Londonfilmia - Attack The Block

This isn't just one of my favorite films set in London, it's one of my favorite films of the last five years! I love this movie so much. It's a well made low budget 'cult' film about an area of London not really portrayed in film and about a group of boys who start out as thugs and end up being heroes. Its funny and scary which is really hard to pull off.
Attack The Block is a Sc-Fi/Horror movie set on a south London estate...after a gang of local boys mug their neighbor something falls from the sky and they kill it. Turns out that something was an alien and now the other aliens are coming after the gang...so they try and protect the block.
It's produced by the same people who did Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and directed by Joe Cornish from the Adam & Joe Show. Oh and one of it's young stars is Joe Boyega, who is starring in the new Star Wars movie 'The Force Awakens'!
The American distributors were concerned about the London slang used in the film. Some websites have 'translated' some of the slang used in the film...which is ridiculous...I'm pretty sure most people understand what 'bruv' means. But whenever it's on TV, my friends and I just end up posting 'allow it' and 'believe' on Facebook to each other.
After watching this movie, you too will be chanting 'MOSES! MOSES! MOSES!'

Londonfilmia - About A Boy

Choosing the first film to write about for the Londonphilia website was really hard. I didn't want to pick anything too mainstream and what you'd expect. On the other hand I didn't want to be too obscure. Also, I'm a horror movie fan and didn't want to scare you away by writing about one of them...might save the horror movies for October.
I decided on "About A Boy" because not only is it a great movie, it's also a great book by Nick Hornby. It's one of those movies that you always watch when you come across it on t.v. Ironically, it was directed by a pair of American brothers, Paul and Chris Weitz, at the time more famous for the "American Pie" movie.
It's a great London film because it's not overly in your face London. Most of it was filmed in North London...Regent's Park, Clerkenwell and Kentish Town and a bit in Notting Hill and Waterloo.
This is the movie where Hugh Grant stopped playing the floppy haired bumbling Brit and started playing the short haired kind of a jerk Brit. Also the boy, Marcus, was played by a very young Nicholas Hoult...who has grown into a very attractive man.
Another reason it's a great London film is because it perfectly sums up life in London. How your 'family' and friends are not always the people you expect or want but they are usually the people you need.
It also has a brilliant soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy.

Londonfilmia - London in film

London is one of the most filmed cities in the world. Every genre of film has been set and or filmed in
London. It has been the back drop for James Bond films, Disney films, Alfred Hitchcock films, Charles Dickens adaptations, Sherlock Holmes films...the list goes on and on. Each week I will be writing about one of those films. Some of these movies will be very well known; "Shakepeare in Love", "Love, Actually", "An American Werewolf in London", "101 Dalmations (animated and live action)...etc. Others will be less well known..."Creep", "Peeping Tom", "Absolute Beginners", "This Year's Love"...etc.