Movie Review - Hot Fuzz (2007)

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are possibly the ones here to take the baton from the classic parody-makers of the past...like those responsible for Airplane, Hot Shots, The Naked Gun, and the rest of all those over-the-top comedies. After the success of their earlier zombie flick spoof, Shaun of the Dead, these two visionaries decided to break ground in a different area altogether: the action movie scene.

Hot Fuzz is the story of the top-of-his-class London police sergeant Nicholas Angel who gets transferred to the police force in a tiny, quaint village for being "too good" for the London force, as odd as that may sound. Despite dealing with some minor acts of deviance, Sergeant Angel can't really find anything to do in the town--the recipient of Safest Village in the Country for however many consecutive years. Needless to say, the police force he works for is less than interested in fighting crime (which includes his lethargic new partner he befriends as well), and is doubtful of Sergeant Angel's claims that some serious crimes are starting to unfold in this otherwise quiet village.

What makes this movie so great for me personally is the perfect blend of humor and action that really take a stab at a good smattering of the action movies out there. The insanely epic gunfights, acrobatic moves, and cool factor of the heroes are a jab at the more off-the-wall action franchises of the past like Die Hard, Rambo, Dirty Harry, Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, and so many single movies as well that are sure to elude even some of us who think we're afficiandos in the area of action movies. Take caution, though....this is by no means the artsy-fartsy movie you might somehow think it is (I would imagine one look at the poster above would have you convinced it wasn't). This movie is a pure guilty pleasure meant for nothing else but to laugh at and just plain enjoy for the dialog and gunfights and stuff. If that's all you're looking for, though, look no further. This movie is a thrill ride in every overused sense of the word, and it's one of the few movies I could potentially watch again and again until the disc very well breaks.

Movie Review - The Fugitive (1993)

A movie can be ridiculously intense, fast-paced, and thrilling without the constant decapitation, disembowelment, or pouring of fountains of blood, which flies in the face of popular belief (or probably just guys my age...or these guys). The Fugitive is easily the most interesting and captivating thriller I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot considering the hero isn't a "go-out-all-guns-blazing" type of fellow.

Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford) is in a spot of bad luck--a one-armed man killed his wife and all signs point to Kimble as the murderer. But even Ford's best broken, agitated framed man doesn't fool the cops. He's sent to a federal prison for about forever years with about a bagajillion dollars bail. Luckily for Kimble, the plot device steps in and causes the prison bus to crash, allowing Kimble to escape, making him, you guessed it! The fugitive! Without giving too much away, the rest of the movie consists of Lieutenant (or some rank like that) Gerard of the U.S. Marshals (played by Tommy Lee Jones) trying to track down Kimble while Kimble tries to uncover this whole murdered-wife business. But the action really never lets down along the way.

The movie is epic in its scale, spanning across different cities, suburbs, and even rural areas that no one's ever heard of as Kimble tries to escape. The soundtrack is perfect in keeping everything incredibly tense when they need to be, and some of Kimble's escapes are so narrow, they'll have you watching with bated breath. The film serves its purpose as a thriller perfectly, and it does so without ridiculous bloodshed or f-bomb usage (it's PG-13, and a relatively mild one at that!). If you're looking for something that will really keep you engaged and that you won't want to turn off, look no further. This overlooked gem is just what you're looking for.

Movie Review - Die Hard (1988)

Do you know what the best Christmas movie of all time is? If you answered It's a Wonderful Life,How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or even Bad Santa, you could have a point. But you would only be able to make a semi-valid point if you are one of the unfortunate many who have not seen Die Hard.

Let's get something out of the way right off the bat....Die Hard is by no means a cinematic, Academy Award-winning masterpiece, at least not in the way that Citizen Cane or The Hurt Locker or any other of those movies you wouldn't have seen if they hadn't won some kind of award (be honest with yourself!). Although the people who made the aforementioned movies were highly critically-acclaimed for their artistic merit and whatnot, aren't some movies just meant to be guilty pleasures? My answer is yes, and since I'm the only one who can edit this post, I'm sticking with it.

Die Hard begins in a way a bit different from your typical 80's action movie. John McClain (Bruce Willis) flies into an airport and gets on a limo and goes to see his wife and goes to an office Christmas party at some huge tower that just begs to be blown up and infiltrated and stuff, etcetera etcetera. The most exciting part is a mild argument between McClain and his wife...woo hoo. But then, the bad guy, Hans (Professor Snape from the Harry Potter movies), comes in with his gang of German terrorists who look like they're from an 80's power metal band and take hostages in order to acquire the millions of dollars in the building's very secure vault. So, ex-cop McClain sneaks throughout the building, enlists the help of a down-on-his-luck cop on the outside, and the ninety-plus minutes remaining are absolutely amazing. The humor is dark, the action scenes intense, and the plot...no one really cares. If you're watching a movie for the plot, this won't be your cup of tea.

If you enjoy action movies at all, you absolutely have to see this movie. If you call yourself an action movie fan and you haven't seen it yet, shame on you.

Movie Review - Casino Royale (2006)

Not all of the biggest comebacks in history have to come from sports teams or nations at war. Just ask the producers of the James Bond franchise, because for them, Casino Royale was probably their own Battle of San Jacinto (assuming they were the Texas Army, of course).

After GoldenEye was released, the series took a turn for the more fantastic, with the gadgets, plot devices, and action sequences starting to just really go over the top. The movies Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day were guilty of this crime, with Die Another Day just being the zenith of absolute outlandishness (it was the first film to feature CGI effects...and an invisible car...and an ice palace). With many fans in an uproar about Bond becoming nothing more than a gadget operator with a killer libido, the producers decided it was time to change things up a bit and bring Bond back to his roots with Casino Royale, which is very loosely based off of Ian Fleming's book of the same name (the very first Bond novel ever written, incidentally).

So, Pierce Brosnan was canned (or quit, it doesn't really matter) in favor of another Bond, which took some time, but the producers eventually settled on the controversially-blonde Daniel Craig (who now has several blogs devoted to him, with the center of one seeming to be about his role as James Bond). Just about all doubts regarding this fair-haired newcomer (this is seriously why people hated Daniel Craig...no joke) were thrown out the window upon this movie's release, because it was so undeniably awesome.

Casino Royale functioned so well in every area. As an action movie, it was the best yet, featuring a free-running chase scene through a construction zone. The cinematography was incredibly intense; no game of Texas Hold-'Em has ever been made as intense as this movie makes it--even if you don't know a thing about the game. This is the best portrayal of the Bond character yet, with him recently getting his license to kill, which brings him back to his roots and how Fleming envisioned him. He's still a charming womanizer, but he doesn't rely on many gadgets at all. The story itself is intriguing and deep without getting confusing, boring, or angsty, and the ending will be sure to surprise you.

Of all the Bond movies, I'd like to say this may be my favorite, but that's something you'll have to see for yourself. If you were to only see one Bond movie, this would be it.

Movie Review - GoldenEye (1995)

Sometimes patience is more than just a virtue; sometimes it's a saving grace. After nearly thirty years of James Bond movies being released just about every other year, the movie producers realized that their ideas, originality, and ability to spark the interest of others was waning. On top of that, their 1989 movie License to Kill was a box-office flop, probably the least-grossing film in the series to date (although I still think it's a pretty good movie myself, but I digress...). As a result of a couple of downer movies, the producers decided it was time to find a new James Bond since Timothy Dalton (who played James Bond and the evil grocery store owner Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz, if that helps put anything into perspective) wasn't doing the best job. So they waited. For six years.

But once they finally announced Pierce Brosnan as their new Bond, things started to look interesting, seeing as Brosnan had played a debonair detective in the TV show Remington Steele for several years and was apparently a looker for the times. And the movie itself certainly didn't disappoint. This movie is the Bond movie that I could potentially watch over and over again more than any of the other ones, just because of how wildly entertaining it is. Before the main titles can even start, two death-defying stunts were performed, considered landmarks for their time: an extremely high and dangerous bungee jump, and later a motorcycle jump off a cliff following a plane that had to be reached in free-fall.

It's absolutely jaw-dropping, and the film just takes off from there. I'll admit that it has its slow moments at the beginning, but the pacing is never painfully slow, dry, or boring as the franchise was guilty of in its earlier years. The entire cast was revamped for the end of the twentieth century, featuring much more modern characters with only one returning veteran. The plot itself wasn't focused so much on the Cold War as it had been in the past few movies, so Bond was able to move on to more interesting and complex assignments. The story itself is incredibly engaging and one that won't be easily forgotten. The action scenes were definitely the best in the series at the time, and in my honest opinion, the only movie that beat GoldenEye on this was probably Casino Royale in 2006.

There have been several critics that say this film is too flashy and superficial, relying on gadgets and explosions and eye candy to sell itself. While that could definitely be true, it certainly has me hooked, so I don't care. There was also a video game, incidentally, based off of the movie that was wildly popular, and if you haven't heard of it, I recommend looking it up to see what all the hype was about. But I would really give this movie a try, especially if you're an action movie aficionado like myself.

Ten Things You May Not Have Known About James Bond

Following in the steps of my recent James Bond movie reviews, I thought I would include a few bits of trivia about the whole Bond scene that are somewhat interesting (to me, at least) and are probably unknown to you.

1. The name "James Bond" is the name of an ornithologist. And a boring one at that.

The author of the original James Bond novels, Ian Fleming, got the name for his iconic character from the author of a book called "Birds of the West Indies." Fleming apparently chose this name because of how boring, flat, and basic it sounded.

2. Not all the Bond girls were always girls.

Although she really wasn't a main character, one of the girls from For Your Eyes Only had a sex change only a couple of years prior to landing the role. Director John Glen said she was "one of the prettiest girls on set."

3. Bond has a drink every 24.3 minutes.

Throughout the course of the 22-movie series, James Bond has had over 115 drinks, with a mean time of 24.3 minutes between each one. He doesn't go without style though: he's only had one beer of all those drinks. The rest are champagne, wine, and, of course, vodka martinis.

4. The movies were rated PG for twenty-five years running.

From Dr. No in 1962 up until License to Kill in 1989, all of the Bond movies were rated PG...although I'm sure there is plenty of controversy over this, seeing as how nudity snuck its way into a couple of the films along the way. For the past twenty years, the movies have remained a steady PG-13, and they plan to stay that way.

5. Die Another Day contains references to every single Bond film before it.

This movie was released in 1962: forty years after the first Bond movie and fifty after the first Bond book was released. As a tip of the hat to the franchise, the producers put in both subtle and obvious references to every single 007 movie from the past forty years, and even had Bond posing as an ornithologist (see #1) as his cover, giving kudos to Ian Fleming's work as well.

Movie Review - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

You may wonder why there's been a sudden thirteen-year leap from the last movie that was reviewed. Don't forget that I said I was going to review the better and more iconic James Bond movies. Not that I'm saying the ones in between weren't good, but they weren't big. They weren't awesome and epic. They weren't The Spy Who Loved Me.

I think a little bit of background is in order. Sean Connery, the first actor to play James Bond, left the 007 scene after his 1967 movie You Only Live Twice, which was mediocre at best. Some unlikeable Australian guy named George Lazenby took the helm, did a terrible job, and Sean Connery returned for one film after Lazenby's before calling it quits for good (but not really). Roger Moore, a good old bona fide British man who had been in the running since the franchise started, picked up the next movie and starred in two of the campiest Bond movies to date before finally reaching this real gem.

The Spy Who Loved Me is an espionage thriller about Bond on a mission to thwart the plans of an evil genius bent on world domination by kidnapping submarines and keeping them in his lair (go figure, right?). And despite a pretty cheesy plot and an even cheesier funky 70's soundtrack, this movie actually is pretty exciting for its time. The opening scene (the latter half of which can be seen here) is considered among fans to be one of the best in the series, and the stunts are all incredibly real, all the way to the jaw-dropping end. The story is actually multi-faceted and pretty deep, and the movie brings along a real colorful cast of characters from the beautiful Russian agent Anya to the holy-crap-he-scares-me-every-time henchman with HUGE metal teeth known simply as Jaws. The run time is a little over two hours, so the film never seems rushed trying to get the plot across.

Although this is a Roger Moore Bond film and these are the ones known for their wackiness and campiness, Moore manages to tone it down a little and turn out to be a pretty hard-edged, suave Bond, which is a surprise to anyone who's ever watched any of his other James Bond movies. Namely, this one: