<i>District 9</i>, <i>Tetro</i> and <i>The Time Traveler's Wife</i> Bring Aliens and Mysticism to the Theatre in This Week's Film Round-Up

BY Stephenson PricePublished Aug 14, 2009

With Friday night being movie night, aliens and mysticism abound this week in Exclaim!'s Recently Reviewed film section, so there's bound to be a cinematic creature for whatever your film tastes might be.

Our top pick of the week is would-be Halo director Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi epic District 9, the story of a race of aliens that fled their home world, landed on Earth and were left to live in the titular South African slums. The Peter Jackson-produced action flick tells the exceptional special-effect-laden story of a mid-level bureaucrat tasked with relocating the aliens to a new location when he becomes embroiled in a plot for a human organization to take control of the alien's weapons and technology.

Hollywood director heavyweight Francis Ford Coppola returns with the beautifully shot Tetro, and Ponyo, the latest from Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away director Hayao Miyazaki, reveals another mind-blowing world of beautiful animation.

The Ashton Kutcher flick Spread sets the actor up as the woman-manipulator everyone hates, while the film adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife  tries to make a sci-fi mainstay plausible.

The latest in a line of summer comedies, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard has Jeremy Piven playing a mercenary car salesman in a Talladega Nights-styled comedy. And finally, animated film Idiots and Angels tells a tale of human greed and transformation in a darkened world devoid of dialogue.

Looking to get inspired by more sci-fi or magical whimsy this weekend? Click here to see what other cinematic adventures you can get yourself into.

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