District 9
Well, I have to add a film to my top 5 of this year.
That film is obviously District 9. I finally watched it tonight and just….wow. It had the right balance of everything. Violence, political themes, character exploration, crazy sci-fi-ness, emotion.
Sharlto Copley probably gave one of the best feature film debut performances that I have seen and just every actor was spot on with their respective performances.
The CGI was pretty amazing also. The ‘prawns’ looked pretty damn convincing as did their technology. The whole visual feel of the film, from the war-time documentary hand-held direction to the occasional first-person perspective, was just impeccable.

The story, well, the first half of the story, was a sort of overly dramatic version of what would really happen if humanity was put in that situation and all the political gripes associated with it.  The rest of the story, pure sci-fi gold.  Even at times, it gets quite emotional.

Although I may describe it as a masterpiece, it has a couple of flaws, both of which are an overuse of something.  The first is the sheer amount of gore that is shown. I understand why its in their but at a couple of points you feel a little uneasy but then again, that is only for a few seconds.  Another problem it has is the overuse of the hand-held feel at certain points. Once again, it helps bring you into the story but there were times when you just wanted the camera to be still to fully grasp the scene.

The soundtrack was amazing.  A strong blend of Africanesque rhythms and sound yet it keeps that proper orchestral feel.  Makes me think of a less dramatic, less brass infested version of the ‘300′ soundtrack.

Overall, this film is brilliant and a must see, if you like sci-fi and are fairly unmoved by gore.
Still, my movie of the year is ‘Moon’ but this comes in at a close 2nd or 3rd (behind Watchmen).
Dare I say that I will become a Neill Blomkamp fanboy in the future? Most likely.