With the dust settling on another Comic-con, speaking in terms of film-related happenings, this was perhaps one of the biggest years for the show. Attendees watched 24-minutes of footage from James Cameron’s Avatar, but the real news seems to be how District 9, the first feature film from Neill Blomkamp, has stolen the show. While NDA’s prohibit any of the critics from specifically reviewing the film at this current time, you can still get a sense of their reactions.

“District 9″ is political and hilarious and gory as hell, sad and savage and visually dazzling. It is, in short, exactly what great science-fiction should be… it is a film of ideas, first and foremost, and since Blomkamp grew up in South Africa, I’m sure you can guess what sort of real-world ideas the movie might engage. The thing is… if you want to tune out all the social commentary, you’re left with a truly incredible sf movie. But because Neil’s own experience is so much a part of this film and the world he’s created, the result is sort of devastating.

[HitFix]

Instead I’ll wrap this up by saying that District 9 is part of a new golden age for smaller scifi cinema (believe it or not the film cost 30 million dollars. I think the CGI here looked miles better than the cartoony CG I saw from Avatar). It’s a golden age where thoughtful, smart, well-made films tackle intriguing science fiction concepts that go beyond laser guns and explosions.

[Chud]

Last night Comic-Con was put on pause while we attended a screening of the Peter Jackson-produced District 9. We were prepared for massive amounts of CGI, but we were definitely not prepared for the huge amounts of awesome that were dumped into our eyes and brains. Honestly, I haven’t been this moved by a film or a performance in quite some time.

[SciFiSquad]

See the latest trailer for the film at www.D-9.com.