Attack the Block

Grade: B+

Going into this movie all I had really heard about Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block was that it was “everything Super 8 wanted to be.” I can’t remember who said that but they couldn’t have been more dead on. The premises for both movies are very similar: a group of kids are playing around and then suddenly aliens! This idea was done to death in the 80’s, and it now seems to be being done to death again, but as with any phenomenon there is some quality stuff being made if you sift through the muck. Those movies remind you of why so much of that stuff is being made, because when done well it’s very enjoyable.

Super 8 was supposed to be that. It wanted so very much to be that, but ultimately it wasn’t. Super 8’s biggest problem was that it was so self aware that it forgot to be something at all. It got so caught up in its “80’s nostalgia” that it wasn’t an enjoyable movie on its own. Instead it was boring simply because everything had already been done before and done better in the 80’s. It was an 80’s monster movie the same way a wax figure is a human. Sure it looks just like it, but it’s missing a pulse.

Okay so enough Super 8 bashing (sorry I just really didn’t enjoy that movie). My point is Attack the Block had that pulse.

The movie opens with a young girl walking home to her apartment. Along the way she gets surrounded by some inner-city youths who rob her. During the robbery something falls from the sky and crashes into a nearby automobile. The lead hoodlum goes to investigate and soon learns that what they thought was fireworks were actually aliens. He ends up killing the alien, and the rest of the movie ensues. Seriously, you don’t need to know anything else about the plot. It’s inner-city kids verses aliens and it is a lot of fun.

This is where it varies from Super 8. It is clearly aware of all the alien/monster movies of the past but that doesn’t stop it from being an enjoyable movie without the viewer having that knowledge. It’s not an 80’s monster movie; It’s a 10’s alien movie. These kids aren’t driven by childlike curiosity but rather feel obligated to fight these aliens, because if they don’t, who will? The cops are more worried about them than the aliens. Their parents are too absent to have any sort of impact. No it’s just them and the aliens.

They do happen to fit a lot of the characteristics of the classic 80’s children from those movies, but those are more by coincidence than intention. Yes they talk and act well beyond their years, but that is because they are a product of their environment, not precociousness (something Hollywood has become more and more enamored with). Yet with these hardened exteriors comes an understandably soft side as you are reminded they are just kids after all. A nice thing about this stuff is that the movie doesn’t try to hit you over the head with these truths either. It’s mentioned, but only to prove why they are the way they are. Then it goes back to the action.

As far as the aliens, they are kind of cool. They don’t have eyes and are pitch black with glowing blue mouths. They kind of move like gorillas, and the cgi isn’t too distracting. The acting is good considering most of the cast is in their teens. I look forward to seeing John Boyega (the leader of the group aptly named Moses) in other things as he was easily my favorite of the bunch with his steely glare. After a quick Google search it appears that like his character he never smiles. I respect that.

This review may be a bit jumbled and I wanted to make some more profound statements about this movie but I made the mistake of waiting too long after watching it to write the review. The most important things to remember from this review is: A. you should definitely see this as it was a very fun movie with just enough heart to make it believable and B. that if someone is in the mood for a monster movie you should see this and definitely not Super 8 because Super 8 is a bad movie.

Drive

Grade: A

While the initial selection was mainly just a matter of timing, it’s still rather fitting that Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive would be the first movie I write about. What I liked most about Drive and something I love about film in general, is how it allows someone to show a vision of theirs that may not be particularly easy to see. What I mean is, not every great idea or great person is all that easy to understand, and really this doesn’t just apply to great things either. We have all had moments where we see something clear as day but for whatever reason we just can’t seem to convey our message properly. Often times it’s something simple like not being able to find the right words or another party just not being able to completely grasp your concept, but regardless we have all felt this way at some time or another. It’s these moments that draw us to certain films, music, books, and any other form of quotable/memorable material. Because through these things we often find the words we couldn’t piece together ourselves. Or the image we couldn’t create in our own mind. Or understand the concept we couldn’t previously comprehend. The ability to show and express these feelings or concepts is a large reason of why I love film and television so much.

Now of course you are probably wondering what all this introspective babble has to do with the movie Drive, and my answer for that is everything. Drive is exactly what I have been talking about the whole time. Think about this movie on paper: A hyper-violent, slow burning crime drama starring an actor best known for making girls swoon in romantic movies that plays a hardened and mysterious bad ass, and it’s all set to euro-pop/techno. That sounds like an absolute mess of a movie. Yet it all without question works, perfectly. I couldn’t imagine trying to sell people on the concept of this movie as it just doesn’t seem to make much sense. Clearly Refn has a vision for this that must have been hard for others to understand, until they saw the final product.

The movie opens with one of the best car chase scenes I’ve seen in a while as we establish Gosling’s character of “Driver,” and without any sort of analysis it’s just really cool. This movie could have easily coasted off that sense of being really cool looking. The driving scenes are sometimes chases that feature creative and fun to watch driving and other times moody, pensive moments that are in no hurry to end. Both are set to a soundtrack that sets the tone perfectly. It’s not even close to what I would call my type of music yet I instantly was looking up the names of the songs afterwards.

That’s not the only cool thing this movie has going for it either. There is also the violence. The sweet, sweet violence. I don’t want to ruin too much about the movie, but let’s just say Ryan Gosling stomps a guys face in…to death. And it wasn’t just violence for violence sake like you see too often in movies. Everything had a purpose and reason for happening within the context. The violence was also creative and impromptu in that it was more them using what was around them as opposed to just killing someone in a cool way because you can. It was very similar to the type of violence that has been hugely popular in Korean films recently. Nobody does violence and revenge like the Koreans, and they do a great job of making all their creative and excessive violence fit within a proper narrative context.

Again that is all cool and fun, but where this movie really becomes great is through its story. Like I said it could have been real easy for Refn to say “I have this fun movie full of great music, great action, and a phenomenal cast I think I’m good.” Instead he developed a character driven story about an anti-hero who more or less just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Everything else seems to fall apart around him as he tries to put things right the only way he knows how. It’s very much a modern day Yojimbo where the main character wanders into turmoil, that due to his expertise, only he can fix. Only instead of being a great samurai he is a great driver. Even the endings are eerily similar.

If you care enough to look for a flaw it can be found in some of the dialogue. Story wise it’s not the most original premise so it does lead to some cliché lines (there is a “he’s the best I’ve ever seen” snuck in there but it’s said by Bryan Cranston so it evens out). I only point this out though to show again how this movie could have very much gone wrong in the wrong hands, but instead it takes this and completely reinvents this classic story. It ultimately reminds us of why so many stories are like this, because when told right, it’s something we can all relate to.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on the cast. This is one of the best movie casts from top to bottom in a long time. Gosling is great as the quiet and somewhat playful yet intense and violent Driver. Albert Brooks is terrifyingly realistic as the ex-movie producer turned crime boss. Carey Mulligan gives a typically solid Carey Mulligan performance. They also did a great job of getting talented actors from television as Son’s of Anarchy’s Ron Perlman plays Brooks’ business associate/pizzeria owner, the brilliant Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame is once again brilliant as Shannon the auto shop owner that the Driver works for, and while she wasn’t in it very long Christina Hendricks from Madmen is good too.

So far of the good movies in 2011 Drive was the first great one I’ve seen, and a perfect example of why I love movies.

Opening Post

Hi! I don't think that this necessarily needs a preface but I thought I might as well provide one. My main reason for creating this is as an outlet. Studying accounting all the time can become a bit grating. There is nothing wrong with it but from time to time I need to stimulate my creative side. Also as many of you know, I love film and television with a passion. I love talking about it, I love reading about it, and I love watching it. This has lead me to have a lot of opinions about movies and television as well.
My goal with this is to kill two birds with one stone. One is to give me a break from thinking about accounting and general business stuff, and the other is get out all the things I want to say about a movie or show in a manner that is easy to digest for others (you know as opposed to me going on a 10 minute tangent about the color motifs in Breaking Bad during a casual conversation). I also think it would be cool if I could produce a bit more buzz for a movie that was perhaps under appreciated, but mostly this is about me doing something to appease myself.

As far as content? I think I'm going to do mostly movie reviews. I also want to make some lists to point people towards under appreciated shows/movies. Really it will probably be a smorgasbord but there should be a general theme, and that is "I heart movies and tv!"

Enjoy!