Holy Crap! District 9!

Really, that's all you need to know. Wow, did that movie ever rock. Formulaic, it may be, but not enough to be distracting. Besides, people disintegrate onscreen with astonishing regularity in the final act. That alone makes up for any plot clichés. Sharlto Copley is perfect as a slightly twitchy, bureaucratic asshole for the first act, then scared out of his mind, and finally just royally pissed off. Throughout, he is never thinking of anyone but himself, yet he comes off as sympathetic. Goodness.

Really, though. It's all about the indiscriminate spray of heat rays, bullets, and in one instance, a pig being picked up and flung into enemy soldiers via gravity gun. It's been a while since I sincerely laughed out loud with a movie, rather than at it. I did it here.