Hot Fuzz (2007)

From the crazy people who gave us Shaun of the Dead (2004) comes Hot Fuzz (2007), a fantastic cop film that’s a quirky mix of comedy and action.

It stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as two cops named Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman.

Angel is a successful, straight-laced cop from London. Butterman (on the other hand) is the naive small-town cop who has never seen any action, but who is obsessed with action-packed cop films (and who therefore idolizes Angel for his real-life crime-fighting experience).

They are partnered up as an odd couple of sorts in the village of Sandford — where Butterman grew up, and where Angel was reassigned (because his success in London was starting to make the other cops there look bad).

All goes well until people mysteriously start dying under suspicious circumstances — and yet no one but Angel seems concerned about this unlikely string of deaths… hm…

I won’t ruin the story for anyone, but I will say that the first two-thirds of the movie is quick-witted comedy, and then the last third is saturated with funny, over-the-top action. (The action both emulates and mocks the gun-fighting and car-chasing scenes in typical cop films.)

The great thing (for me) was that I had no idea what to expect with this movie, so the turning point between the comedy and the action was pretty sudden — and hilarious.

So if you like comedy, or action, or (ideally!) both, please rent Hot Fuzz — you’ll definitely enjoy it. After all, it received a phenomenally high 90% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Finally, here is the official site (turn down your volume before you click, though).

Catch and Release

Catch and Release stars Jennifer Garner as Gray Wheeler whose fiance dies on a fishing trip just days before their wedding. Now she is left to sort out to details of his estate. What she uncovers will leave her asking just how well did she know her husband to be. Along the way of settling the estate and putting her life back together, she becomes closer to one of her fiance’s friends from California, Fritz played by Timothy Olyphant. Fritz is staying in town for a while to deal with his own grief after the funeral.

The movie begins on the funeral day, which also happens to be the wedding day. There is a lot of subtle details that allude to this that can easily be missed. I had watched half the movie when my husband came home, so I re-watched it. All those little details make a lot more sense when they are strung together.

While the movie opens with a funeral, it is a romantic comedy. It does quickly move into light-hearted subjects and even approaches the memories of Grady with humor mostly. Catch and Release also stars Kevin Smith and Sam Jaegar as Grady’s other friends and business partner.

Catch and Release is available on DVD and is rated PG-13.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 * PG-13 * ActionThe continued saga of the Bourne Identity … and the missing puzzles to Bourne’s Identity comes to surface as he learns who he is and where he came for. Spy vs Spy, Jason Bourne, a CIA created super-spy is on the run avoiding his seemingly placed life’s purpose of assassin and spy while trying to get on with his life.

 His love was killed, by nonetheless, his own employers and he sets out to find exactly every individual that was responsible for her death - while trying to figure out his identity and why everyone wants him so bad. As he trys to figure the puzzle out, every world killer is out to extinquish him, and as usual, little do they know that’s a mission impossible feat. 

He’s on the run from Moscow to New York with flashbacks guiding him to the Doctor that started it all and uncovering secrets that a select few want never to be told. It’s action packed and filled with the ‘umpff’ the rest of the films possess. High action, good flick. Rating: 3 3/4 stars out of 5. Viewed 8/4/07 Tinseltown, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Unaccompanied Minors

Unaccompanied Minors is about a group of kids who befriend each other after all flights are grounded at the Hoover International Airport on Christmas Eve. The kids learn to work together to save Christmas for one little girl, who expects Santa will find her even though she is stuck at the airport at Christmas.

This movie is available on DVD and when it comes to predictability, it’s easy to see the ending a mile away. The actors, much like the Harry Potter kids, are playing roles that are much younger than they are. It’s a little distracting since these kids look older for them to pass as 10-12 year olds.

There are some other issues with this movie like an inept airport security team that can’t keep up with kids. There’s one scene where the kids outrun security on a golf cart. Although quite honestly I don’t believe the movie was made for my enjoyment but to be enjoyed by kids. Kids are much more forgiving of holes in story plots or of weak story lines anyway.

Unaccompanied Minors is part Home Alone mixed with other holiday favorites. The kids are pretty much standard characters. You have the rich beautiful girl who use to be the ugly duckling. You have the super nerd kid who is awkward in social settings. And of course there is the normal kid who is the center of the storyline. For this movie, it is his plight to get to his sister before Christmas morning to save Christmas.

While there are certainly better holiday films, for a rental Unaccompanied Minors isn’t a bad deal especially if you have young children in the house.

Halloween the Movie

Rob Zombie is putting his spin on the classic horror tale of Michael Myers in Halloween the Movie. This will be the 9th movie in the series and is the 25th year of the horror franchise.

Rob Zombie’s vision of movies has been very disturbing, bizarre, and yet are strangely entertaining. I use to love horror movies but now I really don’t care for them so much. When I watched his movie House of 1000 Corpses, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. In retrospect, I came to the conclusion that I was entertained and actually enjoyed it. It definitely left an impression as I can remember most of the movie without much effort. I’m looking forward to a new Halloween movie especially with Rob Zombie at the helm. His movies are bizarre but do make an impression.
Halloween the Movie opens August 31st.