Arrival

At the beginning of this thoughtful movie, 12 alien spacecraft appear in various countries around the world. Why are they here? What do they want? In order to answer these questions, the American military recruits a renowned linguistics professor (Amy Adams) and a theoretical physicist (Jeremy Renner), who set about deciphering the strange language that the aliens use. Denis Villeneuve's film unfolds in a gradual, unhurried manner, building towards a game-changing development that might be hard to swallow for some viewers. For the most part, though, Arrival is a grounded, impressively crafted film that makes you feel as though you are right there with the characters. It's no action-drenched Independence Day, but if you like cerebral sci-fi movies that are driven by ideas, you're in for a treat.