MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL.

I've seen all the other Mission: Impossible films, though I don't really recall much from any of them. I will say, though... with all the insane action set pieces this movie delivers, I think it'll be hard to forget this one. This time, the story gives us, again, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), whose team has been framed for inciting war on Russia. The President declares Ghost Protocol, which shuts down the unit indefinitely. So now it's up to Ethan, Benji (Simon Pegg), Jane (Paula Patton), and Brandt (Jeremy Renner) to figure out what's really going on and stop it before it's too late.

There are two things that split this movie. There's the thing that makes it outstanding, and the thing that brings it down a bit. What escalates this film is the brilliant action. There are some truly suspenseful moments. I mean, you know Cruise is gonna make it, but it still keeps you on the edge of your seat. Everybody has seemingly been talking about two moments that pretty much happen back-to-back: scaling the building and the sandstorm chase. There's a reason for that, as they are both incredible moments in the film.

What brings the movie down, however... is everything else. I didn't feel incredibly invested in the overall story. It wasn't boring or anything, but it wasn't anything new or exciting. There's a nuke, they need to stop it, there are obstacles in the way. Again, what elevates the film is how they solve the obstacles. But getting to each one isn't all that enthralling. And I would actually argue that if it weren't for Simon Pegg, the non-action scenes would have been straight-up boring. Pegg brings charm and humor to every scene he's in, making the film that much better for it. And Renner does well himself, too, bringing both humor and sadness to the story.

When this film is good, it's really freakin' good. When it isn't, it's still good, but it could have been much better. I would agree that it's easily the best in the series. I do recommend it, and for three reasons. See it for the brilliant action, for Simon Pegg, and for Paula Patton eye candy... I mean, damn. They're nice. I mean, it's nice. The film. Action. Boom. Pegg. Funny. And stuff. Yeah. Check them... it... out. I'm gonna stop now.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. Happy New Year!)

PAUL.

OK, so I've said in the past that I will see anything with Simon Pegg in it. To make this one even more must-see is that he was re-teaming with his Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz co-star, Nick Frost. Add in a supporting cast with the likes of Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Joe Lo Truglio, and it's even better. Heck, I even like the director, Greg Mottola, who made such films as Superbad and Adventureland. The first strike against me seeing it, however, was that it wasn't directed by Edgar Wright. The second strike was Seth Rogen doing the voice of the titutlar character--I have no problem with Mr. Rogen, but his voice is too distinctive, which I figured would make for too much of a distraction from the character. The third strike was the trailer and the fact that it was painfully unfunny. Needless to say, I was in a bind. I desperately wanted to see it for Pegg and Frost, but at the same time... I couldn't have been less excited about it. Then reviews started coming in and saying that it wasn't great, though not bad, either.

Enter Jess, who tells me how funny it is and assures me I'll enjoy it. She's rarely steered me wrong. Then Jason came in and also told me he enjoyed it, and we tend to have similar tastes, as well. Mix those impressions in with the fact I'm gonna be talking about it on a future LAMBcast, and I decided to give in and go see it. For those of you not in the know, the movie focuses on two buddies, Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost), who are on holiday to go to Comic-Con. Afterwards, they go on a road trip to visit alien-related tourist spots. Along the way, however, the stumble upon Paul (Seth Rogen), an alien who needs their help. The government is after him, and he needs to get off the planet. Chasing behind are Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) and agents Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio), though the latter two don't really know what the mission is. Meanwhile, Graeme, Clive, and Paul come across a bible thumper named Ruth (Kristin Wiig) and end up having to kidnap her after she sees Paul. The rest is a race to the finish as the gang tries to stay one step ahead of the ones who want Paul in their custody. There's also a supporting cast including Jane Lynch, John Carroll Lynch, Jeffrey Tambor, David Koechner, and a couple cameos I don't wanna spoil.

So what did I think? Jess and Jason didn't steer me wrong. I thought the movie was pretty funny, and the trailer really doesn't do the movie justice in my opinion. I wasn't rolling around laughing, but I gave a good chuckle here and there, and I was smiling throughout. The story itself is pretty straight-forward, but there are some interesting twists in the story. We find out little by little as the movie goes on about Paul's history, and there are some interesting and funny moments.

The big thing with this movie, though, is the actors. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost remain to be top notch. Both are lovable nerds who are buddy-buddy as usual. Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio are goofy government agents, with Lo Truglio being a nerd himself. Then there's the cool yet menacing Jason Bateman who gives us an interesting villain (though there is someone higher up than him). There's also a funny running joke about a sci-fi writer played by Jeffrey Tambor--and although his role is brief, he plays the annoyed veteran writer well. But then we get down to one of my biggest issues with the film going into it--Seth Rogen. Like I said, I don't have a problem with Rogen like a lot of people do, but I always felt he was the wrong choice to voice Paul due to the recognizable nature of his voice. After seeing the film, I still kinda think that. Looking past that, he does do very well with the part and making him likable. It's just that, for the majority of the film, all I could think was "this is Seth Rogen, not an alien."

And with another actor doing the voice, I might have seen Paul as truly an alien being. The CGI for the movie was very well done. For some reason, trailers always seem to make CGI worse than it ends up in the actual movie. But within the full context of the film, the CGI of Paul (and really any other time it's used) was very well done. He fit right in.

One of the funnest parts of the movie was all the references to other sci-fi and alien films. There are a ton in there, including but definitely not limited to E.T., Close Encounters, Star Wars, and Star Trek. In this instance, you can totally tell the movie was written by Pegg and Frost, as there is still that referential humor from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, just without the kinetic directorial style of Edgar Wright. It also doesn't have the self-referential humor of the aforementioned films, where things are revisited in a different context at least 2 or 3 times throughout the film. I'm assuming that comes from Edgar Wright's side of the scriptwriting.

As it is, though, the movie is fun and it exceeded my expectations. Granted, I went in with them rather low (despite Jess and Jason's assurances). But still, I would definitely see it again, and I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. So maybe next time, I won't doubt Simon Pegg/Nick Frost or Greg Mottola. I say that if you're a sci-fi film fan, you'll probably really enjoy the film because you'll pick up on all the references. If you're going for Pegg and Frost, you won't be getting another Edgar Wright film, but you also won't be too disappointed as the chemistry is still there. It's not the best comedy ever, but it's still a fun time.


I Am McLovin!

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER.

Despite having seen all the films in theater, I'm not a huge Narnia fan. They're all right, of course. But in the leagues of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, Narnia is like the red-headed step-child. for those who say Potter films are for children, check out a Narnia movie and compare. The books themselves were essentially written as the children and Christian equivalent of Lord of the Rings (as Lewis and Tolkien were friends). And you can tell.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader reintroduces us to the two younger Pevensie children, Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes). They're currently staying with their aunt and uncle and have to--unfortunately--put up with their snobby cousin, Eustace (Will Poulter). The three kids end up transported to Narnia and are pulled onto the Dawn Treader, a ship headed by now King Caspian (Ben Barnes). They're traveling Narnia trying to spread world peace and end up on a journey to find seven Lords to retrieve their mystical swords and place them on Aslan's (Liam Neeson) table to stop an evil mist from kidnapping people and destroying the world... or something like that. Also returning are the characters of the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) and Reepicheep (Simon Pegg taking over voicing duties from Eddie Izzard).

When you have a series of fantasy films (i.e. Harry Potter), usually the films get darker as they go. But I'd put Dawn Treader somewhere between the first two films. However, it still shares all the problems of the previous films.

The acting is mediocre as usual, though Ben Barnes (again) is OK. Even Liam Neeson's voice made him sound like he was just phoning it in. But there are two that did shine and made the film worth watching. Last film, I said that Reepicheep--the warrior mouse voiced by Eddie Izzard--was the best part of the movie. The character was taken over by Simon Pegg, and I think that made it even better. Pegg sounded as if he had a lot of fun doing it. But the real star of the film is Will Poulter as Eustace. His character was a lot of fun and was most of the comedy. But at the same time, his character changes the most over the course of the film and was the real emotional heart of the film. And, of course, you might remember Will Poulter from Son of Rambow (which is pretty much this blog's "lost review").

Wherein the previous films the CGI is half good, half bad, the CGI in this installment is almost entirely terrible. Everything looks fake. Even when the Dawn Treader is first introduced, the ship looks like it's horribly fake CGI (kind of redundant, but you know what I mean). Really? You can't make a ship on a sound stage or something? Why must everything in these Narnia films be so smooth and shiny? And the "big bad" is this green mist that looks like Shrek farted in a live-action SyFy Channel Original adaptation.

And speaking of, that's one of the big issues with this movie. There is no real sense of urgency or purpose. There is no sense of dread. There is no connection between our heroes and the "villain." I mean, this villain is less menacing than the wind in The Happening. Though I did get to make a fun joke near the end. There's a moment where they were like "Clear your minds! Don't think of anything bad. They'll use it against us!" This was immediately followed by an "uh oh." My first reaction was "Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!"

The action is OK. It's certainly not as good as in the previous film. There is a good "fight" sequence between Eustace and Reepicheep that is a lot of fun, though. But it could have gone on a little longer. Though when you really think about it, there is very little fighting in this movie. There are plenty of set-ups for fights, but either they don't happen or they last a very little amount of time. The climax is probably the biggest action set piece, and it's decent (except for a near-comical fight against the green mist).

There are little subplots that are randomly tossed in that at times feel out of place. For instance, Lucy feels inferior to her "prettier" older sister. Edmund, of course, still feels inferior to everybody in existence and wants more power. There's even an extremely out-of-nowhere moment where he and Caspian start yelling at each other that made me go "OK, WTF is going on? Where did this come from?" I know these things were put in so that the green mist could see inside their hearts and tempt them with stuff, but it was all very forced and somewhat stilted.

But the big thing about these films is the Christian allegory. The first film is the Resurrection story. The second is about keeping faith. This one is about, basically, finding and believing in God. The themes aren't bashed over your head for the bulk of the film. And then the ending comes in, and it's such an eye-rolling segment. I mean, there's even a moment when Aslan says "I'm known by another name in your world" or something like that. That whole last 10 minutes or so is almost painful if you can't stand things like that shoved down your throat.

Luckily, it is only that short chunk of time. I know I've bashed the movie in this review, but it's no worse than the other films. If you enjoyed those, you'll enjoy this one. The true reason to see the film is for Eustace and Reepicheep, both separately and the relationship between the two characters. Honestly, if they were to make another Narnia film that just focused on Eustace (which they kind of hint at), I'd probably see it. I don't know if it would be the same considering he essentially "finds faith" by the end so he would be a slightly different character, but I'm sure it could be fun if done right. Overall, it was actually an entertaining watch, despite the bad CGI and (mostly) mediocre acting.


I Am McLovin!

TV Review: Spaced - The Complete Series.

Seeing as Shaun of the Dead is one of my all-time favorite movies (and I really like Hot Fuzz, as well), I've wanted to see this series for a long time. It's a short series, 2 seasons and 14 episodes long. But it's definitely fun. Directed by Edgar Wright, Spaced tells the story of Tim (Simon Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Hynes), two strangers who meet after having some relationship issues and end up looking for a place to live. Tim is a comic artist trying to catch his big break, and Daisy is a writer who can't get over her writer's block. They grow a bond and eventually find a place, but it's advertised as only rentable to a "Professional Couple" only. So, of course, Tim and Daisy pretend to be in a relationship so that they can rent the flat. While there, they grow a friendship with the landlady, a drunk named Marsha (Julia Deakin) who is also the mother of a troubled girl named Amber. Then there's Brian (Mark Heap), a troubled artist who lives in the same building. Add in Tim's army-obsessed friend Mike (Nick Frost) and Daisy's shallow fashion diva friend Twist (Katy Carmichael), and you've pretty much got the main cast.

This is one of those shows that gets better as it goes on. Unfortunately, it only goes on for 14 episodes, so the upward slope takes a bit longer than hoped. It's not to say the show isn't good. Much like the other Pegg/Wright works, it's brilliant in its presentation. In fact, there are a ton of similarities (and shared jokes) between this show and Shaun of the Dead, for instance. However, I didn't laugh as much as I'd figured I would. The second season was better than the first, in my opinion, but throughout the whole series, I only laughed a handful of times. Nevertheless, the show was always amusing and constantly intriguing, mostly thanks to the likable (albeit strange) characters.

If the heart of the show is its characters, then the tone is its brain. It's a comedy, but it takes itself so seriously. Half the time, scenes are set up as horror scenes, but end up (because of its seriousness) being funny... again, much like Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. In other words, if you liked the bizarre mix of tones from the aforementioned films, you'll know what you're getting yourself into with this show. It's exactly the same. And not only is the tone the same, but so is the editing style (juxtaposing different things to add humor... for instance, one group watching and reacting to skateboard accidents on TV while another character gets bad news... or repeating things that happened earlier on, but in a different way).

There are also a lot of movie or TV references, the biggest being Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and yes, there are a few zombie references, too... there's actually an entire episode dedicated to zombies, which is actually what later inspired Shaun of the Dead). There are also some other obvious ones, like The Shining and The Matrix. So if you're into catching those kinds of references, the show is full of them, from acting out entire scenes to just random bits of dialogue.

The acting is good, of course. Simon Pegg is his usual Simon Pegg self, which is always great. Nick Frost as the army-obsessed friend was fun to watch, as it was totally different from his characters in Shaun and Fuzz. I particularly liked Mark Heap's Brian, who is such a dysfunctional character that you never know how he's going to react. And Julia Deakin's Marsha was just bizarre to watch (and mostly creepy). There are also a few appearances by Peter Serafinowicz (who, of course, played "Pete" in Shaun of the Dead). There's also a fun, brief cameo by Ricky Gervais in one of the final episodes (though at the time of this show, I don't think he was big enough for it to really be a "cameo," but still).

I know this show has a ton of fans, and I can see its appeal. I didn't find it raucously funny, but I did find it highly amusing and sprinkled with genius. There were great characters and some great character development. The story is complete with every little detail wrapped up, which is nice, though I would have liked a bit more closure on the relationship between Tim and Daisy (I suppose the final shot of them could say it all, but come on!). Overall, if you're a fan of the Edgar Wright gang, you'll be a fan of Spaced.

Why Haven't They Made This Yet? #2

[Do you know what I find even more annoying than the constant wave of remakes, reboots, sequels/prequels, and comic book and video game adaptations? People complaining about remakes, reboots, sequels/prequels, and comic book and video game adaptations. Seriously, all I ever hear these days is 'waah, why aren't there any fresh ideas? Everything is (see above) nowadays!' And frankly, I'm getting really tired of it. So instead of joining the ranks, I'm going to embrace all said types of film, and I will be celebrating it in a segment I like to call... "Why haven't they made this yet?"]

I didn't want to do another video game adaptation so soon, but this one has been on my mind since I conceived the idea for this. I had to get it all down. So here we go.



Title: Super Mario Bros.

Type: Video Game Adaptation/Remake/Reboot.

History: Mario and his brother Luigi were first introduced to us in the original Mario Bros. way back in the 80s. Since then, they've spawned numerous games which have become the second biggest selling game series in history.

One might think that a movie based on Mario would be nearly impossible. And I would agree. Just look at the version done in the 90s with Bob Hoskins. I mean, have you ever looked at the story of the games? Really, truly looked at it? You have two plumber brothers who find themselves in the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach, the sole princess of the kingdom, has been kidnapped by a dinosaur, Bowser. It's up to these two to get her back, traveling to many different lands/worlds to find her. These worlds span kingdoms of giants, ice, water, desert, and more. Along the way they have to face other dinosaurs, turtles, and goombas (creatures of the Mushroom Kingdom that joined Bowser's side). But Mario and Luigi don't have to do this alone. First, they have the guide of a mushroom-headed guy named Toad who helps by saying "The princess is in another castle!" But you also get superpowers. Depending on what icon you consume, you can shoot fireballs, wear a raccoon suit that turns you to stone, hop in a frog suit to swim under water, or become invincible for a short amount of time. All of this in the name of the princess.

How insane is that?

Film Possibilities

Genre: First of all, there's no way this movie could be live action and look as good as it could. But it wouldn't be good enough to have simple animation. Motion Capture would be the way to go. As for genre, it would be action/adventure fantasy. The adventure is obvious by all the travel, and of course the action to go with it. The movie would also have to embrace the fantasy and not try to make it real like the original film did. It would also have to have a lot of comedy. This movie cannot possibly take itself seriously or it'll fail big time.

Why This Movie Could Work: Beowulf. Motion Capture is slowly becoming more and more popular, and even though it's all animated, it can look real without simultaneously looking ridiculous. To top it off, this movie could be 3D, as there's a big 3D craze going on at the moment. Can you imagine all the fireballs and turtle shells flying at you? Awesome.

Story: The Mushroom people and the dinosaur people live in harmony within the Mushroom Kingdom. But the King is dying. Princess Peach is up for the crown, but Chancellor Bowser is a wee bit greedy. He causes anarchy within the kingdom and kidnaps the Princess, waiting for the king to die. If the princess isn't home and alive when the king dies, the crown automatically goes to the next in line: the Chancellor. The kingdom is split, half staying loyal and the other half siding with Bowser. But there's a prophecy of two brothers that will save the kingdom. The king sends Toad to find them, and find them he does. The king sends Mario and Luigi to find the princess and bring her home to claim her crown. So now they must travel the world, through hot and cold, through the strange and stranger, to get her back.

Along they way they discover the powers of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the different abilities they can gain, such as harnessing fire. Hopefully they can reach the princess and defeat Bowser before it's too late.

Director: This is a toughie. Who has experience with Motion Capture, fantasy, adventure, and comedy? Who would be willing to take a gamble, especially after the worldwide infamy that is the first film? I was tempted to throw all that out the window and go with a specific director based on previous work with the following cast, but I think prior knowledge would be important here. I have to go with Robert Zemeckis. He's directed Beowulf, The Polar Express, and the upcoming A Christmas Carol. There's no doubt he knows his Motion Capture. He can do comedy where we know something is serious, but it refuses to take itself as such: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And he can do the fantastical, as seen in Beowulf and Back to the Future. I really think Mr. Zemeckis would be the perfect director for this.

Cast: This was one of the toughest parts. The king and Toad aren't too worrisome. It's Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Bowser we have to worry about. Let's start with our leads. There aren't many actors out there who could do this well. They have to not only make you care for them as you watch them, but they have to have a good chemistry between each other. One has to be portly (which isn't that common in Hollywood), while the other a bit lanky. That's why I feel the following casting is an inspired one (they'd just have to work on the accents and grow thick mustaches):

That's right, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as Mario and Luigi (respectively). We already know they have chemistry. We already know they can do action (Hot Fuzz). We know they can take something serious and not take it too seriously. And being the nerds that they are, they would treat the material with the utmost respect. As I said, they'd have to work on the accents, but that shouldn't be too hard for either of them. Obviously, the director choice I alluded to earlier was Edgar Wright, having worked with these two before.

But now we have the princess. We need a good looking blonde woman. She'll probably want to be a medium-named actress. Not an Angelina Jolie, but not a no-name, either. Somebody we know and can identify with and who we would want to see rescued, but not somebody so famous that they'd want an extended role (as Peach probably wouldn't be in the film a whole lot). One name springs to mind: Banks.

Her name is all over the place, but I don't think it's Jolie-level quite yet. And who wouldn't want to save Elizabeth Banks from a dinosaur? It'd be perfect.

Finally, our villain. Of course, this is a dinosaur we're talking about. It won't obviously be an actor, so it's the voice we're looking at here. Somebody who can exude evilness in his voice. And if we're going with my script, somebody who can be at least eligant, as he is a chancellor of a magical kingdom. Even if we didn't go with my script, Bowser would have to be a good speaker, as he has so many followers. Only one name crossed my mind. Hugo Weaving. Who didn't get the chills as he went on his rants in The Matrix? Who didn't love listening to him spin rhetoric in V For Vendetta? And we never even saw him in that one (not skin, anyway). He can keep you entranced by voice alone, villain or otherwise. And that's why I think he'd be the perfect Bowser.

And that's pretty much all there is to this edition. Thoughts?

STAR TREK.

This will probably be the shortest movie review for a movie in theater I've ever done. To start off, I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Star Trek. Not for any negative reasons... I just never got into any of the shows or movies. I knew a few things about it, of course, but not a hell of a whole lot.

That being said, this movie was flippin' brilliant. The action was great. The music was epic. The visuals were stunning (no pun intended). The acting was as expected. Karl Urban had the best character in the movie (and according to my mother, who was a Trek fan via her father, he was dead-on with the original). The movie was exciting, suspenseful, and hilarious. I might even go see it again (this time in Digital), and I'm definitely going to get it on DVD. I can only account for fans through the opinions of my mother, but I would wager that this is a movie for fans and non-fans alike. Unless you're an uber-purist... then I've heard you might not like it a whole lot. But otherwise, you definitely need to see this.

If you want any criticisms against this, I'd give it three: First, they actually managed to give Anton Yelchin and even more questionable voice (I wouldn't say annoying, though, because he wasn't). Second, Simon Pegg doesn't come in until nearly the end (and I love me some Simon Pegg). And finally, there's a bit at the very end where....

SPOILER


Somehow Nemoy Spock is suddenly at their base when they had left him on the ice planet... doing exactly what he had previously and specifically told Kirk not to do. I know there's the whole speech about it, but still... it seemed counter-productive.


END SPOILER

But otherwise, it has become one of my favorite sci-fi films. I know this is a lousy review of nearly endless praise, but I'm not sure what else I could possibly say about the film.


Royale With Cheese

BOO-EFFIN-YA!

A couple days ago I posted this, linking to an article wherein Simon Pegg discusses zombies. Today, I read an article about none other than Danny Boyle himself, director of the amazing 28 Days Later..., who was asked about a possible third film in the series. This led to a brief mention in the article that I would like to showcase:

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What else? Not to go all Columbo on you here at the end, but Boyle, well, he does have just one more thing he wants from you: for the love of all that is holy, stop calling his infected monsters zombies.

“There was an article in the paper the other day by Simon Pegg. He wrote this article begging people to let zombies stumble again and not run. He was trying to turn the tide back because everyone has zombies running now. He’s like, ‘No, please. Can we go back to the old days when you knew you could get away from them?’ That was sort of the thrill. These idiots didn’t lock themselves in car and died,” Boyle laughed. “That’s why I keep saying, ‘It’s not a zombie movie, everyone. It’s not a zombie movie!’ Because the aficionados - it’s sacrilegious what you’re doing by changing things like that. They’re infected. They’re not zombies.”

----------------

So to that, I say BOOYA, BITCHES.

I Love Simon Pegg To Death.

(Pun intended).

Check it out.

RUN FATBOY RUN.

As Shaun of the Dead is basically one of my top favorite movies of all time, and Hot Fuzz is amazingly awesome, as well, I couldn’t help but go to see another Simon Pegg-vehicle (even if it’s directed by David Schwimmer, which still boggles my mind). Run Fatboy Run is about Dennis (Simon Pegg) who runs out on his bride-to-be, Libby (Thandie Newton), on their wedding day… and she was pregnant, as well. Five years later, he’s an out-of-weight lingerie store security guard who rents a small apartment underneath an Indian father/daughter. He still gets to see his son and such, but then he discovers that Whit (Hank Azaria) is now seeing Libby, and it’s pretty serious. Whit is also running this marathon that’s coming up in less than a month, so Dennis decides to try and prove he can finish something in his life by running and finishing the marathon, as well. Unfortunately, he kind of gets stuck in the situation when his best friend, Gordon (Dylan Moran), bets more than he has that Dennis will finish the race. So now they must work as hard as possible to get Dennis into better shape in time for the marathon so he can prove himself to his ex and his son and gain their respect (and maybe, just maybe, win her back, too).

I’ve read it all about this movie: If you liked Shaun or Fuzz, you’ll hate this one! That’s not even remotely true. See, I usually only laugh at movies in theater because other people are laughing and it’s contagious (only to later discover when I buy the movie and watch it alone at home that it wasn’t nearly as funny as I remember). But because there were literally only 3 other people in the theater with me, I can safely say that I laughed so much at this movie because it was truly funny. I actually laughed so much I thought the other people were gonna think I was weird for laughing at stuff they weren’t.

The acting was great, as always, and Simon Pegg has great comedic timing, as did Dylan Moran. One issue, though, is that he really isn’t fat as much as he’s relatively out of shape. Though the title really comes from an insult by another character. And the beginning is a bit slow at points, but once it really starts, it gets goin. Another slightly bothersome thing was that you have no idea why they used an American actor (Hank Azaria) for the Whit character until towards the end of the movie when it releases a plot point. But until then, you’re like “Interesting that they used an American for the role when the whole thing is set in England…” Also, funny side-note… Dennis has a poster of Team America in his apartment. I just thought that was mildly humorous in a few different ways…

I also really liked that it did something similar back to Shaun and Fuzz, which is where a lot of things are repeated in different scenarios (though not to the degree of the previous two movies). There’s really not all that much more I can say about it. Simon Pegg wins again. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was no Shaun or Fuzz, but it was still done amazingly well.

A Keanu 'Whoa'