» Fringe Blog – Writing on Film, Culture, and Things on the Fringe

Hot Fuzz

jelewis8 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:02:05 +0000

One of the benefits of watching Hot Fuzz, knowing its creators are the geniuses behind Shaun of the Dead, is gently comparing the two and discovering where they stuck to what worked in Shaun and where they experimented with other comedic ploys. In what is clearly a send-up of action movies from Lethal Weapon to Bond spy jobs, Hot Fuzz successfully perpetrates a subtly humorous jab at octane filmmaking whilst honoring the genre’s stars. And the pairing of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost once again reveals the comedic duo’s innate trust in the other to make each moment its own joke.
Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a consumate cop. He’s top in his London class, has extensive training in all manner of defensive maneuvers, weapons and explosives, tactics, and driving (all this is told in an opening fast-paced montage edited like a Tony Scott action scene). He’s such a good cop that his superiors and colleagues are professionally jealous enough to send him to the quietest town in England, Sandford, an idyllic village with picturesque streets and quaint citizenry. Pleasant enough to drive the insanely driven Nicholas nearly mad with the dull life he’s suddenly thrust into, the town seems like a dead end until locals start dying mysteriously “accidental” deaths. Nicholas suspects foul play, and his crusading turns all against him but his new, staunch friend Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the son of the local police chief and an avid admirer of Nicholas’ big-city cop manner.
The two share one-liners and gags a-plenty, with both Pegg and Frost changing gears from their Shaun characters. With Edgar Wright’s slick and focused direction, the film is a well-orchestrated, over-the-top study in how to make a comedy without dealing out gross-out laughs and underdeveloped jokes. Every moment in Hot Fuzz counts.
No doubt every fan of Shaun of the Dead will be judging Hot Fuzz on its merits as a worthy follow-up to the zombie masterpiece. It is an unfortunate comparison, as the two films are utterly different in scope and intent. Here the jokes are as numerous and clever, but the pop culture references are rarer and more subtle, and the homage jokes, especially the climax, are not necessarily the kind of jokes you’ll laugh out loud about.
Nevertheless, the film is a reminder of the strengths the trio of Wright, Pegg, and Frost bring to the cinematic table. They revel in a simple but well-told yarn that never descends to the level of foolishly puerile or indecipherably abstract. Instead, they remain focused and dead on course, and the result is a film that is funny and congenial.
Fringe Rating: out of 5

The Cold Goodbye

jelewis8 — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 06:50:31 +0000

It is done, inasmuch as done means “until the next revision.” There’s always edits that can be made to a text. They’re still working on the Bible, from what I understand. A jot or a tittle may need to be adjusted here and there, but from what I can tell, the text is solid.
It’s got a new look, too, different from the two separate books I put out. It’s got a more 1980′s feel now, as opposed to 1950. The Communist red text offsets well with the cobalt blue of the rest of the cover, giving it a sense of menace, maybe even dread, whilst the imposing buildings rise like sentinels, with the illusion of shaking to subtly hint at things to come. The back is far more abstract, dealing with issues of light and dark in syncopated patterns that more or less represent visually the thematic material present in the book. The dark, monochromatic visual should be iconic without being specific. I think, overall, the cover depicts what I want it to without being overly bold or outlandish, rather presenting the material as understatement, leaving an initial first impression of curiosity. What is this “Cold Goodbye”?
The back text explains the barest hint of a plot, along with a selected/edited quote from the book itself which best wraps up and summarizes the main idea of the story, without giving away too much. This was a simpler task to accomplish than you might imagine. Which may not be a good thing, I don’t know.
I hope the full version will make you as happy as it has made me. It’s 418 pages, 6.00″ x 9.00″, perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink , 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink. As with my other endorsements of Lulu, the quality is unexpected in its superb presentation and production.
I may do a bit of media blitzing on this thing for a while, though hopefully I can keep most of it off the blog. However, I do encourage you to purchase this or one/both of the other two books (Apophenia and Caliph) which comprise this full version copy, just printed and published as separate volumes. If you would like your copy autographed, contact me before ordering. We’ll arrange for something. I’m not saying I’ll be famous or anything after this, but I have gotten some requests for autographs already, so I figured I’d throw it out in case it was on your mind.
And yes, I will be famous after this, though not necessarily for this. If anything, my fame will involve a Slip ‘N’ Slide, a barrel full of monkeys, and a 30 aught six. But it never hurts to get a piece of the action before it occurs. Ebay is mighty friendly to collectors of John Hancocks.