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quinaraaka the latest Simon Pegg-Nick Frost venture.
I actually really enjoyed it, a hell of a lot more than Hot Fuzz and probably a lot more than Shaun of the Dead. Should be asleep, so this will be short. Basically, the only thing I would say that was wrong with it was that I think it threw its ending away. I would dither over where the actual throwing away occurred - I think my friend H would be more generous than I'm coming around to being, because ultimately, I reckon, they should have ditched the post-apocalyptic idea and instead have had something like maybe most of them dying, maybe just Nick Frost after the other two and had Steve and Sam be happy at the end, and then cutting back to the support group where, for whatever reason (maybe he got his final pint) Gary's saying that this was the best night of his life. Then someone calls him on it and the film ends with him torn between his feeling of elation and the wreckage left around him.
I mean, maybe that would have been a bit maudlin, but it really didn't work basically giving Gary what he wanted - his old gang back and the freedom to walk around causing mayhem (even justifying it, because apparently at heart the human race is a bunch of bigots in the Wild West). It was self-indulgent, a bit too much like I remember the other films being, because obvs the lads will come out all right in the end. ...
But I did like Pegg as the aging goth. In the opening sequence I couldn't help bit feel like there was no way that kid would grow up to be Simon Pegg, but then it's surprising what he looks like with a bit more hair dyed dark. It suits him. Sort of. I am not allowed a military coat or that much black. It makes me look ill and greasy. I don't quite have the features either. Sad face.
But, anyway, I find it interesting how Wiki and presumably most of the publicity material and to a certain extent the film skirts around the fact Gary isn't just an alcoholic or an abuser of alcohol, he's obviously a drug addict too. The film's a bit like if Trainspotting were a buddy adventure film where everyone's a bit richer and better adjusted and Renton has no false ideas about getting clean. It gave it oomph and grit (not least because I feared at the start it was going to be yet another film about the miseries of getting olllld, baby boomer style). I don't think I've seen Nick Frost be this good in anything.
There were some very cracking lines. Can't remember the exact phrasing, but something like 'oh, fuck off, you giant lamp!' and a better line with cunts in it, but I'd need to see it again for that. Shame I can't get them to reshoot the ending - then it could easily have been on the favourites list. Two thirds of the way through there was a bit too much fighting and not quite enough developmental dialogue for me (though I suppose it came in fits and bursts), but it was definitely at least an 8/10. Good stuff; recommended.
Oh, and we saw a trailer for the new Sandra Bullock buddy movie with Melissa McCarthy. It looked absolutely aces. Miss Congenality 2 is the most underrated two women buddy cop film ever, but I think this should be pretty excellent too. And earlier today I watched half an episode of Orange is the New Black. That seemed quite good, and I was promised somewhere good characters. The lead seems a bit of a cliché, but I'm hoping she grows into it a bit and the show doesn't keep her forever as a poor little misled flower.
I actually really enjoyed it, a hell of a lot more than Hot Fuzz and probably a lot more than Shaun of the Dead. Should be asleep, so this will be short. Basically, the only thing I would say that was wrong with it was that I think it threw its ending away. I would dither over where the actual throwing away occurred - I think my friend H would be more generous than I'm coming around to being, because ultimately, I reckon, they should have ditched the post-apocalyptic idea and instead have had something like maybe most of them dying, maybe just Nick Frost after the other two and had Steve and Sam be happy at the end, and then cutting back to the support group where, for whatever reason (maybe he got his final pint) Gary's saying that this was the best night of his life. Then someone calls him on it and the film ends with him torn between his feeling of elation and the wreckage left around him.
I mean, maybe that would have been a bit maudlin, but it really didn't work basically giving Gary what he wanted - his old gang back and the freedom to walk around causing mayhem (even justifying it, because apparently at heart the human race is a bunch of bigots in the Wild West). It was self-indulgent, a bit too much like I remember the other films being, because obvs the lads will come out all right in the end. ...
But I did like Pegg as the aging goth. In the opening sequence I couldn't help bit feel like there was no way that kid would grow up to be Simon Pegg, but then it's surprising what he looks like with a bit more hair dyed dark. It suits him. Sort of. I am not allowed a military coat or that much black. It makes me look ill and greasy. I don't quite have the features either. Sad face.
But, anyway, I find it interesting how Wiki and presumably most of the publicity material and to a certain extent the film skirts around the fact Gary isn't just an alcoholic or an abuser of alcohol, he's obviously a drug addict too. The film's a bit like if Trainspotting were a buddy adventure film where everyone's a bit richer and better adjusted and Renton has no false ideas about getting clean. It gave it oomph and grit (not least because I feared at the start it was going to be yet another film about the miseries of getting olllld, baby boomer style). I don't think I've seen Nick Frost be this good in anything.
There were some very cracking lines. Can't remember the exact phrasing, but something like 'oh, fuck off, you giant lamp!' and a better line with cunts in it, but I'd need to see it again for that. Shame I can't get them to reshoot the ending - then it could easily have been on the favourites list. Two thirds of the way through there was a bit too much fighting and not quite enough developmental dialogue for me (though I suppose it came in fits and bursts), but it was definitely at least an 8/10. Good stuff; recommended.
Oh, and we saw a trailer for the new Sandra Bullock buddy movie with Melissa McCarthy. It looked absolutely aces. Miss Congenality 2 is the most underrated two women buddy cop film ever, but I think this should be pretty excellent too. And earlier today I watched half an episode of Orange is the New Black. That seemed quite good, and I was promised somewhere good characters. The lead seems a bit of a cliché, but I'm hoping she grows into it a bit and the show doesn't keep her forever as a poor little misled flower.