District 9

I just watched this on Netflix Instant, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was very skeptical of the concept (aliens are stranded on Earth, treated badly in slums; a government official goes from naive, bigoted wimp to desperate-but-wiser hero), but read enough good reviews to make me give it a shot...

For most of the first two-thirds of it, I thought it was decent sci-fi, mildly cheesy in spots, but watchable. I was thinking of it being like a better-than-average B-movie, striving towards B+. But the last third really came together pretty well, and in my mind it sort of made the jump to an A- movie...

As I think about it, a lot of movies run out of gas at the end, at least for me -- they build up an intriguing premise and set up, only to have the end sort of fall short or disappoint me in some way. A few are able to follow through strongly. But District 9 is one of the rarer movies that comes from behind to end better than it started...