I’m going to sound like either a commercial or a gibbering fangirl, but oh how I love this movie. It’s the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long time. It’s not for everybody, and the people who will hate it will REALLY hate it (saw that with Scott Pilgrim), but I loved it, seriously, so I wanted to remind people that it opens in select US cities this Friday. A good turnout could determine if the movie will be expanded to other cities, so if you live in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Chicago or Toronto, and if you think it’s the kind of movie you’ll like, please go see it this weekend. If it doesn’t do well it might not be around next week. I don’t know about other cities but in Chicago it opens at River East 21.
I’m so happy to see that it’s 92% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, with 62 reviews so far.
Attack The Block is a fun, funny, silly, exciting, often scary (the jumpy kind) alien invasion genre flick, but not like one I’d ever seen before. The alien part of it is the least interesting part. It’s the characters and their situation that made me fall in love with it. Most of the characters are, admittedly, unpleasant and unlikable at first, but that soon changes. It did for me. By the end of the movie I realized I just saw some future stars in (for many) their first movie. John Boyega as the leader Moses especially. Charisma from these characters and the actors playing them, as well as the writing/dialogue just jumps off the screen. It’s incredibly quotable. Believe!
It was produced by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim) and directed by Joe Cornish, who’s pretty famous in the UK as a comic (Adam and Joe), though not much known here. He wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Tintin so his name will soon become better-known.
I’ve found that it’s one of those movies that can be seen over and over, which means it will have a great shelf life once it comes out on DVD/streaming. I’ve seen it 3 times via sneak previews and for me, it just keeps getting better and better. I personally believe it’s an instant cult classic, so no matter how it does at the box office it’ll live on and gain more and more followers, just like Shaun of the Dead. I can’t wait to see it again, and I do plan to make up for my free screenings by paying for it several times before it leaves the theaters.
I think it’s a must for anyone who likes movies like Shaun of the Dead, Kick-Ass, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim, Super–movies that are fun as hell and have a warped sensibility. Don’t like those movies? Stay far far away. There are plenty of other great movies to see (go see the wonderful Beginners, or Another Earth, or Sarah’s Key, or Midnight in Paris, or Tree of Life, or Buck, all excellent movies IMO).
I don’t know if these will still be available for anyone, but it’s worth checking. There are several free screenings happening around the country and it looks like passes for some cities are still available. More might be coming in the next week for so for other cities. I know they’ve already had at least 5-6 free screenings in Chicago alone. At one I was lucky enough to meet the director and lead actor and felt like such a fangirl.
Here are some other links
Here’s the regular trailer
and the VERY spoilery Red Band trailer
Neither trailer conveys just how much fun the movie is, but I can still watch the Red Band trailer over and over just to relive the fun and excitement now that I know those scenes in context.
Warning: there’s a lot of profanity, violence and dope-smoking in the movie. Anyone who’d be offended by those things should stay as far away as possible.