Tag: Simon Pegg

Lobos de Arga (2011): Funniest Damn Werewolf Film Ever

Lobos de Arga has many names. Game of Werewolves in the USA, Party of Wolves in the UK and Attack of the Werewolves at LOVEFILM. Regardless of what name you watch it under, Lobos is the best film I’ve seen in a long damn time.

Lobos de Arga is to the Werewolf genre what Shaun of the Dead was to the Zombie genre. I am not saying this lightly. A lot of other films since Shaun was released have claimed to be the next Shaun of the Dead, but these pretenders to the crown are nowhere near as original, witty or even just damned funny as the Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright trio.

Until now.

Written and directed by Juan Martínez Moreno (A Good Man, Dos tipos duros) this is Moreno’s first venture into feature length horror/comedy. He pulls it off faultlessly and using the strong strokes of a master he manages to tread the fine line required for comedic horror to work.

The film opens with a narrator relating the story of the Marino’s and the village of Arga. With graphic novel type illustrations to accompany the narration, we learn of the Marchioness Marino whose husband cannot get her pregnant, she takes on a string of lovers but to no avail. Then a Romany gypsy band of performers come to the village. The Marchioness kidnaps a male gypsy she fancies and forces him to have sex with her. When she falls pregnant by him, she proceeds to murder the entire clan of  to keep her secret safe.

When the last female gypsy is dying, the wife of the man who the Marchioness used,  she curses the Marino bloodline. Nine months later the Marchioness gives birth to her bastard son who is hale and hearty. Everything goes well until the boy reaches ten years of age. On that day the curse takes effect and the boy becomes a werewolf with the village of Arga paying the price.

Tomas Marino the last male descendant.

We then meet Tomas  Marino (Gorka Otxoa) a first time novelist who is the last male descendant of the Marino clan. He is on his way to the village of Arga where he  lived until the age of 15. He is now going back to receive an award. He thinks it is in honour of his first novel being published.

He returns to the house where he grew up and while exploring the dusty old place he meets his childhood friend Calisto (Carlos Areces) who plays a practical joke on his old friend. Not long after Tomas arrives in the village Mario (Secun de la Rosa), his literary agent, shows up saying that he is hiding from lawyers and the police but that he wants to be  part of the award that Tomas will be receiving.

Literally minutes after Mario shows up, Tomas’s uncle and a group of villages show up at Tomas’s house and kidnap both men. It turns out that Tomas must be sacrificed to help break the ancient curse that his great-grandmother brought upon the village.

This film is incredibly funny, well written, acted and paced. After watching it for the first time tonight, Meg and I realized that the film was a ‘keeper’ and that it would have to become part of our film collection.

It is another one of those films that ‘looked’ interesting from the LOVEFILM write-up and I put it on the rental list. Lobos de Arga is one of those delightful discoveries that makes taking chances on foreign films so worthwhile. There was not one disappointing moment in the film.

Moreno and his cast delivered on all cylinders. We were constantly amazed at how funny the talented cast and director could make just about every situation. There are two local policemen who come to investigate the village that make a brilliant (albeit short) double act.

Unfortunately I can’t give too much away in terms of the film and it’s storyline and plot. Just suffice to say that if you watch it and the sub-titles don’t put you off, this Spanish comedy horror film will not disappoint.

If you don’t find this every bit as funny and entertaining as we did I’ll eat my Daniel Boone raccoon hat! If I had one that is.

"LOBOS DE ARGA": RUEDA DE PRENSA / P...
“LOBOS DE ARGA”: Press conference (Photo credit: DONOSTIA KULTURA)
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Waiting for Freshly Pressed: A Timeline

Sat, 25 August 2012 1554 – I  post a pithy post (say that fast three times, I dare you) on Freshly Pressed and have a moan about my comments not showing up in the Freshly Pressed comment section.

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:59:40 –  Get an email from Cheri Lucas telling me that my urban exploration post had been picked for Freshly Pressed.

Huh?

Sat, 25 August 2012 1600 I try to tell my daughter that I’m going to be Freshly Pressed. She is playing a game on her vita and has her earplugs in. I decide not to wait for her to get to a save point and start playing MOW3 to keep me occupied.

Sat, 25 August 2012 1700 I try re-reading the email and inadvertently delete it. In a state of panic I almost hurt myself trying to retrieve it and re-save it.

Sat, 25 August 2012 1730 Back to MOW3 and reading the odd blog on WordPress. I make a few comments and read a suggestion from Andy about changing my email address as it might solve my spam problem.

Sat, 25 August 2012 1800 My daughter and I make tea (that’s dinner if you live in the US) and decide to watch old episodes of Spaced with the brilliant Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and co.

Sat, 25 August 2012 2359 I decide to go to bed and stop checking the Freshly Pressed page every two minutes. Despite my excitement and paranoia about my post not going up yet, I drop right off to sleep.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 0630 I wake up early because the temperature has dropped and I am freezing to death. I go downstairs for a drink and a quick look at my laptop. My post isn’t up yet, as I am half asleep, I don’t spend too long on the site. I opt to go back to sleep.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1030 I wake up for the second time of the morning. Warmer and better rested I go downstairs to see if I’ve been posted yet. Checking the page and no, not yet.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1100 I decide to check the Freshly Pressed page again and see that a new post has been added, but, it’s not mine.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1130 I start hyperventilating slightly as I look for the fourth time at the Freshly Pressed page. I decide that it was a mistake or a practical joke (who says I’m paranoid, who?) which I decide would serve me right after my ‘snarky’ post about not being Freshly Pressed.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1200 I make the decision to not check the FP page every half hour. I decide that I’ll just relax and not get so impatient, a trait that after 53 years of living I still cannot rid myself of.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1230 I totally disregard my earlier decision to not check the FP page half hourly and check again. I go upstairs and talk to my daughter for a half hour in an attempt to keep my mind off of the fact that another post has been put on the wall and again, it’s not mine.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1300 I now decide that I probably should have replied to Cheri’s email. I set down and because of my increasing paranoia that this is some kind of horrible karma or bad joke it takes me 14 minutes to write a simple email.

Sun, 26 August 2012 – 1330 I go outside and sit with my daughter in the lovely sunshine. My contribution to the conversation is minimal. Why? Because I’ve seen another post on the wall that is, again, not mine.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1400 I finally decide that this whole thing is a wicked joke, serendipity, or just ironic. I finally decide that it must be the real deal. Hyperventilating slightly, I check to make sure that I sent an email to Cheri thanking her and expressing my excitement.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1430 I make a snack and while I am eating it, I compulsively keep checking the Freshly Pressed wall for my post. I discover that I’ve given up the ‘not checking every half hour’ and I am now checking it every few minutes.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1500 I finally decide that I am a truly sad individual to keep checking the bloody page. It will get posted when it gets posted, so stop checking dammit.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1515 I decide to do this timeline and about halfway through I mistakenly hit the wrong key and lose half of the timeline. cursing wildly I try to find an earlier draft. There isn’t one so I have to re-write half the post over.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1557 Pausing for a moment to give my poor fingers a break, I notice I’ve gotten another email notification. I check it and it’s from Cheri. She tells me it will be late this evening or early tomorrow when my post will be added to the wall. I relax, a bit, and send a hasty email back thanking her.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1600 I am now more relaxed and a bit calmer. The excitement is still making me a bit giddy (giddy?? Did I just say that a 53 year old man was giddy?? I must be if I’m describing myself that way) but now that I’ve had a ‘confirmation’ email from Cheri, I’m hoping that my pithy whiny post has been forgiven.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1700 Get another email from Cheri, so now I’m definitely feeling like this is going to happen. I still cannot stop looking at the FP page and then refreshing it to see if my post is up yet.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1800 Finally decide to make tea or at least to think about making tea. As we are both peckish it seems like a good idea. I check the wall yet again.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1830 We put Dario Argento‘s Suspiria in the player and watch while we eat our meal. My laptop is closed for the first time today.

Sun, 26 August 2012 1900 –2230 Put the dinner dishes in the kitchen, watched the rest of the film and talked about it for a long while after eating. We then load up Netflix and then Lovefilm and start watching Crazy Eights, a low budget horror film.

Sun, 26 August 2245 – 2330 I put the dishes in the sink and start washing up, still haven’t looked at the FP page. I am very proud of myself.

Sun, 26 August 2359 – 0100 I fall asleep in my chair after doing the dishes and ‘old man’ thing that drives me to distraction. I check the page again and find that four more posts have gone up. Again none of them mine. Decide to go to sleep and not look at the FP page till later this morning. I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to open up my presents, excited and just as impatient.

Mon, 27 August 0930 – Get up and stumble down stairs half asleep and thirsty. Turn on the laptop and gulp down some squash. I come in and click on my WordPress link. My post has exploded! It’s finally happened, it is up!! Now I am too excited to do anything else but keep checking the view counts and follower counts (which I need to keep track of so I can follow back) and ‘likes’ and comments.

Thanks Cheri Lucas and Word Press! You’ve made my day! 😀

Balloons and confetti By tamara.craiu courtesy of FLICKr
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Paul (2011): Glimpses of Greatness

I really wanted to love this film. I’ve been a fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost since Shaun of the Dead. I didn’t see them work together on the hysterically funny Spaced television show until after I’d seen their ZomRomCom.

I am also a huge fan of Seth Rogan. I also adore Sigourney Weaver. So what’s not to like about Paul?

Let me tell you.

I could really sum it up in one sentence. They tried too hard.

There you have it. The magical team of Pegg and Frost struck out. And since they co-wrote the film, it stands to reason that they have to take most of the blame. It could be that without Edgar Wright directing, they lose that spontaneity and effortless ease of their comic timing and delivery. Maybe Greg Mottola just didn’t get it.

Or it could be that the studios didn’t trust our lads to be able to deliver a hit vehicle on American shores. My daughter and I have our own theory, Pegg and Frost are a great comic duo. We think though, that they work best in English comedies.

Shaun of the Dead for example was brilliantly funny from frame one. Hot Fuzz wasn’t quite so fast out of the gate as Shaun, but still very funny. At first glance Paul film should have benefited from the lads presence in the film.

But it doesn’t

The beginning of the film showed a lot of promise. Two geeky guys from the UK come to the US to attend a Comic-Con. It’s a lifetime dream of the two friends, Graeme and Clive (Pegg and Frost respectively) are on the holiday of all holidays. Clive has written a science fiction book (graphic novel?) that Clive illustrated.

The two men attend the Comic-Con, meet their idol Adam Shadowchild (Jeffrey Tambor) and afterwards they decide to take a ‘UFO” road trip by way of a RV and a map. While they are on route to another tourist UFO hot-spot, a car passes them and spectacularly crashes right in front of their RV.

Shaken, Clive and Graeme get out and go to the burning car to look for survivors. Just as Clive starts to call 911, a voice from the darkness tells him not to use the phone. Graeme and Clive freeze as an alien wearing a pair of brown shorts and scandals walks out of the shadows. Clive passes out and falls backwards onto the desert floor.

The alien introduces himself as Paul and asks the guys to help him out. It seems that his other alien buddies are going to be picking him up and he needs to get there fast. Graeme agrees since Clive is still out for the count and they both carry Clive back to the RV.

Jason Bateman plays a National Security Agent who is trying to track Paul down. Kristen Wiig plays visually challenged Ruth Buggs. Sigourney Weaver plays a ‘baddie’ and Blythe Danner plays the little girl all grown up whose dog was mashed flat by Paul’s spacecraft years ago.

So the cast was great, the story should have been a barrel of laughs. The first twenty minutes was well paced and very funny then it slowed down and turned into a slight chuckle and smile film. The sparse hilarious moments were very sparse . The CG for the alien Paul was breathtaking and just brilliant. But that was not enough to save the film from its wishy-washy comedy.

The film does have glimpses of greatness. But glimpses are all they and there not consistent enough to make this film a real rib tickler. Part of the problem was the overly obvious scenes in the film that were clearly signposting how important that particular scene would be later in the film.

**SPOILER ALERT**                                                                                       **SPOILER ALERT**

The scene with the dead bird is a perfect example. The RV that the boys are driving hits a bird and kills it. They stop the RV and Paul goes over to the bird and, clapping his hands together like a very small Mr Miyagi, brings the bird back to life. Paul holds the bird gently in his hands while Clive and Graeme look on in amazement. Paul then shoves the live bird into his mouth and eats it. Clive and Graeme look shocked. “Well, ya didn’t think I was gonna eat a dead bird did ya?” Paul says after wiping his mouth and spitting out a feather. (This was one of those glimpses that the film could have used more of)

All the comic turns in the film were also signposted. It was like watching a ‘Comedy Films for Idiots Guide.’ Every gag was so laid out that by the time it got to the punch line, I was bored.

I’m not kidding when I say that I really wanted to love this film. I even watched it twice. The second time was roughly a year after I’d originally watched it. I saw it on the flight to the United States last year. As I was a bit distracted about my first visit in over eleven years to see my family, I decided that was why I didn’t find Paul hysterically funny.

Unfortunately a year didn’t help. Even watching it with undivided attention didn’t make the film any better.

My final verdict on Paul is…It’s a one bagger. Period. The film is amusing, but not downright funny (except occasionally)and as you won’t be belly laughing while you watch it you might as well have a huge Coke with that popcorn. Worth watching but, friends and neighbours, Shaun of the Dead, it isn’t.

Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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