10 best things about District 9

1. Americans will finally know where Johannesburg is.

2. It's the first local movie that has serious hope of getting an Oscar, not because it's "foreign", but because people really think it's the best movie of the year.

3. It was made for $30 million, and it made $37 million in its first weekend alone, topping the US box office.

4. That District 9 spaceship solves the burning issue of what we're going to do with used 2010 World Cup Soccer stadiums... if we can just figure out how to get them to float upside down.

5. It wasn't made by Leon Schuster.

6. It doesn't star Colin Moss, the schmodel-chick from FHM with the hot sister, or any of the other overly recycled actor "in-crowd" we're all so sick of seeing onscreen.

7. The South Africans in it sound South African, not German, Dutch, French or American.

8. The Van Der Merwe joke has now gone international, possibly galactical.  

9. Thanks to lead actor Sharlto Copley, the sexy South African accent will finally get the international recognition it deserves (Arnold Vosloo set us back by at least 10 years).

10. They're already talking about a sequel. Who said crime didn't pay?

* District 9 will be released in South Africa on 28 August, 2009.