cape and what looks to be a shepherd’s crook, and he sets up shop (along with his stitchpunk followers) in a deserted cathedral. He is the least sympathetic stitchpunk by far: While 9 wants to save his friends, 1 wants to find somewhere safe. While 9 wants to fight the machines, 1 wants to run away and follow the “rules.” He rails against 9’s constant questions (and questioning), pooh-poohs science and betrays one of his own kind.
But 1 is not uniformly bad. As time goes on, his religious trappings are forcibly ripped away from him, and he winds up making the bravest, most selfless sacrifice of all. I don’t know if the filmmakers intended this, but to me, his actions evoked thoughts of a heartening spiritual idea: Beneath all the Church’s sometimes ostentatious trappings, foibles and weaknesses, at its core it’s still a beautiful thing—and that beauty is built on sacrifice.
One more note: Acker may suggest here that humanity made technology itself into a false god. Through a film clip, we see the creation of the primary soulless, sentient machine, and we learn through narration that the machine was designed to “make others in its own image.” Its home—a massive, dilapidated factory—looks very much like a cathedral.
Sexual Content
Violent content.
One of the trailers for 9 informs potential moviegoers, “This is not your little brother’s animated movie.” Take this message as a warning.
The mechanized creatures here are enough to spawn nightmares. Stitchpunks meet a part metal, part bone doglike robot they call the Beast, for instance. And some are captured by an über-scary snakelike thing topped by a doll’s head—one that reanimates stitchpunk corpses to draw others to their doom. Countless cockroach-fast micro-machines chase the stitchpunks through a long tube. Indeed, all the machines in 9 are absolutely, terrifyingly ruthless, and we see them not just stalk and chase our heroes, we see them slice, skewer and chomp them before carrying their mangled bodies away. Often, stitchpunks are still alive even after such abuse. (9 stitches up 7’s leg after she’s harpooned, and 5 manages to fix 9’s arm after it got torn.) But once their souls are sucked from them—as green energy invades their bodies through their eyes and mouths—their bodies go limp and lifeless.
The stitchpunks fight back with a handful of small knives and needles, and they even manage to hack off parts from their attackers. (The Beast, for instance, is “killed” after one of them slices off its head.) Stitchpunks destroy the main machine gathering point by setting a barrel of oil on fire and rolling it into its hyper-explosive bowels. Later, they shoot (and hit) the massive head machine with a cannon.
There is no blood—all the victims are machines—but the carnage and peril are significant.
Glimpses back into the human world reveal the scientist’s dead body in his apartment and another body in a car. We witness a bit of the war that led to this post-apocalyptic world: One man, after he lobs something at a vanguard of advancing robots, is shot down and falls to the ground, lifeless.
Crude or Profane Language
Drug and alcohol content, other negative elements.
1 fully expects his comrade to be captured or killed when he sends 2 out on a mission. 9, using a powerful talisman rather cluelessly, awakens the main machine.
9 , produced by that connoisseur of creep Tim Burton, might be construed as many things: a fairy tale, a fable, a warning, a horror story.
What this animated post-apocalyptic nightmare is not , is a kids’ movie.
There’s no blood, no sex, no foul language. But 9 offers us a dark world filled with bleak, frightening imagery. It extends few smiles and no laughs. The hope it reluctantly unveils is pale, plastered lightly on a wall of disaster.
But the dystopian palate, in context, makes sense. We are, after all, being given a window to the end of the world—one of our own making, one in which humanity’s passion for technology outstripped its capacity to contain it. As Dr. Ian Malcom said in Jurassic Park (another film where technology is unleashed with teeth), “[They] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Science is a great thing. It has given us longer lives, unimagined freedom and, of course, this website. But Burton and Acker warn that science cannot, and should not, be the answer to everything. Our technological advances are only that if we imbue them with a little humanity, a little morality. And that, in our insane information age, is a timely message indeed.
“This world is ours now,” says 9 at the end of the film. “It’s what we make of it.”
As grim as 9 is, it seems to understand that in 2009, we still have time to make something of it.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
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Screen Rant reviews 9
There's been a lot of buzz around the Shane Aker-directed, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov-produced movie 9 . The idea for a feature length 9 movie was sparked by a short film of the same name by writer-director Shane Aker.
The short film is really quite amazing (click on the link above to see it) and I was excited to hear a full length film would be made based on it. However when I saw the first trailer and there was dialog (the short film has none) I got a bit worried that it might not have the power of the original short film. While the addition of dialog does remove a fair amount of the sense of awe and mystery, the full length 9 still manages to stand on its own as a film worth watching.
9 is both the title of the film and the "name" of the hero of the film (voiced by Elijah Wood). As the film opens, the first thing we see is the unconscious, burlap, rag doll figure that is 9 hanging by his wrist in the center of some mechanical device. It's obvious that he's been there for quite a while - long enough that the thin string supporting him has frayed against the circular frame surrounding him and the look of the surroundings. The string finally breaks, and upon hitting the table 9 awakens, disoriented by his surroundings.
He finds himself in a dangerous, post-apocalyptic world devoid of human life - and in possession of a mysterious device that he senses must be important. Eventually he runs into others of his own kind who have been hiding from a terrifying mechanical cat beast, hoping that it eventually dies away. They are led by "1" (voiced by Christopher Plummer) who has a big, burly and not very smart "8" as a protector. When 9 appears on the scene, he is dismayed at the sense of fatality and status quo the few survivors are living in. "2" was the first person he ran into - 2 saved his life and while he was taken away by the cat beast, 1 has no intention of sending anyone off on a rescue attempt.
9 takes things into his own hands and along with 5 (a scientist-apprentice of 2) heads off to try to rescue their captured comrade. Along the way they meet 7 (Jennifer Connelly), an independent young female who has ninja-like skills and refuses to live under 1's rule.
Soon the device found by 9 is put into use with disastrous consequences, from which our intrepid little heroes must extricate themselves.
Shane Acker and the actors manage to bring many nuances of emotion to the little robotic(?) characters in the film and it doesn't take long at all to start feeling for and empathizing with them. Each character was designed to excel at a specific function and their personalities match whichever that might be. We do also get to see what led to the world they live in through flashbacks - and there is a cool retro "War of the Worlds" vibe to that part of the film.
The film is more than a bit vague on how these little critters were created - in the original short film it's not an issue, but in a full length feature film the lack of a better explanation here did intrude on my enjoyment of the film a bit. Also, even at just 80 minutes it still felt a little long to me.
This movie is wonderful visually - I loved the detail and texture of the world they created here (if you're a fan of the "steampunk" genre you'll probably love 9) . The film is dark both visually and in tone - and so rich in detail that you won't be able to absorb it all in one viewing. Speaking of "dark," 9 is rated PG-13 for "violence and scary images." In particular cat beast and the seamstress are sure to freak the little ones out - so please keep in mind while this is an animated CGI film, it might not be suitable for kids under 7 or so. There is some nightmare material here for sure for more sensitive kids.
While there are familiar elements to the story (while details of the story are unique, the overall story arc is fairly conventional), the originality of the idea still shines through loud and clear. Being that it has the odd combination of being a CGI animated film that's not really suited for younger children, I hope that 9 still manages to find an audience because it's a film that is definitely worth watching.
9 is a postapocalyptic animation movie that focuses on a rag doll that may hold humanity's last chance at salvation. The film stars Elijah Wood as the voice of 9 alongside other big-name actors such as Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, and John C. Reilly.
Movie Reviews
4 star movies
28 Oct 2009
It’s with no small irony that the apocalyptic wastelands have proved such fertile ground for filmmakers. We’ve been underwater, monkey-ruled, machine-controlled, zombie-infested, and soon we’ll be entirely swept away in 2012. For now, however, we all appear to be dead, and a modern-day Geppetto has left a ragbag collection of numbered hessian dolls to fight for the survival of humanity in writer/director Shane Acker’s full-length debut.
Acker’s skills with exhaustively detailed CG animation were rewarded by the Academy with the 2005 release of 9, an 11-minute wordless short from which this 79-minute talkie has sprung. With his Oscar-nominated quickie, Acker revealed his influences, ranging from UK-based filmmakers the Quay Brothers to French comic-book genius Moebius, but it’s clear that Tim Burton, who served as a producer on the feature-length 9, is a good fit. There’s more than a touch of The Nightmare Before Christmas to the film’s look, but Acker has taken his photo-surreal imagery in a refreshing direction.
To assist him in expanding his tale, Burton paired Acker with writer Pamela Pettler, who scribed Corpse Bride for the Goth guru. Even with a relatively short 68 minutes left to fill, they had their work cut out to expand what is a very simple story.
Voiced by Elijah Wood, 9 awakes to find himself in what looks like a World War II-era world destroyed by machines, only to find a small society of similarly sewn sad-sacks hiding from The Beast, a metal machine intent on amassing a living doll collection. Self-proclaimed leader 1 (Christopher Plummer) keeps his troops in hiding, but newbie 9 convinces them they must attack to survive. Along the way, they uncover a Pathé-style newsreel that reveals their destiny — 9 and his new chums have been imbued with the last vestiges of humanity and must fight for what is left of the human soul.
Visually, 9 is extraordinary, offering a level of detail and imagination that makes even Pixar’s back catalogue seem twee. Our numerical heroes’ coarse burlap bodies all but scratch the screen, and Acker has created (and destroyed) an incredible world with all the angular wonder you might only expect from an architecture graduate.
Where 9 fails to match Pixar’s output is on story and character; this evocative post-apocalyptic sprawl is married to a plodding plot. Machines destroyed the world! The survivors must fight! For so much originality of style, you expect more from a narrative that too often dissolves into a series of set-piece chases. Yes, we’re introduced to the rebellious 7 and 2, the kind old soul, but their one-dimensional traits do little to help you connect to them on any emotional level.
There’s also a problem with 9’s target audience: too violent for tots, too shallow for adults, it exists in a world uninviting to either camp. Which is a pity as, artistically, 9 has pushed computer animation away from the cute and into the shadows. Acker needs to be watched. Add a telling story, and maybe next time he’ll make a ten.
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9 film review
A computer animated movie that's definitely not for the kids, Ron finds that 9 rivals even the visual majesty of Wall-E...
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In what is one of the better release day stunts since Friday The 13th movies came out on Friday the 13th, the anticipated computer animated film 9 was released on 09-09-09. It was even showing in theater 9 when I went to check it out, undoubtely due to some behind the scenes machinations by Focus Features. That with a sustained marketing blitz helped to create buzz, but PG-13 animation is kind of a dicey proposition.
9 may be computer animation, but it is definitely not for children. Based on director/writer Shane Acker’s Oscar-nominated short film, 9 is the story of nine little clockwork ‘stitchpunk’ dolls who are the only remnants of life on earth after a catastrophic war between humans and machines. Think of it as kind of a post- Terminator world in which nothing survived save the nine stitchpunks and an ominous entity known as The Beast. Little do the clockwork characters know that The Beast is the least of their problems.
There’s not a whole lot of plot to 9 . 9 (Elijah Wood) wakes up, is discovered by 2 (Martin Landau), and later meets 1 (Christopher Plummer), 5 (John C. Reilly), 6 (Crispin Glover), 7 (Jennifer Connelly), and 8 (Fred Tatasciore). They struggle to find their place in the new world while trying to learn about where they come from and what happened to make the world the way it is. Kind of like the same basic questions we all ask ourselves, except we’re not festooned with buttons and zippers. What the movie lacks in story and dialogue it makes up for in some delirious action sequences.
9 is an incredible movie in terms of sheer visual artistry. The movie is gorgeously animated, featuring incredible textures and lots of dynamics in terms of character design. Their burlap bodies have burlap texture. There’s stitching. The copper eyes and hands have that dulled coin appearance. It’s sumptuous. Yes, the nine kind of all look similar, but you never run the risk of not being able to tell any of them apart thanks to a number of very subtle differences. The creations walk the careful line between looking as though created by one man and being different enough to not be interchangeable They really are wonderful to behold.
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The distinctive voices help quite a bit when it comes to keeping the characters straight, even if the actors aren’t given a whole lot to do with their roles. Martin Landau seemed to make the most impression in his limited screen time as the curious 2, as does Fred Tatasciore with his hulking 8. With Christopher Plummer in a prominent role, you know what to expect. That’s not to say there are any glaring problems with the actors or the script, but it doesn’t really do much beyond the standard action movie dialogue.
Animated movies keep getting more and more detailed, but 9 seems to take it to a new level, even bypassing Wall-E in terms of building a post-apocalyptic world. Due to the small size of the stitchpunks, everything seems alien and monstrous to them, which makes the foreboding world in which they live even more ominous and threatening. The entire movie is pretty grim, in fact. Very dark and very devastated in a way that Wall-E didn’t evoke nearly as well. There was still hope for that world, but the world of 9 ? Not so much.
Shane Acker was one of the special effect wizards at WETA before this movie, and his digital animation background shows. The stitchpunks chase and are chased, they fight and fly through the landscape with flair, but there’s not a lot of substance to go with the style. It’s a yummy bit of eye candy, but there’s no real chewy nougat center.
Still, 9 is a film with a whole lot of energy, and unlike a lot of recent movies, there’s no fat to speak of. 9 breezes onto the screen, tells its story, raises pulses, and departs without overstaying its welcome or attempting to pad beyond its lean 79-minute runtime. In a movie landscape where anything under 90 minutes is rare, 9 is a well-paced nugget of thrills. Sure, you may have seen them all before, but they’ve never been quite this pretty.
US correspondent Ron Hogan looked up the toy designs for 9 and yes, they are spectacular. Find more by Ron at his blog, Subtle Bluntness and daily at Shaktronics and PopFi .
Ron Hogan is a freelance writer from Louisville, Kentucky who got an English degree from a college no one has ever heard of. After dropping out…
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Shane Acker. Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, Fred Tatasciore.
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Movie Review: ‘Tuesday,’ with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is strange, emotional and fiercely original
This image released by A24 shows Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a scene from “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Lola Petticrew in a scene from “Tuesday.” (A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Lola Petticrew, left, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a scene from “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Leah Harvey, left, and Lola Petticrew in a scene from “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Lola Petticrew in a scene from “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows actor Lola Petticrew,” left, Daina O. Pusić, center, and Arinzé Kene on the set of “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
This image released by A24 shows Arinzé Kene, left, and actor Lola Petticrew during the filming of “Tuesday.” (Kevin Baker/A24 via AP)
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Death has taken many forms in cinema. It’s been Bengt Ekerot. Ian McKellen. John Cleese. Even Brad Pitt with blonde highlights. But in “ Tuesday ,” filmmaker Daina O. Pusić's bold, fantastical and affecting debut, death looks like a lot like a macaw that’s seen better days.
Covered in a thick layer of grime and oil with patches of feathers missing, “Tuesday’s” Death can be as big as a room or as small as an ear canal. Its booming, gravelly voice (that of actor Arinzé Kene) sounds ancient and otherworldly. And it all adds up to something profoundly unsettling. Not exactly a comforting welcome into the afterlife, or whatever comes next.
“Tuesday,” expanding nationwide Friday , is about death, and acceptance, between a mother and her dying daughter. But this is no Hallmark affair fitting for a sympathy card. It is prickly, wry, somewhat unsentimental, a bit gritty and awfully painful at times. Or maybe it’s just uniquely British. And you may just find yourself in a puddle of your own tears as a result.
Now, in terms of cinematic emotional blackmail, a parent coming to terms with a child’s imminent death is pretty much in the red zone. That sort of setup could produce involuntary tears from an audience regardless of the level of talent involved. Thankfully for us, there is immense creativity and vision both in front of and behind the camera, including not just the writer-director but the special effects experts responsible for Death as well as the haunting and innovative sound design.
Lola Petticrew plays the titular Tuesday, a teen with a “Breathless” pixie cut, a love of jokes and rap music and a terminal illness that has bound her to an oxygen tank and the use of a wheelchair. Her mother, Zora ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus ), has entirely disconnected from the situation. She tiptoes around the house waiting for the nurse, Billie (a lovely Leah Harvey), to do the caretaking. She stays out all day, pawning household items for cash to pay for the care, ignoring Tuesday’s calls and occasionally falling asleep on park benches. At home, she doesn’t want to talk to Tuesday about anything real — the death, her job, their precarious financial position — it’s all been deeply repressed and compartmentalized and is making everyone crazy.
The day we meet Zora and Tuesday is the day Death arrives. Billie has left Tuesday on the patio for just a minute to start a bath. All of a sudden, the girl who was just joking around is having an episode, gasping for air, when the macaw lands by her side. Death is actually the first character introduced, in an unnerving series of deaths setting an ominous tone that will loom throughout. Some are ready to go, begging for relief. Some are just scared. And all have the same outcome once he’s put his wing around them.
Tuesday, however, decides to tell a joke. This disarms Death (who bursts out laughing) and suddenly they’re in conversation together. She gives him a bath, puts on some music and asks a favor: She’d like to say goodbye to her mom first. Death obliges.
Of course the story both is and isn’t that simple. “Tuesday” becomes some strange combination of body horror, fairy tale, domestic drama and apocalypse thriller. It is weird and transfixing — never predictable and never boring. Louis-Dreyfus is both chilling and deeply empathetic as this woman who has been paralyzed by grief even before it’s happened. She seems to be preparing for her own death in a way, unable and unwilling to process a life without her daughter who, at this point, doesn’t even realize that her mother still loves her. Petticrew holds their own, going head-to-head with Louis-Dreyfus at her cruelest, exhibiting a wisdom beyond their years and fitting of a person who’s had to grow up and face death far too early.
“Tuesday” is ultimately a cathartic affair, whether death is top of mind at the moment or not. And it announces the arrival of a daring filmmaker worth following.
“Tuesday,” an A24 release in theaters nationwide Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language. Running time: 111 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. ___
This story has been updated to correct Lola Petticrew’s pronouns.
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Editor’s note: This review was originally published September 1, 2023 after the film’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. The movie was originally to be released in December 2023 by 20th Century Studios before being derailed by the Hollywood strikes. Focus Features is now distributing and released it in theaters Friday.
It has been awhile since we have seen a major big-screen return to the world of biker culture, but with Jeff Nichols ‘ The Bikeriders , which had its world premiere Thursday at the Telluride Film Festival , this long-lost era is back. But its filmmaker has distinctly different ideas and motives in reviving it. Basically, Nichols tells a period story set in the ’60s and ’70s world of the earlier efforts but applies contemporary themes of identity and loyalty and the need to belong in a world increasingly isolating us as individuals. On top of that, The Bikerider s is more in line with movies that Martin Scorsese has made such as GoodFellas and Mean Streets, films that pulsate with vivid characters, music and graphic violence. You might also say it is also right in line with a classic Western, the outlaws riding bikes instead of horses to the inevitable showdowns.
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Nichols got his inspiration for the story from a book of photographs by Danny Lyon. First published in 1967, it chronicled the real-life Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club over a four-year period. Nichols has crafted a fictionalized version called the Vandals, but many of the characters are based on photos in those pages of Lyon’s book, which has been reissued a few times over the decades.
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Kathy strings together anecdotes of the club’s rise and fall as she tells her story to Danny (Mike Faist), who is recording conversations for a potential book. This is what Lyon actually did, and Nichols uses the device to span several years in the life of the Vandals from the mid-’60s to the ’70s to a coda telling what happened eventually to all of the riders. There are a number of other colorful characters including the quirky Zipco (Nichols regular Michael Shannon ); Cal (Boyd Holbrook), who is the chief mechanic and more interested in bikes than people; Brucie (Damon Herriman); Wahoo (Beau Knapp); the freewheelin’ Cockroach (Emory Cohen); Funny Sonny ( The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus ); and Corky (Karl Glusman). Each of them has a distinct personality that blend well together to make this fictional gang memorable, but it is Butler and Hardy who get the lion’s share of our attention, and both actors are sensational here.
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Coming off his Oscar-nominated Elvis, Butler fits comfortably into a James Dean-style rebel whose cause seems to be surviving one violent encounter after another. Hardy is the grizzled veteran, the older guy who was inspired to start the Vandals after seeing Brando do it in Wild One but who clearly senses his own era might soon a thing of the past as a new generation with different sensibilities knocks at this door. Chief among that generation is The Kid (British actor Toby Wallace), a cocky teen with his own gang that is looking to join the Vandals, but Johnny rightly senses trouble. One of the film’s best scenes has Johnny confronting The Kid, who basically is trying to prove he and his buddies have the right stuff to sign on.
Although there are many vivid and graphically bloody scenes along the way, ultimately this is a portrait of changing times, our collective need for connection and the complications therein. It is the code of the Old West as it meets the new — masculinity unraveled, some who make it out and some who don’t. Nichols has dealt with the complexities of what makes men tick in varied and brilliant films including Mud and Loving, among others, and here presents a, yes, violent, but oddly poignant picture that fits right in with what motivates him as a sharp chronicler of who we were and what we become.
Comer is sensational with a key female voice in a pic otherwise dominated by the guys. Props to veteran casting director Francine Maisler, who helped Nichols bring those faces he saw in Lyon’s book to such stunning cinematic life. This ensemble cast is superb all around. There are also nice brief tip of the hats to The Wild One and Easy Rider themselves.
Producers are Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Arnon Milchan.
Title: The Bikeriders Distributor: Focus Features Release date: June 21, 2024 Director-screenwriter: Jeff Nichols Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Toby Wallace, Norman Reedus, Karl Glusman Rating: R Running time: 1 hr 56 min
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Movies | ‘Thelma’ review: Grandma caper movie is June…
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Movies | ‘thelma’ review: grandma caper movie is june squibb and richard roundtree’s big score.
Now 94, Squibb takes care of business every minute in the enjoyable contrivance “Thelma,” which succeeds, sometimes in spite of itself, for reasons revealed in the first minute of writer-director Josh Margolin’s comedy.
Thelma’s at her computer at home, in the neighborhood of Sherman Oaks or thereabouts in east Los Angeles. She’s looking for a specific email — her late husband singing “Some Enchanted Evening” — among all her unopened emails. By her side, coaching her through the process, is her loving, slightly directionless but big-hearted grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger of “The White Lotus,” Season 1). It’s a familiar scene of gentle comic frustration, made enjoyable by the affection and the light touch of both actors, generations apart but simpatico where it counts. Even in a sitcom, which this is, sort of, it helps to keep the behavior in the realm of real life.
Alone, a few scenes later, Thelma answers an unidentified caller’s phone call. It’s her grandson, in jail. There’s been a misunderstanding of some sort. He needs bail money, and someone’s calling her in a minute to arrange payment. The call comes and Thelma, distraught, agrees to send $10,000 to a post office box nearby in the Valley.
The whole thing’s a scam, effective enough to work on Thelma. Concerned, her therapist daughter (Parker Posey) and tightly wrapped son-in-law (Clark Gregg) chalk it up to old age, wondering if it’s time for Thelma to transition into assisted living. But she has other plans, and would like to get her money back. The plans involve a mobility scooter and its owner, both borrowed from a nearby nursing home for a few hours. Richard Roundtree, whose final film this was, plays the owner, Ben, with a just-so air of real enjoyment. The pair set out to confront the scam artists, whoever they are, and as they embark on their big day out, “Thelma” uses the casually spoofy trappings of spy and revenge-thriller movies — the most obvious being composer Nick Chuba’s insistent “Mission: Impossible”-inspired score — to nudge the action along.
Now, this could’ve been insufferably cute. And it isn’t! It isn’t. Parts of it are what you’d call sufferably cute, but “Thelma” has a canny sense of timing, and comic tone, which accommodates the serious matters as they arise. Aging, losing friends and spouses, dreading the next fall or stumble, wondering when it’s time to make a change or consent to some help: These musings are ever-present in Margolin’s film. Squibb and Roundtree elevate every scene they share; Posey and Gregg and Hechinger actually interact like a quasi-real family, talking and muttering over each other without hammering the rhythms.
This is Margolin’s first directorial feature, and from the looks of it (he also served as editor) he has clever instincts on how to finesse his own joke reflex by backing off visually, or cutting away at the right moment rather than overstressing the humor. At one point Gregg, as son-in-law Alan, obsesses, quietly, over something to do with databases, about which he has no knowledge beyond his feeling that “you don’t want to end up in one.” Far from home in their two-seat mobility scooter, like city cousins of the Iowa characters in “The Straight Story,” Thelma and Ben speak forthrightly about their time of life.
“I didn’t expect to get so old,” Thelma says, and the way Squibb delivers that line, it’s simply a declaration of fact, no despair, no fuss. You believe her, and in her own way she is electrifying. Even when “Thelma” operates on a somewhat lower current.
“Thelma” — 3 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong language)
Running time: 1:37
How to watch: Premieres in theaters June 21
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
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Tv/streaming, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, black writers week, throw another prawn on the barbie.
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I suppose there’s no reason the first alien race to reach the Earth shouldn’t look like what the cat threw up. After all, they love to eat cat food. The alien beings in “District 9,” nicknamed “prawns” because they look like a cross between lobsters and grasshoppers, arrive in a space ship that hovers over Johannesburg. Found inside, huddled together and starving to death, are the aliens, who benefit from a humanitarian impulse to relocate them to a location on the ground.
Here they become not welcomed but feared, and their camp turns into a prison. Fearing alien attacks, humans demand they be resettled far from town, and a clueless bureaucrat named Wikus van der Merwe ( Sharlto Copley ) is placed in charge of this task. The creatures are not eager to move. A private security force, headed by van der Merwe, moves in with armored vehicles and flame-throwers to encourage them, and van der Merwe cheerfully destroys houses full of their young.
Who are these aliens? Where did they come from? How did their ship apparently run out of power (except what’s necessary to levitate its massive tonnage?). No one asks: They’re here, we don’t like them, get them out of town. There doesn’t seem to be a lot to like. In appearance, they’re loathsome, in behavior disgusting and evoke so little sympathy that killing one is like — why, like dropping a 7-foot lobster into boiling water.
This science-fiction fable, directed by newcomer Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter (“ The Lord of the Rings ”) Jackson, takes the form of a mockumentary about van der Merwe’s relocation campaign, his infection by an alien virus, his own refuge in District 9 and his partnership with the only alien who behaves intelligently and reveals, dare we say, human emotions. This alien, named Christopher Johnson — yes, Christopher Johnson — has a secret workspace where he prepares to return to the mothership and help his people.
Much of the plot involves the obsession of the private security firm in learning the secret of the alien weapons, which humans cannot operate. Curiously, none of these weapons seem superior to those of the humans and aren’t used to much effect by the aliens in their own defense. Never mind. After van der Merwe grows a lobster claw in place of a hand, he can operate the weapons, and thus becomes the quarry of both the security company and the Nigerian gangsters, who exploit the aliens by selling them cat food. All of this is presented very seriously.
The film’s South African setting brings up inescapable parallels with its now-defunct apartheid system of racial segregation. Many of them are obvious, such as the action to move a race out of the city and to a remote location. Others will be more pointed in South Africa. The title “District 9” evokes Cape Town’s historic District 6, where Cape Coloureds (as they were called then) owned homes and businesses for many years before being bulldozed out and relocated. The hero’s name, van der Merwe, is not only a common name for Afrikaners, the white South Africans of Dutch descent, but also the name of the protagonist of van der Merwe jokes, of which the point is that the hero is stupid. Nor would it escape a South African ear that the alien language incorporates clicking sounds, just as Bantu, the language of a large group of African apartheid targets.
Certainly this van der Merwe isn’t the brightest bulb on the tree. Wearing a sweater vest over a short-sleeve shirt, he walks up to alien shanties and asks them to sign a relocation consent form. He has little sense of caution, which is why he finds himself in his eventual predicament. What Neill Blomkamp somehow does is make Christopher Johnson and his son, Little CJ, sympathetic despite appearances. This is achieved by giving them, but no other aliens, human body language, and little CJ even gets big wet eyes, like E.T.
“District 9” does a lot of things right, including giving us aliens to remind us not everyone who comes in a spaceship need be angelic, octopod or stainless steel. They are certainly alien, all right. It is also a seamless merger of the mockumentary and special effects (the aliens are CGI). And there’s a harsh parable here about the alienation and treatment of refugees.
But the third act is disappointing, involving standard shoot-out action. No attempt is made to resolve the situation, and if that’s a happy ending, I’ve seen happier. Despite its creativity, the movie remains space opera and avoids the higher realms of science-fiction.
I’ll be interested to see if general audiences go for these aliens. I said they’re loathsome and disgusting, and I don’t think that’s just me. The movie mentions Nigerian prostitutes servicing the aliens, but wisely refrains from entertaining us with this spectacle.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
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District 9 (2009)
Rated R for bloody violence and pervasive language
112 minutes
Mandla Gaduka as Fundiswa Mhlanga
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Sharlto Copley as Wikus
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Google to show your movie/tv reviews and search notes in a public ‘profile’ next week.
Google will start rolling out public, searchable “profiles” in Search that will show your movie and TV reviews as well as notes in Search starting on June 24.
Globally, Google will be making user “profiles” available to gather together any reviews or Search notes attached to your account. At profile.google.com , Google briefly explains:
Your notes and media reviews for movies, books, video games, and albums will appear here
As TechCrunch reports , Google started informing some users of this change as far back as May, with profile pages set to go live on June 24. A pop-up confirms that other users will be able to see your profile if they see your name appear in public-facing reviews or Search notes. Google started experimenting with notes in Search last November .
You can opt to make this private if you wish, but the needed controls seem to only appear for some users. TechCrunch captured screenshots of the new settings including the “Profile privacy” toggle that hides your profile from public access. This doesn’t hide the reviews themselves, though.
In a statement, Google explained:
Profiles make it easier for people to see and manage their reviews of things like movies and TV shows in one place and make reviews more helpful for others. These reviews were already public, and we provide people with control to make their profile private or delete it altogether, along with options to privately edit or delete their reviews
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Google first started testing profiles for reviews in the US and India last year, but it’s only now going to be available to all users.
You can also add social links to the profile page, as shown by Gagan Ghotra, who first noted this change back in May and documented it in a thread on Twitter/X .
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9 (2009) wiki, synopsis, reviews, watch and download
"9" Movie Review
"9" Movie Review
9 (2009) movie poster
9 (2009) wiki, synopsis, reviews, watch and download
9 Movie Review
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The Ninth (Devyataya) theatrical trailer
The Nines (Trailer)
Session 9 (Movie Review)
TWO QUESTIONS I NEED ANSWERED AFTER FAST 9
Clip from Shane Acker's 9
9 Full Movie Facts And Review
COMMENTS
9 movie review & film summary (2009)
Roger Ebert September 09, 2009. Tweet. #9, the hero of "9." Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. The first images are spellbinding. In close-up, thick fingers make the final stitches in a roughly humanoid little rag doll, and binocular eyes are added. This creature comes to life, walks on tottering legs, and ventures fearfully into the ...
9
9. In Theaters At Home TV Shows. Advertise With Us. When 9 (Elijah Wood) springs to life, it finds itself in a post-apocalyptic world where humans no longer exist, and the only signs of life are ...
9 (2009)
9: Directed by Shane Acker. With Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover. A rag doll that awakens in a postapocalyptic future holds the key to humanity's salvation.
Nine movie review & film summary (2009)
In "Nine" this scene is of course reprised, but with an unclear focus. It's less like a vengeful dream, more like a reunion. There's no urgency, no passion, most of all, no guilt. In fact, the subtext of Catholic guilt, which is central to Fellini, is only hinted at in "Nine." But then "Nine" pays homage to a Broadway musical, and not Fellini ...
9 Movie Review
Despite its often-bleak tone and some conflict amo. Positive Role Models. The character 9 is resourceful, selfless, and brav. Violence & Scariness. Several scenes of frightening machines attacking a. Sex, Romance & Nudity Not present. Language Not present. Products & Purchases Not present. Drinking, Drugs & Smoking Not present.
9
The time is the too-near future. Powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, the world's machines have turned on mankind and sparked social unrest, decimating the human population before being largely shut down.But as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization; a group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in ...
9 (2009 animated film)
9 is a 2009 animated science fiction film directed by Shane Acker, written by Pamela Pettler and produced by Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov and Dana Ginsburg. Set in an alternate version of the 1940s, the film follows a rag doll labeled "9" who awakens shortly after the end of mankind following the uprising of machines. The film features the voices of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly ...
Movie Review: 9 (2009)
The dark, dirty and crumbling cityscape in which most of 9 takes place is eerie and depressing. The mechanized enemies are jagged, hard and ominously lifeless. The dolls are doughy-like and cute in a sad sort of way. 85% of the movie takes place under the black of night (or perhaps it is better to say in the lack of light) further adding a ...
9
Movie Review. In 9, the meek inherit the earth.. What an inheritance. The world is a lifeless, smoking pile of rubble, the land laid waste by war between machine and man. The sky is a haze of brown-gray soot, the streets are littered with stone and metal shards and skeletons—the detritus of a civilization snuffed out.
9 (2009)
Metacritic reviews. 9. 60. Metascore. 31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com. 88. Boston Globe Wesley Morris. ... IF you ask me, Shane Acker's post-apocalyp tic animated film 9 is better than the live-ac tion flick "District 9." Beyond their similar titles, these sci-fi social commentaries are both expanded from shorts under the sponsorship ...
9
A potent reminder that not all shorts, even ones as brilliant as Acker's, will necessarily work well as a feature. Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 3, 2012. 9 has a very Coraline-esque ...
'9' Review
9 is a postapocalyptic animation movie that focuses on a rag doll that may hold humanity's last chance at salvation. The film stars Elijah Wood as the voice of 9 alongside other big-name actors such as Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, and John C. Reilly. While '9' may not be suitable for younger children, it is a visually ...
9 (2009)
The story of 9 is a dark, dark one with a very bleak outlook for humanity and our ability to self-destruct. Within the world of 9 lays the debris and remnants of war and death. The corpses of the fallen lay strewn about, the sky has a steady flow of dark clouds and things die as naturally as they appear on screen.
9 Review
9 Review. In a post-apocalyptic future, sackcloth doll 9 (Elijah Wood) wakes up to find more of his kind struggling for survival against terrifying machines. When 2 (Martin Landau) is abducted, 9 ...
9 movie review
Best to think about this up front, because it will seriously effect your potential enjoyment of 9, the debut feature film from director Shane Acker. Adapted from his genuinely brilliant Oscar ...
9 film review
Reviews 9 film review. A computer animated movie that's definitely not for the kids, Ron finds that 9 rivals even the visual majesty of Wall-E...
Dustin Putman's Review: 9 (2009)
9 (2009) Directed by Shane Acker. Voice Cast: Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, Fred Tatasciore. 2009 - 79 minutes. Rated: (for violence and scary images). Reviewed by Dustin Putman, September 2, 2009. "9" began life in 2005 as an 11-minute, dialogue-free animated short that ...
F9 The Fast Saga
The movie as always was amazing with stunts and action Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/07/22 Full Review Read all reviews F9 The Fast Saga My Rating
Triple 9 movie review & film summary (2016)
There are movies about ugly, vile people, and there are ugly, vile movies. "Triple 9" is the latter. Turning his interest in macho nihilism that he explored more effectively in "The Proposition" and even the flawed "Lawless" to bank robbers and the Russian mob, director John Hillcoat again assembles a stunning cast of household names and proceeds to waste almost all of their ...
Movie Reviews
Documentary. Directed by Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía Contreras, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falcó, Jillian Schlesinger. The young directors Silvia Del Carmen ...
Movie Review: 'Tuesday,' with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is strange
Death has taken many forms in cinema. It's been Bengt Ekerot. Ian McKellen. John Cleese. Even Brad Pitt with blonde highlights. But in " Tuesday," filmmaker Daina O. Pusić's bold, fantastical and affecting debut, death looks like a lot like a macaw that's seen better days. Covered in a thick layer of grime and oil with patches of feathers missing, "Tuesday's" Death can be as big ...
Nine to Five movie review & film summary (1980)
Powered by JustWatch. "Nine to Five" is a good-hearted, simple-minded comedy that will win a place in film history, I suspect, primarily because it contains the movie debut of Dolly Parton. She is, on the basis of this one film, a natural-born movie star, a performer who holds our attention so easily that it's hard to believe it's her first ...
Triple 9
Rated: 3/5 Sep 4, 2023 Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine Triple 9 is a good film, and an entertaining one, but it involves realising that there was a better film to be made out of its ...
'The Bikeriders' Review: Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Austin ...
The movie was originally to be released in December 2023 by 20th Century Studios before being derailed by the Hollywood strikes. Focus Features is now distributing and released it in theaters Friday.
'Thelma' review: June Squibb and Richard Roundtree's big score
The whole thing's a scam, effective enough to work on Thelma. Concerned, her therapist daughter (Parker Posey) and tightly wrapped son-in-law (Clark Gregg) chalk it up to old age, wondering if ...
Horizon: An American Saga
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1: Directed by Kevin Costner. With Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone. Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.
District 9 movie review & film summary (2009)
Roger Ebert August 12, 2009. Tweet. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is enlisted to help fight the aliens, nicknamed prawns. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. I suppose there's no reason the first alien race to reach the Earth shouldn't look like what the cat threw up. After all, they love to eat cat food.
Google to show your movie/TV reviews and Search notes in a public
Google will start rolling out public, searchable "profiles" in Search that will show your movie and TV reviews as well as notes in Search starting on June 24. Globally, Google will be making ...
![Name a comparable actor, or someone whose qualities remind you of Donald Sutherland. Anyone? Difficult, no? I doubt there is one, certainly not with the same lucky combination of physical traits and vocal singularity. In no particular order: the blue eyes, the long, narrow Modigliani face, the suave lankiness, the glorious upside-down V eyebrows that made 57 varieties of dialogue both sinister and amusing. And, once heard, never forgotten, the mellow-cello voice, luxuriantly authoritative, trustworthy when needed. Sutherland sold a lot of products in commercial voiceovers after his stardom; I was halfway out of the house and heading to the […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2017/11/11/57L2AMULPRCIPKHP2DM6Q2XTLY.jpg?w=535 "Name a comparable actor, or someone whose qualities remind you of Donald Sutherland. Anyone? Difficult, no? I doubt there is one, certainly not with the same lucky combination of physical traits and vocal singularity. In no particular order: the blue eyes, the long, narrow Modigliani face, the suave lankiness, the glorious upside-down V eyebrows that made 57 varieties of dialogue both sinister and amusing. And, once heard, never forgotten, the mellow-cello voice, luxuriantly authoritative, trustworthy when needed. Sutherland sold a lot of products in commercial voiceovers after his stardom; I was halfway out of the house and heading to the […]")
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Roger Ebert September 09, 2009. Tweet. #9, the hero of "9." Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. The first images are spellbinding. In close-up, thick fingers make the final stitches in a roughly humanoid little rag doll, and binocular eyes are added. This creature comes to life, walks on tottering legs, and ventures fearfully into the ...
9. In Theaters At Home TV Shows. Advertise With Us. When 9 (Elijah Wood) springs to life, it finds itself in a post-apocalyptic world where humans no longer exist, and the only signs of life are ...
9: Directed by Shane Acker. With Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover. A rag doll that awakens in a postapocalyptic future holds the key to humanity's salvation.
In "Nine" this scene is of course reprised, but with an unclear focus. It's less like a vengeful dream, more like a reunion. There's no urgency, no passion, most of all, no guilt. In fact, the subtext of Catholic guilt, which is central to Fellini, is only hinted at in "Nine." But then "Nine" pays homage to a Broadway musical, and not Fellini ...
Despite its often-bleak tone and some conflict amo. Positive Role Models. The character 9 is resourceful, selfless, and brav. Violence & Scariness. Several scenes of frightening machines attacking a. Sex, Romance & Nudity Not present. Language Not present. Products & Purchases Not present. Drinking, Drugs & Smoking Not present.
The time is the too-near future. Powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, the world's machines have turned on mankind and sparked social unrest, decimating the human population before being largely shut down.But as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization; a group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in ...
9 is a 2009 animated science fiction film directed by Shane Acker, written by Pamela Pettler and produced by Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov and Dana Ginsburg. Set in an alternate version of the 1940s, the film follows a rag doll labeled "9" who awakens shortly after the end of mankind following the uprising of machines. The film features the voices of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly ...
The dark, dirty and crumbling cityscape in which most of 9 takes place is eerie and depressing. The mechanized enemies are jagged, hard and ominously lifeless. The dolls are doughy-like and cute in a sad sort of way. 85% of the movie takes place under the black of night (or perhaps it is better to say in the lack of light) further adding a ...
Movie Review. In 9, the meek inherit the earth.. What an inheritance. The world is a lifeless, smoking pile of rubble, the land laid waste by war between machine and man. The sky is a haze of brown-gray soot, the streets are littered with stone and metal shards and skeletons—the detritus of a civilization snuffed out.
Metacritic reviews. 9. 60. Metascore. 31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com. 88. Boston Globe Wesley Morris. ... IF you ask me, Shane Acker's post-apocalyp tic animated film 9 is better than the live-ac tion flick "District 9." Beyond their similar titles, these sci-fi social commentaries are both expanded from shorts under the sponsorship ...
A potent reminder that not all shorts, even ones as brilliant as Acker's, will necessarily work well as a feature. Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 3, 2012. 9 has a very Coraline-esque ...
9 is a postapocalyptic animation movie that focuses on a rag doll that may hold humanity's last chance at salvation. The film stars Elijah Wood as the voice of 9 alongside other big-name actors such as Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, and John C. Reilly. While '9' may not be suitable for younger children, it is a visually ...
The story of 9 is a dark, dark one with a very bleak outlook for humanity and our ability to self-destruct. Within the world of 9 lays the debris and remnants of war and death. The corpses of the fallen lay strewn about, the sky has a steady flow of dark clouds and things die as naturally as they appear on screen.
9 Review. In a post-apocalyptic future, sackcloth doll 9 (Elijah Wood) wakes up to find more of his kind struggling for survival against terrifying machines. When 2 (Martin Landau) is abducted, 9 ...
Best to think about this up front, because it will seriously effect your potential enjoyment of 9, the debut feature film from director Shane Acker. Adapted from his genuinely brilliant Oscar ...
Reviews 9 film review. A computer animated movie that's definitely not for the kids, Ron finds that 9 rivals even the visual majesty of Wall-E...
9 (2009) Directed by Shane Acker. Voice Cast: Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, Fred Tatasciore. 2009 - 79 minutes. Rated: (for violence and scary images). Reviewed by Dustin Putman, September 2, 2009. "9" began life in 2005 as an 11-minute, dialogue-free animated short that ...
The movie as always was amazing with stunts and action Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/07/22 Full Review Read all reviews F9 The Fast Saga My Rating
There are movies about ugly, vile people, and there are ugly, vile movies. "Triple 9" is the latter. Turning his interest in macho nihilism that he explored more effectively in "The Proposition" and even the flawed "Lawless" to bank robbers and the Russian mob, director John Hillcoat again assembles a stunning cast of household names and proceeds to waste almost all of their ...
Documentary. Directed by Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía Contreras, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falcó, Jillian Schlesinger. The young directors Silvia Del Carmen ...
Death has taken many forms in cinema. It's been Bengt Ekerot. Ian McKellen. John Cleese. Even Brad Pitt with blonde highlights. But in " Tuesday," filmmaker Daina O. Pusić's bold, fantastical and affecting debut, death looks like a lot like a macaw that's seen better days. Covered in a thick layer of grime and oil with patches of feathers missing, "Tuesday's" Death can be as big ...
Powered by JustWatch. "Nine to Five" is a good-hearted, simple-minded comedy that will win a place in film history, I suspect, primarily because it contains the movie debut of Dolly Parton. She is, on the basis of this one film, a natural-born movie star, a performer who holds our attention so easily that it's hard to believe it's her first ...
Rated: 3/5 Sep 4, 2023 Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine Triple 9 is a good film, and an entertaining one, but it involves realising that there was a better film to be made out of its ...
The movie was originally to be released in December 2023 by 20th Century Studios before being derailed by the Hollywood strikes. Focus Features is now distributing and released it in theaters Friday.
The whole thing's a scam, effective enough to work on Thelma. Concerned, her therapist daughter (Parker Posey) and tightly wrapped son-in-law (Clark Gregg) chalk it up to old age, wondering if ...
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1: Directed by Kevin Costner. With Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone. Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.
Roger Ebert August 12, 2009. Tweet. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is enlisted to help fight the aliens, nicknamed prawns. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. I suppose there's no reason the first alien race to reach the Earth shouldn't look like what the cat threw up. After all, they love to eat cat food.
Google will start rolling out public, searchable "profiles" in Search that will show your movie and TV reviews as well as notes in Search starting on June 24. Globally, Google will be making ...