BFI all-nighter

[weirdfilms33]

Right, I thought that I would once again resurrect this thread as I have finally returned to the eye-straining world of film marathons! Last night from 7.30 I was at the Prince Charles Cinema for an Edgar Wright Takeover - they were showing all his films (including A Fistful of Fingers) plus both series of Spaced. In terms of all-nighters this was by far the longest I've ever undertaken at 16 1/2 hours, but also one of the most exciting!

A Fistful of Fingers was Wright's first feature-length film, the first screening of the night, and is a silly parody of western films with the Somerset countryside as a locational substitute for Monument Valley. It's far from perfect and was made for a tiny amount of money but I did find it very funny in places, as did the rest of the audience, particularly in relation to the (ahem) realistic stand-ins for horses (and the Jeremy Beadle cameo). Edgar Wright came on stage after the film and did a Q+A session, promising to return late next morning to see who had survived the rest of his back catalogue.

I just about managed to stay awake through much of the night, bolstered by the enthusiasm and sheer craziness of the Prince Charles audience members and of the staff. Spaced and Wright's films were very familiar to me and I still very much enjoyed them, but it was Wright's return at about 10am that really made the evening (or morning). In order to fulfil his promise of a free Jaffa Cake for all the surviving audience members he invited Nick Frost up onto the stage to hand them out, then proceeding to have a 30-minute impromptu, Q+A. It was one of those nice and hilarious touches that distinguishes the Prince Charles cinema from any other cinema in its vicinity, and I laughed so much I nearly cried.

In addition to all this we were shown some of Wright's music videos, some mashups he did on VHS tapes when he was 19 (of 'gun fetishes' and 'car chases' - an interesting foreshadow of his later work!), a brand new trailer for The World's End AND, perhaps most exclusively, some test footage from the upcoming Ant-Man movie! I'm bound to make Mr. Glass very jealous by that announcement, but the short clip of the Ant-Man in action in a corridor was deliriously exciting and I can't wait for the finished film.

Outside the cinema, as we emerged into the glaring sunlight, we were each given a free Cornetto and encouraged to take part in a mass Spaced-style shoot out. The results can be seen at the link below - I'm the guy in the middle with the blue T-shirt and sunglasses looking a bit weird:


A Fistful of Fingers sadly isn't available on DVD but I just managed to find it on Youtube. Be aware that the film is probably at its best when shown in front of an audience!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrsS-LWqfc4

It's a good ten of ten for Edgar Wright and for the Prince Charles Cinema over this spectacular weekend.

[EthanRunt]

I didn't make the whole night, as I had worked the London Film/Comic Con all day prior, and slinked out after Hot Fuzz. Glad I finally saw Fistful, laughed plenty at that one. The Ant-Man stuff, not sad I missed that, saw it months ago and it was neat but wouldn't have appreciated it when on the verge of sleep.

[weirdfilms33]

I didn't make the whole night, as I had worked the London Film/Comic Con all day prior, and slinked out after Hot Fuzz. Glad I finally saw Fistful, laughed plenty at that one. The Ant-Man stuff, not sad I missed that, saw it months ago and it was neat but wouldn't have appreciated it when on the verge of sleep.

I'd been at a university open day and I was pretty tired too but I absolutely loved the Ant-man footage! As a matter of fact the audience made so much noise following the clip that the projectionist could hear us from his booth (allegedly not a common occurrence). It did get very difficult in the last few episodes of Spaced to remain awake, but at least we got Cornettos at the end

[weirdfilms33]

Oh and by the way I was the guy that asked the question about the horses in Fistful of Fingers.

[EthanRunt]

Good Q.
Just saw Wright's latest, thank goodness we didn't have it at the end of the night, because man is it a step down from even Fistful. That might have been a one-draft script, but it has about 50 more jokes than his newest one.

[distortthecode]

The Edgar Wright marathon was so much fun, probably the least I've slept at a PCC marathon (15 mins of dozing through Hot Fuzz). The transition from Saturday to Sunday though felt like no time at all though once I was out in the sun. Really did lose a weekend, but in an awesomely fun way. Plus I'm very jealous of his Lenny Henry picture.