ATTACK THE BLOCK

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011)
UK
Directed by Joe Cornish

CAST:
John Boyega - Moses
Jodie Whittaker - Sam
Nick Frost - Ron

PLOT:
     A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.

REVIEW:
     This is another one of the festival films that I mentioned about in a earlier post. The cool thing about these films is that they don't play by anybodies rules and do what they want and make no apologies for it. Sure most of the films won't ever see wide national release, but that's fine by me if the directors make the movie they want to make and don't have to compromise on the finished product. I applaud their convictions and their will to make their vision their way whether it be for good or bad.

     Well here's something that I wasn't expecting. I was expecting the film to be good, just not as good as it was. The reason for this is that at the start of the film you come to loathe the central teenager characters through and through, though you do start to like their characters slowly toward the end of the film, especially the character of Moses. But make no mistake, the kids are not heroes. Now there is social commentary about how lower class youth is being treated and how gangs have formed up to help protect themselves from other gangs, though this usually leads to the oldest or the toughest of the gang leading and in turn getting them in trouble due to that the other members want to look cool or just want acceptance. So they'll follow and imitate the others with no regard for the consequences. Remember this as it will come into effect later. What's also funny is that all the gang members, excluding Moses, all come from stable homes though lower class, which just drives in the whole point of them following who they consider to be the cool kid and following his lead and just looking for acceptance.

     John Boyega, who portrays Moses, at first is completely unlikable in any form, yet it's when he starts to let his tough exterior down some you find out that he actually cares about his friends, but yet you still know that he's not a decent person, and he does things just for the thrill of it whether it be mugging someone or killing animals (or assumed animals). Now I talked about consequences earlier and this comes into effect with Moses toward the end of the film, as you find out that having killed the first alien he in turn brought down all the trouble that happens to everyone through odd run-ins or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet Boyega does show that Moses is suffering for what he did as his friends are getting killed around him and he realizes that only he can really stop what is happening.  Jodie Whittaker, who plays Sam, in the movie is about the one sympathetic character out of the whole cast as she was always at the wrong place throughout most of the film from when she is first mugged by Moses and his friends to actually understanding why Moses is the way he is after seeing how he was raised. Sam though is always the voice of reason through most of the film, yet doesn't shy from having some revenge on her muggers when they come to her for help. Whittaker does a decent job as she doesn't play the role of the usual lady in distress, instead adds a aire of dignity to her character through all that she faces.

     This movie won't win any awards plain and simple. What it does do really well is give us a "B" movie that is fun even with a lack of true likable characters. The creature effects for the aliens is really quite genius in its simplicity. What even impressed me more was that most of the aliens are all practical effects with a man in a suit as the alien through most of the film which in turn gives the aliens true weight and space in the movie. I've always liked in camera effects more than digital effects and Attack The Block is a good example of why that is. As for the look of the film, Director Joe Cornish was more than up for the challenge to make a smaller movie and make it seem larger thanks to the different camera angles used and had a good grasp on what should be shown when fights occur after the first half of the movie was done. The one fault the movie does have to me is that the script seems just a tad uneven as the first part of the film just seems to go everywhere, yet when the film gets centered inside the apartment complex, everything just seems to click and starts moving quicker. So if you don't mind most of the characters being complete assholes and bangers the film is actually fun and really funny in parts which helps to lighten the mood that is being built up. And for those that were looking for Nick Frost being a major part of the story? Well he is in it, but he's basically used for comic relief and isn't in the film that much, thankfully he's funny in those scenes.

BEST DEATH:
     The four course meal that is Hi-Hatz's  face.

BEST LINE:
     Maybe there was a party at the zoo and a monkey fucked a fish.....

FUN FACTS:
     Members of the gang compare the film's aliens to various fantastical creatures, all British in origin, namely: Dobby the house-elf from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels, Gollum from the Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolken, and Gremlins, who were blamed for electronic malfunctions on fighter planes in WW II which two movies were based on in the 1980's.

     In the scene where the meteorite breaks open, a female alien cocoon is revealed director Joe Cornish expressed interest in having it for a back yard center piece.

     Joe Cornish also is a screenwriter for the movie The Adventures of Tintin and is working on the script for Antman.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (2011)
US
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman

CAST:
Aaron Eckhart - SSgt. Michael Nantz
Michelle Rodriguez - TSgt. Elena Santos
Bridget Moynahan - Michele

PLOT:
     A Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles.

REVIEW:
       I love alien invasion movies. Well, let me rephrase that, I love the idea of alien invasion movies. It's just that most don't live up to what they promise. A good example of this is ID4. Amazing first hour, then it just fizzles and shits on the audience. Same can be said for last years Skyline. I know it's sad, but it's true. How hard can it be to make at least a decent alien invasion movie? Well here comes Battle: Los Angeles promising us action and aliens trying to take over our planet. So what did I think of it?

     I'm so happy the cast actually believed in what they were making as without that this movie would have fallen flat. Aaron Eckhart is an overlooked actor who is just plain fun to watch as SSgt. Nantz. At one point in the movie he could have just acted all sweet toward a kid, but instead he stayed true to his character only softening up a tad. The man just owned this movie from the start to end. Michelle Rodriguez, on the other hand, could have been used a bit better though. She was brought in and then just became one of the regular soldiers after the Marines teased her about her training and knowledge.It should be noted that the movie wasn't really character driven. You're shown quickly what each one of the main characters are like outside of his military life and then that's it for a back story. The one really useless character in the story was Bridget Moynahan's Michele who also gave the worst line in the whole movie. You'll know the line when you watch the movie. (Though it was JeNee's favorite line)

     Unlike a lot of war movies this one tries to forgo the exposition of war room meetings and place the viewer in the action as soon as possible. While the movie doesn't do anything to reinvent the war film, it does what is known very well. It also manages to hit most cliches also that come with the territory. While the movie could have done without some of the handheld shaky cam shots which made it hard to keep with the action, thankfully though they didn't last long. While there were of plenty of CG shots in the movie, Jonathan Liebesman decided to go with more practical effects whenever possible, except at the end where it would have been nearly impossible to do without CG. This brought a level of reality to the movie, as well as the bio-mechanical alien design, which makes a certain degree of sense as if your race is a traveling colonization force with advanced technology.

     I went into the movie thinking it would be a invasion movie and I got a kick ass war movie with aliens instead. The action was intense throughout most of the movie with enough space to take a breath before the next action sequence upped the stakes for our characters. While there was some cheesy dialogue sprinkled throughout the movie, with one groan inducing one, they were quickly forgotten for what was going on up on the screen as it made the audience I was in, which was filled with spring breakers, shut up for two hours. This is what a "B" movie should be and it's the best action movie with aliens I've seen since District 9 two years ago.


BEST DEATH:
     Vehicular homicide by way of plasma blast.

BEST LINE:
    That was some serious John Wayne shit.

FUN FACTS:
     Almost the whole movie was shot in Louisiana due to tax breaks.

     Legal action was contemplated by Sony Pictures when it found out that the Brothers Strause were working on their own film, Skyline (my review for Skyline is here) ,while working on the special effects for Battle: Los Angeles.

    The film is inspired by the real life incident known as the Battle of Los Angeles, during World War II. On the night of 24-25 February 1942, unidentified aircraft were allegedly spotted in the airspace above Los Angeles.