Best Character: Moses from Attack The Block

It's no secret how much I loved Attack The Block. About a gang of British street kids defending their apartment block from "big alien gorilla wolf mofos" was far superior to Super 8 which also told a similar youth vs aliens story. But the heart and soul of "Attack The Block" lies with it's ultra badass main character "Moses," who if you couldn't tell from the name is the leader of the pack. Brilliantly played by John Boyega, Moses is so engaging for his wicked badass alien killing authority, but also for his humanity, a key part later in the film. Yeah, I like seeing him take down aliens with samurai swords, but his emotion is what takes the character to the next level. By the time the final showdown came about in the movie, I don't think I was ever rooting for a character more onscreen this summer. MOSES! NINJA!

**Boyega is following up his star making turn as Moses by playing a young Mike Tyson in an HBO series pilot**

Attack The Block Is The Best Film Of The Summer (And Maybe The Year)

"Attack The Block" is about a group of lower class london teenagers who fight an alien menace invading their low income housing project. If the words teenagers and aliens bring you back to this summer's other kid alien flick "Super 8" that's good, you should definitely have "Super 8" in your brain so it can be properly destroyed by the kick-ass power of this flick. This is the film that "Super 8" wanted to be.

Written and directed by Joe Cornish (who co-wrote the upcoming "Tintin") the film excels at creating a world for the viewer to live in. The kids, lead by breakout star John Boyega as "Moses" are part of a pack, you might even call it a gang, and they speak in a thick British accent (subtitles were once considered for the US release). They swear, talk that bullshit with each other, and know that the aliens on the block are just as dangerous as the untrustworthy police or the local drug dealers. Luckily they're equipped to deal the alien threat with weapons including, baseball bats, samurai swords, fireworks, machetes, supersoakers, motorbikes, and ice-skates. In the words of one character before he fights the space invaders - "I'm shitting myself in it' but at the same time, this is sick."

Yet, film transcends it's genre roots because Cornish isn't afraid to show us what lurks behind our young protagonists. There are many elements swirling behind the action here and they include such things as the problems of race, gender, and class that afflict London and the world at this moment. In a perfect stroke, Cornish reveals a semi- key detail about a main character in the grand finale and it's sad, intense and jarring, but he doesn't linger on it, he just presents us with the facts, and pulls us right back into the story. This is different from J.J. Abrams "Super 8" a film that "Attack The Block" has to be compared to. Where Abrams seemed to be burdened by some type of nerd serfdom to the bearded master, Cornish pays Spielberg homage with his tight focused story and creature thrills. There are solid un-forced emotional beats here that Abrams can only drool over...and there is also awesome action and excitement. Oh did I mention that "Attack the Block" was made for pennies compared to "Super 8."

"Attack The Block" is hands down the must see film of the summer and shit...it's my favorite film of the year so far. And yeah I know it may be hard to believe it cause you scroll through these pages and see my praising "Transformers," but all I gotta say it you got' believe me fam! This is entertainment that makes you think, makes you afraid, makes you laugh, and makes you bask in awe of the power of the filmaking. Believe!

How Nostalgia Almost Ruined Super 8

One of the buzz words that circulates around the new film "Super 8" is "nostalgia." This sentimental longing for the past is almost a universal human emotion. I mean facebook is essentially a nostalgia machine, don't believe me, go to your profile, click on photos of yourself and go the first one ever posted, yuppp....Nostalgia! However I found the nostalgia in "Super 8" to be a little un-necessary? Why did this movie have to be set in the past? Have kids changed so much since the 1979 or is it that in our modern world, we've lost our sense of Spielbergian cinematic wonder?

The central story of the film is brilliant. Five kids on the cusp of being teenagers set out to make a film and end up capturing a monster on camera. The monster (and the military who come to find it) begin to terrorize their small town and they're caught in the middle of it all and may even hold the key to saving the town/world/each other. If that sounds a little hokey, it's because it is, but in the best possible ways. Newcomer Joel Courtney as Joe, is a standout amongst the stellar young cast. Each one of them has their own personality, tagline, and skill-set which aids in the story and gives the film a magical "Goonies" vibe.


Director J.J. Abrams has a great handle on how to direct the young kids and to stage the havoc and mayhem the military/monster causes. Say what you will about Abrams but the guy is a highly underrated action director, the scenes here are crisp, clear, and refreshingly devoid of "shakey cam" syndrome which can ruin a film. The explosions, special effects, and monster design are all top notch. Wait, speaking of monster design, the monster looks like a cousin of the "Cloverfield" monster, which looked like "Star Trek" monster, so you gotta wonder if all these creatures are related and JJ is going to reveal this in future and systematically make nerds explodes all at once.

Ahh nerds, not the candy, but the primary audience for this film. This is a film the deliberately conjures up the sense of wonder of everybody felt while watching "E.T.," "Jurassic Park," and "Close Encounters." That sense of wonder is THE NERD IN YOU, the childlike fascination in the unknown and awesome. Because JJ/Spielberg try so hard to appeal to this, they make a choice in the ending which I didn't agree with. I don't want to spoil it, but let's say it involves our hero and the compassion that "Old Man Woodward's Research" supposedly has. It felt un-earned and too heavy handed with it's emotions, too much designed to appeal to the old school nerd wonder and not the story the film had told so well up to that moment. It felt like a red flag that said "see, we're just like those movies from your childhood you love!"

This simple decision didn't ruin the movie at all, it's still great, but it made wonder just why it had to be in there. Are we as viewers craving nostalgic wonder so much, we cannot create create or appreciate it in the present? Kid's these days may not shoot films on Super 8 cameras, but they still make them and they're still awesome. They still get nervous around the opposite sex, are impressed fireworks and destruction, and possess amazing courage in the face of the unknown. "Super 8" is great film, but it could have been a legendary one if Abrams and Spielberg trusted the kids of 2011 a little more and made it about them*



**"Attack The Block" is a film about a group of teenagers fighting aliens in a london Housing project in 2011, it's getting rave reviews and comes out July 29**