District 9

If Avatar is Goliath, then District 9 is undoubtedly David. Born out of the ashes of Peter Jackson and protégé Neil Blomkamp's attempts at adapting the Halo video game (note the Warthog vehicles in the film!), this movie managed to land a nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards alongside James Cameron's epic for about 10 times less the cost. Adapted from Blomkamp's short film, Alive in Johannesburg—which depicted a thinly veiled allegory for apartheid—District 9 somehow manages to include a little bit of everything: romance, action, comedy, cutting-edge effects and more.