Hot Fuzz - 7th February 2011
Firstly, I like all the people involved in this film and I do like Hot Fuzz as a whole. It's a silly, but it the best way, action comedy thriller with a cracking cast, sturdy but wild and inventive direction and a great soundtrack. I consider myself a bit of an Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost fanboy, someone who got and appreciated all the references in Spaced, loved that they did a zombie movie with slow moving living dead and generally would turn up to watch the three of them do pretty much anything (Yes I sat through How To Lose Friends... and I'd even give Edgar one more chance after the disappointing Scott Pilgrim).
So please bare all that in mind when you read the next bit which may seem less than positive.
After many viewings of both Shaun and Fuzz while they are both great and rarely out of my player for long but with repeated viewings some weak spots do emerge that, unfortunately, grate a little more each time I watch them. In the case of Fuzz one of the main things is I am just not sure how funny it is. Yes there are some hilarious moments but at times it feels like there are so many characters and quite a dense plot that constant exposition, while I would never knock anyone for having too much thoughtful plot, can mean that you sacrifice the gag rate.
Also while it's, of course, completely in keeping with the plot, having Pegg be the very solemn straight man for 95% of the film means that they are sort of missing out on 50% of the funny. Now, that does mean that the wonderful Nick Frost gets the limelight to be as fantastic as he has always been and it is true to say that their dynamic is that Simon always plays the foil to Nick's characters be it Mike, Ed or Danny but I still feel Pegg is restricted by his part a little.
The third part of the team's humour was always Edgar Wright's little visual gags or references, some of which, if you've ever listened to the commentary's or watched their pop up info bits on their DVDs can get a bit involved and while this does add a whole other geek infused layer to any of these movies, I am not sure how funny or apparent any of it is. Plus when he tries to do a gag for gags sake, like in Fuzz the idea of the killer always being in plain sight, I am not sure how well they come across as actual jokes. Lastly on the subject of the humour of the piece, I am not sure how funny, interesting or clever it is for the characters to actually talk about openly, and in one scene even watch, other action movies. The whole scene where they watch Point Break and Bad Boys 2 (neither of them personal favourites of particularly good examples of the genre in my opinion) is my least favourite scene in the movie and the things it is meant to do in the plot, highlight Danny's love of action movies to explain why by the time he's in one, he's a natural, point out the fact that all action movies are silly so accept it when the climax of this film happens and to provide the impetus for Angel to go back to the village in the first place could all have been said better and done better without having to ever mention, or show them watching, those movies. Also, they spend all this time setting up all the clever subtle homages like the names of the characters, the names of the places, in the sound effects and in some of the visual flourishes and then they have this one big clunky, creaky reference that doesn't add and actually subtracts from the proceedings.
Leading on from that, the movie spends a lot of time setting up the action heavy climax and referencing a million different action things when the movie is not really an action movie. A quarter of the film is an action movie, the rest of it is a sort-of quintessentially English, Whicker Man style, Agatha Christie type murder mystery plot. Unlike Shaun of the Dead which took the Zombie genre conventions and the Romantic Comedy genre conventions and blurred them seamlessly (because the Zombie genre works perfectly as a metaphor), the same can not be said for Hot Fuzz which has a harder time working out just what it wants to be that, in a way it ends up being none of those things. Now, that also maybe one of it's strong points because it keeps the tone interesting and it keeps you guessing. When I went into the cinema the first time I had no idea about the murder mystery plot, it surprised me and ultimately it gives you a lot more to think about than if it was just a straight action piece but I am not sure how well the genres gel or how it works as a comical or satirical look at either genre.
Lastly, while the cast is completely excellent and almost an in-joke itself, it is a double edged sword because, with so much going on, their screen time is obviously diminished. Timothy Dalton is, of course, the stand out and why he isn't in 100 movies already is beyond me because he's incredible but so many others, while they obviously give it their best, aren't really allowed to show off what they can do. I mean how do you have Bill Bailey in a film and give him absolutely nothing to do?
I also think it's lazy that they gave Edward Woodward one joke and then he repeats it!
All that said though, Hot Fuzz is a fun, interesting ride which teeters on the edge of Edgar Wright's 'throw everything including the kitchen sink' approach of direction without quite falling into the messy and confused abyss of something like Scott Pilgrim, I think when he writes with Simon Pegg they are possible more focused on the story and he uses his camera tricks appropriately.
The thing is and I think a lot of people feel like this, the three of them should stick to making films together in England. After Spaced failed to go to a third series there was a sense of unfinished business and disappointment and then Shaun and Fuzz came out and people thought 'oh, ok then, they are going to continue the dynamic in film, great - but where's Jessica Hynes nee Stevenson???' and now it's been a while since Fuzz and they have moved on to other things but nothing has been as satisfying as when they work together.
I am not sure I care about Pegg being in Star Trek or Mission Impossible, not that he shouldn't do those things but he's better in films he develops himself, we wait to see if Paul is any good when it comes out soon.
For a couple of films though it looked like the three of them could've not just saved but become the British film industry, showing Hollywood that we can do stuff every bit as big and bombastic as they can. Sadly though, with the third part of their 'Cornettos trilogy' looking further and further off and with them all having decamped, albeit temporarily, to the States, that dream, like Spaced season 3, will have to wait. It's great they made the films, disappointing right now they are not making more of them. Right away.
8 out of 10 crumbling cookies.
Points from the Wife 10 out of 10
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - 19th August 2010
Ok, did it finally happen? Did I finally get old?
I have noticed my waistline expanding, a growing disinterest with groups of people, noisy bars, the word 'trendy' and have begun to immediately assume that anyone under 21 doesn't have a clue about anything. So, yes, maybe I am finally old.
I have never felt so old, however, as watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
What a depressing cinema experience.
The news, my friends, is not good. The welcomed geek invasion of the last few years may finally have gone too far, over baked itself and this sunken flan of a movie might be the beginning of the end.
It is particularly devastating to me that I didn't like this film because, on a normal day, I love Edgar Wright's stuff. Being a Brit of a certain age I was extremely fortunate to see Spaced on television; as a budding movie geek and student making his first video shot zombie feature I didn't mind being beaten to the idea of a British zombie film by Pegg, Frost and Wright; also, as a fan of Dalton era Bond as well as awesome old British actors in general, I couldn't have been happier with their choice of cast and overall class in Hot Fuzz. As well as liking him, I am a fan of the things that Wright is a fan of: Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, George A Romero, Clint Eastwood etc. and I also love innovative directors, people who really explore their craft and technique, of which I feel Wright is definitely one. As for the cast, Michael Cera, from Arrested Development on, has proved to be a watchable, funny actor albeit one with very little range who I did think that one day, just maybe, his schtick would gradually get old.
These are just some of the reasons that I wanted to see this film.
So, for his first film without Simon and Nick, Mr.Wright picks to adapt a series of quirky Canadian comic books that aim to physicalise the internal battle young adults go through while dating into actual superhero duels inspired by the early beat-em-up video games. I was never much of a serious gamer but I like comics, Canada, Wright and Cera and I thought the metaphor was pretty clever, something along the lines of Pretty in Pink meets Street Fighter. I was willing to go with it.
So throughout production I followed Edgar Wright's picture blog and the odd video he threw up onto the web, I read articles and eagerly awaited the trailer. Now I don't know how much stock I put in trailers but I thought the Scott Pilgrim ones looked pretty awful. I was a little disheartened. It looked like a lot of gimmicks that would get tired quickly punctuated by the odd, not-very-good joke. I chose to ignore the trailers and think 'I bet it's one of those occasions where the studio doesn't know how to market something so they put any old thing together in the hope of it appealing to someone'. I was trying to give Edgar Wright the benefit of the doubt, 'he can't have made a bad movie' I kept telling myself. The irony with all this was that the film was exactly like the trailer multiplied by a thousand and not in a good way.
I should have listened to Bruce Campbell. His saying is that a movie that's fun to make is hard to watch. Well it looked like making Scott Pilgrim was probably an absolute ball. How telling is it that Edgar Wright has hooked up with one of its stars, the so-far-has-yet-to-really-prove-herself-as-anything-but-an-annoying-person-with-a-whiny-voice Anna Kendrick, sorry Edgar old chap but you should've kept your eye on the film you were making (saying that I do hope he's happy).
Within 10 minutes of the film starting the Misses and I were very close to leaving and I haven't thought about doing that since I saw the Blair Witch Project. I was used to the crash bang editing and sound effects from Spaced and Shaun of the Dead but the first 10 minutes of this film were like that in overdrive, like someone juiced up Mr.Wright and his editor with speed, cocaine and high fructose corn syrup and this is why I say, maybe I am getting old but the whole thing started to give me a headache.
I am not sure really why we stayed, maybe it was the $26 we'd paid to get in, but I had a feeling that all this rushing about, jump cutting, knowingly clever graphics and stupid sound effects would all ease off once Scott met Ramona. In a way that bet paid off, the film does calm down just a little on the hectic nonsense once the 'plot' is underway. However, and this appears to be a running theme through movies lately, even once the so-called story did start to move forward, I really can't say I knew anyone's characters beyond their obvious nerd cliche restraints.
For example, who is Ramona Flowers? Why does she like Scott Pilgrim? Why is she worth fighting for? (Her interchangeable-stolen from Eternal Sunshine hair colour??) none of these things were answered, neither did anyone seem to care at all. So why should we?
The film is a mess, the jokes, the fights, the acting, the editing and especially the directing, it's all a mess. If a director's bag of tricks was a purse then this film is the scene in The Breakfast Club when Ally Sheedy dumps her purse all over the couch. There is no denying that Edgar Wright has incredible technical skill but he has to learn when to use what trick and not just throw every magnet at the fridge hoping one of them sticks. I love Sam Raimi, old pre-For The Love of The Game Sam Raimi when his spectacularly inventive use of the camera would jolt and excite you throughout a scene, yet even he knew when to film something normally for one impact and crazily for another. There are moments of the first frenetic and frantic Evil Dead that are completely silent and the set up in that movie is slow and builds atmosphere, maybe the lessons and techniques Edgar Wright should've taken from Raimi was not the crazy ones but the delicate use of calm.
Everything but the kitchen sink film-making of the worst possible kind and with absolutely no character development. Sometimes a comic book should be a comic book and a film should be a film and very often there is a fine line between cool and annoying. On one positive note I will say that after the terrible first 15 minutes the film did settle in to at least being watchable and this was due, in part, to the fact that there was the odd funny bit here and there; including a whole bizarre section about a vegan which was totally bizarre and which I didn't completely get but contained some genuinely humourous moments.
It's all irrelevant anyway, I could go on and on about what's wrong with this film from here until Christmas 2013 and it still wouldn't matter. What I ultimately got from all this was that this film wasn't for me. I am not meant to understand it, I am getting old. I am the Christian parents of the Alabama teenager who don't understand why she likes the Beatles in 1965. I am the old man on the street wandering why all the barber shops have been replaced by chain hair salons blaring out offensively loud pop music and feeling oh so alone. I don't care about what fashion (or lack of it) is important, what industrial complex the latest so-bad-they're-good garage band is playing at, what hobbies are hip and what's not, which retro computer games are cool to mention and exactly how nonchalant about everything you have to be in order to be excepted by all the other members of Generation Whatever. I may not know much about art in the end but I know what I like, I know what I think is watchable, listenable to and classic and although it pains me to say it, Scott Pilgrim is not it but then, for me, I don't think it's meant to be.
Get back to the grown ups Edgar, we miss you.
2 out of 10 bowls of creamed spinach
Points from The Misses 2 out of 10 bowls of creamed spinach