District 9 (2009)

Definitely a unique twist on the ol' aliens vs. humans chestnut. By the time the film starts, the aliens (dubbed "prawns" because they look like giant seafood, I'm guessing) have already been in Johannesburg for decades. The locals aren't frightened, they're annoyed by this point: there's a huge spaceship hovering over their city and the temporary housing inhabited by the prawns has become a crime-ridden filthy slum.

A great film damaged only by the fact that I had been looking forward to it for so long that there was no way it was ever gonna live up to my expectations.

A-