Hot Fuzz

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton
Directed by Edgar Wright
Rating: A

When a London police officer excels at his job, there’s only one thing to do with him… promote him to sergeant and send him to the countryside.

Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Pegg) has a reputation for catching the bad guys. He’s so good at what he does that it makes everyone else on the police force look bad. A known workaholic, his ex-girlfriend simply says his problem is that he can’t switch off.

Then he is promoted and shipped off to Sandford, a quiet little town in the country which has won the “village of the year” award in multiple years. Despite its facade, Sandford has a lot of mischief going on that Sergeant Angel catches on his first night in. He quickly impresses his partner, Danny (Frost), and teaches him the ins and outs of being a good cop.

When several murders occur, hushed up as “accidents,” officers Angel and Danny begin to look deeper into neighborly connections and why this “village of the year” seems to be the unsafest place to live.

The World’s End

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike
Directed by Edgar Wright
Rating: B

Acting duo Pegg and Frost continue their comedic community themed films in this pub-crawl, apocalyptic fest.

As in “Shaun of the Dead”, “Hot Fuzz” and now “The World’s End”, the main characters end up in a village where it’s “them” against the community. Be it elderly people, or as the villains are called in the newest movie “the network”, the recurring theme is a utopian community. The town has finally rid the wrongdoers and almost everyone is peaceful. The wrong are put right and there are no worries, until Pegg and Frost come along.

“The World’s End” is another buddy movie with Gary King (Pegg) and Andy Knightley (Frost) who start the film at odd ends but by the end have patched up their best friendship. Gary is facing his mid-life crisis in rehab when he realizes his life never got better after one legendary night. His solution? Call up the gang to finish the golden mile pub crawl in their hometown. It takes some convincing for his grown up friends with wives and successful jobs to join him when they all hold grudges against Gary.

After the first of twelve pubs, the gang runs into mayhem in the bathroom when they discover the townspeople aren’t human. They bleed blue ink when Gary pops the head off of a robot (which they insist they are not). Using Gary’s own logic, it would only make sense for the group to march on to the last pub, The World’s End. They just have to make it to the end without tipping off the townspeople they know their secret.

The movie sticks to the same humor as in “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”, so past fans shouldn’t be disappointed in the latest product of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Lines are sprinkled with pop culture references like Legoland, and Starbucks. The film also makes a statement on franchising and updating the old with the new. Their old town has modern art, the pubs look more like family restaurants, and crime has gone down.

Overall, “The World’s End” does not disappoint and for those looking for a good British comedy, this is the one to spend a movie ticket on.