Not too long ago, comedy writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright came up with the blindingly brilliant idea of marrying Zombie movies with Romantic Comedies. The end result was Shaun of the Dead, the world's first ever RomZomCom. It won several awards, and deservedly so. Well written, well played, and British to boot, Shaun of the Dead was a loving send-up of all the Zombie movie clichés, not to mention various sitcoms.
Now, that same winning team have brought the world Hot Fuzz. It's a Cop Movie and a Buddy Movie, but it's also a send up of both genres, and more. While SotD's swipes at particular movies were rare and subtle (apart from the very swift dig at 28 Days Later, right at the end), Hot Fuzz is very clearly going after the tired, clichéd American Blockbuster Cop Movies, naming (and occasionally aping) two in particular - Point Break and Bad Boys 2. Without wanting to give too much away, the story revolves around Sergeant Nicholas Angel, a decorated and very successful officer of the London Metropolitan Police. He's so successful, in fact, that his jealous superiors package him off to a small, quiet country town. This town isn't as quiet as it first appears, though, and Sergeant Angel's keen senses are soon on the trail of a conspiracy...
The craziest part of the film - aside from the copious bloodletting in the 'accidents' and the climactic shootouts - is that Angel puts together a very clever conspiracy theory connecting all the deaths in a 'grand plan'... but the reality is much smaller. That's not to say he's wrong... just that he was overthinking... Which is kind of the whole point about Angel - he can't switch off. Now who does that remind me of?
I really loved the film and, to be honest, found it much funnier than Shaun of the Dead because it pulled no punches, and was completely over the top. I mean, how many supermarkets have bulletproof Plexiglas over their deli counters? (I wonder if Somerfield really knew what they were getting into when they allowed their store to be used in this film. One would hope so, and that they were tickled pink to be involved) Some of the deaths were completely horrific (the annoying journalist in particular), and computer-generated blood (which reminded me of Beat Takeshi's take on Zatoichi) sprayed and splattered everywhere. Definitely one to pick up on DVD... and I'm really looking forward to Pegg and Wright's next movie. What will they think of next?
This weekend, I went off down to Brixton to see Nine Inch Nails performing at the Academy. As usual, I was going with my old mate Paul, but we set out far later than usual because he was at a football match earlier in the day. It worked out quite well for us, though, because although we arrived long after doors' open, that just meant we only had to sit through two songs from the support act (Ladytron - a kind of lacklustre Industrial/Goff mix with a female vocalist) and about half an hour of stage setup (including a curious tableau involving what appeared to be a large cardboard tube marked with fluorescent pink lines and a post-it note, which I - correctly - guessed to be for calibrating some of the lights to Trent's eye level) before Reznor and co took the stage.
I picked up last year's tour DVD quite recently, so I was eager to see what they were offering up this time round. Considering their last album - With Teeth - came out not too long ago, it seemed strange that the vast majority of their set came from Pretty Hate Machine, The Downward Spiral and the Broken EP, with a dash of The Fragile thrown in every so often. Towards the end of their main set, Trent announced that they'd play a few more recent tracks and, promptly launched into Survivalism, from the upcoming album Year Zero. There was one jaw-dropping "Is This What I Think It Is?"-type highlight to the evening, when they played their cover of Joy Division's Dead Souls (which appeared on the soundtrack to The Crow), and there were a couple of occasions when it took me a while to figure out what I was listening to. Only, in particular, sounded like some strange generic Rawk song when they first started playing.
And on that subject, when exactly did Trent Reznor turn into Mr Rock'n'Roll Exclamations? Both on the DVD and live this weekend, he peppered just about every song with words such as "Hey!" and "Huh!" and "Yeah!". It was very strange to listen to...
The whole gig was - as usual - a lot of fun... apart from the occasional crazy girl gyrating all over the place and really not paying attention to where her cigarette ended up, and one or two incredibly rude guys who'd just barge past everyone, evidently trying to knock people over. One such Neanderthal kept pushing me even after I moved out of his way.
Many of my favourite songs got played, but it was a bit disappointing that so little new stuff was in the playlist, especially strange considering one would expect them to take the opportunity to promote the upcoming album. Also, compared to the DVD of last year's tour, the light show was very basic - none of the projection effects at all.
The weirdest thing that happened was that someone inflated a condom, and sent it bouncing around the crowds like a balloon. Now, my experience with inflated condoms is quite slim... but I have to say that one looked as if it had been used.
Ick.
Not much else to report this weekend... Before the gig yesterday, I fired up my new second-hand Sega Saturn and played a bit of Burning Rangers. Strange to be playing it again after so many years without (my holiday in Auckland was, what, four years ago?) but it's good to know I can start playing those old games again... whenever I have time. It's also odd to note that, despite the leaps and bounds in graphics technology, these old games look as good as ever. Can't wait to get my teeth into Panzer Dragoon Saga again! Spent today taking photos of my collection - some of which may eventually wind up on my website, when I finally update it - and dropping in on my usual internet haunts.
Some rather terrible news on the TF front - one of the most widely known kitbashers died recently, at the tender age of 31. See here for more...
It really is quite sad to hear of people dying when they're younger than me... I mean, it happens... but it's still very sad.
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