Not many children’s movies would feature someone voicing the fear that the title characters would “kidnap me and slurp up my intestines like noodles,” but then again, “The Boxtrolls” is not like most other kid flicks.
Based on Alan Snow’s illustrated novel “Here Be Monsters!,” and from the folks who brought us the dark visions of “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” “The Boxtrolls” is the most original film for young’uns to come out this year.
According to town father Lord Portley-Rind (voice of Jared Harris) of the Victorian-age town of Cheesebridge, the Boxtrolls are evil beasts that steal children, eat their faces and live underground among mountains of bones and rivers of blood. They’re so hideous there are even popular songs written about their dastardly deeds. To rid the community of these vile creatures Rind brings in a social-climbing exterminator named Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), who guarantees the complete annihilation of the trolls in return for a coveted White Hat and a place at the town’s exclusive cheese table.
The Boxtrolls, of course, aren’t evil. They are good-natured, green-skinned trolls who use cardboard boxes as camouflage, speak gibberish and get into mischief, like smelly Minions. Sure, they eat live bugs and live underground in a Rube Goldberg-esque steampunk world of machines made from parts salvaged from the garbage but they also love music and have raised a human child, Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright), as one of their own. If the Boxtrolls are to survive, Eggs will have to go head-to-head with Snatcher and his henchmen Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade), Mr. Trout (Nick Frost) and Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan).
Combining the atmosphere of Hammer horror films with slapstick humour, a deranged story, a “be who you are” message and morbidly marvelous attention to every stop-motion detail, “The Boxtrolls” is a trick and a treat.
Unabashedly weird and wonderful, the movie may be too scary for the little ones, but any child who has spent time with the “Goosebumps” series or “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” shouldn’t be kept up at night by either the story or the visuals.
Instead they’ll likely be drawn in by the beautiful set decoration, the ingenious character design—the baddies all have the worst teeth since Austin Powers—and fun voice work. As the lactose intolerant Snatcher Kingsley has the most fun. It’s a flamboyant performance, inventive and eccentric, that will entertain kids and their parents.
“The Boxtrolls” is Pixar on drugs, a wild ride that isn’t afraid to mix a scare or two in with the kid stuff.
Jerry Bruckheimer is the most successful movie producer on the planet. Nicknamed “Mr. Blockbuster” Bruckheimer is either regarded as a genius or a lowbrow hack, depending on your tolerance for rapid gunfire, slo-mo car crashes and scripts with the emotional depth of a lunch tray. Movies such as Bad Boys, The Rock and Con Air have made him very rich and while he busied himself circling the earth in his Gulfstream IV private jet, thinking up new and insidious ways to blow things up, a trio of British filmmakers came up with a film called Hot Fuzz that both pays tribute to, and takes the Mickey out of, the Bruckheimer oeuvre.
A couple of years ago actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, along with director Edgar Wright created Shawn of the Dead, a zombie movie that effectively mixed big laughs with buckets of gore. That movie became a giant cult hit, establishing them as purveyors of smart, funny pop culture satire. This time out they’ve made an unlikely buddy cop picture that takes a few minutes too long to take off, but pays big dividends in the third act.
Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a big city London cop with an impressive record. He lives and breathes the job, and in one year racks up an incredible 400 arrests. His efforts don’t go unnoticed. In fact, they attract too much notice forcing his supervisors to arrange to have him shipped off to a remote village because his gung-ho attitude is making them look like slackers. Transferred to the sleepy little township of Sandford he soon begins to suspect that the quiet town holds some dangerous secrets. Teamed with a bumbling partner (Nick Frost) he sets out to get to the bottom of a series of remarkable “accidents” that have claimed the lives of several notable citizens. The nefarious plot the feisty cop uncovers is part Wicker Man, part Bad Boys.
Director and co-writer Wright carefully combines the very English sensibility of a movie like Wicker Man, in which a small community is investigated by a strong-willed cop, with the pyrotechnics of an American action film. Using the Bruckheimer Rule which states that the movie will get bigger, louder and more violent as it nears its close, Wright begins with a character study that morphs into a full-on blood-soaked actioner by the end of the last reel.
Cleverly edited and smartly written—homages include a tip of the hat to Chinatown, the greatest crime script ever written, with, “Forget it, Angel. It’s Sandford” and a literal shot-by-shot recreation from Point Blank—the film could use some judicious editing in the early reels. Hot Fuzz has an interesting premise and some good jokes, but at 121 minutes it feels a bit labored.
To pass the time during the dull bits keep your eyes peeled for some unaccredited big time cameos. Sharp-eyed viewers will be able to spot Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson as a homicidal Father Christmas, and Cate Blanchett as Angel’s masked CSI ex-girlfriend.
Hot Fuzz doesn’t succeed as brilliantly as Shawn of the Dead, but does an admirable job of mixing hilarity and havoc. I think even Bruckheimer would approve.
“Paul,” the new comedy from “Sean of the Dead” duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is a something-for-everyone movie. Sci fi, check. Buddy comedy, chase scenes, fish-out-of-water and romance? Check, check, check and check.
Pegg and Frost play British sci fi nerds exploring “the less touristy side of the American Midwest.” Starting at nerd central, Comic Coin, they plan to RV it to every UFO landing site they can find—the Black Mailbox, Area 51—but their trip is sidelined when they come across an actual alien, Paul (voice of Seth Rogen), a foulmouthed ET on the lam. For sixty years after crash landing on earth he lived at an army base thinking he was a guest. When he realized he was a prisoner, he says, he made a run for it. Pursued by federal agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio) and the angry father of a girl they accidentally kidnap (Kristen Wiig) they try and make it back to Paul’s mothership and his ride back to the safety of his own planet.
“Paul,” which was written by Pegg and Frost, lacks the laugh-out-loud-every-two-minute rhythm of their previous movies, “Sean of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” but it has a lot of heart. Pegg and Frost have great chemistry—they’re kind of the Laurel and Hardy of geek culture—and are absolutely likeable in the leads. They are responsible for 90% of what makes “Paul” so agreeable.
The alien is amusing and way less of a frat boy character than the trailer would have you believe. They’ve also given him a cool backstory—he was the model for all big eyed pop culture extraterrestrials and consulted with Spielberg on the making of ET—and while Rogen’s voice work is OK and the computer face rather expressive, he’s not as much fun as Pegg and Frost. Ditto Wiig who is stuck with running gags involving Charles Darwin—born again Christians beware! You will not be pleased—and loads of creative swearing that never tickles the funny bone.
Despite its downsides—some misfired gags and a conventional story structure—“Paul” is satisfying not because of its homage to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or the excellent call-back to “Aliens” but because of the relationships and the bonds that form between the characters. I can’t help but think that “Paul” might have had more of a funny edge had “Sean of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” director Edgar Wright had been at the helm, but as it stands “Paul” is an enjoyable diversion.
“The World’s End” exists somewhere at the intersection of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Westworld,” “The Big Chill” and “Withnail and I,” but it’s not a geographical location. The new film from the makers of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” is about a state of arrested development, populated by a guy who never grew up, his friends who have and… robots.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) can pinpoint the best night of his life. Hours after graduating school he and four friends attempted the Golden Mile pub-crawl—one mile, twelve pubs—in the quiet British town of Newton Haven. It was an epic night for the teenager, filled with pints, pals and even a bit of illicit bathroom snogging, even if he fell three short of the final pub on the list, The World’s End.
In the twenty years since his life has been a flatline. “I’m the same old Gary,” he says, and that’s the problem. His old buddy Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a successful real estate agent, Peter (Eddie Marsan) sells luxury cars, Steven (Paddy Considine) started and sold a thriving business and former best friend Andrew (Nick Frost) is an attorney. Gary hits upon the idea of putting the band back together, so to speak, and relive the good old days. Or as he remembers them, “The camaraderie, the fights, the hangovers so fierce it feels like your head is full of ants.”
The pub-crawl becomes less about nostalgia and more about survival when the townsfolk of Newton Haven are revealed to be automatons enlisting new recruits for their cause. As the friends—now including Oliver’s sister Samantha (Rosamund Pike)—battle the mysterious creatures Gary remains focused. It’ll tale more than DNA thieving robots to stop him from completing his childhood dream.
Like the other films in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy—“Shaun of the Dead,” Hot Fuzz” and this movie—“The World’s End” is a memorable mix of characters and situation.
Once again Cornetto regulars Pegg and Frost are front and center, although playing against type. Pegg’s take on Gary has much more swagger than we’ve seen from him in the past. He’s a selfish motor mouth, concerned only with his redemption and the completion of the Golden Mile challenge. He’s a living embodiment of the dangers of living in the past but Pegg somehow makes him bearable and very funny. He spouts the complicated dialogue effortlessly, and check out the balancing act as he battles aliens and tries not to spill his pint.
Frost plays it straight for the most part, playing a straight-and-narrow attorney who (MILD SPOILER) goes off the rails when the alien takeover plot is unveiled. His deadpan delivery in the first half pays off with big scene stealing laughs in the second half when he lets loose.
“The World’s End” isn’t as consistently laugh-out-loud funny as “Shaun of the Dead” or as action-packed as “Hot Fuzz,” but its thematic core—the difficulty of growing up—is evident in every frame, making it the most mature of the Cornetto films.
“The World’s End” exists somewhere at the intersection of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Westworld,” “The Big Chill” and “Withnail and I,” but it’s not a geographical location. The new film from the makers of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” is about a state of arrested development, populated by a guy who never grew up, his friends who have and… robots.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) can pinpoint the best night of his life. Hours after graduating school he and four friends attempted the Golden Mile pub-crawl—one mile, twelve pubs—in the quiet British town of Newton Haven. It was an epic night for the teenager, filled with pints, pals and even a bit of illicit bathroom snogging, even if he fell three short of the final pub on the list, The World’s End.
In the twenty years since his life has been a flatline. “I’m the same old Gary,” he says, and that’s the problem. His old buddy Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a successful real estate agent, Peter (Eddie Marsan) sells luxury cars, Steven (Paddy Considine) started and sold a thriving business and former best friend Andrew (Nick Frost) is an attorney. Gary hits upon the idea of putting the band back together, so to speak, and relive the good old days. Or as he remembers them, “The camaraderie, the fights, the hangovers so fierce it feels like your head is full of ants.”
The pub-crawl becomes less about nostalgia and more about survival when the townsfolk of Newton Haven are revealed to be automatons enlisting new recruits for their cause. As the friends—now including Oliver’s sister Samantha (Rosamund Pike)—battle the mysterious creatures Gary remains focused. It’ll tale more than DNA thieving robots to stop him from completing his childhood dream.
Like the other films in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy—“Shaun of the Dead,” Hot Fuzz” and this movie—“The World’s End” is a memorable mix of characters and situation.
Once again Cornetto regulars Pegg and Frost are front and center, although playing against type. Pegg’s take on Gary has much more swagger than we’ve seen from him in the past. He’s a selfish motor mouth, concerned only with his redemption and the completion of the Golden Mile challenge. He’s a living embodiment of the dangers of living in the past but Pegg somehow makes him bearable and very funny. He spouts the complicated dialogue effortlessly, and check out the balancing act as he battles aliens and tries not to spill his pint.
Frost plays it straight for the most part, playing a straight-and-narrow attorney who (MILD SPOILER) goes off the rails when the alien takeover plot is unveiled. His deadpan delivery in the first half pays off with big scene stealing laughs in the second half when he lets loose.
“The World’s End” isn’t as consistently laugh-out-loud funny as “Shaun of the Dead” or as action-packed as “Hot Fuzz,” but its thematic core—the difficulty of growing up—is evident in every frame, making it the most mature of the Cornetto films.
Usually, on-screen E.T.s are presented as either nurturing, evolved beings from another planet, sent here to help mankind, or vicious world domination types, intent on colonizing or destroying Earth. But movies often encounter a third kind of movie alien, the goofy intergalactic visitor.
In this weekend’s Paul, nerd superstars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play Brit sci-fi geeks on a pilgrimage to some of America’s UFO hot spots. Along the way they help Paul (voice of Seth Rogen), an irreverent alien with a taste for silly gags and Bob Dylan jokes, get back to his home planet. Think of it as E.T. for frat boys and you get the idea.
In the world the movie creates, the idea of a wisecracking alien makes perfect sense, but adding an E.T. doesn’t always fit so well. Take Meatballs Part 2, for instance. The addition of Meathead, a grey, rubber-skinned alien sent to Camp Sasquash to earn an Earth merit badge, hardly improves on the original Bill Murray classic.
The fun -loving aliens of Earth Girls Are Easy are put to better use. The movie’s plot is best summed up by manicurist Valerie (Geena Davis) as she enlists her friend Candy (Julie Brown) to give the aliens a makeover: “A UFO landed in my pool and they captured me but we made friends and I fed them Pop-Tarts and… we’ve got to cut their hair.”
Once shaved, the former red, blue and yellow-furred wookies look a lot like Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans and are ready to hit the L.A. clubs in search for love. They may be aliens, Candy says, “but they can still be dates!”
In Phil the Alien, Rob Stefaniuk plays a stranded space-shape-shifter who hides in plain sight on Earth as the singer of a Christian rock band. Best line? “I’m staying with a beaver,” says Phil, “down by the brook.”
One of the most memorable movie aliens is Mathesar, the haute-contre voiced Thermian leader played by Enrico Colantoni in Galaxy Quest. Learning everything he knows about Earth from television transmissions, he turns to the cast of a cancelled sci fi show to help save his planet.
Favourite scene? When one of the actors, Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), explains that TV shows are not “historical documents” she says, “Surely, you don’t think Gilligan’s Island is a…”
“Those poor people,” Mathesar interrupts, moaning in despair.
