The Gatekeeper

For anyone out there wondering if Hot Fuzz is worth seeing, the answer is unreservedly yes. It is deliriously entertaining, fully living up to the promise of their earlier film, Shaun of the Dead. It is genuinely a massively superior film, even working in very, very sly references to movies such as Chinatown and Straw Dogs. (As for the latter, I'm not just talking about the mention of the man who worked as an extra on that film, but a very specific event that will be obvious to anyone who saw Straw Dogs. Sweet.) Can't wait to see it again.


Anyway, what was also of note was the thoroughly confounding system set up at the Jordan Landing 24 Cinema in Salt Lake City. After we got out tickets, we were directed to a cordoned-off area next to the restrooms that looked as if it served as a holding area until the theater was cleaned out. But when I asked other patrons in the holding zone, they were waiting for a variety of movies to start, so I decided to ask a worker so I could clear up the confusion. The first kid I asked claimed he didn't even work there, so I moved on to the ticket-gal who pointed me there in the first place. She cryptically mumbled something about "open", so I gave up on her. Other people in line were just as confused, and I saw a third employee claim no knowledge of the purpose of the roped-off area. What a system they have.