$9.99

Stop motion animation often tends to be cutesy, or at least a bit cartoonish even when the subject matter is serious. $9.99 is a rare gem of a movie, portraying a number of unattractive and unhappy people in fantastic detail. The small touches throughout the film are fantastic, from gently glowing cigarette tips to the sweat and grime on every character.

The voice acting is superb as well, opening with Geoffrey Rush, who is always fantastic. The characters express a fair amount of emotion for being relatively realistic, and they're helped by solid writing in the script.

The plot overall is what really makes this work, with a sleepy suburban setting slowly turning into a dreamy fantasy world. It's slow, but the process of discovering that other world is very rewarding.