The Arrival (1996)

The idea of an alien invasion led to one of the biggest blockbusters in history in 1996. Despite its flaws the movie performed above all expectations and managed make its leading actor one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Plot points have been debated ever since it came out, but its brilliant mixture of practical and digital effects, done on a budget, helped hide many of the plot holes. That movie, of course, was Independence Day , directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and many others. It had a wonderful ad campaign behind it, tied in with a major American holiday and was pretty much guaranteed success when released. However, another alien invasion film, one with an arguably more realistic plot and on an even smaller budget, beat Independence Day to the theaters by little over a month. That movie was David Twohy's The Arrival . Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen) is part of NASA's program to search for extraterrestrial life. Frustra