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This week, we take a look at the first roles of a number of today's biggest stars, including Nicole Kidman, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Jackie Chan, Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwartznegger, and more, plus a few of our rising stars as well...

THE SHOW: a ton of first roles, plus coverage of the two entertainment strikes, this years' Peoples Choice Nominations, and all our regular features - The Callback, the Bonehead of The Week, and E-mail.

AND

THE WINNER OF THE MASTERS OF THE MACABRE TRIVIA CHALLENGE IS ANNOUNCED!

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NEXT WEEK: Mini-Glorious-Movies: The MGM Animation Stars!

See you then!

HOT FUZZ

RATED: R

STARS: SIMON PEGG, NICK FROST, TIMOTHY DALTON, JIM BROADBENT, PADDY CONSIDINE, RAFE SPALL, EDWARD WOODWARD

DIRECTOR: EDGAR WRIGHT

**********

Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is a top cop in London whose exemplary record - 400% better than most of his colleagues - is making the rest of his department look bad. Now coming back from an injury, he finds that his superiors have conspired to ship him off to the backcountry as the newest addition to the force in the seemingly crime free hamlet of Sanford.

None too pleased about the way he's being shipped off, Angel nevertheless throws himself into the job with gusto - so much in fact that he is more than a little disturbed by a string of "accidents" that appear to be much more, and is frustrated by the lack of action from his new police comrades, who would rather keep the status quo of the village and sit around the office having cake and ice cream.

Paired with a bumbling new partner, PC Danny Butterman (Frost), the son of police chief Frank Butterman (Broadbent), who longs for the kind of excitement he sees in Hollywood cop movies like Point Break and Supercop, Angel's determination to find murder in the string of accidents gets him marked as a bit of a loon by the locals. But as he continues to push the rest of his department, and the townspeople, about the accidents, and he runs afowl of the local supermarket owner (Dalton), he discovers a sinister undercurrent in the little community, and it's one that even his new friend and partner might not be able to help him expose before it's too late.

Rife with in-jokes and asides galore, Hot Fuzz is the latest movie to come from star/writer Pegg, who also wrote and starred in the horror film spoof Shaun Of The Dead with Frost and a number of other cast members.

As in Shaun Of The Dead, the chemistry between Pegg and Frost is spot on, with Sgt Angel's exasperation coming through on a few glorious occasions while his partner is totally oblivious to why the new sergeant is getting so uptight. The two make a great team, and the characters grow to become true friends as the movie goes on. Frost is fantastic, and his character's eagerness to learn everything he can from his new, more experienced partner, shows in his enthusiam about the job, and the way he listens to the various instructive tips offered to him about how to conduct himself as a police constable.

Timothy Dalton is deliciously slimy as Simon Skinner, the supermarket owner/manager, and his constant attempts to get into the good graces of the new arrival are often in stark contrast to what else is going on in the scenes, and as a result, make for some great moments of bewilderment on Angel's part that are totally hilarious.

Jim Broadbent, as Sanford's police chief, is a homey sort who just wants to keep things running smoothly in the city as it prepares for the visit of the "Most Beautiful Village" committee, and he never fails to try and humor Angel's efforts to discover if something really is going on. But there's another side of the character that comes out as the movie reaches its climax, and it shows off exactly why the oft-used character actor is also an Academy Award winner.

Edward Woodward, who plays town neighborhood watch head Tom Weaver, is also great - I don't think i've ever seen him play comedy before, and he's absolutely a delight to watch, with his bushy beard and thick but understandable backcountry accent.

Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall, as the two Andys, Sanford's disinterested, card-playing, chain-smoking pair of detectives, are a riot, their often deadpan delivery offsetting an undercurrent of menace in their characters. They give Angel a hard time for seeing conspiracy everywhere, and they aren't above a bit of pranking to show off what a fool they think he is. And their sparring relationships are fantastic, the two Andys and Angel frequently clashing heads over methods and tactics, and the clashes come off as completely real and somewhat menacing.

The movie's climax, which sees about two dozen cop movies getting referenced and spoofed as it goes along, is one heck of a ride, with its unexpected revelations, bullets flying everywhere, and a nice, tidy wrap up on the whole story.

From the opening moments right through the end credits, Hot Fuzz is the best spoof of the cop movie genre to come along since the Naked Gun series of movies, and very much deserves all the praise it has been getting. So jump in and enjoy your visit to the village of Sanford - you'll be laughing for the entire ride.

MY SCORE: 4.5 (OUT OF FIVE)

Under discussion:

Koyaanisqatsi  (1983)

After attending this past weekend's IMAX movie for the PNR Summer Tour (see review from Monday), I started thinking about other films that would lend themselves to the IMAX format.

One movie in particular stands out to me as the perfect candidate for the IMAX treatment. It has long been one of my all-time favorite films, and its visual style was way ahead of its time.

And now, as the 25th anniversary of the film's release is looming in 2008, I think it's time to take the next logical step into IMAX. I've been saying so for YEARS and now is the perfect time for it.

The film is Godfrey Reggio's incredible 1983 visual masterpiece, Koyaanisqatsi (see Popcorn's Pix here). Backed with it's mesmering Philip Glass score, this movie is just SCREAMING to be brought to the IMAX or IMAX 3-D format.

For those of you unfamiliar with Reggio's work, Koyaanisqatsi (the title is Hopi indian for "life out of balance") is a visual and aural masterpiece about our world and how man's search for progress has affected it. In many ways, it was "An Inconvienient Truth" 24 years BEFORE that movie came out and without the presence of former Vice President Al Gore.

I have watched the movie dozens of times since it came out on DVD, and remain a strong proponent of it. I have talked it up on Subject:CINEMA several times, and there is little doubt it will be among my Top 20 Films of ALL TIME when that list is announced in June on the first anniversary edition of Subject:CINEMA.

The first part of the "Qatsi" trilogy of movies, it is the strongest and best of the three, and just the opening 15 minutes alone would make an IMAX experience unlike any other.  Think of what it would be like to see those images of the desert and sky on the humongous IMAX screen. Kim often describes this part of the movie as "What it must feel like to be flying on Superman's shoulders", and she's absolutely right.

Think of being immersed in IMAX 3-D during the time lapse flights through skyscrapers, or during the mind-blowing time-lapse traffic sequence - it would feel like the most incredible motion odyssey movie ride in history.

For those of you who have never seen the movie, it might be hard to understand, but in many ways, Koyaanisqatsi is almost a religious experience. And to me, the chance to see it larger than ever before postively makes me drool.

So I have decided to take matters into my own hands, so to speak.

I have launched the Bring "Koyaanisqatsi" to IMAX petititon over at petitiononline.com. I will be bringing this petition up to as many people as I possibly can, and hopefully the esteemed Mr Reggio will take us to heart and allow his masterpiece to be prepped for an IMAX run during it's 25th anniversary year.

It will only take you a moment or so to sign the petition and add your voice to the hopefully millions of voices that will join us in asking for one of the greatest movie experiences of all time to be brought to the most visually rich and incredible movie screens of all time in celebration of its' 25th anniversary.

You can visit the petition by clicking here - and please spread the word to your friends as well.

It is my hope that within the next 18 months or so, I can sit down in our local IMAX theater (possibly donning 3-D glasses) and enjoy the breathtaking splendor that is Koyaanisqatsi like i've never seen it before. So please - sign the petition!

YOu will NEVER regret doing so.

Under discussion:

Wristcutters: A Love Story  (2007)

(Review originally posted on PNR on 4/22/07)

WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY

NOT RATED

STARS: PATRICK FUGIT, SHANNYN SOSSAMON, SHEA WIGHAM, TOM WAITS, LESLIE BIPP, TOM ARNETT, ABRAHAM BENRUBI

DIRECTOR: GORAN DUKIC

For those who are curious about life after death, and especially for those who wonder what happens when they kill themselves, Wristcutters: A Love Story offers up an unusual side trip.

The movie is the story of Zia (Fugit), a twentysomething young man from New Jersey who kills himself (the suicide opens the movie) over something that happened between he and his girlfriend (it's never actually revealed what happened, but it's implied that he may have found out she was cheating on him).

Zia informs us via voiceover that life after death isn't much different from regular life, except that it might even be worse. Since offing himself, he's found a job at Kamikaze Pizza, he lives with a fussy Austrian roommate (Benrubi), and spends his off time hanging out at a local bar, where he's befriended by Eugene (Wigham), a Russian immigrant whose entire family has offed themselves at one time or another, and as such, once again live all together in the afterlife.

When Zia finds out from another suicide from his neighborhood that his ex-girlfriend he offed himself over, Desiree (Bipp), offed herself about a month after Zia's funeral, he and Eugene set off to find her. Along the way they're joined by Mikal (Sossamon), who they find hitchhiking on the side of the road. It seems she doesn't believe she belongs here, because she killed herself accidentally, and is now looking for the People In Charge so that she can set things right.

As they drive without aim hoping to find Desiree, one night, while driving without headlights (which have been malfunctioning the entire trip), they almost run over Kneller, who is just lying in the middle of the road. Kneller, a strange but intriguing man, takes them back to his campsite, where they discover that the people staying with Kneller perform small personal miracles, including a mute girl who can throat sing, and a man who can float in the air.

When a camper returns with the news that Messiah, the man who runs another camp not too far away, has convinced Kneller's runaway dog to stay with him, Kneller, Zia, and Mikal head to Messiah's camp, hoping to bring the dog back, and where they find Messiah preparing to perform the biggest miracle of all - separating his body and soul into two distinct beings. And at his side is Desiree, who is assisting him in his planned miracle. Zia sadly discovers she didn't kill herself over losing him, but because she wanted to follow Messiah to this world after he killed himself in the real world.

But things don't work quite the same way in this netherworld reserved for suicides, and Zia's afterlife is about to take an unexpected turn...

The debut feature from director Dukic, and based on the short story Kneller's Happy Campers by author Etgar Keret, Wristcutters is a darkly comic look at what happens in a world where all the inhabitants are there by the choice of their suicide in the real world, and how life in the afterlife can still somehow be a real life (confusing, but you'll get it when you see the movie).

With the three leads and Tom Waits turning in absolutely wonderful performances - Waits is particularly excellent in his small but important role - you'll find yourself swept away into their somewhat bizarre existance, and wondering if Zia is right when he says that this life is even worse than what he left behind. Fugit is one of today's breed of rising young actors, along with a few others like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Bell, and Michael Angarano, who have the ability to grab a character and envelop themselves totally in it, and his quirky and poignant portrayal of Zia will wrap itself around your heart. The movie is hilariously funny in the most unexpected places, and because of it, it doesn't seem at all like you've spent a whole 95 minutes watching the movie...you become so fascinated with these quirky people that you almost wish it wasn't over yet when it finishes.

The movie also features something else that is rare for a dark comedy - a HAPPY ending. Like 2006's dark but still funny One Last Thing..., the twist at the end is unexpected (and yet still strangely expected), and the final two shots of the movie, especially if you've been paying attention to a particular recurring conversation throughout the movie, add a boisterous and unexpectedly happy kick to the heartstrings. Speaking for myself, it brought happy tears to my eyes.

Wristcutters is one of those quirky offbeat little films that unexpectedly works it's way under your skin and into your psych and then refuses to let go.

Given the fact that movie has recieved almost a dozen nominations and several awards since its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, including a prestigious nomination as "The Best Film Not Playing In Your Local Theater" at the 2007 Gotham Awards, it is a CRIME that this movie has yet to find a distributor. This movie deserves to be seen by as many people as possible, and deserves a chance to become the indie hit I believe it is ultimately destined to become.

Ever since seeing director Riaan Johnson's incredible and mesmerizing debut Brick in 2006, I have held a very high criteria for a movie in regards to earning a spot on my all time favorite movie list. Wristcutters: A Love Story EASILY passed that rigorous criteria, and now ranks with Brick, Catherine Hardwick's Lords Of Dogtown, and Yimou Zhang's Hero as one of my all time favorite films. I left the theater feeling completely heartwarmed, and with a great big smile on my face.

Here's hoping the gods shine on Wristcutters and allows it to find a distributor soon.(it has indeed found a distributor since the review originally appeared). It is absolutely the kind of movie that must be on your "Can't Miss" list when it comes out...this movie is just too damn good - and too damn FUNNY - to have it remain an unjustly buried treasure...

MY SCORE: 5 (out of 5)

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