#below average joe

¿A quién no le ha pasado?

What can really be said about a movie where the entire plot is summed up in the title. This movie falls in the grind house category of films (i.e. Death proof, machete, etc.) So going in I knew it was gonna be excessively gory, gritty, grainy, and plot would be irrelevant if present at all. That being said Hobo with a Shotgun delivers exactly what it promises. A hobo, wielding a shotgun, shooting EVERYTHING. Now I don't eschew from gore or ultra violence. I love the saw franchise, and enjoyed (as much as one can) the hostel films. This movie however pushes the boundaries of gore and gross out moments. The gore isn't as bothersome as some of the random gross points. at one point a character (no spoilers) loses a hand and uses the exposed bone to lift a manhole cover. True its gory and violent, but more of the imagining my mind does of how that would feel makes that scene horrifying. That being said, I did enjoy this film. It is surprisingly well shot, given the content. The plot is there but not exactly important, but I expected as much. the actors are sub par at best, with the exception of Rutger Hauer, his role as a drunken insane hobo is amazing, perhaps because he himself is a drunken insane man.

Blu-Ray Review: Shocking amount of special features for a straight to DVD film. Also an interactive movie mode.

Allow me to precursor my review with the following statement. I went into this movie with low expectations. I heard lots of good things about this movie on the Podcast 'Doug Loves Movies' from both Doug Benson, and Edgar Wright. Now I respect both of these men greatly. Doug Benson is a brilliant stand up comedian, and Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors of all time. So when they both gave it rave reviews i decided that i would buy it the day it hit Blu-Ray seeing as it wasn't in theaters in my area. Then i started seeing some other reviews for it, and saw a T.V. Spot. My hopes were kinda brought down, from the average reviews, and the very poorly assembled T.V. Spots. Yet I was still resolute to view this movie.

Real review starts here.

From the beginning to end, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It starts off simple enough, some hooligans see an alien, it attacks one so they fight and kill it. It brings about an alien invasion. and they must defend there home. It has a B-movie Vibe, which to me is a good thing. The visual effects on the aliens is amazing. They look familiar, yet different. The plot is a tad standard, no huge surprises, however Attack the block, does it all in a different way, making it very enjoyable. John Boyega (as Moses) steals the show. His character evolution from a hood rat punk into the hero of the block, is phenomenal. He is silent and stoic yet his emotions bleed through. Through out the entire movie you can sense his fear, his sorrow, and ultimately his joy. Not many actors can pull this off, i am excited to see where this kids acting career takes him. There is a scene where the group goes into one of the girls flats, several of the aliens attack.This is my personal favorite scene. Moses is forced to man up, throw away his fear, and fight. Some people may be turned off by the extreme use of British slang and idioms, but do not let that deter you. This movie is probably going to be going on my top 10 list of the year. I honestly cannot recommend this enough. If you have the time, pick this up.

As for a review of the Blu-Ray: commentary, some unshot scenes, some neat behind the scenes stuff but not much.