Is District 9 the best film of Summer 2009?

District 9 has truly reigned supreme this past weekend. Receiving glowing reviews from the Spill crew and members, and many other film critics, the film has also becoming #1 at the box office making $37 million, already making up profit after its small budget. On IMDB, it has broken through the top 250 list at #78, the fourth film of this year to do so. So with the summer drawing to a close, the question remains: Is District 9 the best film of Summer 2009?

Well, let's look at the other contenders that received both glowing reviews and performed extremely well at the box office: Star Trek, Up, and The Hangover. Star Trek kick started the summer with a pleasant surprise in the return of struggling film franchise. The film succeeded in both bringing a brand new audience for Star Trek as well as pleasing fans of the original series (arguably). It also became the fifth highest domestic grossing film this year with a whopping $255 million in revenue (this is by the way, the highest grossing Star Trek film ever).

Up was yet another masterpiece delivered by everybody's favorite animation company, Pixar (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). The film was a beautiful blend of fantastic artistry, great storytelling, interesting characters, epic situations, and hilarious sequences. And as typical for a Pixar film, it was very well received and dominated at the box office becoming the 2nd highest domestic grossing film this year with $287 million.

The Hangover was a completely hilarious adventure that I don't think anyone saw coming. The film's main actors had excellent chemistry in a sequence of bizarre events after blacking out from a crazy bachelor's party. And aside from being very warmly received by critics, it has becoming the 4th highest grossing film domestically at $265 million. An impressive feat for a comedy.

So which film this summer is truly the best? Personally, I saw all of these films and I loved each and every one of them. I have inducted all of them in my favorite movies list, but one of them really stood out above the rest. It made me say, "This is why I love film", it kept me at the edge of my seat, and made me genuinely care about the characters' plight. This film was District 9. While The Hangover will be my comedy of the summer, and Up the animation of the summer, District 9 is going to make a special place in my heart for truly making me "feel' for the characters.

So what do you guys think? Is District 9 your summer film? Or is it one of the others? Or even one I didn't even mention?