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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.43.241.164
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 09:56 am:   

Wow - it's rare that a film feels like an instant classic these days but this one certainly does (for me).
I have to say I was very resistant to it. I hate gangs/chavs with a passion and any story by me on this subject would certainly not have been so even handed or thoughtful. After watching it i think I might have learned compassion for a culture, gained some kind of insight I never really had. I think it might be an important film in that respect.
Every minute is so soundly done and considered. we feel the influence of Carpenter throughout, and suddenly we realise Carpenter has never made anything as rich as this, or affecting. It just feels so fresh and alive - we feel the tang of the night air, we feel part of a gang we initially hate. We see deep rifts being healed before our eyes in believable ways. I think it's an astonishing film that manages to be deep without sacrificing sheer entertainment. I can't stop thinking about it.
The best British film I've seen in ages. It should be on the curriculum.
(As an aside, I also watched the universally slated Land of the Lost, and loved every single rude and crude and yes, imaginative minute. Terry Gilliam meets early John Landis - sort of.)
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 08:40 am:   

Really? No-one's seen it?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 09:39 am:   

The trailer was enough, Tony. But I wish I had your open-mindedness.

Well, sometimes...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.19.31
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 09:57 am:   

It was very well reviewed in Sight and Sound. I do mean to see it - just haven't yet! I only just caught up with Le Pere de Mes Enfants, for instance - I'm often years behind.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 10:14 am:   

I saw it. Didn't like it, I'm afraid.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.214.176
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 10:48 am:   

I didn't like it either. Couldn't quite see behind the unpleasant main characters to get at the plot.
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Mark West (Mark_west)
Username: Mark_west

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 62.253.243.90
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 12:11 pm:   

I saw it, wasn't keen
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 03:23 pm:   

But the unpleasant characters changed - all of them did. It's what the film was about. I think we need such insights.
I have to say Stevie - watching things we don't fancy can often be very good for us. We edit our lives if we don't experiment I think.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.246.135.187
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 05:17 pm:   

Didn't the film come about'cos Joe Cornish got mugged and he wanted to do something to help understand his attackers' mindset?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 05:35 pm:   

Stu - it did. And I think it was really big of him to try. I used to scoff at the idea but have come to envy him. Honestly, i think it's an important film. It's a shame if it doesn't make an impression.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.246.135.187
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 05:44 pm:   

I'm sure I'll get round to seeing this eventually. Just don't know when.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 08:46 pm:   

I enjoyed it a great deal, Tony. Funny, thrilling, and very bold in its choice of protagonists.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.158.152.219
Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 08:35 pm:   

I'm sure I've discussed this elsewhere with you Tony but I quite liked it - it felt like a modern-day Children's Film Foundation picture, right down to all the references to classic SF writers "for the Dads in the audience".
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.189.61
Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2012 - 12:35 am:   

The three of us - Christopher, Tim, and I - watched it together, and we all liked it a lot (even if it was a tad difficult to understand some of the kids sometimes). Inventive, clever, scary, (intentionally) laugh-out-loud funny in spots, and with characters who actually - sit down for this one, it's not a given in a genre film - change, develop, grow as people over the course of the film. It came out over here the same week that 'Cowboys and Aliens' did, and many reviewers covered the two films in the same review. Let's just say that 'C&A' came off MUCH less favourably, with reviewers praising 'Attack the Block' fulsomely, and wondering why a (very) modestly budgeted British films starring one person you might have heard of was so much better than a $200 million Hollywood blockbuster with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.249
Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 02:12 pm:   

I enjoyed Cowboys vs Aliens very much indeed. I don't think the two can be compared - they're different beasts. Both as heartfelt and well crafted as they could be.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.48.249
Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 02:13 pm:   

'But I wish I had your open-mindedness'
Stevie - you can borrow it if you like.
There you go!

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