District 9 - You are not welcome here.

There's a reason why this movie was nominated for an Oscar this year: because it's bloody monumental. Peter Jackson from Lord of the Rings knew it, my friend Dan Moller told me about it and now I know it, and now here's your chance to get in on the action. I kid you not, District 9 happens to be one of the best movies I have ever seen.

When Dan told me it was sci-fi flick, I put off watching it. I thought this was gonna be yet another try-hard film trying to make money off of my nostalgia, like that time I boycotted the X-Men and Transformers movies because they massacred the cartoons (and their respective franchises) which I idolized when I was a kid. Of course, I couldn't have been more wrong, because District 9 is nothing like a conventional sci-fi movie. In fact, it's nothing like a typical movie at all, which it what makes it so damn good.

Without going into the details to spoil it all for you I can only gush about the director Neill Blomkamp, of Halo fame, who I'm totally crushin on right about now. He's taken the art of observational mockumentary to a whole new level.

This movie kept me hooked from start to finish, while it crammed a multitude of issues into 112 minutes of action packed, attention grabbing goodness. There is not a dull moment in this film, and that's exactly why I'm giving it 5 stars!

August Rush movie review (no spoilers)

This movie was recommended by my UoN friend Karen Pouye of Animal Logic, creative genius extraodinaire. It's a great movie to watch with the family that has uplifting messages of hope, faith, and a bit of music appreciation thrown in the mix, wrapping up with a predictable (but nonetheless enjoyable) hollywood styled happy ending.

During most of the intro I spent my time trying to figure out whether the Irish rock band's lead singer, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays Louis Connelly in the movie, was actually DiNozzo or related to Michael Weatherly from NCIS in any way.

Once I had gotten that out of my system I was able to enjoy Keri Russell's brand of muted emotional delivery that we've all come to know and love from her Felicity days. Freddie Highmore, the kid (Evan Taylor) who the movie centres around, also has the same quiet confidence about him.

Louis Connelly's singing was a little distracting as I felt it left a lot to be desired, but once the intro was out of the way I was able to immerse myself in the story quite comfortably.

Robin Williams comes off well as the troubled Fagin in this modernized version of Oliver Twist, portraying a vulnerability and subtextual trauma that he is rarely seen displaying in the majority of his roles. I think this was channelling a lot of the creepiness his character Walter Finch had in the movie Insomnia, with a bit more added aggression.

While the movie doesn't incorporate any cutting edge techniques in cinematography, or mind blowing concepts in its narrative that stays with you long after the movie is over, it's still one of those feel good movies that's worth watching. I'm rating this 3.5 stars out of 5.

Next up on my movies list will be the 1981 movie Excalibur, recommended by my friend Faustin Molina. Stay tuned :)