Attack the Block SPOILER ZONE: Your faves and worsties

[namesinspace]

(Formerly - Attack the Block: Members Reviews)

Go!

[onthinice]

why don't you go first? You're one of the few round here who've already seen it ages ago. I'll probably come back here tomorrow and write something after I've seen it.

[onthinice]

Alright then, I suppose I might as well write something here then....although there's really very little I can say that hasn't been said a thousand times in every other review out there. So I suppose I'll keep it short and sweet. [edit: I guess not then]

So I've seen it a couple of times now and basically I really liked it. It's great. But I was always going to like it being a fanboi so my opinion is pretty worthless here.

I brought my brother to see it on wednesday for a matinee. He doesn't really know/care who Adam and Joe are and knew nothing about the film at all before we went to the cinema. He basically thought it was OK. Nothing amazing. To be honest I'd say he was being polite (cos he knows I like A&J). I don't think he liked it at all. His main problem with it was the lingo. He thought it felt lame and forced. He also said "you can tell the kids aren't really actors, they were a bit brutal". He also thought they used some pretty cheap plot devices to avoid [spoiler]Sam calling the police after the invasion[/spoiler] so they could advance the story quickly without any outside influence.

I went again last night with another friend of mine who's a big A&J fan (but luckily hadn't seen any of the trailers or reviews or spoilers). So he basically went in to it fresh, not knowing what to expect. His first words after the credits rolled were "That was fucking deadly...fuckin brilliant" So he obviously liked it.

My main problem was that I ruined it for myself. I've spent weeks looking at all the behind the scenes clips, interviews, reviews, everything. I'd basically seen the film before I'd even seen it. I massively regret doing that. I'd seen all the jokes a dozen times so none of them were funny any more (I laughed once in the cinema). I knew exactly what was going to happen so there were no surprises. The only thing I didn't know was [spoiler]how many and in what order the kids would die.[/spoiler]

The music was great. Basement Jaxx did an amazing job with it.
The Language didn't bother me, but I can see how some people could be annoyed by it. I could have done with a couple less wagwans if I'm being honest. (Do people really still say that?)
It's shot incredibly well. Amazing for a first time director. Looks super professional.
The kids did a great job. Although I thought a couple of Sam's lines were a bit cheesy. I thought the [spoiler]moses reveal[/spoiler] at the end was a bit cheap, but maybe that's just cos I knew it was coming.
The funniest bit (or the only bit I laughed at) was [spoiler]Pest's tiny motorcycle reveal. but that's just cos I have a special fondness for that old Xfm show where they talk about Gangs of gangling youths on tiny childrens' bikes[/spoiler]
That's not to say it wasn't funny (I just knew all the jokes in advance). In fact there was a group of teens in front of us at the cinema who laughed uproariously at every single bit that could even be considered vaguely a joke.
It was proper scary and exciting too, and pretty gruesome. (It's actually got a 16 cert here. Maybe there was one too many fucks for the Irish mammys)

tl;dr I thought it was great (although I ruined it by knowing too much in advance). My mate thought it was "fucking brilliant" and my brother thought it was "OK I guess".

[namesinspace]

So I've seen it a couple of times now and basically I really liked it. It's great. But I was always going to like it being a fanboi so my opinion is pretty worthless here.

That's why I didn't bother to put anything here. I've got far too much to say but it would bore everyone. I started the thread so that people who see it this weekend can contribute.

I'm sorry you felt saturated with all trailers and interviews. You did a great job of keeping the thread going while I was abstaining. It's the thing I feared the most and I was steadfast in my resolve to avoid all I could.

See it again in a couple of weeks, perhaps. My fave viewing was after a 2 week break but I was in great company.

[onthinice]

That's why I didn't bother to put anything here. I've got far too much to say but it would bore everyone. I started the thread so that people who see it this weekend can contribute.

Yeah maybe we could just make this thread more of a catch-all "chat about the film once you've seen it spoiler-full zone"
That way people don't feel like they have to write big reviews. They can just come in and go "Hey that bit was so cool when that thing happened" or "What was the deal with that bit when they did that thing?" etc.....

[namesinspace]

good idea...

[onthinice]

Great.......
OK, I guess we don't need to worry about spoiler tags any more so. One thing I was curious about......
Joe mentioned that he wrote one of the songs in the film. I couldn't figure out which one. He said it wasn't High-Hatz song. Is it the ditty that plays over Adam's nature documentary on the TV? That's the only thing I could think of that he might have done. It's been driving me crazy. Can someone please tell me the answer?

[namesinspace]

It's the riff called 'Baked Beats'. He was cagey about it in my 'interview' but something in the Picturehouses podcast made me think it might be the little riff on the website....it would save a lot of money if they didn't have to pay Basement Jaxx for that ....or Mr Price, I guess.

[onthinice]

oh yeah, sure your interview was where I read about it! I've read so many at this stage that I forget where everything came from. Thanks.
If Joe really wrote that song that plays when you go to the ATB site then I'm well impressed. If he's capable of doing that, then there's no way he should be losing songwars ever!