Really liked the movie as well. Although I thought there were some story problems and character choices, SPOILERS leaving the one kid in the dumpster for half the movie and the purpose of the white teenager besides exposition SPOILERS END. But overall a fun movie.
I didn’t want to argue but if you’re watching ATB for the characters or story you’re missing the point. While I agree with rattledrush it’s still, at it’s heart, a stupid monster movie. A very pretty, very slick, very arty stupid monster movie with a sweet-ass twist or two.
You guys are critiquing a fireworks show for it’s plot.
I’m not saying it isn’t a good movie. Its fun and has great art design, particularly the creature. But, I see of something like Shaun of the Dead or even Hot Fuzz and I think there are parts that are a little uneven. In the end it doesn’t matter because it’s entirely a good ride right up to the end.
I don’t think that’s fair, Cornish is a pretty intelligent guy and I don’t think he would consider his characters and plot secondary to effects and explosions.
He often addresses the issue of the kids criminality in interviews about the film. He spoke about it on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast and seemed to be aiming for a warmth and humanity in these characters that he didn’t quite find the balance for.
I really don’t think it’s focus was entirely in being a “fireworks” show. Stuff blew up though, yes and I very much enjoyed those parts as well as many of the more “plotty” parts.
I dont know how well the TV stuff will hold up.
I love the TV stuff, but I don’t know how well it will cross the Atlantic. Besides the very lo-fi, childish, British sense of humour, some of the funniest skits like the Tom Paulin/Mark Cousins parodies are going to be completely baffling. If you do like it, however, there’s a best of DVD and you can watch whole episodes on 4OD.
The Star Wars toys are universal though !
What is this TV stuff? Did Cornish do television in UK?
About 15 years ago, Cornish and his mate Adam Buxton (you may know him as the reporter from Hot Fuzz) did something called The Adam and Joe Show. It was basically a sketch show, but the sketches were things like pre-Robot Chicken recreations of movies/TV shows with stuffed toys, songs about Robert DeNiro, and Vinyl Justice. For a lot of Brits of my generation, it was formative stuff.
That sounds really interesting, I’m going to have to check it out. Is out on DVD or Netflix?
To be clear, everything I liked about the characters & story came from my expectation that it was a complete fireworks show. Stranding the one kid in the dumpster, surburban white college student who happens to be a bio major— these were hackneyed, but they are also the kind of contrivances I expected from a scifi/horror/comedy focused around a bunch of 15 year olds.
Starting from the robbery, subverting “Fun movie!” expectations by making the main characters a bit morally grey, these were the bravest parts of the script, and while it’s not perfectly executed, they were the choices that elevated the movie from being a fun diversion… to a really really good fun diversion.
In the US, I doubt it. It’s on DVD in the UK, and on Channel 4’s (UK only, I’m pretty sure) video on demand service. Youtube is probably your best bet - I’d recommend searching for Toytanic and seeing where that leads you.
I really like this point. I was feeling it, but didn’t articulate it to myself like you did.
The language in the film was great. I particularly liked how they use certain slang throughout the film (I’m thinking about what they are all shouting at the end).
Ginger Yellow, damn BBC hoarding all shows from us Americans. Just watched the Toytanic sketch and I really liked how they acknowledge how everything is made of toys and odds and ends. I’m going to have to watch some more.
Finally saw it and loved it. Chavs rock…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rWvGSmOuo
VERY NSF language which brings up a funny thing about watching. Family watched including 14 year old daughter- who has NOT been exposed to the spate of R rated movies that most of her friends have been and thus has not seen any real gore, nothing overly scary and limited language. (she is getting better though) Anyway I was not prepared for the amount of profanity …ok well, I probably wouldn’t have noticed but since I was sitting with my daunter and my wife.
Fortunately due to the accent and the chav slang, you can’t tell an f-bomb from a twinkie…unless you are also watching with my mother-in-law who survived the bombing of London and obviously grew up in England…she caught EVERY WORD, and every f-bomb.
That made the movie even funnier for me- she proclaimed it “The worst movie she had ever seen”…and refused to believe that it was in fact pretty awesome.
If you want to see what I feel is a far better handling of, uh, “chavs” – as an American, I’m not sure if I should be allowed to use that word – I cannot recommend strongly enough a movie called Cherry Tree Lane.
It’s only available on Region 2 DVDs, so those of us in the US need a region-free player. But it’s an absolutely brilliant movie about the same characters in Attack the Block, minus the space alien dog gorillas and Nick Frost’s mandatory loveable goofball role. The director, Kevin Andrew Williams, is an unsung genius as far as I’m concerned (see London to Brighton, The Cottage, and The Children, in that order).
-Tom
Big fan of London to Brighton. Going to look for Cherry Tree Lane now.
PASS.
Wow, that’s a rather bold statement.
Ginger Yellow, damn BBC hoarding all shows from us Americans. Just watched the Toytanic sketch and I really liked how they acknowledge how everything is made of toys and odds and ends
a) It’s Channel 4, not BBC.
b) The whole point of those sketches is that they’re made of toys. It’s not acknowledging the fact. It’s celebrating it. See also: Toytrainspotting.
Braids.