I was glad to finally find out what a cornetto is - I had no idea what they were talking about when it was mentioned in SOTD. I assume that's why they included that scene in Hot Fuzz.

Saw this for the first time on DVD last night. It's a work of genius, IMHO. Despite its brilliant writing, it's unpretentious but it does a very good job of mocking over-the-top mindless American buddy-cop movies. Once the action stops and we realize this is turning into a , the atmosphere gets truly weird. What I really liked was that . This is one comedy where I think everything works and works well on every level.

I'm surprised you like this baracine, considering the past comments you have made about violence in films like Pan's Labyrinth.

I watched this last night and was fairly underwhelmed (after hearing such great reviews from this site and others). I thought there was quite a bit of cleverness, but very little made me laugh. Perhaps I was just in a bad mood (after jury duty in the morning).

I saw this back in theaters in April, and I must be the only person in the country who absolutely hated it. I've never walked out on a movie before, but I would have if the lady hadn't insisted on staying until the end. I didn't really find anything that funny, I just thought it was all ridiculous and stupid...especially the end shootout... It didn't work as a comedy nor did it work as an action movie for me.

Could'nt disagree more. Loved it from beginning to end! Funny stuff.

Big fan of Shaun of the Dead and saw Hot Fuzz last night. I have to say that, while I liked it, it's not as good as SotD.

It wasn't as funny, it wasn't as silly and it wasn't as enjoyable. I was expecting over-the-top action but almost every moment that would apply has been used in trailers over and over again.

Like I said, I did enjoy it. Just not as much as their previous effort.

This film MAKES FUN of over-the-top mindless American-style violence instead of glorifying the culture of torture like "Pan's Labyrinth" does. It's a SATIRE. Technically and intellectually, it also blows any American effort in the genre right out of the water. This is also increasingly true of some French action films (see "Le Boulet") and some Asian action films (see "The Host") who are written by REAL writers who have a IQ higher than a shirt button's and who didn't learn their trade reading comicbooks, playing video games or watching kung-fu movies.

For someone who is suppose to be so intellectual, you sure are judgmental.

Plus they were paying homage to those over the top action movies, not making fun of. They did the same with Shaun of the Dead.

It's called popular cinema because it can reach different levels of intellect. To you, it pays homage to (not "plays") and, to me, it makes fun of over-the-top mindless action violence.

Oops I made a typo.

Explain what you mean by different levels of intellect. The vibe I'm getting from you, is that you seem to think if someone reads a comic or plays video games they are of inferior intellect. That would explain your internet persona.

And personally, I think the movies they are paying homage to are crappy films anyway. I hate Micheal Bay movies but loved Hot Fuzz, go figure.

Have the filmmakers said anywhere this was a homage to action films? Just curious. Because it certainly looked like they were making fun of them. Tongue in cheek. Could be wrong. Regardless, I loved the movie. Thought it was hilarious and one of the year's best.

It's a mixture of both. While they admit how stupid so many of those movies are, they also realize at the same time just how awesome they can be and they love it. So yeah, it's a mixture of both homage and mocking.

http://www.cinemawithoutborders.com/...007-05-11.html

Simon Pegg fans should check out "Big Nothing". A straight to DVD film (here in the U.S. only). It's a black comedy, but he's terrific in that too.

I'd agree with most of what you've said. It was worth seeing but I'm glad I rented instead of bought.

I saw Shaun of the Dead without having paid a single penny in my whole life to see a zombie film. I didn't need to ever see one to actually know how stupid they were. And that's what made me love that film and I'd have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the makers of Shaun actually "look up" to the makers of zombie films. I think it's just something they have to say in order to not alienate part of their audience during their junket tours. (Mustn't fluster those Americans!)

It wasn't just you, I felt the same way. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it and will probably eventually pick it up. I just felt it didn't quite live up to the hype it was getting. I think both of the main actors have done better in the past.

It's definitely worth a look... even if it does have David Schwimmer

While there are bad examples, writing off zombie movies because they "look stupid" completely negates several outstanding examples of great movies.

I would believe the makers of SotD looked up to the good zombie flicks. In fact, it's blatantly obvious throughout the entire movie that they love the source material.

You're really the one who misses the point. Every monster is a social metaphor; the vampire is a creature of lust, the werewolf is about rage. Frankenstein's monster is about our hubris in aspiring to conquer death and the responsibility we have for the things we create.

The zombie is the quintessential modern monster, invoking at once the fear of epidemic disease and epidemic crime in urban areas, anxieties about consumer culture, and parables about social stratification.

See e.g.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...905040301/1023

And "Shaun" essentially was a zombie film. It hit all the stations of the cross with slightly sillier versions of the usual horror movie character archetypes and winks at some of the genre conventions.

The zombies in Shaun were totally hilarious creations that referred more to the conked-out behaviour of public cellphone/MP3/blackberry/gameboy users or mall shoppers and the general mannerisms of Xtasy heads on their way back from an all-night rave party and every other type of "social idiot" than to their traditional movie counterparts. And that was scary enough for me.

Uh, a central theme of Romero's "Dawn of the Dead," which is the zombie "Citizen Kane" is to analogize the zombies' mindless and insatiable desire to feed with mass-market consumer culture. The iconic image from the movie is the zombies shuffling around in the shopping mall with the elevator music and the PA system announcements in the background.

"Shaun" didn't break from the basic premise at all. The central gag of the movie was in the choice of protagonists, who are the sort of people who usually get eaten in the first five minutes. Ironically, the premise you're reading into "Shaun," the criticism of mass-market culture, is the Romero point of the traditional zombie movie, while "Shaun" is mounted as a defense of, and, indeed, a celebration of the shiftless, lazy pop-culture addled couch potatoes who you and Romero disdain.

Similarly, "Hot Fuzz" is resolved when Nick adopts Danny's Michael Bay worldview and starts machine-gunning everybody. Both movies unabashedly celebrate the what are not infrequently considered to be the lowest forms of American popular culture, and your failure to recognize that suggests that you may not be as sophisticated as you think you are.

wheres the ignore button? all i see when i read bara's posts is just vitriol and goo spilling out.

Bara ... do me a favor. Take some time away from the movies with your magnifying glass and just relax. Smoke some of that green that Canada is famous for. Hell, for that matter take up knitting. Yes, knitting seems very appropriate for someone like you.

Didn't you get the memo? Americans are stupid and everyone else is smart, especially those Canadians.