Hot Fuzz

Director: Edgar Wright

  Release Date: February 2007

 Cast: Simon Pegg – Sergeant Nicholas Angel, Nick Frost – PC Danny Butterman, Jim Broadbent – Inspector Frank Butterman, Bill Nighy – Metropolitan Chief Inspector Kenneth, Timothy Dalton – Simon Skinner

Intro: Recently voted as UK movie fans favourite comedy film of all time (Odeon poll 2009) I thought I’d revisit this movie myself and put up a quick review! I’ve always preferred this one to Shaun, but I did see Hot Fuzz first. Strangely, a lot of people I asked about both of these films tend to prefer whichever of the two they saw first. Anyway, enough rambling from me on with the review!

Plot: Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the finest police officer London has to offer, with an arrest record higher than any other on the force. However, his superiors have decided that he is making them look bad and so they send him to the seemingly sleepy town of Sandford miles out in the country. It would seem that Sandford is not only winner of ‘village of the year’ several years in a row but also crime free. Once there, Angel is partnered with overeager PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) whose police training consists of watching too many cop movies and going to the pub. PC Danny Butterman is also the son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent).  Angel’s new assignment sees him growing more and more frustrated and is made even worse when, after a series of grisly ‘accidents’, the villagers and the police seemingly turn a blind eye to the possibility of foul play. Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and is convinced there is more sinister and darker going on.

Review: Through a montage of chase scenes and action set pieces in London we are introduced to PC Nicholas Angel, presented as one of the greatest officers the Metropolitan police have ever had. However, fearful of Angel upstaging every other policeman in London he is packed off to the sleepy village of Sandford, and he is none to happy about the new assignment.

From the word go the film is packed full of references and draws on this source material brilliantly throughout. It is presented from a very British perspective, in a village where everybody knows each other, but also combines story elements from films such Bad Boys II and Point Break, and puts this kind of explosive Hollywood action into the quaint ‘local’ village of Sandford. This works surprisingly well, and includes some excellent action set pieces with gunfights at the local Somerfield and local pub. The second half is the more action packed of the movie, with car chases through country lanes, a swan chase… and even an action packed fight scene in the towns own model village. This all produces (with a tongue in cheek feel) some funny scenes and great stunt work, including the odd one liner thrown in for good measure.

There are some inventively gory scenes, making this not the usual light hearted British comedy most are used to (as well as making everyone a bit more careful around churches and model villages). There are some great performances from everyone in the cast. Pegg and Frost make an awesome comedy duo. As well as the ‘moustache twiddling’ Simon Skinner played by Timothy Dalton and the supposedly kindly old amiable Chief Inspector Frank Butterman, played by Jim Broadbent.

Conclusion: Hot Fuzz is a homage to all buddy cop action movies in the years gone by. Hot Fuzz, like Shaun of the Dead draws from all the material that makes this kind of movie work. Shaun of the Dead was not only a spoof of all zombie movies, great and small, but it was also a thank you with a ‘tip of the cap’ gesture to all those movies too. Hot Fuzz does the same thing and it does it superbly. Pegg is brilliant as is Frost as his bumbling sidekick Danny Butterman. Overall an enjoyable, action packed comedy. Let’s hope this kind of writing, enthusiasm and feeling of personal input into a film continues. Now, does anyone fancy a cornetto? 

Medienmogul Rupert Murdoch nennt Suchmaschinen Diebe und Parasiten, weil sie auf Artikel auf Webseiten seines Presse-Imperiums verlinken, ohne dafür zu bezahlen. Zur selben Zeit schreibt der Regisseur von Shaun of the Dead (und anderen Filmen), Edgar Wright (siehe pic), in seinem Blog einen Nachruf auf den verstorbenen Schauspieler Edward Woodward.

Die britische Tageszeitung The Times, ebenfalls ein Teil des Murdoch-Imperiums, nimmt den Blogbeitrag, kürzt ihn, macht ein paar Fehler rein und veröffentlicht ihn auf Seite vier ohne Genehmigung, Bezahlung, Angabe der Quelle und des Autors. Diebstahl, nicht wahr?

Die Times hat mittlerweile die URL veröffentlicht, von welcher sie den Originalartikel raubkopierte. Klarstellung, Entschuldigung, Anfrage auf Genehmigung der Veröffentlichung und eine Bezahlung stehen nach einer Woche immer noch aus. Qualitätsparasiten, oder?

( guardian via techdirt) (pic mirka23 cc)

Well well well, the hypocrisy of it all.

Rupert Murdoch has spent the whole of 2009 telling anyone who will listen, and a lot who didnt either, that news should be paid for, and is (against pretty much all the advice that is directed his way) forcing through pay-walls on the websites of his premier publications such as The Times.

His argument is, to precis it down, is that having all the content of newspapers on the internet for free is not making him any money. Murdoch likes making money, and he has been pretty good at making it for the last 50 years, and so he would like people to continue lining his pockets by paying for content.

His criticisms of news aggregators such as Google, and of the BBC’s (free) website has been well documented, but now it seems that one of his own publications, The Times no less, has used content drawn from another source without permission or payment for their own profit.

On Monday the actor Edward Woodward passed away, and the writer/director Edgar Wright, whom he directed recently in the film Hot Fuzz, wrote a tribute to him on his website. It can be viewed here

What then happened is the most blatant piece of article theft I have seen in my short journalistic career, The Times may as well have watched over Edgar’s shoulder as he wrote it and thought, ‘we could use that for tomorrows paper, I’m sure he wont mind’. Bloomberg covered the story by referencing the Edgar Wright article and quoting him as a source, see it here.

What The Times did was this

Not only did they steal the article for both print and online, they used a photo of Edgar Wright, and cut out large sections of the article changing the meaning and sentiment significantly. Understandably Edgar is not a happy man, as The Guardian reports here.

Edgar is not happy with Mr Murdoch

I dont know about you but doesnt it just strike you as being a rather stupid thing to have done by The Times? Unless this was a genuine mix-up where they thought they had clearance to print it, which seems unlikely, it just seems like arrogant and lazy journalism, and is not going to help convince people its worth paying for ’specialist content’ on The Times website if they just steal it from other people!

Veteran actor Edward Woodward has died aged 79, his agent has confirmed.

The Croydon-born star had been suffering from various illnesses, including pneumonia, and died in hospital, said Janet Glass.

Woodward is most famous for his roles in the cult 1973 horror film The Wicker Man, alongside Sir Christopher Lee, and TV series The Equalizer and Callan.

Sir Christopher described Woodward as “a very good friend and a splendid actor”.

Ms Glass said he had been ill for several months and passed away surrounded by members of his family.

The actor, who lived in Hawker’s Cove near Padstow, died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

“I knew him a very long time and he was a superb human being,” she said.

“That integrity shone through in the roles he played. I can’t ever remember, in all the productions he undertook, anyone having a bad word to say about him and he never had anything bad to say about anyone else either.”

Ms Glass added: “Universally loved and admired through his unforgettable roles in classic productions, he was equally fine and courageous in real life, never losing his brave spirit and wonderful humour throughout his illness.

“His passing will leave a huge gap in many lives,” she said.

He was last seen on screen in BBC One soap EastEnders as Tommy Clifford earlier this year.

Barbara Windsor said she was “deeply saddened” at the news.

“I have such fond memories of our time working together,” she added.

Diederick Santer, executive producer of EastEnders, said: “All of us at EastEnders are very sad to learn that Edward has passed away.

“We were thrilled when he joined us for a stint of six episodes earlier this year. He was a delight to work with, and delivered a characteristically touching and layered performance. Our thoughts are with his family.”

Robin Hardy, who directed The Wicker Man, said of Woodward: “He was one of the greatest actors of his generation, without any question, with a broad career on American television as well as British film.

“He was the absolute star of The Wicker Man. He was an extremely nice human being.”

Film critic Barry Norman described Woodward was a “very fine” actor.

“He made about three dozen movies but he was rarely given the chance to star in a movie, ” he told BBC News.

“The two films that do stand out are obviously The Wicker Man and Breaker Morant, about three British soldiers in the Boer War. In both he gave excellent performances.”

Actor Simon Pegg, who was a big fan of Woodward and cast him in his 2007 film Hot Fuzz, said on Twitter: “So sorry to hear we have lost the great Edward Woodward. Feel lucky to have worked with him.”

He later released a statement, saying that Hot Fuzz rehearsals “were often gleefully tossed aside just to hear him (Woodward) recount stories from his life and career.

“Edgar Wright and myself sought him out because we were fans of his work, by the time the cameras stopped rolling, we were devoted fans of the man. My love and sympathy goes out to Michelle and his family.”

Woodward is survived by his second wife, the actress Michele Dotrice, and four children, three of whom he had during his first marriage.

Source: BBC

Awesome English character actor Edward Woodward has moved on. I first noted him in my favorite 1980’s TV series, THE EQUALIZER, where he played an ex-agent who uses his bad powers for good, helping random citizens of New York. While my peers were reveling in the pastel pastiche of MIAMI VICE, I couldn’t wait for Woodward’s killer tude and Shakespearean diction to take-down the criminal scum of Fun City. I discovered his earlier work such as BREAKER MORANT and of course, THE WICKER MAN (1973) where he plays the inverse of his bad-ass New York hero. It was good to see him in HOT FUZZ to boot and he will be missed. Now here’s the coolest TV intro and theme from the 80’s, with music by Stewart Copeland:

However, it is only for a Total Film Comedy of the Decade shoot presumably for Shaun of the Dead. Still we have Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim film to look forward to along with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Greg Mottola’s Paul and Spielberg’s Tintin.

November is a time of year to ruminate on all the things that we’re thankful for, and as we close in on the end of 2009, I find myself with a list containing innumerable pieces of my life that I’m grateful of. I have a wonderful fiancée with whom I have a fulfilling relationship; I have a good home which I share with her and our two mischievous cats. I’ve got friends who care about me and family that loves me. And in our uncertain job market, I have a solid and stable job, which in turn lends me the financial stability that so many people in our country have been bereft of. In short, I’m happy and comfortable and secure; if that’s not reason enough to be thankful, I don’t know what is.

But of course, you don’t read this blog because you’re terribly interested in how great my life is; this is a blog about movies, and that’s ostensibly what you’re here for. You see, while thinking about those personal elements of my life, I got to thinking about my passion for the cinema, which in turn got me reflecting on the films that I’m thankful for, the movies that have influenced or affected my love for all things cinematic directly or in more clandestine ways. And so, keeping with the theme of this month’s holiday, I wound up putting together a list of ten such films for your reading pleasure.

As a note, this is not supplementary reading for my top ten list; it’s also not a generic “top X most influential films” list, though in some cases it is precisely the influence of the film in question that I appreciate. That appreciation will only be examined on a personal level– as much as some of these movies have had broad and far-reaching impact on cinema as a whole, here I’m only interested in how they have effected films that have specific significance to me. These aren’t necessarily the movies that I could watch from start to finish any day of the week, any time of day, but rather the movies that helped shape and change my perception of cinema. So with that in mind, please enjoy!

Shiri/Swiri– Shiri (spelled Swiri inside Korea) is often credited as being the film that jump-started the Korean New Wave back in 1999. While under even distant examination this isn’t totally the case, Shiri‘’s success did much to cause a resurgence in interest toward Korean cinema; as the film became an instant smash, local companies became more willing to risk their money on genre films with larger budgets, and the sales of Korean films overseas increased. On its own it’s a tight and energetic espionage thriller about a North Korean terrorist plot to target and destroy South Korean landmarks, but in the broader context of South Korean cinema, Shiri’s existence may largely be responsible for the boom the SK film industry has enjoyed since its release– and therefore, films like Oldboy might never have been made without it.

Watchmen– I wasn’t one hundred percent enthused by Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel (read my review here), but it’s hard for me not to crack an appreciative smile when I sit back and think about it in retrospect. Watchmen is a crackling, pulsing, living and breathing piece of glorious pop-art, flawed for certain but also filled with crackling performances and eye-popping attention to detail. It’s also a challenge to other super hero movies to attempt to achieve similar faithfulness to their source material. Watchmen is also the kind of against-the-mainstream property that one would never expect a major studio to back, and yet that’s precisely what Warner Brothers did. It wasn’t a box office winner, but it also hasn’t added up to a total failure for the studio just yet (thanks to the ancillary market), and if anything its existence should give the movie geeks faith in the studios; if Watchmen can get made, anything can get made. But most of all, even if the end result wasn’t as good as it should have been, I’m just happy that someone had the chutzpah to even attempt to translate this “unadaptable” story to the big screen.

The 40 Year Old Virgin– The Judd Apatow train got its start with the TV series Freaks and Geeks, but it picked up the most steam upon the release of this 2005 hit comedy. Since then, it’s helped shape the face of American comedy, leading films to place greater emphasis on character and plot development instead of leaving those elements to the wayside in favor of more fart jokes; it’s this focus on heart and story in addition to belly laughs (which leads to more robust and fulfilling comedies) that makes Virgin’s existence so richly deserving of our gratitude. Of course, no one does it better than the master himself; the best comedies of the last half a decade have come out of the Apatow camp, and no imitators have come close to replicating what makes those films great. (Though amusingly enough, many of those seeming imitators are actually part of the Apatow family, as Judd’s arm has grown so long that he has his hands in untold numbers of contemporary comedies.) And aside from being a comedy game-changer, Virgin is responsible for helping establish Steve Carell’s presence as a leading man, as well as introducing actors like Romany Malco and Seth Rogen to wider audiences; if that’s not enough reason to tip your hat to it, then I don’t know what is.

Kikujiro–  From my experience, filmmakers like Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano get an unfair rap in the US for working in very narrow and specific genres of cinema. Here, Kitano is popularly thought of as a director of crime thrillers, and while I can understand why– much of his creative output that has reached the States consists of gangster films like Brother, Sonatine, and Hana-bi– the reputation is grossly unjust given his comedic roots and surprising penchant for the poignant. During my years in college, I found myself defending Kitano against just such accusations from my friend; the argument ended when I popped Kitano’s 1999 film Kikujiro in my DVD player. I’ll always be grateful  for this film’s existence as a counter-point against the idea that Kitano, as a filmmaker, knows only violence; here, he tells a story that’s artful and moving and entirely relatable despite examining its themes through a specific cultural lens. The movie follows the journey of a young boy as he travels across Japan to find his mother; Kitano plays the gruff, curmudgeonly eponymous character who accompanies the child on his quest. It’s a colorful and beautifully shot movie that’s perhaps more touching than Kitano’s better-known gangster films are violent, a road movie that closely explores isolation and alienation in Japanese society.

Shaun of the Dead– As a foreign property, Shaun of the Dead introduced me (and many, many others) to a bevy of English talent: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Nick Frost. Wright, Hynes, and Pegg had worked together prior to Shaun on the wonderful TV series, Spaced, while Frost had starred on his program Danger! 5000 Volts! (wherein he advised his audience on how to best handle volcanic eruptions and hippo attacks). For this alone, I’m indebted to the film; the fact that it not only schooled me on these fantastic talents but also surprised me by turning out to be one of the best zombie movies of all time was icing on the cake. Or perhaps it’s the other way around? Either way, Shaun of the Dead makes up for decades of terrible imitations and blatant rip-offs of the films of Romero and Fulci and also stands up to them in sheer quality (I honestly believe that Shaun’s script might be one of the best scripts written in the last decade). The film’s secret to success? Shaun can be described as a zombie parody or an homage to the films of the greats, but the truth is that it eschews the chance to be cute, coy, and tongue-in-cheek and instead chooses to stand on its own as an honest-to-God zombie movie filled with laughter, fantastic effects and make-up, and a whole lot of heart. Like Virgin (both films are, after all, tastemakers in their respective genres), many films have tried to imitate what makes Shaun work, and none have succeeded; it’s a wholly unique film, something that can’t be replicated, and that makes it truly special and worthy of adulation.

***

What films are you thankful for? What are the movies that you appreciate in a broader context outside of their individual quality? Feel free to share your thoughts here. Enjoy the season, everyone!

Lataa Ohjelma (MP3)

Fuskausjaksot jatkuvat, tällä kertaa sukellamme palautteiden ihmeelliseen maailmaan.

Hot Fuzz… Shaun of the Dead… Spaced… Ring a bell? Edgar Wright is one of the best and freshest directors in Hollywood. Hot Fuzz is personally one of my favorite movies. His newest project is promising to top them all.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World stars Michael Cera, is about a boy who falls in love with a girl (he’s never done that before in a movie), and must defeat her seven boyfriends. Including Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Brandon Routh, and many other enticing actors, the buzz on this movie could not be better.

PLUS!!!! Edgar Wright is good friends with Jason Reitman (aka: director of Juno). Edgar shared the first 30 minutes of Scott Pilgrim with Jason, and Jason flew through the roof.

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“In London, @edgarwright showed me 30min of Scott Pilgrim. While sworn to secrecy (so much, surprised blood wasn’t demanded) I will say this: It is a game changer for Edgar and the genre. It moves the speed of light and carries more unadulterated joy than Ive seen in recent cinema. I’m in awe of the sheer control in the filmmaking. It feels like a “Matrix” for love and how willing we are to fight for it. If I had a movie coming out next year, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near it. Hats off my friend. Can’t get it out of my head.

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If Jason Reitman is ecstatic, I am at least excited! So, for my 2010 check list, this film is on the top.

Jason Schwartzman gave an amazing interview about this film with Collider.com

If you’ve noticed the lack of posting on B&B recently, it’s been due to the fact that I (Bill Bodkin) have been taken away from blogging duties because I just went in for surgery. Nothing huge, but it’s kept me away from the site for the past week and 1/2. I even had to forgo my Halloween plans to make sure all my work was done for my job.

So I felt what better inspiration for a Top 10 post! These films are ones that I feel really can capture the Halloween spirit even if the ground is covered in snow or it’s the middle of a blazing summer.

1. Shaun of the Dead:
Fresh off the critical and cult success of their UK sitcom Spaced, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Nick Frost and Big Talk Productions took a huge gamble and produced this wacky yet serious, romantic yet gory tribute to George Romero films. The film is filled to the brim with brilliant sight gags, witty one-liners, wanky British humor, tongue-in-cheek film references as well as genuine horrifying sequences and a real sense of humanity. This is one you can watch a million times and still find something new and hilarious.

2. Evil Dead Trilogy: Suck on this you primitive screw heads! The brainchild of then first-time director Sam Raimi and executed to acting perfection by Bruce CampbellThe Evil Dead series, is equal parts side-splitting comedy and gruesome, terrifying horror. The first Evil Dead flick is a bloody-as-all-hell horror film that is a good Evil Dead starting point. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn is basically a rehashing of the first film with the Three Stooges-esque comedy ramped up to 11. “Evil Dead 3″ Army of Darkness is a terrific combination of slapstick and action/horror film that is known for its memorable one-liners than anything else. Remember…shop smart…shop S Mart.

3. Sleepy Hollow: Heads will roll indeed! Tim Burton creates a beautiful film that seamlessly combines 50s Hollywood back lot horror with modern CGI technology. Slightly modified from the original story, Johnny Depp played Constable Ichabod Crane, a forward thinking yet timid NY cop sent to the small hamlet of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Burton’s gothic tendencies, Depp’s daft performance and Christopher Walken as the Headless horseman makes this a classic.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas: Another Burton gem. This is a beautifully crafted stop-motion animated musical comedy that has inspired millions of Hot Topics products. The music of Danny Elfman (who provides the singing voice of Jack the Pumpkin King) and unique vision of director Henry Selick (and Burton of course) make this not only a timeless Halloween classic, but a Christmas one as well.

5. Night Watch/Day Watch: The brainchild of Russian visionary Timmur Bekmambetaov, (known in the states for Wanted), this is a really trippy series of films that has to be watched within the same sitting. The film revolves around Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabenskiy), a reluctant agent for the forces of good who constantly battles the end of the world, vampires and tons of emotional problems in Russia. The visuals are mind-blowing, I mean see to believe it good and the story-telling, while frustrating at first, come together perfectly in the final act.

There's gonna be HELL to pay: The Hellboy films are just two films you can catch the Halloween spirit with year-round.

6. Hell Boy and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: Hellboy’s success can be attributed to the brilliant mind of director Guillermo del Toro as well as the brilliant performance by Ron Perlman. The fantastical adventures of Hellboy and his buddies is a visual buffet filled only with the sweetest treats. The comedy is very high especially in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army where a drunk Hellboy and Abe Sapien belt out Barry Manilow’s “Cant Smile Without You.”

7. Pan’s Labyrinth: The masterpiece of Guillermo del Toro. He is able to tell concurrent stories of a fantasy world and World War II Spain, with the same attention to detail. The film’s creature effects are what’d you’d expect from the fantastical touch of the jolly director, but the drama and the phenomenal finale are what makes the film that damn good.

8. Big Trouble in Little China: Jump on the Porkchop Express with good ol’ Jack Burton (the amazingly underrated Kurt Russell) as he and his friends go into the mystical depths of the Chinese underworld. Helmed by John Carpenter, the film has a lot of strong fantasy and martial arts elements, but it’s Russell’s faux-John Wayne performance that makes this a truly enjoyable film.

9. From Dusk Til Dawn: Not many people dig this film, but it’s still a fun film. Take the snappy dialogue of any Quentin Tarantino film and combine it with the rock ‘n’ roll violence of a Robert Rodriguez film, add a dash of pre-awesome George Clooney with a whole mess of blood, guts and go-go dancers and you’ve got yourself a damn fine horror film.

10. John Carpenter’s Vampire 2: Los Muertos: Oh my sweet Lord…Jon Bon Jovi as a vampire hunter named Derek Bliss? Yes, this actually did happen! This made for DVD sequel (from the late 90s flick with James Woods) features Jon Bon Jovi kicking vampire ass in Mexico. Along for the ride is Darius Mcrary AKA EDDIE WINSLOW from Family Matters and indie film darling Diego Luna of Y Tu Mama Tambien and Milk fame.

I had a teacher that once said that drama is for feelings and comedy is for thought. At first I dismissed this idea because how can a movie like Little Nicky or Dickie Roberts: Child Star be thoughtful. But if you think about it, although they are horrible movies, they are indeed thoughtful. The former deals with living up to your father’s expectations, while the latter is about the effects stardom have on a child.

For this reason comedy is my favorite genre. Can you make a drama about a girl trying infiltrate a clique of popular girls to bring them down, and eventually becoming one of them? Yes you can, but it does not have the same effect as a comedy. So, I was quite excited about compiling a list of my favorite comedies of the decade, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. I’m sure I left out a few good ones, but I feel happy with the way it turned out.

Here’s my list for the 10 best comedies of the decade:

10. Shrek

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson | 2001

I saw this without having seen any sort of promotional material for it (how I managed to do that, I don’t know), so imagine my surprise when the movie started. Shrek is a clever take on fairy tales that has jokes coming in very often, and they never get old. Will the movie age well? Probably not because of all the pop culture references, but I will always have fond memories of it.

9. I Love You, Man

John Hamburg | 2009

A great story about friendship sewn together by great chemistry between Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Together, they make some poorly written lines and situations work. The rest of the cast also does a pretty good job of making this work, among them the always reliable JK Simmons, Andy Samberg, and Rashinda Jones.

8. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Adam McKay | 2004

This movie came out at the peak of Will Ferrell’s popularity, that is when he used to do the things he still does, but with good scripts. The story is inpired and a perfect fit for Ferrell’s comedic abilities. The sight gag are great and the dialogue (which is rather good) is delivered perfectly by the cast. And I believe that this is still Ferrell’s best performance.

7. Ratatouille

Brad Bird | 2007

This movie is full of sophisticated and innocent humor. Prior to this it had been a while that I had not seen a non-Pixar animated movie that was hilarious and had clean humor. Yes, there is a poop joke, but that fits the personality of the character that is involved in the joke. Ratatouille made once again made the messy kitchen, the food to the face, slapstick feel fresh once again.

6. School of Rock

Richard Linklater | 2003

Jack Black gives his best and funniest performance here. Yes, the plot has been done before, but the way the story is told, and the earnest performances from the young cast, makes this stand above the rest of other movies with the same plot. Plus, the ending is pure magic.

5. Mean Girls

Mark Waters | 2004

Before “30 Rock” and Sarah Palin made Tina Fey a house-hold name, and before Linday Lohan started doing drugs and ruined her career, they made this movie. Lohan, along with Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfriend, and Lacy Chabert, make Fey’s creations come to life in a great way. The movie is full of your typical Fey dialogue, and that alone makes it stand above other comedies.

4. Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright | 2007

The love that Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have for bad action movies shows here. And only them could they make an intentionally hilarious action movie like this. The biggest laugh, however, don’t come from the spoofing, but rather from the small moments, like the old man being stabbed in the foot, or the crossword puzzle dialogue exchange. Just great stuff all around.

3. Happy-Go-Lucky

Mike Leigh | 2008

Some do not think that this is a comedy, and I can see why they think that however, since this made me cry because of all the laughter, it definitely qualifies as a comedy. No other movie made me laugh this hard this decade. This is all thanks to Mike Leigh’s great writing and direction, which fleshed out every single character, even those who are on-screen for only a few minutes. The movie also works as a comedy thanks to Sally Hawkins’ amazing performance.

2. Knocked Up

Judd Appatow | 2007

One would think that it would be hard to find comedy in an uncomfortable situation such as an unwanted pregnancy. However, Judd Appatow did, not in the actual situation, but in the fall out from it. Seeing these two people and their families trying either help them or trying to tear them apart is funny as well as seeing them trying to make things work when they are clearly not meant for each other. While his direction may not be the best, Appatow’s script makes the movie work, and one of the best comedies of the decade.

1. In Bruges

Martin McDonagh | 2008

Like Knocked Up, In Bruges finds comedy in a situation that would not necessarily require it. This time it is two killers hiding out after a job goes wrong. The comedy here is mixed in with the anguish that the main characters are feeling, and it works. On one hand we have Ray (Collin Farrell) feeling bad about what he did, and on the other we have him, and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson), getting into all sorts of trouble with their boss, a local drug dealer, Canadians, Americans, thieves and a midget. Even when things get awfully dark, the movie keeps it’s sense of humor, and that’s why it is the best comedy of the decade.

Honorable mentions: The 40-year-old Virgin, Role Models, Superbad, WALL-E, Amelie, Cheaper by the Dozen, Shrek 2, Blades of Glory, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Shaun of the Dead, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment about this list.

Let this statement absorb into your mildly retarded to intelligent mind(s):  Shaun of the Dead is a perfect movie.  From second zero until end credits, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg created a masterpiece.  Name me a scene in that film that they could have cut out… yup, shut up.

Centering a film around zombies in the last ten years is a simple way to start a movie, which has become the center of much critiquing and BITCHING from fans and fuckers alike.  Yeah, I will admit that screenwriters, producers, and directors need to adjust their attention a little in the genre of horror, but how easy is it to get an idea, name, or message out into the mass populace through the invention of zombies?  Easy as a girl named Breezy (ask me later).

“Rom-zom-com” was a genre coined by Shaun of the Dead.  It’s fucking silly, but I allow it.  A romantic-zombie-comedy is something we all wish we thought of first, but alas, we didn’t.  Closest pick that could be lumped into this genre is Zombie Honeymoon, but that flick is a bummer to say the least (rent it though).

George A. Romero is a man that horror buffs tip their hats to because whether you like it or no, he brought zombie films into the mainstream and did it well.  Some of his films look a little dated – for the obvious reasons – with all the undead cinema flooding the market now, but Shaun of the Dead took the schematic of rotting men and women lumbering about and feeding on human flesh infused humor, heart, and headshots.  In my opinion Romero has been rolling down a slippery slope of guts and flesh since Land of the Dead, but after watching Diary of the Dead I got a feeling the man needs to put the camera down and start penning some screenplays or producing projects that are up his gore soaked alley.  His new picture Survival of the Dead has the potential of bringing him out of this mass grave of shitty zombie movies, which he has directed himself into, but sometimes you just gotta pass the torch and move on.  Let’s get back on topic though, shall we?

Edgar Wright is one of those writers/directors who knows what he loves and it isn’t afraid to create something that is merely an homage to those things with a little something else added to it.  His sitcom Spaced even has a subtitle track on the DVDs entitled “Homage-o-Meter” that simply references anything within the realm of film, music, literature, and a bunch of random shit because that’s what compromises majority of the show.  Genius?  A little less, but leaning more towards prophetic.

The sappy – but good kinda sappy – that is strategically placed amongst the fart jokes and disemboweling in Shaun plucks on the heart strings so well because there usually isn’t a need for it within the genre.  Your typical horror fan that forks out $6.50 for Saw 23 (currently in pre-production) doesn’t need emotional substance within the film as long as the violence grows exponentially with each severed Achilles tendon.  Yet, when Bill Nighy – playing the stepfather – “death bed” confesses how hard it’s been raising Simon Pegg, I know I started welling up the first time I saw it.  And don’t get me started about the Mexican standoff involving Shaun’s mother.  Reservoir Dogs, you have now been trumped.

We’ve all seen plenty of slashers and the such where you can pretty much wave a finger at majority of the players and figure who’ll be letting out a sigh of relief right before the end credits roll and who’ll be dirt-napping ASAP.  Now if you can actually write a decent character then flesh them out as the camera rolls on them – whether they get the axe or not – we’re at least feeling for them as they attempt to survive through three acts.  But if you watch any trailers for movies within the last 10 years, Hollywood loves to show us EVERY FUCKING THING THAT’LL HAPPEN WITHIN 93 MINUTES condensed to a two and a half minute stream of clips, especially every dumb breeder that’s gonna fall on a dick or knife in I Know What You Did Last Summer With Your Dirty Mouf .  I remember watching the Episode I trailer in ninth grade and being so pissed off because it was obvious that Qui-Gon eats it.  Once again, thank you Mr. Lucas for perverting nearly everything that was holy during my childhood.  Sorry… I get kinda angry most of the time when I go off on tangents.

Every character in Shaun fits into at least one stereotype or more, which works as long as you give them a soul.  The token black guy wouldn’t be such a disposable character in cinema, but when does the “black friend in the group” ever get more than five lines that aren’t silly or just jive.  Stereotypes and cliches in movies work – especially in genre films – because it can create a familiarity with the audience that is comforting, but the fun and talent comes when the write and/or director abuses that comfort and throws you into oncoming traffic.  Sometimes you’re taken from your idea of what is safe and sure in your life or simply lead down a path you didn’t see coming.  I wouldn’t say that Shaun is abound with twist, turns, and surprises, but when you take the idea of the “bumbling idiot” (Pegg) and give him a family, friends, wit, and then hordes of zombies to bash his way through, you start to give two shits about him.  Stir in that drama I was talking about from before and what do you get?  A damn fine character.  Now let’s throw a bucket of blood over the whole mess and you we got ourselves a right good film.  Now me personally, I just need a rack of $7.99 failure ribs from Safeway and some Simply Apple Juice, then I’m in fat kid Heaven.  Moving on.

Shaun of the Dead may not be on the highest of cinematic plains, but for a film that panders to gore-hounds, drunks/stoners, those who still think farts are funny (real Americans), and people who hate bad kissers, it’s a work of art.  It’s a movie that reminds me of why I still love all the sentimental bullshit John Hughes put out or why constantly quoting the Cohen Borthers three bowling alley burnouts never gets tired.  It brings me back to why I shielded my  five year-old eyes from Carpenter’s shape-shifting alien in the Arctic or how Landis made someones dead bestfriend the funniest aspect of London.  Simply put, it’s a movie that makes me love movies.

VERDICT:
9/10 Headshots

Might just be the best horror movie of the past ten years. Definitely the best horror comedy of the past ten years, if not ever.

Shaun of the Dead is about a guy in England who’s a deadbeat boyfriend, has a deadbeat best friend, and is stuck in a dead-end job where he everyone treats him like shit. Then one day everyone in town starts turning into zombies, so he mans up, grabs his cricket bat (is that even what it’s called?) and his best friend, and head out to rescue his girlfriend and parents from before they become zombies too.

I was thinking about reviewing The Exorcist or The Shining for this most special day of days, but I’ve been meaning to get around to this one for a while now and isn’t this just more fun than projectile green vomit and dead guys getting it on in bear suits? Why, yes it is!

I’m really glad that this movie has become such a cult phenomenon and risen up from its initial obscurity when it was first out in theaters, these are the kinds of movie that deserve more credit than they usually get; a Cut The Crap movie if there ever was one. Then again, I can see how an American audience might not see the appeal to watching a British horror comedy starring British actors that no one knows with British accents that are sometimes far more frustrating than amusing (my thoughts exactly when I first saw the trailer for Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels way back when). But America, now that Shaun of the Dead has become a household name (at least I think it has), you have proven yourselves a people of the world. Go ahead and give yourselves a pat on the back, I am damn proud of you.

It should be no surprise that when Zombieland came out (let alone every horror comedy that has come out over the last five years), everyone immediately compared it to Shaun of the Dead. That’s because Shaun set the bar at a very high level on every front. This was the first movie that really nailed how a someone would react if the zombie apocalypse went down; yeah, it would suck, but it would also be pretty fun. Who am I kidding, I’d have a freakin’ time during the zombie apocalypse!

The script is written by Simon Pegg (Shaun) and the director, Edgar Wright, and it is freakin’ hilarious. It doesn’t stick to just one kind of humor as it blends satire and Three Stooges and fart jokes and an unreal amount of great running gags that all serve to send up the zombie sub-genre while honoring it at the same time. Outside of Monty Python, British humor doesn’t usually do it for me, but every time I see this movie I crack up at all the same parts and catch jokes I missed because I couldn’t hear them over myself the first time around.

The characters are also fantastic and really well-rounded. Unlike in a lot of zombie movies where you don’t really give a shit about who dies and who doesn’t, Shaun does a great job of making the audience sympathize with the characters when the people around them start kicking the bucket. It gets pretty heavy at times, which is a good thing, but thankfully Nick Frost is there as Shaun’s best friend, Ed, to lighten the mood. I’m all for Simon Pegg and his quick rise to fame after this movie came out, but I’m amazed that Nick Frost’s career hasn’t taken off likewise. Dude is an absolute riot, has the best lines, and deserves to be in more movies.

Bill Nighy is also in it as Shaun’s stepdad. I like Bill Nighy, even though he does seem to take any crap role that’s thrown his way. Still, he was awesome in Love Actually.

Before this thing gets too long, director Edgar Wright also deserves a big effing mention. Such an freaking great director that has such a unique eye and does a great job of making his movies feel infectious as they cut from scene to scene at a mile-a-minute. Even though he’s only done two movies, I just love watching Wright tell a story. No one does it like him, this might be the impetus I need to finally get around to watching his TV series, Spaced (also featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost).

Man, if you haven’t seen this movie, you don’t know what you’re missing. Even if you’re not into horror movies, Shaun of the Dead is still a painfully funny trip. And even if you don’t like comedies (lighten up, dude), Shaun of the Dead is still a totally awesome horror movie, especially for fans of the genre who can catch all the references. For those of you who don’t like horror or comedy, see it anyway, this might just be a turning point in your life.

Shaun of the Dead said all there is to say about zombies and said it perfectly. For the rest of you horror comedy writers out there, sorry to break it to ya’, but it’s all down hill from here.

Oh, and happy Halloween, everybody!

I’ve never really been much into horror movies. Mostly because of associations with films like Nightmare on Elm St. and such, which aren’t really my cup of tea. However, realizing the silly popular horror films aren’t representative of horror films in general, I want to broaden my horizons a bit into the hugely diverse realm of scary(ish) movies. Thus, this year, I was struck with the inspiration to watch a different movie from the horror (or similar) genre every night on the days leading up to Halloween, culminating in a joyous viewing of my favorite related film, Shaun of the Dead.

Most of the films I watched were films I already planned on watching and this was just a good excuse to finally get to them, while some of the films were movies I probably never would have seen were it not for this Halloween themed celebration of film.

As your friend, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the trailers for the films, especially if you are unfamiliar with a particular film!

Day One: 28 Weeks Later

Sequels are always a dicey proposition. We’ve all had franchises we loved murdered by the likes of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the At World’s End type films of the past. Thus, when 28 Days Later got the sequel treatment but Danny Boyle didn’t return as director and none of the original cast came back, I avoided it like the plague. My assumption (an unfair one as it turned out) was that an American film studio had cranked out another mindless horror film and slapped the 28 Days Later moniker on it to add credibility.

Since it was while watching 28 Days Later a few weeks ago that I got the inspiration to watch a different horror movie every night leading up to Halloween, it only made sense to kick it off with 28 Weeks Later. It didn’t hurt the cause that I learned after deciding to watch it that Danny Boyle was involved creatively on the project even though he didn’t direct (he even directed some secondary unit stuff!).

Lots of zombie fans dislike the 28 films because they don’t like the fact that the infected aren’t officially undead and fans loathe even more the fact that the ‘zombies’ are fast (although Danny Boyle insists they aren’t zombies, much like George Romero did after Night of the Living Dead came out). I understand the trouble with zombies being created by a rage virus, but it isn’t a problem I share. 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later are both great films and while they do turn the zombie genre on its head, it is in the best possible way. The first 5 minutes of 28 Weeks Later may be the best zombie sequence I’ve ever seen.

28 Weeks isn’t as strong as 28 Days Later, but we still had a great time watching it. It will certainly make an appearance during ‘Halloween Moviefest 2010.’

Click the photo below to watch the trailer for the film, and to be honest, watching the trailer again I wonder why I waited so long to watch the movie!

Day Two: Let The Right One In

This film was hands down, by far, in every way my favorite new film watched during HM2009. It was quiet, understated, beautiful, while also deeply disturbing and troubling in the best possible way. It wasn’t particularly scary in the traditional sense, but maybe that’s just me. However, it was brilliant, moving, engaging storytelling that ruminates on the violence and desperation of vampire mythology, while also making it human by setting it in the pain, brokenness and grit of real life and childhood.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who can stomach a fair amount of blood and violent content. Again, click on the photo below to see the trailer.

Day Three: The Orphanage

The Orphanage was the second movie in a row that was more creepy than scary, which I am realizing is a great thing. Fortunately, it also continued the trend of great storytelling. A story of tragedy, loss, unfailing love, and creepy ghost children, it didn’t bring anything new to the table as far as ghost stories go, but it used the old conventions and devices to weave a moving, engaging tale. There were many similarities between The Orphanage and Poltergeist, but in all the places where Poltergeist swung and missed for me (which I’ll get to later) The Orphanage hit it out of the park!

As of night three, we were batting a thousand for film selections.

Day Four: Ghostbusters

What needs to be said? The primary reason for the inclusion of Ghostbusters is that it is the only film I knew my wife Emily would watch with us, so I wanted to get her in on the fun.

The movie is a classic, there aren’t many a child who grew up in the 80’s for whom the Ghostbusters weren’t a regular part of their lives. From Hi-C Ecto-cooler to ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ cartoon series, I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every time I pretended to be busting ghosts as a kid.

Day Five: Poltergeist

This was included because of its status as a classic in the ghostly activity genre. I looked forward to catching up on what I’d been missing since I had been too much of  a wuss to watch it when I was young. Sadly, while it was intentionally funny fairly consistently, it was also unintentionally funny even more consistently. It wasn’t scary as much as it was flat out ridiculous. Maybe it was the era, maybe it was just my personal tastes, maybe it was how dated it is by now; whatever it was, I wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t scared or creeped out, I didn’t care about the characters at all, and I found myself wondering how much longer it was until the movie was over.

I respect the fact that it is a classic, that it was really well received critically, and that it was huge in the 80’s, so it must be me, I just wasn’t into the Poltergeist action.

Day Six: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

I had never seen Night of the Living Dead before. Obviously, as a fan of zombie lore I needed to finally be initiated into what became the inception of the modern zombie sub-genre. Sadly, much of the punch the film would have had for the original audiences was lost on me because I’ve already seen this material rehashed so many times, as well as because the legendary ending had been spoiled many times over.

However, I couldn’t help but appreciate how the effectively creepy, siege based storytelling which gives every viewer the opportunity to imagine how they would respond in the same situation spawned the sub-genre so close to my heart. If I had to pick characters from various zombie films who would be in my corner in the event of  a real zombie apocalypse, the films main character, Ben, would certainly be included!

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Day Seven: Part I – Evil Dead

Who doesn’t love Ash? There are plenty of complaints one can have about the Evil Dead franchise, and rightly so, but as a character you can’t find a more absurd, hilarious, over the top, bad ass than Bruce Campbell as Ashley Williams. I hadn’t actually seen Evil Dead before, I’d only seen Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. Since we knew later in the day we would be watching Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell it made perfect sense to kick things off with the film that started it all for Raimi. It was everything one might think it would be, much more an absurd, ultra-violent, ridiculous gore-fest as opposed to anything scary or frightening. Well, it was potentially frightening in one way, you may be frightened by the horrible thing on screen you just laughed at in any given scene like a pencil to the ankle or lopped off head.

Part II – Drag Me To Hell

Watching the trailers alone I had no plans to see Drag Me To Hell. However, when it consistently received great reviews from critics and wasn’t discarded as another mindless scary movie I took notice and decided to include it in HM2009. Boy am I glad I did. Drag Me To Hell was like Evil Dead with a brain. It embraced all of it’s camp and silliness and reveled in it. Staples to the forehead, a sacrificed kitten that resurfaced in the most ridiculous way later on, and a scary, gross old lady as the villain are just some of the delightfully absurd thrills the film offers. At the end of the day, it was just loads of fun to watch, and it was nice to see Raimi back at the top of his game.

As is always the case for trailers with embedding disabled, click on the photo to view the trailer.

Day Eight: Trick ‘r Treat

For the most part, I enjoyed Trick ‘r Treat. We are all quite familiar with stories that celebrate the joy, peace and love of the Christmas spirit. Well, this is a film that celebrates the fun, danger, terror and mischief of the Halloween spirit. Not as much a continuous story as a loose connection of stories that intersect (á la Pulp Fiction). Each storyline acts as a playful interaction with various conventions and myths of Halloween. It succeeds on a number of levels as a fun 90 minutes to spend on an October evening. It includes everything from Anna Paquin turning the story of Little Red Riding Hood on its head, to Dylan Baker as a serial killing principal, as well as Halloween’s version of Scrooge getting a dark lesson in celebrating Halloween the right way.

The biggest disappointment came from what had been my favorite part of the film for the majority of the movie. Wandering throughout the story is the spirit of Halloween. What looked like a creepy little kid trick or treating was actually a murderous little menace who had a list of who was naughty and who was nice, purely by Halloween standards. Instead of getting a lump of coal, you would instead die a gruesome death. The reason it wound up being a disappointment was because for a few brief minutes they remove the characters mask, and it was utterly ridiculous in the worst possible way. He immediately went from my favorite character of HM2009 to the most disappointing one. Sad. Hopefully I can have enough of a selective memory to edit the brief lame portion out of my head.

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Day Nine: Dead Snow

You really only need two words to understand what you’re getting into with Dead Snow: Nazi. Zombies.

As I tweeted immediately after watching: Dead Snow was campy, hilarious, gory as all hell, filled to the gills with movie reference tips of the cap, and soooooooooooo fun!

The folks who made this film love movies, and more, love zombie movies, and it comes through in every moment of this film. It was at once campy and beautifully shot, it was pitch perfect, and it had everything you could possibly want in a zombie movie, including bad ass victims who aren’t willing to go down without a fight. Also, while I won’t ruin the surprises for those who choose to watch it, it has one of the best scenes in the history of zombie films, as well as some of the best zombie fighting. Also a strength is that their numerous movie references are often subtle, and are always used to great effect as opposed to just pointing out that they are referencing a movie, it actually works on a storytelling level too.

These aren’t your grandfather’s zombies kids… well, unless your grandfather fought in WWII, then I guess technically they are his zombies. As opposed to being mindless flesh eating monsters, they are a bunch of bastards so evil and greedy they won’t stay dead, thus they still think and act like humans hellbent on getting back their Nazi treasure. When these zombies eat flesh, it’s because they think it’s fun, not because of a zombie bloodlust. Again, a different twist on zombie lore, and a great addition to the family!!!

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Day Ten: Dawn of the Dead [2004]

Sadly, I’d have to call the updated Dawn of the Dead the biggest disappointment of HM2009. I enjoyed it more than Poltergeist, but I wasn’t expecting as much. I really thought Dawn of the Dead was going to be an entertaining film, but instead it was just dumb. More often than not I was just yelling at the screen because of how frustrated I was with how infuriatingly dumb and illogical the characters in the film were. Also, while I don’t have a problem with fast zombies, the zombies in this film were more superhuman in their speed and agility. It makes sense that Danny Boyle’s zombies would act the way they do because they were overcome by pure rage, why Zac Snyder’s zombies have their attributes is completely inexplicable, but little girls can suddenly jump up like cats and zombies with no legs can swing around from pipes like apes. WTF?!?

As I summed it up on Twitter later that evening: Dumb.

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Day Eleven: Shaun of the Dead

The crown jewel of my plans for HM2009, this isn’t just one of my favorite zombie or horror movies, it’s one of my favorite movies. It succeeds on every level possible and delivers me so much joy, laughter and fun that it should probably be illegal. I LOVE this movie, and I’m so happy to have discovered another excuse to watch it. When we do HM2010, Halloween night will once again involve a viewing of Shaun of the Dead 

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I enjoyed doing the themed movie nights so much that I have already decided to continue doing more of the same. I did find out during this little experiment that they already do something similar over at Ain’t It Cool News, I guess great minds think alike or some such nonsense.

Next will be a Time Travel themed week or two of movie goodness. So far, off the top of our heads, the titles to be included are Primer, Time Bandits, Timecrimes, Back to the Future I & II, and Donnie Darko. I would LOVE suggestions on other great time travel movies that should be included! Sadly, I checked and Hot Tub Time Machine doesn’t come out until March. We aren’t waiting that long.

Well.

The wind has begun to chill, the nights have become longer, and the trees have shed the last of their leaves, leaving giant, immobile skeletons behind to tug at your hair and cast disarming shadows throughout the streets, keeping you looking over your shoulder at every wrong turn.

Halloween is nearly upon us.

A holiday based around candy (for the young set), drinking (for the rest of us), and terrifying your friends and neighbors (for everybody), is right up my alley.

To commemorate the upcoming October 31st, I present my top ten favorite horror-comedies, a genre that I am quite fond of. I disregard my usual list of seven because, let’s face it, these movies are too damn good. It was hard enough cutting it off at ten.

Horror and comedy, in my mind at least, go hand in hand. Laughing and screaming cannot be induced artificially. They are impulses that can only be brought on naturally and are thus infinitely more difficult to create.

And I’m not talking about “inadvertently funny” movies. Bad acting, poor special effects, or complete ineptitude of craft (you’ll find no Edward D. Wood here) are not taken into consideration. No, these are ten movies that are funny, and scary, by design, rather than by mistake.

They’ll chill your bones, but they may just warm your heart, too.

Right before ripping it out.

Here’s the first six:

Ten: The Frighteners. (1996)

As if traveling through time wasn’t enough, Michael J. Fox decides take on the supernatural as well – with living hobbit Peter Jackson, no less! Partially ignored upon it’s initial release, this remains a personal favorite of mine. Utilizing his ability to see ghosts, along with a trio of friendly ghosts who befriend him, Fox is able to convince people that their houses are haunted, and then get them to hire him to exorcise them – all for fun and profit. Things take a nasty turn for him when an evil spirit hits the scene, continuing a murder spree it had cultivated while still alive, and generally making his life miserable. Fox, as always, is great, but it’s horror icon Jeffrey Coombs who steals the show as creepy and over-the-top FBI agent Milton Dammers. Not a terribly frightening film by any means (despite it’s inexplicable R-rating), The Frighteners nevertheless remains a funny, weird, and mostly lighthearted film – that honestly needs to be seen by more people. Check it out!

Nine: Dead Alive (Brain Dead). (1992)

Peter Jackson returns to bring us one of the most ridiculous films I’ve ever seen, horror, comedy, or otherwise. Zombies, ass-kicking priests, mutant rat monkeys, and over 300 liters of fake blood collide, creating one of the goriest, most bizarre things I have ever witnessed.

A young man struggles to secure his true love while simultaneously covering up the fact that his rat-monkey infected zombie mother (huh?) has begun killing and infecting the rest of the town they inhabit. It all culminates in an over-the-top, splatterfest climax, that utilizes a lawnmower to it’s ultimate potential.

Strange, slap-sticky, and oddly charming, this movie is certainly a far cry from Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” work, and that’s just fine by me.

Eight: Beetlejuice. (1988)

Tim Burton can be hit or miss at times – mostly “miss” these days, it seems – but “Beetlejuice” is where it’s at. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play a recently deceased couple who return their dream house to find it “haunted” by stuck-up  yuppies (who are very much alive), and desperately try to reclaim what is rightfully theirs – enter Beetlejuice. Despite only being on screen for a total of seventeen minutes, Michael Keaton’s extravagant “bio-exorcist” (he exorcises the living, you see) steals the show, bouyed by the forces of sheer originality as well as Keaton’s tour de force performance. It’s a wonderfully offbeat gem from Burton, and probably his most flat out fun movie to date.

Seven: Return of the Living Dead. (1985)

“Brains! Braaainssss!”

If you’re wondering where that off-repeated phrase first originated, wonder no more. While George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” may have created many of the zombie archetypes that we continue to live by to this day, Dan O’Bannon’s “Return of the Living Dead” took those tropes to town, spoofing them perfectly, while creating a few new ones of his own.

Like the whole “brains” thing.

The film is damn funny, fast paced, and features some truly amazing zombie makeup. The infamous “Tarman” a dripping, decomposing, skeletal apparation may well be the coolest and most original looking zombie ever put on film – both creatively and technically. And the zombies’ growing obsession with eating brains never gets old – and actually gets funnier and more outrageous as the film goes on.

Six: Re-Animator. (1985)

The great Jeffrey Coombs, who made an appearance earlier on this list in “The Frighteners”, returns – this time as Dr. Herbert West in Stuart Gordon’s take on H.P. Lovecraft’s “Re-Animator.” The movie is violent, gory, bizarre, and features equal doses of macabre and lowbrow humor – which alone earns it a spot on this list. But it’s Coombs who centers the film, playing the nerdy scientist bent on re-animating dead tissue. Part Frankenstein, part bizarre drug trip, and all awesome, “Re-Animator” is a film that you trully have to experience…and then wonder what the filmmakers were truly “experiencing” when the made it.

Five: Shaun of the Dead. (2004)

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright bring us our fifth and final entry for today. “Shaun of the Dead” is a hybrid film – equal parts romantic comedy, horror, drama, and slapstick. It’s as funny as it is tragic, as tragic as it is gruesome, and as gruesome as it is British. And all of those elements add up to one of the most refreshing zombie films I’ve seen in years. Many consider “Shaun” to be a spoof of zombie films; but I disagree. It’s too detailed and original to be a spoof; rather, it’s simply a very unique and very British take on the genre, that allows the occasional (and subtle) reference to films and filmmakers that came before it, but never allows itself to degenerate into downright parody.

And, it also spawned the term “rom-zom-com”, as in “romantic zombie comedy.”

So I guess that’s something too.

Well.

That wraps up the initial six. Tomorrow I shall return with the final four, to round out this spook-tastic list.

And I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know that while I apparently consider “Young Guns” a classic Western, you won’t see “Lost Boys” anywhere near this list.

You’re welcome.

]]> http://moviesoothsayer.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/retro-review-shaun-of-the-dead/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:20:13 +0000 soothsayer767 http://moviesoothsayer.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/retro-review-shaun-of-the-dead/

Have you ever felt like an urban zombie?

You wake up give a giant yawn, scratch yourself, and stumble into the kitchen seeking your first cup of java. Then even more like a zombie you drop into you regular Monday to Friday routine.

Well this has happened to Shaun (Simon Pegg), a TV salesman who seems to watch life walk by. When Shaun isn’t trying to keep his roommates from fighting, he is trying to spend time with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield).

Liz is starting to get sick of Shaun’s stalled take on life and dumps him. Shaun is in shock and at that moment it seems his world around him begins to crumble as well. Not figuratively but literally.

It seems that Shaun and Liz will have to put their feelings aside as their world is turned upside down when the undead rise from the grave. It comes down to a matter of survival for this disjointed couple.

The film’s beginning is a lot like a British version of “Office Space” mixed some what with a sitcom about roommates. The beginning scenes where the characters go about their business and the audience knows the world is falling apart but they don’t are utterly priceless. The long pan shots that follow Shaun to his favorite convenience store so speak to film’s premise of the zombification of the urban male.

When the film’s characters finally uncover what is really going on it becomes your typical zombie film right down to the humans making their last stand. When the comedy eventually evolves into gore and panic, I felt it really never lived up to the magic of the film’s first half.

I wanted to see a new take on the zombie film. In a lot of ways, the film did that but in others it just seems to hit the same pitfalls as your typical zombie film. I really loved the film’s opening and the performance of Simon Pegg.

I guess I got disappointed when the jokes ran out and it was substituted by an onslaught of mindless gore.

3 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Eu li somente 1 edição da revista. Gostei muito do material e a quantidade enorme de citações pop no meio de uma história absurda de tão divertida, e por ser absurda também. Então nada melhor do que um diretor maluco e brilhante, que cometeu obras de arte como SPACED, Shaun of the Dead e Hot Fuzz. Edgar Wright.

Procure a respeito da revista se quiser, mas eu lhe garanto uma coisa, quando o filme sair, é só o que vão falar a respeito. Em Egdar Wriht, eu confio!

P.S: Se você é viado em twitter, siga o diretor aqui e faça logo uma trilogia seguindo também Simon Pegg e Nick Frost, a gangue de Spaced são sem dúvida os britânicos mais engraçados, (junto com o Ricky Gervais é claro).

Cette semaine, je vais vous parler du mec le plus cool du monde, j’ai nommé Scott Pilgrim. Mais c’est qui celui là? Et bien c’est le héros du comics du même nom, qui pourrait facilement porter la mention “awesome”.
Découvert la semaine dernière pourtant, le volume 1 “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life” est sorti en 2005.

L’histoire : Scott Pilgrim, 24 ans, canadien, mène une vie plutôt tranquille. Il est bassiste dans un groupe de rock, “Bob-Omb” (les petites bombes dans Mario) et sort avec une lycéenne. Jusqu’au jour où une fille vient hanter ses rêves. Il finit par la croiser et là c’est le coup de foudre pour lui. Seulement, pour continuer à sortir avec elle, il doit combattre… ses 7 maléfiques ex.

Et c’est à partir de là où ça devient complétement psyché. Ca commence plus ou moins normalement et on se dit qu’il va devoir battre les mecs dans des défis ou autre. Et quand apparait le premier ex, ils entament un combat à la Dragon Ball.

Le comics est rempli de référence geek, Scott gagne régulièrement des points d’expérience, des objets, a des statuts. Il rêve qu’il est Link, et quand on lui dit “so you guys are items or what?”, cet idiot s’imagine les items de Mario (une fleure, un champignon etc.). C’est ultra bien écrit, et c’est juste incroyablement drôle.

Cinq volumes sont déjà paru, le 6ème et dernier volume sort en Janvier 2010. J’ai appris que Milady Graphics a acheté les droits et le premier tome en VF sortira au printemps 2010 (le tout n’étant actuellement disponible que en anglais).

L’excellent Edgat Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the dead) a eu les droits pour sortir une adaptation ciné l’été prochain… Le projet me laisse plus que sceptique puisqu’il a ici décidé de faire une version live. Au vu des vidéos du tournage, l’apparence des personnages semble être respectée à la lettre, mais l’ambiance du comics sera difficilement adaptable au cinéma, à moins de faire un truc complètement déjanté (ce dont il est capable), mais quand on voit que quand Scott n’a plus d’argent, sa jauge “money” baisse, on se demande comment c’est possible.

A mon avis, il faudrait de la musique en midi (lors de ses rêves par exemple) et beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup d’animation. Si Wright n’étais pas attaché au projet, le film n’aurait probablement eu aucun intérêt. Michael Cerra sera Scott et Mary Elizabeth Winstead sera Ramona

Bryan Lee O’Malley (le dessinateur) est derrière celui-ci, ce qui ne peut que nous rassurer.
Si vous êtes à l’aise avec l’anglais, courez donc vous l’acheter, et sinon, le printemps sera là!

Et puis juste pour le plaisir, l’actrice qui va jouer Ramona Flowers

Filmmaker Edgar Wright made a fascinating observation in a recent blog post: “If you were asked to come up with your ten favourite songs, I would lay money on it not being exactly the same ten as your most played songs on your iTunes.”

What? Surely not. Granted, not all my favorite tunes are on my iTunes, but still, there must be some correlation, right? So I took the Edgar Wright Challenge and looked at my Most Played list … and was amazed. Not necessarily in a good way.

First a caveat: I tend not to select specific tracks to listen to in iTunes, but to let the DJ function shuffle them for me as I work. Not always, but usually. Also, my numbers look a little low, thanks to a complete hard drive re-install in the last year, and more recent tendency to listen to blip.fm instead of my own iTunes selections. In other words, this is a pretty limited sample size, and possibly statistically insignificant. But it starts to paint a picture. My tastes are hinted at, but not nearly as eclectic and intellectual (read: snooty) as I might have liked.

Responsible for 20 percent of my top 10 most played, apparently.

1. “Send Me On My Way,” Rusted Root. (9 plays) Wow, OK. I love Rusted Root, but this is far from my favorite tune of theirs. I tend to get enough of it after years of frequent re-viewings of Ice Age with the little ones. (Which is a surprisingly durable movie.) Still. Hunh.

2. “Strange Overtones,” David Byrne and Brian Eno (7 plays) Great song. Their collaborative album “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today,” is a masterful “We still got it” statement from Byrne and Eno.

3. “Scherzo No. 3: Presto con fuoco in C-sharp minor, Opus 39″ Chopin (played by Emmanuel Ax) (7 plays) I call up these recordings of Ax playing Chopin a lot, but am stunned that the most-played tuned isn’t Scherzo No. 1, which is the world’s most brain-melting display of piano virtuosity. To me, No. 1 is the ultimate creative expression of all time, not just from the mind that conceived it but from the fingers that can play it. (Listen to a recording of Scherzo No. 1 here — it’s not Emmanuel Ax but it’s still blistering.) Of course, No. 3 is no slouch either, and it’s welcome in the top 10.

4. “Rain,” Rusted Root (7 plays) That’s more like it. Not my top Rusted Root favorite (that would be “Food and Creative Love“), but a great example of this band’s eclecticism and wit.

5. “Istanbul,” They Might Be Giants (7 plays) A great song in its own right, and it gets extra play with kids in the house.

6. “Goody Two Shoes,” Adam Ant (6 plays) Whoa. Really? Really? I … I had no idea. I can’t even pin this one on the kids.

7. “Call and Answer,” Barenaked Ladies (6 plays) The entire “Stunt” album gets a lot of replay in my house because lately it’s what Youngest Daughter and I will play when we’re tidying up the house together. “Call and Answer” is probably my favorite song on the album.

8. “Who Needs Sleep?,” Barenaked Ladies (6 plays) Perhaps it gets more repeat play for its thematic relevance in my life.

9. “Make Me,” Famous Tomorrow (6 plays) Ha! Really? This is not a commercially available tune, but an amateur theme song for the soundtrack of an amateur film I only marginally helped make with old amigo Will Carton. (My contribution? Shuttling the youth talent to the set.) “Make Me” is an entry in Joss Whedon’s open casting call for short films to appear on his Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog DVD. In DHSAB, a half-baked villain seeks entry in the Evil League of Evil, so Whedon asked fans to film other villains seeking admittance to the League. Make Me’s application didn’t get selected for the DVD, but thanks to the Internet, it lives on. I don’t know where Will found his guys to do the theme song, but it’s pretty hilarious.

10. “Anduril,” Howard Shore, “Return of the King” soundtrack (6 plays) OK, sure. It was great music for a great film. But why the song about the sword?  I would have thought that the track with the most replays would have been the one for that tag-team string of mountainous bonfires. Aw yeah, remember that? That was sweet. I think I’ll go listen to it now.

Thanks for the introspection, Edgar Wright. Now get back to finishing  the Scott Pilgrim movie!

Quick point before we start.

If someone comes up to you and wants to tell you what the best thing in Zombieland is. Knock them the fudge out! You do not want the best thing in Zombieland spoiled for you, trust me.

At some point over the last decade zombies joined ninjas, pirates, robots and monkeys in the pantheon of one time film and video-game fodder turned full time nerd fixations. Coupled with the revival and movie interest, this spawned a thriving industry of in-joke books and websites dedicated to collating every cliché of zombie survival for easy laughs. Following on from Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland is next to have a good look at the sub-sub genre through a Wes Craven lens. The film follows four human survivors as they wander the requisite zombie landscape having post-modern discussions about zombie survival rules. There are many theories as to why zombies are so popular now, typically grounded in the ‘innate fascination with death’ hypothesis that needed a new home now that vampires have become exclusive objects of fetish for sexually frustrated novelists.

I think I have a better take on the popularity. Put simply, I think we love Zombies because we hate each other. Just think of all the people everyday who annoy you, bother you, get in your way or just generally exist . We all occasionally feel like were alone among a hoard of hostel, human-shaped ghouls. And so we all have, or at least have the capacity to have that private dark fantasy of grabbing the nearest blunt object and fighting back against the armies of humanity.

But since most of us are sane enough to rely on fiction to satiate these urges, were always on the lookout for humans who are universally despised. So much so, that slaughtering them is fair game. The Brits are top of the list (I cannot see why, the reprehensible oaths!), closely followed by the Nazi’s. But both of those enemies limit you in terms of scope and setting.

Zombies however, are perfect for any scenario. Zombies are just random people on the street under Robert Smith make up that identifies them as okay to kill. It is no accident that the greatest of all zombie movies takes place in a shopping centre.

Essentially the zombie genre is about individualist empowerment. The individual in Zombieland is one Jessie Eisenberg (see I was getting there), a self sufficient Über-nerd who never got on with humanity to begin with and is thus psychologically equipped for zombie survival. Jessie hooks up with Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. The plan is to head to a supposedly zombie-proof amusement park on the west coast. Along the way, friends are forged, sardonic jokes are made and zombie clichés discussed. The film hits its stride in the second half, with a surprising cameo (which shall not be spoiled) being a particular highlight. The cast has a relaxed chemistry and seem to be having fun. Of the performances it is Abigail Breslin who steals the show; her natural timing is impeccable. With Signs, Little Miss Sunshine and now Zombieland under her belt, Breslin is easily one of the most promising actresses to have graced our screens in quite some time.

If your guessing that everything comes down to a big climactic battle during which manhood is attained and the killing gets oh so inventive– blue peter badge for you! It may sound strange, but this is the kind of movie that I almost feel guilty about liking as much as I do. I should be sick to death of the zombie genre and survival jokes that were perfected by Wright and Pegg. But there is no denying that Zombieland works, like a bad joke that you can’t stop laughing at. Take for example, Woodie’s character, you already know that at some point in the last act he’s going to say some variation of.

“Just go…..I got this”

And march off on a suicide run of such immense improbability, it would make Douglas blush. Yet, when it happened I found myself to engrossed to care. Go Woody!

ps. You still can’t jump though…

Dré

I hadn’t realized before but hulu does that amazon thing where they suggest other shows you might like based on whatever show you happen to be watching. Same way amazon does with books, although I have to say I often find amazon’s suggestions suspect, at least for my taste. Anyhoo… one of the suggestions associated with Green Wing, a show that I’m still watching obsessively, is Spaced,  a half-hour comedy. (Do the call them sit-coms in England?) And I figured, oy, why not give it a go, then.

[this is where the video of the first episode of Spaced via hulu.com would appear if I could just get it to work - dammit!]

Glad I did.

Spaced is about two twenty-something Londoners. Tim (Simon Pegg aka Shaun from Shaun of the Dead) and Daisy (Jessica Stevenson, who has a bit role in Shaun as Yvonne) who both suddenly find themselves in need of new lodgings and decide to pose a professional couple so that they can rent a nice flat, clearly an allusion to the 70s sit-com Three’s Company.

The show is chock-full of pop culture references, especially TV and movies. And, a la Scrubs, it employs fantasy sequences to great effect (or is it affect?). Also like Scrubs it is a single-camera show, but I don’t know how unique that is to British TV.

Other GenX-ieties  include: Tim is a skateboarding graphic artist who wants to work for a comic book company but is currently working part-time at a comic book shop; while Daisy is a journalist who is on the dole.

Simon Pegg does much of the writing and the director is Edgar Wright, who collaborated with Pegg to make Shaun of the Dead. Also, Nick Frost, who plays Shaun’s best friend Ed in the romantic-comedy-zombie flick plays Tim’s best friend, Mike, who is described as a “weapons expert.” Much of what appears in Shaun of the Dead was first portrayed in Spaced. Some of it practically verbatim.

Another treat for me is that the character of Brian, the quirky, twitchy, semi-reclusive artist who lives upstairs from Tim and Daisy, who is played by Mark Heap, the actor that portrays the wonderfully pompous Dr. Alan Staythem in Green Wing.  Clearly Heap has a talent for infusing his characters with all kind of interesting traits and foibles that make them a little creepy and endearing at the same time, no small accomplishment.

At this point I can’t say which show I like better. It’s difficult to decided. Green Wing has way more swearing and sexual references. But Spaced has loads more pop culture stuff. In the end it hardly matters. What I can say is that I’d like to own both shows on DVD. I think Spaced is available for Region 1 where as Green Wing still is not.

In any case, both shows are more than valid GenX vehicles. Spaced is about younger GenXers, of the kind featured in Douglas Coupland’s novel, Generation X. While Green Wing is about older GenXers who have matriculated into the workforce.

And both shows are funny and sarcastic and surreal and ultimately very touching and human.