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.