Film Night: Hot Fuzz

[erastes]

I cried myself laughing from start to finish.

Believe me, I'm not at all the sort of person who laughs at loud at films - certainly not in the cinema - but with this I laughed literally from the first five minutes, and it built and built and built until I was literally crying with laughter at the end - and I have to say that it's only an English audience, perhaps, that can laugh their utter socks off at a building blowing up possibly killing everyone inside.

I don't think the makers were expecting it to be the runaway success it has obviously been (the cinema was packed to the gills and I haven't seen that in four years of cinema going with canaries_chick) but (and you know I'm not a gushy reviewer) I can't think of one thing wrong with this film.

 It had everything.  A brilliantly funny script, dead pan performances (which in the highest comedic tradition make things funnier) a fish out of water theme, various twists and turns, stellar cast!!! (ok, so non-Brits haven't heard of most of them....) and the entire film is a wonderful spoof of Bad Boys/Bad Boys 2 and Point Break.  The town square shootout is to be seen to be believed and you'll roar with laughter throughout.  Utter - UTTER brilliance.  I very much doubt if it will get distribution in the US (I hope I'm wrong) because it doesn't show the English as Upper Class Twits or Gangsters and has far too many English references that made me weep with joy ("she drove her Datsun Cherry into the Gorge"). 

If you are British and haven't seen - just go and see, you'll do the British Film Industry a power of good and I promise you that you will love it. Not as much as I did, perhaps, but it's hard not to like.  If you aren't British, then watch out for the DVD or the release.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/trailers 

Even the poster has me giggling.

I'm giving up on mainsteam. I sent a sonnet to a non paying site and got rejected.  No more!!  *knows where I am well off*

Comments

[raphinou.livejournal.com]

i'm so looking forward to seeing this movie! i thought shaun of the dead was a blast and almost peed myself when i saw that simon pegg, who is something kind of hot, was coming out with a new movie.

it's supposed to be in theatres in the US on april 13. that usually means that it will be out in theatres here in canada too.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Simon Pegg. Have you seen Shaun of the Dead? I love that movie.

Ha ha - I thought of you today. TV Guide had an advert in it for Robin Hood coming to BBC America. Don't you hate this?

[hansbekhart.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, I am so excited. I had exactly the same experience watching Shaun of the Dead and have been eagerly anticipating their next movie. **goes to look to see when it comes out in CA**

[erastes.livejournal.com]

This eclipses SOTD by 300 percent.

I absolutely hate Robin Hood, and I feel ashamed they are exporting it

[erastes.livejournal.com]

someone has given them a shedload of money and it's been well-spent.

If I was Will Smith I'd be too ashamed to do Bad Boys 3

[raphinou.livejournal.com]

totally random linguistics question:

can you say (1)?

(1) if i were will smith, i'd be too ashamed to do bad boys 3.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Probably won't come here, so will watch for it on DVD. Sorry about the rejection, hon.

*hugs*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't a clue. To my ears either sounds the same - although I wne to a "Grammar" schol, we actually were not taught any grammar....

[erastes.livejournal.com]

avidently it is being released over there, according to another commenter - due to the sucess of Shawn of the Dead.

*shrugs* proves I'll never be a mainstream - which I knew already I guess. But really. Non Paid. It's galling.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's coming out there - although a lot of the in-counry humour will be rather lost, I'm sure!!

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Checking yahoo movies it looks like a limited release over here - which means major cities on the coasts, not us. :(

And it doesn't prove you'll never be mainstream. Proves that for that market, that piece isn't what they were looking for.

[raphinou.livejournal.com]

the reason i asked is because it has been reported anecdotally and in the descriptive (as opposed to prescriptive) grammar books that there is a difference between british and north american dialects of english in the use of the subjunctive in hypothetical-if clauses. in british english, "if i was" is the most common, while in north american english, it's "if i were".

for me, as a canadian, "if i was" is ungrammatical. i'm actually somewhat surprised that both are acceptable for you. :)

how about this: which would you say?

(1) the group of seven is having an exhibition of their work.
(2) the group of seven are having an exhibition of their work.

[raphinou.livejournal.com]

i have a suspicion that they may have fixed the dialogue a bit such that the in-country humour has been replaced with references that we'd understand here.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Speaking as an American, I'd say that the subject of the sentence is "group," a singular collective noun. Subject and predicate are supposed to agree, so I'd use "is."

[rwday.livejournal.com]

UK English treats collective nouns as plural, to the best of my knowledge, while they're considered singular here. It always strikes me odd when listening to BBC news to hear things like 'the team are' but that's how they do it.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Oh, is that how they figure it? I've always wondered. Thanks!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well, I know little about grammar. and I wouldn't know a subjective if it bit me on the nose!

If I were to show him my cock, he'd faint away.

If I was in the area later, would you be in?

Both seem right to me. And similarly for the group thing, i know that the first one is correct, but as RWDAY says, even teh BBC use the 2nd one from time to time. but then they also split infinitives all over the place

[lady-isabella.livejournal.com]

Simon Pegg rules! I'm definitely looking forward to this film. Thought SotD was marvelously funny, and I adore Pegg's Doctor Who contributions. Thanks for the film comments!