oldskoolgeek

OK, I'll admit that I only started watching this movie because I was bored, nothing else was on, and I'm a Jennie Garth fan from her 90210 days, but once I started watching it I was hooked. At first I kept checking the TV guide to see when this movie came out, part of me couldn't believe that it was just made last year in 2007 -- attention to HIV and AIDS sadly seems so yesterday. When I was in the 8th grade we put condoms on bananas, watched Salt n' Peppa's "Let's Talk About Sex" video in class, and talked about people like Ryan White and Magic Johnson. I don't know about my peers, but it definitely made an impression on me. I'm 29 now and I can't believe how safe sex seems so passé. One would think that as more time passed this issue would continue to be one people would talk about, but it appears to be the opposite. People may talk more about sex thanks to shows and movies like "Sex and the City," but these only provide "shocking" entertainment for some and usually never addresses the consequences. In our country's conservative climate I almost feel as if we are back in the 80's where people are completely in the dark when it comes to factual information about HIV and AIDS. What's even more disturbing is Hollywood's rampant trend of young pregnancies, presented in a glamorous fashion. Everyone knows that teens are going to have sex (so let's stop pushing abstinence), but now having unprotected sex in order to get pregnant seems almost in vogue in today's media and no one is talking about STDs anymore.

I thought that this film was a very realistic and modern take on what seems like the forgotten HIV/AIDs discussion and I would think it would appeal to today's teen. They did not tip-toe around the subject of sex, or portray the girls who engaged in sexual activity in a negative light -- it was honest and very up to date, in my opinion. I think that schools should stop pretending that kids cannot handle this information or that they live in a bubble where sex or STDs do not happen. This film should be shown in sex ed classes to get an important discussion going.

I am a huge fan of "Shaun of the Dead" so when I heard about "Hot Fuzz" coming out I knew immediately that I'd want to see it. The problem is that I only heard about recently – it's a shame that it hasn't gotten the marketing and advertising it deserves. I swear that crap reviewed movie "Next" has a commercial every break but I think I only saw a handful of commercials for "Hot Fuzz" and most of them promoted it in the wrong way.

Anyway, back to the review, I don't think that this movie was as sharp as "Shaun of the Dead," however, it was still the best movie I've seen this year and the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Everything was done in superb excess from the violence to the profanity to the over the top graphic gags. I have missed films that overindulge in the use of the whip pan, crash zoom and jump cut and I can't think of a better comic duo than Pegg and Frost. My only real complaint is that the ending got a bit long and I would've cut it a little sooner, but still even with that the movie is hilarious.

Truly a must see!

After all the wonderful things I heard about this movie (the Golden Globes nods, the Oscar buzz) and the fact I'm an American Idol fan as well as a fan of Beyonce, I really wanted to like this movie, but by the time the closing credits rolled I found myself laughing with the rest of the audience about the sheer campiness of this flick. The characters were so clichéd and everything so melodramatic that I can't believe reviews praising this film for its fine acting and originality. By the end it was so over the top that at least the crowd I was with found it hard to take anything seriously. Jennifer Hudson is, of course, the stand out role and she really gives a show-stopping performance at one point that had the audience applauding, but it was her voice that received this reaction. Eddie Murphy was probably the next most interesting character, but nearly everyone else was considered laughable. Beyonce is a dead-ringer for Diana Ross by the end and the girl can sing, but if this is supposed to be Academy Award worthy acting then I must say she did a much better performance in Austin Power's Goldmember.

All and all the most overrated movie of the year, I'd wait for it on DVD before paying to see it in the theater.