The Inbetweeners Movie / Cowboys And Aliens

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsAh, Thursdays. Child-free and cinema-bound…

The Inbetweeners Movie

“Ow, gentle on the sunburned cock please.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Four boys just out of school head off on holiday for sun, sea, sand, sex, booze, sex, drinking, sex…

See it if you like: low-brow British humour about poo, vomit, sex and more sex.

Way back in the mists of time was a film about two boys going abroad with the hope of getting drunk and laid. It was Kevin & Perry Go Large and it was utter ****. Released around the time that Harry Enfield had slipped from comedy genius to being as funny as syphilis of the face, it smacked of desperation and had as many laughs as a funeral on the banks of the Ganges.

So, The Inbetweeners Movie doubles the number of boys and sends them to Greece. It also adds jokes, some cracking dialogue, a great poo gag and a decent story – the latter quite surprising given the otherwise low-brow nature of the film.

Oh, and yes, it’s based on the similarly-named Channel 4 show which I didn’t even know existed until tonight. I assume the cast and characters are the same. Out of our little group we have a nerd, a pretty-boy who’s just been dumped, a sex maniac and a guy with lower standards than I ever had. So pretty much your average bunch of 18 year-olds.

Off they go to Greece to stay in the worst hotel in the world, while the dumped kid’s ex is wandering around the same resort and they try to cop off with four girls they meet on the first night.

So a thin plot, but some excellent scenes and brilliant comic timing from the cast and director. There are really moments where I sat there thinking, “Yeah, well, that was going to happ… no, wait. He didn’t!” It is possibly the best comedy I’ve seen since the first Hangover film, and probably done on a fraction of the budget.

If you’ve even got the slightest smidgen of immaturity in your body, go and see it.

Cowboys & Aliens

“It fell off.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Aliens are kidnapping people in the Wild West, which makes the folk they don’t snatch even wilder.

See it if you like: to disengage the old grey matter and revel in some old-fashioned sci-fi with a novel setting.

I’d heard great things about this graphic novel adaptation and the trailers held my interest. It’s certainly got a damn good cast with Harrison Ford as the mean old Colonel, Daniel Craig as the mysterious stranger and Olivia Wilde as the slightly weird looking woman (not typecast at all).

Craig is introduced, suffering amnesia, in the opening scene and the revelations as to how the titular Aliens fit in is revealed through his flashbacks. It doesn’t take long for the action to kick off, and the back story supports the set pieces well. It’s still a little slow at times, though.

It’s always good to see Harrison Ford these days – he does “curmudgeonly” so well, but Craig is on fire here. Jake Lonergan could take on James Bond any day and leave him begging for his mother. Imagine “The Man With No Name” with a headache, taking it all out on everyone else. Only cooler. And with scarier eyes. That’s Lonergan.

The effects serve the film well, and the supporting cast are up for the job. There are a few mawkish scenes which do jar a bit (the scene where one character is buried and words are said over his grave, surprisingly, isn’t one of them) and Ford’s Woodrow Dolarhyde changes a little more over the two hours than seems believable.

It’s not the best sci-fi film of the decade, but it’s certainly a fresh take with some nicely slimy aliens.

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Ben

Dude you’ve got to watch the inbetweeners series, now!

WyldWoods

I agree with you on Cowboys & Aliens. A very enjoyable movie as long as you are willing to just run with it. Thought I should point out though that Summer Glau wasn’t in it. The female lead was Olivia Wilde, probably best known for playing “Thirteen” on House, M.D.

Ben

damn you had me excited about summer glau, just working my way through firefly now.

come on you can make some time for inbetweeners, surely the movie has you hooked!

weenie

Quite fancy both of these, Inbetweeners series is probably one of the few funny programmes about these days. Kevin and Perry…cringe!

Ben H

Just put it on the top of your list! You can watch them on your phone …

Yeah Firely is good but not great, I’m more interested in the space concept. Oh yeah and Summer Glau is better in Sarah Connor Chronicles.

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