After work on Tuesday, I went to a screening on behalf of Box Office Magazine to see Shaun of the Dead, an amazingly kickass zombie movie that I couldn’t possibly recommend more. Some of you hopped on my head when I said I liked the Dawn of the Dead remake, but I don’t mind telling you that the Shauny version is 100x better and one of the best films I’ve seen in a long while. A Brit comedy that stays true to the genre written by a guy who loves Romero’s zombie trilogy to death, Shaun of the Dead is hilarious, engaging and gratuitous enough with the gore without ever having to depend on it. Trust me on this one, it’s a winner.
Anyway, as this is obviously a workweek and I was faced with getting home real late after the screening only have to sleep for an hour before repeating the commute, we decided to splurge and stay in a hotel – a very overpriced one called the Sofitel, where the lobby is decorated with a hundred kinds of plant stems and everyone who works there either speaks French or tries desperately to fake the accent. And the room service burgers come with French fries, and cost a French 19 bucks each. Still, blowing way too much cash for what amounted to a three-hour stay was worth it. The next morning, instead of the bus ride from Hell into work, I just walked a block over and that was it. If only my job paid enough to stay in four-star French hotels nightly, then we’d be onto something.
Inside our room was a mini-bar, probably my favorite thing in the entire world. It’s not one of the ultra swank automatic ones, but this one’s more eerily reminiscent of that little ditty Kevin stole M&M-encrusted cookies from in Home Alone 2. Everything you see costs seven times the normal retail price. Somehow soda isn’t as refreshing when you can’t afford anything else because of it.
Posted by Matt on 08/21/2004. E-mail me!
Chestnuts roasted by 
Mag? What mag?
Spaced is well worth ordering in on DVD. I did a Spaced marathon last week – both series in one sitting – and it leaves your brain frazzeled, but in a good way!
It’s absolutely crammed with pop culture references and is the ultimate fanboy, star wars geek, waster sitcom.
An example: The main character Tim(the fella from Shaun of the Dead) gets fired from his job at a comic store because he refuses to serve kids anything to do with the Phantom Meanace and makes the kids cry when they ask.
Totally original and totally gold. Stop reading this and start ordering from Amazon.