Invasion Of The Beer Snatchers

Back in 2004 the world was introduced to the film stylings of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright with zombie comedy, Shaun of the Dead. Three years later they were back with police caper, Hot Fuzz. After six years of waiting, the third instalment of the Cornetto Trilogy is here. This is The World's End.

In June 1990, on the last day of school, five friends went out to celebrate. Their aim? To get through the golden mile - a selection of twelve pubs in one night. The group is made up of Andy, Oliver, Steven, peter, and their old leader, Gary. However, they only managed to make it through ten pubs. Jump forward to 2013 and Gary is adamant that the boys give it another go, though this time there may be more to worry about than just being sick or passing out. It seems a larger threat is present in the small town and the guys are going to have fight together, through all of their personal strife, to get to the last pub... Or even to survive!

'What happened last night?'

The only real way to understand the acting abilities of Frost and Pegg is to watch all three films in the Cornetto Trilogy back to back. The World's  End provides a complete role reversal for the two of them with Pegg becoming substance abusing screw up, Gary, who is obsessed with the legend he once was, and Frost playing a serious lawyer with a wife, job, and a seventeen year long sober spell. But with no context of their previous roles, you would believe this was their natural home. Pegg is completely reckless, stained by his disillusionment and does not show any real care for his friends, but somehow is still has a power over them. Frost is almost like your friend's dad. He seems nice enough and when he is mad, he still plays it fairly cool. The rest of the five musketeers are great as well. Freeman, an estate agent, is sensible and smart, often falling at the butt of jokes, but not afraid to fight back unlike Peter, played by Eddie Marsan. Peter is the weed. He hides from fights, but you get protective over him. His brief back story will no doubt hit home in many hearts through his wonderfully powerful, if not simple, performance. And Paddy Considine, as Steven, flicks on the line of the prick of the group and the most logical, perhaps because the audience are encouraged to view him from Gary's perspective - a rival for the ladies. 

'Fuck it'

Edgar Wright has proved time and time again that he knows what he is doing in film. Pegg and himself know no limits when it comes to writing a comedy that is completely a genre film, but also hilarious. The fight scenes, much like Wright's Scott Pilgrim, are beautifully orchestrated and choreographed in every detail. One particularly funny fight has Gary attempting just to get through his pint but constantly getting interrupted. The jokes work in every way conceivable. The physical comedy is the stuff of legend, the sight gags are extremely clever, and there is some inventive swearing that would make Malcolm Tucker proud. All this being said, it starts of a bit slow. Having five characters to introduce clearly proved to be a challenge. Once they get going on the adventure, it is constant fun, but it feels like the film needed to shift up a gear just a little sooner.

Despite leaving the already twice successful routine and heading in a different direction, The World's End has everything you could hope for from the final part of the Cornetto Trilogy. Comedy, the beating heart of friendship, barbie doll like creatures that splurt blue blood. It is a wonderful creation. And for drama nerds, keep an eye out for the scene that gets a bit Brecht.

Best Bit? All the fight scenes are wonderful. They're like watching painstakingly rehearsed dances.

A Boy, His Dog, A Drunk, and Some Treasure

This is not your normal comic book adaption. There are no super heroes, no amazing gadgets, and no Marvel or DC. Just a boy, his dog, and a drunken sailor. Finally it's time to see Hergé's classic comic on the big screen and with such a fine cast and crew behind it, what could go wrong. Let's talk about The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn. (Woah, mouthful!)

Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his dog Snowy innocently buy a model boat at a street stall. Suddenly, the boat receives a lot of interest from a couple of mysterious men. Intrigued, Tintin keeps a close eye on the boat... Until Snowy knocks it to the floor. Inside the mast is a secret message. A clue. Clearly this is what one of the mysterious men was after as the flat is broken into but the clue remains safe. Tintin teams up with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and foolish inspectors Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost respectively) To unveil the secret of the Unicorn before Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig).

There's no witty caption here. Just look at how wonderful that CG is.

Now this cast would be outstanding in any live action movie, and it’s just as spectacular in Motion Capture. It is important to remember that this is motion capture and not animation.  They’re not just voice actors, they’re actually acting. And yet, not a single character seems too much like the actor playing them. If you weren't aware which actors were in the film, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Try to tell the difference between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I dare you. Daniel Craig is also superb. At no point did I realise that it was him who played Ivanovich Sakharine. Andy Serkis is absolutely hilarious as Captain Haddock. Only once did his comedy seem to dip into ‘dumb humour’, (Burping into a plane engine in order to keep it flying.) but that's a writing issue... I literally have no complaints about the acting in this movie.

Visually, this film caused my jaw to drop like no film has since Avatar. The very first shot of a person’s face caused a communal intake of air from every person in the cinema. It was simply breathtaking. And the transitions between scenes were completely flawless. Not only that, they were stunning. I've never been so captivated by a scene change. Even the opening sequence was a treat for the eyes. A miniature Tintin adventure as the creative teams names float around the screen. On top of all these things, the movie contains action sequences that rival any big scale blockbuster and they'll also make you laugh until it hurts. The first of two notable examples is a city wide chase sequence. There are bazookas, tanks, floods and a hell of a lot of chaos, and all in a single shot! The camera never cuts away from the action. The second incredible action sequence comes in the form of a flashback to the days of pirates. The story of the unicorn. A battle involving two ships with action on a scale to match, and beat, battle scenes in any Pirates Of The Caribbean films. I was in awe of this scene. The fire jumped off the screen, perhaps due to the 3D, and every single gun shot or cannon fire made me hold the edge of my seat. The whole scene is cleverly re-enacted later using cranes. You'll understand. I don't want to put any spoilers. And all that with just over half the budget for Avatar.

Captain Haddock thought he was in his favourite movie, North by Northwest and was overjoyed

Directed by a man considered a legend in the film making world and produced by an man of equal stature. Both Oscar winners, Steven Spielberg (director) and Peter Jackson (producer) know what they're doing. Hegre was even quoted to say that he believed on Spielberg could do Tintin justice. Personally, I have very few criticisms of this movie. My only big one being that it was too short (even at 107 minutes). Fortunately, there is going to be two more movies, so that's good. I laughed my socks off and was completely hypnotized by the picture. Sometimes, jokes did fall flat and admittedly, snowy was a better detective than Tintin at points, but the movie is a major achievement. I highly suggest it. However, I can't find myself able to give it the full five stars. It misses something. I'm not sure what.

Best bit? Personally, the battle between the two boats was just so outstandingly done I have to say that. It was simply stunning as well as incredibly exciting. 

Druggie Aliens.

With Edgar Wright as their spearhead, these two actors have already shown the middle finger to the zombie genre, they've wiped their arses with cop movies and now they take on alien movies. Alone. That's right. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up without Edgar Wright directing to produce their interpretation of the alien sub-genre.

Two nerds, Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), go to live their dream. To visit comic-con and then tour famous alien related sites in a giant RV. Normal behaviour for us Brits then? Well maybe not. Especially not when they help cause a car to fly off the road. Being human, they start to call for an ambulance but aren't quite sure what to do when an alien steps out from the wreckage. Well, Clive does. He faints. However, the three start to become good friends. Clive and Graeme decide to help 'Paul' (Seth Rogen) get back to his ship despite the government on his trail. On their way they encounter anti-evolution bible freaks, hunters, and a rather amusing cameo or two. But it's truly a buddy comedy with bonding experiences despite being shot at every now and then.

The driving cover of Bohemian Rhapsody didn't
quite have the same effect as Wayne's World.

The replacement of Edgar Wright with Nick Frost as Pegg's writing partner has some rather noticeable differences. Where Wright brought in witty dialogue, Frost brought in fart and weed jokes. The big comedic difference here is that, while Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz true British, clever, parody comedy, Paul uses mates humor. Things you may laugh at down at the bar or at a party don't always translate well onto screen. While the silly nature of an old lady sighing, "there goes my pot" may seem humorous at first, you soon realise it was out of place, out of context and completely un-needed. That being said, the movie is hilarious. The fart and weed jokes are outweighed by decent writing with great character work.

Pegg and Frost are in their element as nerds. Who needs to act? Throughout the movie, they remain the same characters. There is no unexplained Epiphany where they decide to become awesome and help aliens. They're just nerds. Rogen's Paul is the main centre for the comedy. His forwardness and almost pathetic invisibility powers are comedy gold. And the entire films comic timing. For example:
"Clive: What if we wake up and find him inserting a probe into our anus?
Graeme: Well apparently they don't do that.
Paul: [Paul wiggles his finger inside the hole of a bagel] Anyone want one of these? Yeah? Anyone?"
At first Seth Rogen's voice seems wrong, and I still don't think he was the right choice, but it grows on you. I kinda just want him to do a role that doesn't involve smoking weed or talking about his own dick.
On the other side of the scale, the 'baddies' are brilliant. The fumbling pair of agents, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly, (Joe Lo Truglio) are the real fools of the movie and Jason Bateman throws in a great turn as Agent Zoil. He's serious and funny. Even if he is completely overshadowed by his boss, The Big Guy. (Don't want to ruin this cameo. It made me laugh. A lot.)

There's aliens around here. And that's how Sue Cs it.

A geek's paradise is very similar to this film. It's full of references to every alien movie. From E.T to Alien. Spielberg's voice even makes an appearance on the phone. If you're like me and my friend, you'll find these hidden moments hilarious and laugh aloud in the cinema and everyone else will judge you. And it will be good. The only other film with this many alien references is Planet 51 (which, surprisingly, isn't too bad.) It even has a nerdy soundtrack and particular camera shots echo those from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Director Greg Mottola's input on the comedy will ring bells with fans of his other movies such as Superbad. But this is certainly better.

Overall a good film. Not quite Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead, and certainly not to be confused with the third of that trilogy. But it's still a load of laughs and great to watch with you (nerdy) friends.Best Bit? There's a lot of good bits. One of my favourite lines has to be "Hey fucknuts! Probing time."