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8. Moon

Talk about underrated. Before I go on about how great Moon was, let me be loud and clear: Moon is on DVD and Blu-ray. Rent it. Netflix it. Buy it, sight unseen. But see it. See it now, and see it again. If you've seen it, tell your friends. If you've told your friends, tell strangers. Moon is a great film, a surprising character study, but is also apparently the movie that Sony Pictures Classics is letting get away. It was never going to be a lock, but that Sam Rockwell is not getting more love from critics' groups or more For Your Consideration ads in the trade magazines is a crime. And, unfortunately, it's a crime that the studio is fine with. Why Sony is letting this opportunity slip is beyond me, but they are. Moon is a must-see, and arguably as underrated as movies get. This movie deserves better.

But, you ask, what is Moon? The plot is simple, and not nearly as easy to decipher as the initial trailers made it seem. Sam Bell (Rockwell) is a regular guy, working a manual-labor job on a multi-year contract. On the moon. Sam has been on the moon for years, and is ready to go. His contract is just about up, so he wants things to go smoothly. When he stumbles upon a unique and inexplicable discovery while surveying the area surrounding the moon base, though, his being able to leave becomes more doubtful. The movie, directed by Duncan Jones, is not so much about the plot as about what it means to give yourself to work, to separate yourself from your home life, and to be tethered to the corporate world. Rockwell is always an amazing and fascinating actor to watch; given almost 90 minutes without any other actors onscreen (Kevin Spacey provides the voice of Gertie, the base computer), he takes the opportunity and goes crazy. I cannot stress it enough: if there's one movie in 2009 you missed, it's Moon. Watch it now.

7. District 9

If there was a mainstream hit that really snuck up on most people, I suppose it had to be District 9. From the initial teaser trailers, all that was known was that the movie was produced by Peter Jackson and that aliens were involved. The buzz grew, and lo and behold, this sci-fi actioner with a moral center turned out to be an incredible piece of gory filmmaking, from Neill Blomkamp, the man who would have directed the adaptation of the video game Halo, had Jackson had his druthers. District 9 proves that Blomkamp knows how to spend his money and impress audiences; the movie, while heavy on special effects, cost only $30 million and ended up making more than that in its opening weekend. District 9 was a major success, and all from a movie that's secretly about the apartheid struggle in South Africa.

But, then again, how many apartheid movies are really about aliens, advanced weaponry, and relentless action? Blomkamp manages to make all of the visceral thrills so exciting because it's all from the perspective of a hapless, low-level bureaucrat (Sharlto Copley, in an amazing debut performance) who inadvertently turns into one of the so-called "prawns" living in the Johannesburg slums of District 9 on the eve of the government pushing out the lost, slovenly aliens into a worse slum. The movie becomes a chase as soon as the schlub turns into one of the aliens, but there's so much strong character development to go alongside the truly inventive and breathtaking action sequences, that it's hard to avoid the emotional pull of this movie, and its moving final shot. Blomkamp's career is looking bright, no matter what comes next, but District 9 is a great start.

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