It's the End of the World As We Know IT, But I Feel Fine. And Full of M&Ms.

This Sunday, I went to see a film I've been looking forward to for chuffing ages: The World's End.



This is the last film in the Wright/Pegg/Frost Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, and if you are fans of the Rom Zom Com Shaun of the Dead or the cop bromance Hot Fuzz, then there's plenty of intertextual humour in this film to make you go squee. Whilst it lacks the nuts/icecream/strawberry sauce combo level of humour of the first two films, it's certainly got the lump of chocolate at the end of the cone to wrap the trilogy up nicely. See how I go about using metaphor to avoid spoilers in the first paragraph? Ah, like the cold confection itself, that's not going to last. I'm not revealing any twists, though.  

So, how was this in any way, shape or form frugal? Well, my friends, do you know about Sweet Sundays? Get a free cinema ticket by buying packs of M&Ms, or Milky Way Stars etc. Now, that's great if you were planning on buying the chocolate anyway, which I was - I got 1 ticket by buying 4 snack packs to sneak into watching the last Superman film (which I got to see thanks to a wedding gift card). These snacks were sourced at Home Bargains, which at £1 a bag was pretty much half price to the same in Sainsbury's etc. and way cheaper than the cinema foyer. The second ticket was sourced from buying just 3 bags, which I decanted into little bags and snuck into the cinema for this trip (because I needed the codes at the bottom of the bag).

Why only 3 this time?

Because my street is full of litter. Oh yes... I got one code from picking up a bag I found blowing around just outside my house. Get in!

That's nothing... I've picked up 8 empty bottles of Coke this weekend alone. I am grabbing the points and putting them to recycle. Green karma a-go-go.

Litterbugs of Northampton, you are quite literally throwing your money away. Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, you can ony claim 2 tickets per household for Sweet Sunday, so it had to be this film. I've been looking forward to it for years. And I got ready for it by watching the first two on DVD again in the morning. What a great way to spend a Sunday!

In June 1990, Gary King (Pegg) experienced the best day of his life. He and his mates from school all went on the ultimate pub crawl, the Golden Mile, in their hometown of Newton Haven. Their goal - a pint in each of the 12 pubs, ending up in The World's End. They never made it. Since that time, Gary's life has gone downhill, and he and his friends have grown apart. To Gary, though, the key to resolving all his woes is that pub crawl. He is determined to get the gang back together and finish the job. There's only one snag: they all think he's a cock. And the town is not the same anymore either.

 Pegg's character in Shaun in Shaun of the Dead was being kept back by his irresponsible friend, Ed (Frost), while the rest of his friends were beginning to grow up. In this film, childhood is definitely over for all but Gary King, and his buffoonery is a mask for a tragic life. Hence with this film there is scope for a lot more pathos.

I'm not going to talk about any of the jokes, except to say rather a lot of them are callbacks to the other films and intertextual references to other films that you might expect (Terminator, Mad Max, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Enter the Dragon, Stepford Wives). There are even a few scenes that recall Spaced... and videos by Fields of the Nephilim. Not quite as funny as the other films, there's still plenty to laugh at in there, and it's a very enjoyable film to watch. I loved it. And being rather distracted at times by the most excellent soundtrack, I daresay if I watch it again, I'd pick up on little things I'd missed here and there, because they always pack little treats in.

There's a bit more social commentary in this film too... Newton Haven is a freakishly white town. Not to give too much away, but the end of the film makes you think about this, and what it says about our attitudes to 'others', now and not so long ago in our history, as well as saying something about 'clone towns', and the bleakness of trying to blend in and grow up.

It's pointed out how shabbily the boys treated girls when they were young, and though there's some karmic revenge, it's still a bit of a 'for the dads' moment. Rosamund Pike is not just a 'love interest', but could be in the film a bit more... but they gave me Paddy Considine, and I'm made up with that.

The Intrepid Fox is not a pub in the film. But it is a rather cool rock pub...

 On the way home, we were reminded of how much better the music was circa '87-92, which was the time period from which all the non-score music in the film was gleaned.







New boy band member hides the only good tattoos in the band.

Shit tattoo boy band mock my shortness. Rude!

... and then en route home, who should we bump into but one of the extras. Aw!

Thanks for reading... that's what you typically get with this blog: passion for geek stuff; genuinely useful tips for enjoying more of what you love for less; pictures of hedgehogs. This blog is a love letter to life, love, friends and the whole world. I've no room for misery or hate, and I'm hopeful that if you follow me or read this it's because you love 'stuff' too. I hope you enjoy, and that you feel included. Even One Direction fans. I'm only saying I know plenty of really good tattooists round here, and they could have helped.