As part of their regular Editors’ Choice feature, the folks over at Moving Pictures asked me to compile my ten best alien movies.
| Quote: |
| As with any genre, or subgenre in this case, a vast majority of the films are mediocre or downright bad. Over the past 90 years, largely forgettable movies such as “Independence Day,” “Communion,” “Megamind,” “The Brother from Another Planet” and “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” briefly infiltrated the public consciousness. Very few of the stories deserve to survive beyond their initial exposure, but in this edition of Editors’ Choice, you will find 10 sensational alien movies that helped to inform the cultural zeitgeist and emerged as the very best the form has to offer. |
For #10, I chose District 9.
| Quote: |
| In 2009, moviegoers rediscovered low-budget science fiction with two surprising box-office and critical successes: “Moon” and “District 9.” The latter, the feature debut for director Neill Blomkamp, garnered four Academy Award nominations including Best Motion Picture of the Year. Stranded on Earth in 1982, aliens, derogatorily referred to as “prawns,” are confined to District 9, a government camp inside Johannesburg. Over 20 years later, Multinational United (MNU), a paramilitary group hired by the South African government, attempts to relocate the interned to a new camp dubbed District 10. Inspired by the disturbing apartheid-era events from District Six, Cape Town, Blomkamp successfully structures the fascinating exiled-alien society within the real world pinnings of politics, corruption and greed. |
To uncover the remaining nine, check out my piece at Moving Pictures.
10 Best Alien Movies was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon