Movies This Week (6/15)

This week I watched Hot Fuzz (4.5/5), Slither (2.5/5), An Unreasonable Man (3.5/5), and Match Point (2/5). Here are my impressions.

Hot Fuzz (Theater) - This cop/action movie made by the guys who made Shawn of the Dead is funny, entertaining, and exciting. Much of the movie is a parody of action movies and cop movies like Bad Boys, Supercop, Point Break and other movies of the genre. However, the writing is done in a classy fashion (as opposed to that of Epic Movie, Date Movie, Not Another Teen Movie and other Hollywood parody movies) and a decent plot is actually presented with some action sequences that are hilarously over the top (and, yet, not in the realm of unbelievable). If you like action movies and you've got a sense of humor, this is a great movie. 4.5/5

Slither (HD Cable) - A small town cop (Nathan Fillion from Firefly/Serenity) has to deal with an alien that takes possession of a local man's body who is starting to reproduce by taking other bodies. Elizabeth Banks stars as the female lead, and I realized that I just can't be sympathetic to her character since she lied to J.D. about her pregnancy (In Season 6 of the TV Show Scrubs, Elizabeth Banks plays J.D.'s girlfriend who gets pregnant and then later lies to him about a miscarriage). I didn't realize that I felt that way about her character on Scrubs, but I guess I do since it carried over into watching Slither. Weird. Anyway, the movie is pretty standard horror movie fare with a little dark humor thrown in and tributes to horror movies that precede it. 2.5/5

An Unreasonable Man (DVD) - This documentary about Ralph Nader does a good job telling about Ralph Nader's role in the 2000 and 2004 elections. It shows Nader's point of view and his desire to get people to listen to a new political message and also shows his detractors who claim he single-handedly caused George W. Bush to win both in 2000 and 2004. Obviously there were more than just one thing that could have allowed either Gore or Kerry to win, but Nader pulling out of each race would have been the easiest solution (assuming the people voting for Nader would still vote). The film does a good job showing why Nader couldn't withdraw from the race but, unfortunately, does not do such a good job with the reforms that Nader has been able to make in the interest of public safety. The beginning of the film covers automobile safety fairly well (Nader was instrumental in making cars safer by indirectly or directly contributing to the mandated necessities of seat belts and, later, air bags, among other safety instruments), but later alludes to (via interviews) cleaner air, safer food, consumer protection, pharmaceutical warnings, dental x-ray protective messages, cigarette warnings, and right to know of hazardous materials at the work place. 3.5/5

Match Point (HD Cable) - Man, I really didn't like this movie. It was well made, but I found all the characters unlikable and what started off as a simple movie about a tennis pro (who seems to spend very little time playing tennis) who marries into a wealthy family getting into an affair with his brother-in-law's fiance (who later becomes ex-fiance) became an awkward psychological examination of his contemplation of a murderous solution to his problem after his affair yields a pregnancy. As I said, it was well made, but had some pacing issues and I disliked the story. 2/5