Showing posts with label Zombieland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zombieland. Show all posts

October 2, 2009

Zombieland: Pretty Fun (For a Rip-Off)

Zombieland is a funny and exciting film that mixes comedy, romance, just a little bit of human drama, and a shit load of zombies to an entertaining effect. Zombie junkies should be satisfied with the destruction of the undead, but it's not as crazy as you'd hope (click here for crazy). However, it's unfortunate that the movie is kind of a rip off of the book featured on the left. 

Narrated by Michael Cera, oops, I mean Jesse Eisenberg, puts emphasis on the zombie rules of survival, for example rule 23 is the buddy system (here). Yet while these rules are comical they are completely ripped off from "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks, yes, that is the son of Mel Brooks. His book was so successful that the sequel "World War Z" is being turned into a movie by notorious zombie slayer Brad Pitt.

While this fact kind of ruined the movie for me, for the casual non-nerd (aka the greater population of the universe) the movie should be a fun, albeit not best picture worthy film. It hits the right plot beats, there are some great kills, and some original laughs. Chances are you probably already know if you're going to see it or not. So go ahead, enjoy it, just know that the writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick could be some real deal literary zombies, feasting on other people's creative blood.

August 17, 2009

Tarantino's Must See List


Here we have the sometimes brilliant, usually bizarre, and always interesting Quentin Tarantino dropping science about his favorite films since 1992. With "Inglorious Basterds" coming out on Friday, there no doubt will be a PR blitz of all things Tarantino. So, with the upcoming onslaught on the horizon, I wanted to share this video (via the amazing website /film) with everybody because it provides an very atypical list of films since 1992. For those of you who don't want to watch the whole video, here is the list
Battle Royale (TPG)
Anything Else
Audition
Blade (TPG)
Boogie Nights
Dazed & Confused (TPG)
Dogville
Fight Club (TPG)
Friday (TPG)
The Host (TPG)
The Insider (TPG)
Joint Security Area
Lost In Translation
The Matrix (TPG)
Memories of Murder
Police Story 3
Shaun of the Dead (TPG)
Speed (TPG)
Team America (TPG)
Unbreakable (TPG)

I have put a little TPG next to the films that I have seen (yeah I haven't seen "Boogie Nights" or "Lost in Translation", relax all you hipsters and film elitists, I'll get to them one day). I have to say I really agree with many of the films on his list. Tarantino was famously a video store clerk before he became famous, and his love of cinema is reflected on this list.

Many of these movies are notable because they started a trend. An example of this would be "Shaun of the Dead" which kickstarted the whole screwball comedy horror genre (see the upcoming "Zombieland" as an example). So, while this list can be a little daunting, I would recommend that you watch "Unbreakable" before any other film on this list. It's an incredibly interesting and mis-understood movie. You go see that and I'll see "Boogie Nights." Deal?