Hot Fuzz [Blu-ray]

In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. Fennessy