Block Party

Attack the Block (2011) got a lot of good press (blog press?) but I was kind of nervous to watch it - it looked a little intense. Fortunately, Ms. Spenser is not as delicate as I, and gave strength to bear up.

It is a simple movie in some ways, an independent first feature for writer/director Joe Cornish: Aliens attack an inner city block and run into the same kind of trouble anyone wandering into that neighborhood would. It takes place on Guy Fawkes in South London in an SF-themed council block (the central high-rise is named Wyndham Towers, after the author of Day of the Triffids). A gang of teenagers menace and rob a nurse, then run down a recently landed alien creature and take it up to the local dealer's flat in the block. But more aliens are landing...

There are a couple of things going on here:

• The thugs are just kids really - nasty, stupid, brave and thoughtless. Some people hated them so much that they couldn't enjoy the movie. Your mileage may vary.
• The action can be brutal and is almost realistic. There's at least one scene where the kids think they can do parkour and are clearly wrong.
• The alien beasties are pretty badass. 
• Nick Frost is in it.

I found this to be a nice mix of SF, horror, comedy and social commentary, not necessarily in that order. One note - the accents are particularly strong in this. You'll get a good overview of recent South London slang, but you might need to turn on subtitles.