Skyline

3 A new wave of lo-sci-fi films like District 9 and Cloverfield are creating Transformers-level CGI bombast on relative shoestrings by using no-name actors, controlled sets and technically savvy directors. Skyline slices the mold even thinner by limiting the action to a single high-rise apartment complex, and by reducing plot and character development to a mere doodle (although the script is still better than whatever cocktail napkin the Transformers movies were scribbled on). The film begins with a young couple at a crossroads (Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson) traveling to Los Angeles to visit his successful boyhood pal (Donald Faison). Without warning, a fleet of gooey, all-powerful, self-replicating aliens descend upon the city to vacuum humankind into their hovering brain-sucker mobiles. No new ground is broken here, and the dialogue contains some Syfy channel-worthy howlers, but Skyline is still an amusing, no-nonsense ride.