Quick Flicks ... and Some Dalek Trash Talk

Attack the Block

★★★-1/2

This one's been on my list for a couple of years and it was an unexpected delight in the same way that Pitch Black was. A good, solid monster movie with a basic puzzle to solve in order to rid oneself of the monsters. In this case, the twist is that the monsters are faced by a gang of young thugs in a council block (that translates to "the projects" in the U.S.). Thoroughly enjoyable if one doesn't expect too much from it and watching the young actors is a delight, many of whom were recruited from local acting schools.

I especially enjoyed the fact that you can tell the aliens are not CG. The young actors said that they were actually frightened during action sequences because they were acting with real, unpredictable "creatures" ... it both shows and enhances the film.

The director went to a lot of trouble to get the place right. He interviewed council block kids to find out what weapons they'd grab if aliens landed. They use real slang and at times I felt as if I were watching a foreign language film with the captions off. However, there was always enough understandable dialogue for context.

Cars 2

★★★

This was the only Pixar movie we hadn't seen so I finally bit the bullet and rented it. It wasn't bad, especially considering their true demographic is children and not me.

The animation especially was a delight, as always. We really enjoyed picking out how they had "auto-ized" famous landmarks in the cities around the world.

The plot was basic as was the dialogue, which was a disappointment considering the high standard Pixar has set for itself in those departments. However, for what it is, a movie for children, it is perfectly adequate.

Dr. Who - Doomsday (Season 2 finale)

We're gradually working our way through these and I was quite ready for Rose to be trapped in a parallel universe. She was fine, but I did get a bit tired of her. So it was all quite sad and so forth as she and the Doctor were parted.

But the real joy was watching the Cybermen face the Daleks. Hannah is far ahead of us in the show and had mentioned that the Daleks have some of the worst trash talk ever. Indeed. Here's a sample and I both loved it and cracked up simultaneously. Of course reading it just can't do the exchange justice since the Daleks continually scream their dialogue (in a robotic sort of way) and the cybermen have toneless robotic voices.

Cyber Leader: Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
Dalek Sec: This is not war. This is pest control!
Cyber Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
Dalek Sec: Four.
Cyber Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
Dalek Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.
Cyber Leader: What is that?
Dalek Sec: You are superior at dying!