Favorite Movie Scene #1 - Shaun of the Dead

This is one of my favorite movies ever (#20 on FC).  This scene helped me enjoy Queen more than I think I would have on my own.  This is a romantic comedy with zombies and I highly recommend it.

Back!

Joshtarts is back. It's been too long, my friends.

And to kick things off, I am presenting my flickchart.com movie list after surpassing 10,000 ratings! I am quite proud of it. It is still not done (I doubt it will ever be done) and I saw Inception the day I finished it. Because I was still cleaning my brain off the floor, I didn't feel comfortable including it in my rankings just yet.

Without further adieu, my top 25 movie list: (click here for a full list)

1. Iron Man
2. The Princess Bride
3. The Empire Strikes Back
4. Donnie Darko
5. Forrest Gump
6. Fight Club
7. It's a Wonderful Life
8. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
9. Saving Private Ryan
10. Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark
11. Being John Malkovich
12. Back to the Future
13. Return of the Jedi
14. Aliens
15. Home Alone
16. A Beautiful Mind
17. Taken
18. The Sound of Music
19. The Bourne Identity
20. Shaun of the Dead
21. Apollo 13
22. First Blood
23. Casino Royale
24. Office Space
25. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Visit flickchart.com to do your own movie rankings and visit me (meathook) when you're there.

Interview with Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg, from Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and soon-to-come J. J. Abrams Star Trek, does an interview with the AV Club.

Check out the interview here

Viva La Vida (Cold Play)

I'm about to do one of those humbling things that makes you look like an idiot. For years, I have harped on Cold Play for being a band for girls. Rush of Blood to the Head was good, but it didn't convince me. Then the X&Y album just convinced me that they were a band for girls only. Now after their latest album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, I have to take back everything mean I ever said. I used to say they were gay (even with the fact that they made an appearance in one of my all-time favorite movies, Shaun of the Dead), but I want to officially apologize. This new album "fixes me," and has changed my whole perception on Cold Play.

The new album is great! Here's a review from a blog I like that summed up the new album really well. Scooter McGavin's 9th Green.

Run Fatboy Run

I think Simon Pegg is the ultimate photogenic actor.

As an avid fan of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I was entertained but disappointed by Run Fatboy Run. My complaints go as follows: Where was Simon's sidekick Nick?, What happened to the editing?, simon isn't fat, only the last third of the movie was engaging, and lastly, no one died!

Now before I sound like I hated this movie, let it be known, I liked Run Fatboy Run. But it was my least favorite movies involving Simon Pegg. Pegg's first big film was Shaun of the Dead, and it was amazing. The sub-title of Shaun of the Dead is "a romantic comedy with zombies." Perfect description! This movie makes you laugh, cry and get pretty worriedly scared. It makes you browse through so different emotions. It ranks #20 on my favorite 150 all-time movies, right after Little Miss Sunshine and right before Nightmare Before Christmas
Now Hot Fuzz (#26) was different. Like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz's editing was superb, but slightly better due to the fact that Hot Fuzz is a wanna-be hardcore action movie. Hot Fuzz is about two cops serving in a little utopia town in the middle of nowhere. One cop is anal and one of the best policeman around, while the other cop is cop because his dad is a cop and he wants to be like the guys in the shoot 'em up action flicks like Bad Boys. The two do not get along, but when things get really messed up in this little town, they have to figure out a way to get things down. When I first saw the trailers for Hot Fuzz, I was sorely disappointed in Simon Pegg's choice of story set. But after seeing Hot Fuzz, I was very impressed.
Now Run Fatboy Run was more drastically different from Simon's other movies then any of his others were from each other. This one is about a guy who left his pregnant wife at the alter and spends the next few years trying to get her back. Things get put into overdrive when she finds Mr. Perfect-Who-Runs-Marathons and things get serious. Simon Pegg who plays Dennis tries to win her back by running a marathon. (And Dennis is ridiculously out-of-shape.)

It's funny, it's endearing and I liked it, but it was nothing like Simon Pegg's other two movies that make me drool when I think about them. I am disappointed but I know Simon Pegg isn't a regular disappointee.

I'm looking forward to his next two roles as Scotty in Star Trek and as Sidney Young in How to Lost Friends and Alienate People; both of which come out this year.