Capsule reviews of films opening this week:
"Attack the Block" — On paper, it might not sound like it would work: a mash-up of alien-invasion thriller and teen-stoner comedy. They're two genres that wouldn't seem to make sense together, with the paranoid intensity of the former a potentially odd fit for the laid-back laughs of the latter. But "Attack the Block" is a giddy blast, remaining faithful to both of its points of origin while offering something new and refreshing that confidently stands on its own. Writer-director Joe Cornish, a British comic and television host making his first feature, has crafted a low-budget adventure with propulsive energy and plenty of laughs. With its tweaking of styles and its dry humor in the face of absurd danger, it's sure to draw comparisons to the neo-zombie hit "Shaun of the Dead" (not to mention that that film's director, Edgar Wright, is a producer here and Nick Frost appears in both). "Attack the Block" is already developing a cult following through midnight film-festival showings, and deservedly so; it's definitely a movie you want to watch in a raucous, packed house. Young thugs in a South London housing project try to survive an alien attack by arming themselves with makeshift weapons and hiding in a pot dealer's grow room. R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language. 87 minutes. Three stars out of four.
— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"Cowboys & Aliens" — Director Jon Favreau's genre mash-up is more a mush-up, an action yarn aiming to be both science fiction and Old West adventure but doing neither all that well. The filmmakers — and there are a lot, among them 11 producers or executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, plus half a dozen credited writers — start with a title that lays out a simple but cool premise: invaders from the skies shooting it out with guys on horseback. For all the talent involved, they wound up keeping the story too simple, almost simple-minded, leaving a terrific cast led by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde stuck in a sketchy, sometimes poky tale where you get cowboys occasionally fighting aliens and not much more. Craig's a stony-faced amnesiac with a weird hunk of metal locked on his wrist who wanders into a dusty town just before alien craft swoop in and start abducting the locals. He joins cattle baron Ford's posse to retrieve the missing and teach these creatures not to mess with hardy western pioneers. PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference. 118 minutes. Two stars out of four.
— David Germain, AP Movie Writer
"Attack the Block" — On paper, it might not sound like it would work: a mash-up of alien-invasion thriller and teen-stoner comedy. They're two genres that wouldn't seem to make sense together, with the paranoid intensity of the former a potentially odd fit for the laid-back laughs of the latter. But "Attack the Block" is a giddy blast, remaining faithful to both of its points of origin while offering something new and refreshing that confidently stands on its own. Writer-director Joe Cornish, a British comic and television host making his first feature, has crafted a low-budget adventure with propulsive energy and plenty of laughs. With its tweaking of styles and its dry humor in the face of absurd danger, it's sure to draw comparisons to the neo-zombie hit "Shaun of the Dead" (not to mention that that film's director, Edgar Wright, is a producer here and Nick Frost appears in both). "Attack the Block" is already developing a cult following through midnight film-festival showings, and deservedly so; it's definitely a movie you want to watch in a raucous, packed house. Young thugs in a South London housing project try to survive an alien attack by arming themselves with makeshift weapons and hiding in a pot dealer's grow room. R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language. 87 minutes. Three stars out of four.
In this publicity image released by Universal... View Full Caption
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"Cowboys & Aliens" — Director Jon Favreau's genre mash-up is more a mush-up, an action yarn aiming to be both science fiction and Old West adventure but doing neither all that well. The filmmakers — and there are a lot, among them 11 producers or executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, plus half a dozen credited writers — start with a title that lays out a simple but cool premise: invaders from the skies shooting it out with guys on horseback. For all the talent involved, they wound up keeping the story too simple, almost simple-minded, leaving a terrific cast led by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde stuck in a sketchy, sometimes poky tale where you get cowboys occasionally fighting aliens and not much more. Craig's a stony-faced amnesiac with a weird hunk of metal locked on his wrist who wanders into a dusty town just before alien craft swoop in and start abducting the locals. He joins cattle baron Ford's posse to retrieve the missing and teach these creatures not to mess with hardy western pioneers. PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference. 118 minutes. Two stars out of four.
— David Germain, AP Movie Writer
