Sci-fi/Action/Adventure, 122 Minutes, 2016
We’re wrapping up Peggapalooza with Simon Pegg’s [IMDB] latest. Of course, he reprised his role as Scotty from 2009’s Star Trek [IMDB] and 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness [My Review], but he also co-wrote this installment. The reboot of the first film left fans cautiously optimistic. The second left them worried. How will this fare?
“Hector and the Search for Happiness” on IMDB
Adventure/Comedy/Drama, 114 Minutes, 2015
Peggapalooza! continues with a question that everybody has asked at one time or another: what is happiness? Hector (Simon Pegg [IMDB]) is a stable, dependable psychiatrist. He’s in a stable, dependable relationship with Clara (Rosamund Pike [IMDB]), a stable, dependable marketing consultant. His life is stable and dependable. Warm. Comfortable. Pleasant.
Happy?
Comedy, 91 Minutes, 2010
Peggapalooza! continues with a true story about medicine and murder in 1828. Edinburgh, Scotland, is the premier center for anatomical study in the world and has a voracious appetite for fresh cadavers. The head of the university (Tim Curry [IMDB]) has leveraged his political clout to have all legal cadavers be sent to him rather than his chief rival, Robert Knox (Tom Wilkinson [IMDB]).
It’s impossible to discuss Simon Pegg without mentioning The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (it’s already been mentioned several times during Peggapalooza). The films are directed by Edgar Wright [IMDB], written by Wright and Simon Pegg [IMDB] and star Pegg and Nick Frost [IMDB].
Cornetto’s, for those unaware, are a popular prepackaged ice-cream treat popular in the United Kingdom. Each of the films in the trilogy features a distinct, thematically appropriate, flavor.
Romantic Comedy, 88 Minutes, 2015
We’ve known from the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy that Simon Pegg [IMDB] could play an everyday schlub, an uptight cop and a washed-up has been. So far, during Peggapalooza!, we’ve also seen him as an eccentric paranoid and right dirty bastard. The man has range! The question here is: can he play a romantic lead?
Spoiler: sure he can!
Action/Comedy, 90 Minutes, 2014
The celebration of Simon Pegg [IMDB] continues with this Australian import. Pegg exercises his range here, taking on the role of Charlie Wolfe, a professional doer of dirty deeds and all-around bad guy. He’s been hired by a local club owner (Callan Mulvey [IMDB]) to eliminate his cheating wife (Alice Braga [IMDB]).
“A Fantastic Fear of Everything” on IMDB
Comedy, 100 Minutes, 2012
This celebration of things Simon Pegg [IMDB] (not Simon Pegg’s thing) starts with this 2012 dark comedy. Pegg plays Jack, an unstable author who’s spent the better part of a year researching Victorian serial killers for a new book. He began the project simply to lose the stigma of his unexpected success as a children’s author, but his obsession has led to intense paranoia. When his agent arranges a meeting with an American film producer, his already fragile grip on reality snaps.
Simon Pegg is all flavors of awesome. He’s known for smart, layered stories that reward multiple viewings and, from all available evidence, a hell of good guy.
Both me and Edgar [Wright] are firm believers in never underestimating or talking down to an audience, and giving an audience something to do, to give them something which is entirely up to them to enter into the film and find these hidden things and whatever.
Just because, “why not?” (and because I noticed that I had several of his films queued), I’m going to celebrate his work with a series of reviews. Being a fan, I’ve already reviewed a few of his movies:
We also end our annual Easter zombie festival, Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters, with the utter perfection that is Shaun of the Dead. This may be the film that immortalized him, but an impressive collection of cameos and voice work along with performances in venerable properties like Doctor Who, Star Wars and, of course, Star Trek cemented him firmly as geek royalty.
Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.
I hope you’ll join me here over the next week or so for this impromptu Peggapalooza! (I was going to call it “Pegging Movies”, but Google convinced me not to do that.)
