Flick of The Day: Attack the Block

For all the money invested in Hollywood action pictures, there are far more turkeys produced on these massive budgets than works of entertaining cinema. A cursory glance at the work of Michael Bay would surely validate this point of view. Over the last few years there have been a number of highly regarded box office success stories produced on budgets that Mr Bay would surely use up in a single flashy but pointless stunt. Films that put all the money on the screen and produced big budget action on a small scale. A couple of obvious examples would be Gareth Edward's Monsters, District 9 and Shaun of the Dead. Today's flick of the day, Attack the Block is another such film. The début feature from English director Joe Cornish, it successfully tells the story of aliens invading a South London council estate with more wit and charm than many big budget flops.

Attack the Block

A group of inner city teens from South London led by Moses, played by newcomer John Boyega, are wandering the streets generally acting in a thuggish manner. While they are in the middle of robbing white person in the ghetto Sam played by Jodie Whitaker, a ball of fire appears in the sky and destroys a nearby car. As Sam flees, the boys investigate and discover a life form not of this world. The gang quickly slay the creature and take this corpse to the top floor of their tower block, home of the local drug dealer. However it soon becomes apparent that the creature is not alone as more of them begin to appear in the night sky, the light unnoticed in a sky filled with fireworks for Guy Fawkes night. These new creatures are much more vicious, black shapeless beasts with razor teeth. As panic grips the streets, Sam crosses paths with her muggers and together they vow to battle for their tower block in a fight to the death to save the human race.

While this is by no means a classic, it manages to be far more fun than so many of its more po-faced bigger budget brethren. The main criticism's of it is that is neither scary enough to stand as a thriller, nor funny enough to be a comedy and is merely a weak combination of the two. That said, it is an entertaining ride that doesn't hang around long enough to be irritating. 

Sam: We should call the police. 

Pest: You'd be better off calling the Ghostbusters love.

Cornish shows himself to be a director of no little talent. He has a keen eye for a shot, the opening tracking shot sets the scene and the surroundings perfectly. He handles the rest of the film competently and with a better script could have produced something special.

The young cast are well chosen and inhabit the roles of hooded menaces quite well. John Boyega stands out as the groups leader Moses giving a strong performance though it is a big ask to expect us to adopt him as our hero given we have previously seen him rob a woman at knife point. Perhaps if Cornish had been more adventurous in his script rather then attempting to soften the edges of his street thugs as the film goes on, it might have made for a better film but it is an enjoyable romp all the same.

Ron: Even if it is an alien invasion, they're four foot high, blind and got kicked to death by a bunch of kids. We got nothing to worry about.

Simon Pegg's other half Nick Frost puts in an entertaining turn as perma-stoned comic relief Ron and giving an other wise largely unknown cast a spot of gravitas.

All in all then a strong enough debut feature from Joe Cornish with plenty of promise. While not a great film, there is enough here to entertain and enjoy. Some fine action set pieces are held together by god forbid character development. Worth a look.

Flick of The Day: Paul

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have a reputation producing some of the best British comedy of the past decade, from the influential and short lived TV series Spaced  to the wonderful zombie rom-com Shaun of the Dead, which launched them to stardom, propelling Pegg in particular to the Hollywood big time with roles in Mission Impossible III and Star Trek. The duo had not worked together since 2007's Hot Fuzz until the eagerly awaited arrival of today's flick of the day, Paul.

Paul

Graeme played by Pegg and Clive played by Frost are two British sci-fi geeks on the holiday of a lifetime in the US. They visit the world famous Comic-Con in San Diego before launching into a cross country road trip to visit various sites of supposed UFO contact such as Area-51 and Roswell in an RV. In short then, they are  a particularly unworldly duo. Of course, there is great humour in the various pop culture references and geek nostalgia  a regular feature in their past collaborations. Of course, the road trip doesn't go to plan as they have their very own close encounter on a lonely desert road with a foul mouthed Alien by the name of Paul voiced by Seth Rogen. Paul is on the run from the American government in the form of Agent Zoil played by the always entertaining Jason Bateman. Paul is entertaining and endearing and it is not long before his new friends are enlisted to help him return home as they try and outwit government agents, backward rednecks and a fire and brimstone preacher. Along the way there are some great gags and a voice cameo from a very famous director.

The real enjoyable aspect of this film are the numerous pop culture and film references that give it a warm charm that is impossible to resist. Pegg and Frost are as usual perfect as the amiable dorks and in Paul, they have created one of the great screen aliens. Rogen was a good choice as the voice artist, giving Paul a familiarity and wonderfully profane aspect. While not as laugh out loud funny as some of their previous efforts, there are some great one liners.

Graeme Willy: You are an alien! 

Paul: To you I am, yes. 

Graeme Willy: Are you gonna probe us? 

Paul: *Why* does everyone always assume that? What am I doing? Am I harvesting farts? How much can I learn from an ass?

They have succeeded in maintaining their usual brand of humour while also adding a warm sweet natured comedy that has a lot of heart. This is a new strong to the Pegg/Frost bow and we can only hope that they push on from here.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable film if nothing ground breaking. There is a lot to be said for a film that is short, sweet and funny. So often Hollywood seems incapable of delivering this with each new Summer delivering a new batch of turgid comic book adaptations. Be thankful then for the small mercies of Paul, charming and slight though it may be. I await the next Simon Pegg and Nick Frost collaboration.