The much anticipated 'District 9' finally, finally opens in cinemas this week. The film has already received high praise from foreign critics and is directed by South African Neill Blomkamp. 'D9' mixes a range of filmmaking styles into what Blomkamp feels is an 'ultra-real' film. Also opening this week is 'Coco Avant Chanel' starring the delightful Audrey Tatou as the legendary designer. Fashion addicts will be delighted to know that the film boasts some of the original Chanel collection overseen by current House of Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld.

District 9

Starring Sharlto Copley, William Allen Young, Vanessa Haywood, Mandla Gaduka
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Genre: Sci-Fi
Running time: 1 hr 51 min
Age restriction: 16LV

South African director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings trilogy) for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees in contemporary South Africa.

For thirty years the aliens have lived as refugees in the so-called 'District 9' by a government who are uncertain of what to do with them.

Humankind is beginning to grow wary of the unwelcome visitors and a private company called Multi-National United (MNU) is assigned the task of controlling them. The shady MNU is less interested in the aliens' welfare than attempting to understand how their weaponry works. Should they manage to make that breakthrough, they will receive tremendous profits to fund their research.

Luckily, the highly advanced weaponry requires alien DNA to activate. But when MNU field operative van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) contracts an unusual virus that causes his DNA to mutate, the tensions between the aliens and the humans intensifies. Wikus is the key to unlocking the alien's technology, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man on the planet.

Now, alone and hunted, Wikus retreats to District 9 in a desperate bid to shake his dogged pursuers.

Watch the trailer for District 9 here

Coco Avant Chanel

Starring Audrey Tatou
Directed by Anne Fontaine
Genre: Drama
Age Restriction: 10S
Running time: 1 hr 50 min

Receiving its debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival in France, director Anne Fontaine's romantic biopic of famous couturiere Coco Chanel is an exploration of her early life before she rose to worldwide fame as the most celebrated fashion designer of the 20th Century.

Starring 'Amelie' actress Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel, the film is based on the book 'The Nonconformist' by author Edmond Charles-Roux. The book follows the young Gabrielle Chanel, illegitimate daughter of a travelling salesman who learns to sew in a Catholic orphanage before her singing ambitions lead her to a cabaret club.

It is here where Chanel earns the nickname Coco and also where she catches the eye of several high society gentlemen who would ignite her passion and become instrumental in the development of her remarkable career.

The film features authentic dresses and costumes from the Chanel collection. House of Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld himself supervised the creation of accessories and costumes.

Watch the trailer for Coco Avant Chanel here