JSYK there is a new documentary out on TPB about TPB IRL, I mean AFK, and IMO it's worth watching because YOLO right? LOL, so GTFO or WTF you want and CTSO 4R INB4 NOW.

Hot Fuzz is a movie I watched a long time ago, and now, I watched it again!

The first time I watched this movie I wasn't really that impressed with it. Well sure it was a good movie and all, but compared to the predecessor in the director duo whom I don't remember the names of (their previous movie was Shaun of the Dead), it didn't have that much action. Okay, forget that, there's a lot of action, but it's all very laid back. Wait wait, forget I said that, the action can be pretty intense at times, but it's still not very... bloody? Nah, it's blood enough, it's just... I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just the fact that everybody is shooting everywhere and not hitting anything that makes it seem somehow... mild. And nobody gets killed, either, they just get hurt. Mostly. But I shouldn't be complaining. Apart from the not-so-life-threatening fire-blasting this movie is a masterpiece.

The filmography is just awesome. All the transitions are awesome. The fact that they actually record the scenes from so many different angles, and film from many different locations even when the result will just be clipped into a short flashback, makes the movie a real pleasure to watch. Combine that with the sound effects, or maybe the enhanced sound of everyday effects (like the train, keys, a refrigerator opened, all in quick sequence!) and it's just... well I don't know. Words are running out. As with Shaun of the Dead, this is one of those movies that just seems perfect. Every aspect of the characters is perfect. In every scene everything is filmed from just the bright place, to convey just the right thing. Small details add to the mix and the directors bag of tricks is quite large.

It's an action comedy with a... twist? Nah, it's just a friggin great action comedy. Not as much action as I hoped, but it's not like it ever gets dull either. Script: perfect. Filmography: perfect. Great actors, too, and not your typical assortment, though a few from the Shaun of the Dead do make a re-appearance. I take it they're all buddies? Hope they'll appear in a ton of more films! And this year, third third movie is being made. Whoohah. :)

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

This one is quite different from the prequel. It's not a war zone anymore, it's an infiltration. Lee Marvin's not in it, but they found a good replacement, and of course Chuck Norris has the lead role. This time, he's the lead right from the start. The movie features a lot of crazy stunts. Maybe not as obvious as in the last movie, but they do seem pretty dangerous. When he's climbing that mountain for one, he's not always wearing a wire. The biggest stunt is not by a lead character though, cause you gotta agree, jumping without a parachute has to be one crazy stunt, right? Good thing there's IMDB to check up on how things really went down instead of just believing everything you see. Oh wait, they don't know anything about that. What they do know is that a helicopter actually crashed during the filming, and four people died upon impact. RIP.

As for the movie, there's a lot of action. They did get rid of that unsuitable patriotic music that popped up when the situation should have been desperate (n the first one) and, well, it's a good movie. It is just nowhere near as good as the first one. I guess this one didn't cut it with the fans, either, since they never made a third. Isn't that the fate of all potential Chuck Norris trilogies? Oh well. One day!

 rated 3/5: not bad

There they go again, Americans, blowing shit up! Invading foreign countries! Fighting the terrorists!

In a way this movie is ahead of its time, seeing as how the hijacking of planes really took off many years later, but then again I may not be in with the times. Maybe there were streaks of terror even before my time. Apparently this movie is based upon the real-life hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on June 14 1985, and furthermore it's based upon the Delta Force's Operation Eagle Claw mission, which had a similar drama but ended in failure. According to IMDB the producers wanted the real Delta Force founder Colonel Beckwith to star as leader, but he didn't like the idea at all, so they chose Lee instead. Good choice!

This is the third movie (I think) I've watched where Chuck Norris plays a major, and as always he proves how badass he is plenty of times. The motorbike he rides with equipped missiles and machine guns (James Bond style) is pretty cool, and we get a couple of one-on-one fight scenes, and some crazy stunts. Like the one where he rides the bike in through a window or takes out two enemy jeeps from behind just when they're about to shoot down the plane. At one point when he's riding a bike right past the engine of a jet about to take off he swerves into the motor headfirst, the side of the motor mind you. They cut it out before impact but it really seems as if he runs right into the engine. Which shouldn't be very strange since those things pack a ton of suction, he's lucky he didn't swerve into the front of it!

Overall this is a professional action feast. The terrorists are professional enough, the drama realistic, the soldiers heroic. Of course there are inconsistencies when swarms of terrorists are plowed down with just one casualty on the Delta Force side (which they make a big deal out of) and the death of terrorists is retrospectively justified by how irrationally they act at the end, when at the same time the movie attended to their professionalism with great care at the start of the movie. But what do you expect? It's Chuck Norris, as long as a movie has him it doesn't need consistency! :)

The acting may not be the best in the world, but it's enough to let me enjoy the action. Enough with the patriotic music when the troops storm Beirut though, ok? The victory march just doesn't suit the massacre! But all in all, when the dust is settled and the deed is done, it was good action and I hope to see the sequel soon.

Oh btw, this is Lee Marvin's last movie. I only read it after watching, but I did think he looked a bit worn out during the film, even though he goes strong all the way. Turns out he died the year after this movie came out. RIP Lee. Lee isn't really an actor of my generation, but he's been in a great deal of the movies I've been watching lately, like the Dirty Dozen and that other war movie with Clint Eastwood about infiltrating a mountain hide-out. He's performed in over a hundred titles, which is quite a feat!. I think I'll browse through the list sometime and select a few to watch, just to commemorate the memory. Or find some golden oldies that I've undeniably missed. Until then, time for some more Chuck Norris...

 rated 3/5: not bad

Oh man, why does Denzel keep getting roles in all the movies like this? All the great movies like this, cause this was just... beautiful.

It's the story about a flight, a plane that locks up mid air and a pilot that saves everybody. Well, almost, out of the 102 passengers there are 6 fatalities. Still, it's a feat that no other pilot would have been ever to repeat. He knows, it, and though nobody else knows it, they run tests and they come to the same conclusions. Him saving everyone on board was a miracle. There's just one problem, at the time he was drunk. The night before he was drunk, and the day before that he was drunk, and he was also high on cocaine. He meets a heroine addict at the hospital after the crash. He tries to reunite with his wife. His kid doesn't even recognize him. When it seems like all is failing, he goes sober for 9 days.

I won't spoil the ending for you, so if you feel like reading his final speech (not the last thing he says in the movie, but an inspiring speech it is) do so at your own risk. These are his words, as he sits in a prison chair speaking to a group of inmates (AA meeting maybe?): That was it. I was finished. l was done. lt was as if l had reached my lifelong limit of lies. l could not tell one more lie. And maybe l'm a sucker, 'cause if l had told just one more lie, l could have walked away from all that mess and kept my wings, kept my false sense of pride. And more importantly, l could have avoided being locked up in here with all you nice folks for the last 1 3 months. But l'm here. And l'll be here for at last the next four or five years. And that's fair. l betrayed the public trust. l did. That's how the judge explained it to me. l had betrayed the public trust. The FAA, they took away my pilot's license. And that's fair. My chances of ever flying again are slim to none. And l accept that. l've had a lot of time to think about it, all of it. l've been doing some writing. l wrote letters to each of the families that had lost loved ones. Some of them were able to hear my apology. Some of them never will. l also apologized to all the people that tried to help me along the way, but l couldn't or wouldn't listen. People like my wife, you know. My ex-wife and my son. And again, like l said, you know, some of them will never forgive me. Some of them will. But at least l'm sober. l thank God for that. l'm grateful for that. And this is going to sound real stupid coming from a man who's locked up in prison, but for the first time in my life, l'm free. And then his son pays him a visit. Damn! He just summed up the whole situation in that speech, and inspiring speech it was. I wonder how much of it was Denzel and how much was the script? Cause somehow, it feels like when he's in the movie, the words are always coming from him. I guess it's just the way he speaks them.

Overall this was a great movie. It didn't even have one fight (that's a rare watch for someone like me), but it was still a great movie. Well-filmed, clever and inspiring. If I rated these on scales 1-10 it would get a 9, but I don't, so it's a..

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The first thing I wonder after watching this story, before the credits roll, when the fates of the different characters are explained, is... is it based upon a real story? Cause if it is, then obviously it's all the more interesting. It's not really interesting as it is. It's a mess. It's like Memento but without the mystery, just a lot of skipping between scenes, between past and present, between the new and the old and the good and the evil.

But it's good. It has emotion, it has drama, it has action. It's a good movie, it's just not a memorable one. It's the story of a yet another troubled police officer. He has a wife and a kid. He has a not so glorious past. He's trying to sober up. His boss is an asshole. It's a grittily clean criminal thriller. A good watch.

 rated 3/5: not bad