ATTACK THE BLOCK OMFG
Sunday, August 14, 2011
We went and saw this movie with Support Team last night and basically we cannot even tell you in words how awesome it is, or how hilarious, or how charming, ALSO SCARY, GOOD LORD, you would not think a low-budget alien monster that is pretty much a carpet with teeth would be QUITE SO SCARY, and basically if your thing is "Gremlins" and "battling scary aliens" and you are a "big nerd" we will bet money you will love it too. Also the people sitting behind us in the theater spent the previews debating which Cylon was the most complex ("The thing that I don't understand, though, is why Six has such weird outfits" "Cylons don't dress like normal people, dude") which made us love the whole world extra.
But also? The thing about this movie? Is that NEARLY EVERY SINGLE PERSON who gets to be brave/awesome/resourceful/tough/clever/funny is a young person of color (mostly boys, but the young ladies also have their moment). Also there is a grownup white lady who gets to be tough and brave, too. The grownup white dudes? Not so much. When was the last time you saw THAT in a movie? Uh, yeah, us neither. Like, it's gonna melt your face right off, we promise, and the jokes are AMAZING, and there is all kinds of smart commentary about race and class worked in, plus lots of moral complexity, and it is just--well, if you are a nerd who is not a white dude, and you spend a lot of time setting aside the person that you are in order to enjoy the genre that you love, it's just kind of nice to sit back, relax, and know the jokes are not going to be at your expense. Here's a longer review over at Racialicious.
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That looks amusing.
Also, #3 is the most awesome Cylon. Just throwin' that out there.
I loved SHAUN OF THE DEAD -- my zombie-movie-loving sister sat me down to watch it, and I had no idea it was going to be that good and actually, you know, about something--this sounds awesome!
Looks hilarious. Hope it makes it down to my island (all we get is Fast & Furious and its ilk here) and otherwise I'll keep an eye out for it on DVD. Thanks for sharing the trailer.
It's really nice that people of colour have been given their fair shake, it really is, but...you know I grew up in Sarf Lundun (sarf eest, to be essackt) and more than anything what I saw in that trailer was how it is SO MUCH a feature of London and Britain in general how nice people can be itching for a fight if they're bored enough, or poor enough, or both, that for example richer people can make a film about it and laugh about it in a fond and affectionate sort of way because they came from council housing before they got rich and they know that their audience will know what they're referring to or, for example, London can be consumed in fires and violence at a moment's notice.
It don't take an alien, bruv.
Dearest Le R, I am not offended, no, but that you posted about a film that praises London kids for violence and then discussed the racial implications without once mentioning the film in relation to the riots broke my heart a little.
Honestly, some days we just want to be like "this was an awesome movie, pretty sweet that white people are sidekicks," which is not something we get to say very often? It was definitely Interesting to watch in the context of what is happening in London right now, but given that 1. we are not from South London and 2. our knowledge of the riots is basically "when you fuck people over long enough they get pissed," which is not like a particularly insightful position, we chose not to bring it up.
Fair enough. <3s
I am so waiting for this to come to a theater near me. Been hearing about this movie for months.
MUST. SEE.
Ok I'm turned around on this whole Attack of the Block' situation. From the trailers it seemed like it was going to be a huge racial and class chiche mess, with Simon Pegg bestie along to educate the council estate lads who are way too eager to kill the new exciting beings that land. Now, I've seen a whole lot of people praise it and it goes back on the list.
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