Theatrical Release Year: 2004
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Tim Baggaley, Nicola Cunningham, Sonnell Dadral, Lucy Davis (II), Bill Nighy
Length: 100 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

It’s entirely possible the vinyl records are worth more than the lives they’re saving, but it sure is fun throwing them.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is in a bit of a rut with no real life ambitions. He has stalled relationships with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), his best mate Ed (Nick Frost), and his mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) as well as a stalled career at a local appliance store. Frustrated by this lack of ambition, Liz breaks up with Shaun when he commits the cardinal sin of forgetting to book a reservation for their third anniversary and offering to take her once again to his favorite pub, The Winchester. While Shaun’s relationship with Liz dissolves before his eyes the rest of the world around him happens to slowly become overrun by zombies.

Shaun’s tunnel vision to the utter destruction around him somehow saves him from the hands of the zombies too many times to count. Once he finally notices that zombies are taking over London and has a bit of fun with Ed taking a few of them down he decides he must set out on a crusade to save both Liz and his mother from the undead. And, where’s the best place to go to protect you and those you love from those indiscriminate flesh eaters? Why, the Winchester, of course!

This is, hands down, one of the funniest zombie movies of all time. A fantastic supporting cast, clever fight sequences, unique camera angles, and perfectly understated zombie-to-regular-life comparisons (aren’t we all just drooling drones? yup!) make Pegg and Wright’s film a cult classic.

Special Features

Zombie Gallery: A photo collection of the undead.
TV Bits: Music videos from the film soundtrack.
Trailer: The US theatrical trailer for the film.
Missing Bits:
Funky Pete - A cleaned up version of Pete’s dialog when he’s woken up at 4:00am
The Man Who Should Be Shaun - Simon Pegg using a silly voice for his character
Plot Holes - Answering your questions about what happened to characters during parts of the film
Outtakes - The goofy bits — yaaaaaay!
Extended Bits - Fifteen (15) extended scenes… Wow!
Raw Meat - A proverbial meat pie of the leftover bits:
Simon Pegg’s Video Diary - A behind-the-scenes montage of the film set.
Casting Tapes - Some seriously hilarious versions of my favorite scenes are shown, plus strange things are done with fruit. That’s always funny!
Edgar and Simon’s Flip Chart - The detailed plan of the movie in word form. Booooring! (Skip it.)
SFX Comparison - Very cool footage of how Mary gets that pipe through her stomach, and consequently a hole through her entire mid-section, using green screen and splicing.
Make-Up Tests - Zombie walkers in full costume set to music, including Simon Pegg in full zombie get-up and side-by-side comparisons of CGI zombie eyes versus color contacts (freaky!).
EPK Featurette - A description of the film is given, including an in-depth look at the relationship between Shaun and Ed.

Can we say awesome special features? AWESOME SPECIAL FEATURES! (I knew we could.)

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendations

A nice, chewy Guinness really hits the spot when holding down the Winchester fort.

Bacon candy must be consumed while fighting zombies. Mmmm, zombie bacon…

Popularity: 14% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Martine McCutcheon, Rowan Atkinson
Length: 135 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios



Love Actually follows the stories about falling in love, falling out of love, looking for love, and revealing the love one has for another among an inter-woven group of English citizens.

Love Is Elementary shows Daniel (Liam Neeson) as he loses his beloved wife, Joanna. Daniel is not alone in his loss though, as his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) is also dealing with the passing of his mother and a growing fondness for a girl at school who apparently does not realize he exists.

Love Rocks On with aging music legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his long time manager Joe (Gregor Fisher). When Billy Mack attempts to regain fame and fortune, he does it from the remake of a love song. The journey for artistic redemption is long and hard… but luckily for Billy he does not travel it alone.

Love At Work intertwines Sarah (Laura Linney) with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) in one of the most common examples of love and its place in our lives. Of course, with all things work related, love is as well… although this love is complicated not by work at all… but rather by love of a different kind when Sarah’s brother Michael (Michael Fitzgerald) unintentionally hurls the proverbial monkey wrench into the inner workings of the heart.

Love As A Second Language proves once again that not only does love know no boundaries, but its language is universal. When Jamie (Colin Firth) finds his girlfriend shagging his brother, he leaves for the coast of France to finish working on his novel. His first meeting with Aurelia (Lucia Moniz), who is the housekeeper, leaves one to wonder what these two could possibly have in common… but decidedly proves that love will always find a way.

Love Lasts A Lifetime showcases the undying nature of love, irregardless of the trials it may be put through. Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman) live the lives of a couple whose flame has dimmed and the chill is in the air. Of course, Harry decides that he needs to be warmer and enters into a flirtatious relationship with Mia (Heike Makatsch). It’s when that flirtatious relationship is taken a bit far do the fires threaten to burn down the house… and the love that fills it.

Love Is Awkward when John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) meet on the set of a film where they are serving as body doubles for a pair of actors in a number of love scenes. Building from that first, naked, introduction is a tale of innocence in a world that has long ago lost its own.

Love American Style proves the love is redder on the other side of the pond. Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) is tired of stuck up English women, and instead travels to a classic American bar in Michigan where he meets Stacey (Ivana Milicevic), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert) who are instantly entranced by his cute English accent and take him in. The fireworks however really start when Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth) comes home…

Love And Politics is both a statement on love between Prime Minister David (Hugh Grant) and his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) and a statement on one’s love for their country… and some of the insane things we will do for such love. Standing up to bullies in the form of the US President (Billy Bob Thorton) and going to such great lengths as to carol on command are just a few of the things to prove the power the emotion holds over us… and that thick thighs are indeed heavenly.

Forbidden Love, could there be such a thing? Mark’s (Andrew Lincoln) love for Juliet (Keira Knightley) is such a case. What is seemingly all too familiar, Mark cannot openly reveal his feelings for the woman who has just married his best friend. He is left to anguish alone with the pieces of his heart in his hands, or is he?

Although boasting an English A-List cast, the true gem of this movie is the simplicity in the message it tries to convey. Love Actually is… all around. For that reason, I think this is the most romantic movie of them all.

Popcorn’s Rating:

There is only one snack befitting a movie that opens and closes with real people giving real hugs… Hershey’s Hugs, 13-Ounce Bag (Pack of 4).

Popularity: 18% [?]