hey folks Harry here... this time it is with billyhitchcock of bristol - a bit of a hometown boy that had one helluva good time with HOT fuZZ and the holy shit funny trifecta of edgar, simon and nick. This is more his movie than it is most of ours - let's see a Bristol fanboy lose his fucking mind. Here ya go...
Hey Harry, I know you've already had a few reviews for Hot Fuzz, but i also know that you're totally hyped about this movie and are a sucker for a divine movie experience. Yesterday was mine. I'm surprised you guy's haven't had more about this really because the Hot Fuzz boys have been touring the UK for the last week doing signings, screenings and Q&A's and yesterday was the final leg, the homecoming if you will, in Bristol. I, as well as a lot of people, have been looking forward to this movie for a long time and it suddenly crept up on me a couple of weeks ago when my girlfriend who works at HMV said "you do know they're signing in the bristol store don't you?" Shit! I'm there! Then i found out they were handing out tickets to a screening and Q&A to the first 20 people in the queue. So early yesterday morning i'm standing outside the store in a totally dead mall with two very cool welsh dudes talking about one of the guys' extreme Evil Dead obsession :-) I'm third. Ticket secured! Shortly after two others show up so we think, ok here come's the rush. Two hours later, still 5 of us! Where is everybody? Surely the chance to meet pegg and frost and see the film with them would draw rabid films geeks from all over the region. Especially the home region of the star and director. So we get the tickets, and at about 12 the queue properly starts to build. Everyone takes turns to go eat and stuff, many spaced and shaun discussions take place and many jaffa cakes are eaten! As you can tell from my excitement this kind of thing doesn't happen over here very often, especially outside of london. American film geeks don't realise how lucky they are with fests and cons and screenings and Q&A's. This was my first one, with the only real big cult film stars we have and it was awesome. 7 hours fly by and we're herded in to the store like lepers, the huge, and totally unnecessary security guards talk to us like shit, and chavs point and say 'who?' when we tell them who's coming. I think i had 10 seconds with simon and nick, enough time to shake hands, get simon to write TFU on my one sheet and to have nick call me a nerd :-) totally worth it, and they looked genuinely happy to be there. but the security, cunts. (oops, £2 for the swearbox) So me and the welsh dudes drive over to the cinema, get in the queue where we meet Adam and Jenny from earlier (very nice people, who gave me a lift home), and i start to get well psyched about the next two hours. Minor Spoilers Ahead: Ok, as far as my review goes, i'm as biased as they come. i love these guys and everything they do, so it's gonna be no surprise that i fucking loved it. Even a day later i still think it's better than Shaun! And no matter how much i love zombies, this one was more consistently funny, had a shit load of cool action, and even better gore and deaths than SOTD. The acting was as you would expect from such a top notch cast, top class. And the fine line between playing it straight and homage was perfect. The references, even when blatant, are not forced or shoe horned in. They fit in perfectly with the tone of the movie. And wait til you see old people with guns, fucking hilarious! So to the Q&A. Although a little short, at about half an hour, simon and nick were on top form. After having apologised beforehand to the bristol crowd for his accent, nick got a round of applause afterwards, as he pretty much nailed it. although some city fans took offence at his rovers shirt in the movie ;-) simon talked alot about the action involved, the use of all the guns, and when he had to do stunts that broke his double's collar bone! some rather naive geek asked about spaced 3. a definate no-no, but escaped with a laugh from the guys and a box of jaffa cakes for his efforts. simon's answer on this is well documented, probably not, but never say never. as this was the home crowd, a lot of extras and smaller part actors were in the audience and some of the 'hoodies' from the film got a little curtain call. the movie has been on the front page of the local Wells paper for a year apparently and simon apologised for wrecking the place, doing 'in 7 weeks what the romans couldn't do in 500 years' :-) as for what's next, there's no plans for another immediate pegg, wright, frost team up, although simon and nick are writing together and simon and edgar are again as well. edgar is currently putting together his grindhouse trailer, starring simon and nick obviously, which i personally cannot wait for!!! anyway, that's it. the best movie experience of my life. billyhitchcock
