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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:48 / 17.04.05

Official Site.
QT Trailer.

I gave up on them after the lacklustre 'lets try repeating most of the jokes from the first series and see if anyone notices' second series but the Christmas special and the trailer make me think that maybe I was wrong and should go give the third series a try.

This looks as if it could be very good indeed.

D Terminator XXXIII

10:48 / 17.04.05

It does - and you should definitely give the 3rd season a go; I managed to catch a couple of episodes on BBC back in January/February. It seemed seedier and was funnier than what I have seen of the 1st season.

Was there ever a reason why they had moved to a bigger city?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:07 / 17.04.05

I really liked the second series- I actually preferred it to the first; yes, there was a lot of joke recycling going on, but a lot of the time I thought they worked better in their new, darker context... but missed most of the third (not on purpose... I just didn't catch most of it).

I'm looking forward to the film, but must watch the third series before it comes out...

19:43 / 17.04.05

The third did some interesting things with structure, but I remember it being less engaging (in terms of it holding your attention) and amusing than the first two. Spending half an hour focused on just the two or three characters became wearying.

07:05 / 18.04.05

They have picked some of the more sinister characters for the main plot, it seems, but I can't help wondering what the international film market will make of Papa Laz...arou, racism-wise. We know he's not (probably), but I can see some kind of backlash in the near future.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

18:00 / 12.05.05

Advance showing at the Phoenix Cinema

01:27 / 15.05.05

Um..does this have anything to do with that Sean Connery flick of a year or 2 ago?

01:44 / 15.05.05

No.

20:06 / 15.05.05

No, Keggers, this is the one about the comedy German paedophile, Herr Lipp. Sean Connery was originally chalked in for the role but got cold feet at the last minute and bailed.

22:58 / 15.05.05

did anyone see the jonathan ross interview on friday with the cast?

It was horrible- not a single question of interest was asked the cast seemed to be competing against each other for attention.

We had an interview with four of the guys that lasted all of 2 minutes. No one could get a word in edgeways as Ross drivelled on causing further divide when he suggested Reece Shearsmith could be the new Hugh Grant and that the other chaps were all too ugly for conventional roles!

You could see heckles being raised as they assured Ross that by taking on other projects they still enjoy working together and that time apart keeps them together.....

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:16 / 08.06.05

Saw it this evening. Good but not great, but then I never really saw what the huge attraction to the TV show was.

Goods:
"They wake up, and they've all got tails!"
Edward and Tubbs.
Steve playing Lipp playing Steve.
David fucking Warner!
Faux stop-motion animals.
Tails.

Bads:
The weak ending. I'm sure that someone who saw it and really liked it will jump and argue that it all makes perfect sense, which I'm not disputing , it's just kind of, times up, roll credits!

I was suprised by how tame this was (except for the bit with the giraffe). It's a 15, when you'd expect anything to do with Royston Vasey to be an 18 and plunder the horror movies like the TV show did (and that no-one got killed in a giant wicker local shop, I'm most disappointed) but it played it distressingly normal.

What was the film Herr Lipp end up auditioning for?

In the end it's like The Matrix, if the big central concept isn't something that's completely amazingly original to you then this is just an alright, but not big and extraordinary, film.

Tryphena Absent

19:19 / 08.06.05

I too was disappointed by the ending. I expected an extravaganza of blood...

08:02 / 23.08.05

I saw it on the silver screen yesterday and was a bit disappointed. It was very tame. And I really disliked the actors, when they were playing themselves. They seemed suave, arrogant and haughty toward their royston vasey characters.

And the characters themselves were far to well mannered! Herr Lipp was way too nice. What happened to the Herr Lipp we know and love, who buries his love interest alive in his mum´s front garden?

Edward, Tubbs and PaPa Lazarou ware wasted, what a shame! Those three should have been the ones to walk around Lundun, not being noticed by the tails and notails and disguising themselves as the real actors.

Some of the movie in the movie with Dr Pee was really funny. Costumes and makeup alone were silly in a good way. And was that the actor who played the Rohan king in LOTR?

Still, not nearly as many laughs as would be in an average episode, and I really missed the sickness and grittiness of the characters.

08:22 / 23.08.05

I thought it was very nicely done, personally. Nothing like a little cross-genre fictionwar for entertaining me.

"The first team failed."

It would have been nice to see a bit more of Lazarou, Edward, and Tubbs, however I think the film worked better by allowing the more human residents of Royston Vasey a shot. I thought Herr Lipp's moment of anger when he realises that he's a one-shot joke for these comedians was actually quite a powerful little scene.

Some entertaining points.

"Can you see me?"

"Erm, yes."

The ingredients for the homonculus. ("Oh don't sulk.")

17:23 / 23.08.05

Dr Pee reminded me of Ricardo Montalban, when he played Khaaaan Noonien Singh.

And that king was a cameo of Bernard Hill, right?

At the end it said:

"The League of Gentlemen will return in The Windmills of your Bum."

D Terminator XXXIII

04:47 / 21.01.06

It should have been called The League of Gentlemen's ApocaLIPPstick. Not only does Pemperton-as-Lipp-as-Pemperton-proper anchor the movie emotionally but he infuses resonance in a movie remarkably lacking in it. Which might be a point. But a poor one at that and at too far great a cost.

I unanimously second the criticism in this thread. It's not unsettling, grotesque and weird enough. Barring the few beautiful shots, it plays like the tv show. That is to say: discursive, which works on tv but necessarily doesn't when afforded the opportunity for a stronger cinematic narrative. The interplay between the same-actor-characters was unconvincing. However, I did love how different they all were from each other; Tubbs, Pauline, Lipp, Pemperton, etcetera never feel alike and neither do the other two actors' characters. And, again, it might be a point but just how flat were the actors-as-themselves?

The Christmas Special is their best effort yet, too bad this movie doesn't rival it.