bloody a lot

Earlier this week, Ken Levine went through a list of movies currently in theatres and beautifully explained what makes each of them stink. He closed by recommending an art house film called "Once," which is not playing in Knoxville.

I also have a suggestion for a movie that's better than most out there. Go see "Hot Fuzz." My wife and I loved it. It's sort of a cross genre spoof both of buddy cop action movies and quaint British murder mysteries. Yet it is also an actual buddy cop movie that happens to be set in a quaint British village. London's best policeman is making his co-workers look bad by comparison. They arrange to have him transferred to a small town with a crime rate so low it's nonexistent. It doesn't take him long to realize that things are not as they seem. The central mystery has more layers than you would expect from a parody film. It all builds to a satisfying conclusion.

The movie is very funny but also a little gory. I might not have been as surprised by the violent scenes if I had seen "Shaun of the Dead," which was made by the same people. "Hot Fuzz" makes me want to see "Shaun" all the more.

"Hot Fuzz" was chosen as one of the best movies of the year so far by guest critic Christy Lemire on a recent episode of "Ebert & Roeper." Christy didn't do a bad job as co-host. She could be considered as a more permanent replacement for Roger Ebert, who probably isn't coming back any time soon.