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dgraham-1
Reviews
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Most fun in a cinema since....forever
Saw this last night at a special screening followed by a Q&A with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I liked "Shaun of the Dead" but wasn't a huge fan but I liked what I'd heard about "Hot Fuzz". I still wasn't prepared to be quite as blown away by it as I was.
This film works both as an out-and-out comedy but also as a high paced action film and also manages to showcase the directing talents of Edgar Wright and the acting of Simon Pegg (who can really *act*) The first half is a gentle build up but is generally and genuinely amusing, but once we put the pedal to the floor for the second half the pace is relentless.
The plot is substantial enough but isn't really what we've all come to see - it's about the snappy dialogue and the gags. To describe it as a spoof is unfair - they just corrupt the genre a little and turn up the comedy.
Great fun from start to finish.
Serenity (2005)
High expectations well and truly met
I'd been waiting to see this for so long I was definitely feeling that it had to be a let down. There was no way it could be everything I was hoping for. Every trailer for Serenity added to the hope, and the film nailed it entirely. Forget sci-fi this is action/comedy at its best, and completely accessible to non-Firefly folks.
It looks amazing, and the snappy humorous dialogue is exactly what you expect from Joss. My only problem with the dialogue was trying to work out some of it then realising that, of course, I hadn't quite caught it because it was the whole cursing in mandarin thing. The best description for the tone of the movie I can come up with (other than Firefly of course) is "Dog Soldiers" - same kind of action flick with a great big sense of humour.
It isn't epic, its not gonna change the world, but its the best two hours of film entertainment i've had in a long time.