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In theaters Friday: Good Luck Chuck, Into the Wild, Resident Evil: Extinction, Sydney White

New on DVD: Death Proof

Two films I rented over the weekend were Hot Fuzz and Fracture.

British cop comedy Hot Fuzz has more than witty writer/star Simon Pegg in common with 2004 zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. The film follows a London supercop, played with hard-edged panache by Pegg, who is deported to a quiet township in the English Countryside because his impeccable arrest record is making the rest of the force look bad in the big city. Of course once he arrives in Sanford (you could easily substitute "Stepford" here), he uncovers a dastardly plot and realizes that nothing is as sunshiny as it seems. Hot Fuzz is so well written, each little comedic detail featured in the first act somehow comes into play in the third, some being plain set-ups and others twisted and turned for even greater effect. Though this type of action comedy which satirizes actual action movies like the lampooned Bad Boys II and Point Break requires a little more suspension of disbelief, if you let yourself go, you'll enjoy the ride. If Hot Fuzz had been produced in Hollywood, rather than the U.K., and it co-starred Will Ferrell instead of Nick Frost, it would have been the biggest comedy of the year in the states. No doubt.

What if Hannibal Lector was not insane, but instead had the mental faculties to plan and execute the perfect murder and beat the legal system at the same time? That is the question posed by Fracture, which stars Anthony Hopkins as a cuckolded husband/aeronautical super genius who plots to kill his cheating wife, and Ryan Gosling as the hotshot assistant D.A. prosecuting the case. It's a typical cat-and-mouse thriller you could see on Law & Order reruns every night, but Hopkins, Gosling, and Rosamund Pike elevate every minute of the film into something worth watching.

Some of you may have heard, but a strike is looming over Hollywood. Most estimates put the hold out happening next summer. Check out this insider memo on the strike which basically says that an incredible amount of films are being greenlit for this winter and spring in order to beat the clock and avoid delays due to the almost inevitable strike.

Finally, the trailer for unplanned high school pregnancy dramedy Juno is on YouTube here. This looks really good. Comedic dialogue, but still tethered to real characters and honest situations. People at Fox Searchlight are hoping Juno will be this year's Little Miss Sunshine for them. Only time will tell (limited release is Dec. 14), though any film with a such a strong Bluth family contingent and The Office's Rainn Wilson using the term "home skillet" can't be all bad.