Cool News
The Blue Meanie has seen ZOMBIELAND, time to nut up, sounds fun!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hey folks, Harry here with a look at ZOMBIELAND from a fella I'll refer to as the Blue Meanie. Seems this is exactly the film I'm hoping it is - based upon seeing the trailers and clips. But I'll find out soon enough when Fantastic Fest unveils the film publicly at the grand Paramount Theatre in Two weeks with special guests galore. So - want to know if it is worth coming to that screening, read, but read lightly - there are spoilers to be had.
Short version: It's no Shaun of the Dead (but a good time is had!)
Longer, more gooder writtin version:
A semi-finished cut as far as I can tell was screened for us (noticed
a little bit of temp score used). If you've seen the trailer with the
slo-mo bits, you've seen the majority of the opening credits. The bulk
of the story follows "Columbus", Jesse Eisenberg, who is trying to go
from UT in Austin back to his home town of Columbus, Ohio. In this
zombie ridden world, it looks like Columbus' phobias have given him
the edge, as he's managed to avoid people, restrooms unless absolutely
necessary, and clowns (yes, this will be a plot point).
We get to see examples of his survival tip list, highlighting the
benefits of cardio, double taps (when in doubt, shoot them again), and
seatbelts. In a loopy way, the beginning makes us believe think that
we're going to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide To Surviving The Zombie
Apocalypse, with the text of each rule popping up when it should be
followed. but the plot manages to nudge Columbus into meeting
"Tallahassee", Woody Fucking Harrelson turned up to 11, who is on his
way to his namesake's city in Florida (do you see a name pattern
emerging?).
A goofy, pointlessly tense standoff later, the two decide they'll work
together on their roadtrip, at least as far as TexArkana. It's
established pretty fast that this zombie outbreak has soundly kicked
the world's ass. The duo bicker while driving or walking through
carnage strewn highways, small towns where signs of resistance were
made, but nothing seems to phase either of them. All the normal tropes
of a zombie film get sidestepped for the most part, as the most
pressing mission aside from survival is Tallahassee's near-psychotic
quest for a single, still-fresh Twinkie. I think that's what makes
this film work well, we're eased into it with the MST3K equivalent of
"repeat to yourself, 'It's just a show, I should really just relax'".
We're not pounded with the grimdark realities that other zombie films
have covered. For Columbus, his main worry is pissing off Tallahassee
and stressing that he'll never be with a girl long enough to brush her
hair over their ear. Even the vague talk of hearing about a safe place
without zombies is waved off, as no one really buys into such a place
existing (maybe that's why they've survived for so long).
If I had any gripes for the film, it's that the threat of the zombies
is next to nil. For all the havoc they caused around the world, we're
never worried for the characters. The hoard exists mainly to be
fragged in sometimes humorous and always messy ways. Also, the theme
park, featured in the trailer, makes one wonder what characters were
thinking. For a group of people who have survived this long, they are
shocked, SHOCKED I SAY, to discover that turning on the power to a
theme park (lights and all) will catch the zombies' decaying eyes. The
ending also got a little bit of a groan as Columbus voice-overs
something so lame that would have been hammy on Full House.
That said, the heavy lifting done by Eisenberg and Harrelson make what
could have been a very slight tale into something better. There's not
a lot of depth to their characters, but when we do stumble across a
block of character background, it makes you sympathize the hell out of
these poor bastards. Harrelson in particular has a flashback montage
that gets turned on its ear later on in the film (god, the small
detail of a cat-shaped pancake KILLS). It's not a lot for him to work
with, but he sells it hard enough that it is all you need to know
about his character, which could easily have been written off as a
cross between the broadness of Yosemite Sam and a slightly mellower
killing machine that was Mickey Knox. Eisenberg takes something as
simple as riding shotgun in a car without a seatbelt as a positive
step forward socially. You almost hope they could team up again for
something akin to Bing and Hope's "Road to" (maybe an Alien Invasion
next time?).
Anyone who has seen the trailer would know that it isn't just these
two guys, but I'm going to have to be vague about Emma Stone and
Abigail Breslin. Part of the fun of their roles is how they hook up
and complicate our boys' lives. Emma's just right in tone, someone who
knows how to use her looks and an overprotective sister. Abigail
(wooow, she's like 13 and already has an IMDB listing like a veteran)
has a good volatile chemistry with the boys, especially Harrelson. In
a brief bit, Harrelson tries to explain Willie Nelson to her and she
explains Hanna Montana to him. Neither one makes a good case.
Oh, and then there is *Celebrity Cameo*. It's not so much a mystery if
you go to IMDB, but one of the finer points of the film is how it is
built up, revealed, and followed through on. The film manages to
exploit the fact that the celebrity has a history with Columbia,
leading to some great shout-outs to earlier films. The celebrity plays
it like a champ, earning his place at the "tippy top of showbiz" as
one character puts it.
So yeah, a good time to be had if you have a hankering for seeing
zombies get slagged by solid actors with a decent gore budget.
-
+ Expand All
-
zombies
-
I just hope the celebrity cameo is playing him/her self.
-
"time to nut up" umm? What??
"more gooder writtin version" WHAT??
AICN has finally gone full retard. -
Have you seen the Defendor trailer?http://tinyurl.com/luo9e5Woody is back baby, and I'm damn glad.
-
This looked like a movie that blew its load in the trailers.
-
That's the only fucking thing i wanna know motherfucker! IS ZOMBIE BILL MURRY IN THIS MOVIE?!
-
I miss that undead sumbitch.
-
Sep 11, 2009 8:38:17 AM CDT
GLAD TO SEE THAT ZOMBIES HAVE REACHED THE MAINSTREAM…..
by carlthormark1978
Zombies are my most beloved sub-genre in Horror. My top three are Return of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Zombie. I have virtually every zombie movie in existence and I never get tired of seeing the walking dead. Even the shit ones manage to keep my attention. Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema is indispensible and I hope that author Jamie Russell releases an updated edition by, say, 2015 so that he can include off of the zombie flicks that have been made over the last few years including Zombieland which looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I just fucking LOVE that the first decade of the new millennium has seen zombies reach the mainstream in ways that they haven’t before, Christ, in World’s Greatest Dad, Robin Williams and his neighbor discuss the virtues of slow vs. fast zombies and even give a shoutout to Simon Pegg before later watching Night of the Living Dead. Two questions about Zombieland. One, what is the budget and, Two, was it shot on film or HD?
-
In a Whole Foods once. I wonder if he had just gotten off of the set of this movie.
-
Seriously, why didn't they just call Gabe Newell over at Valve and buy the rights?
-
...I probably wouldn't care much. With Woody I do. Hope it's fun.
-
Have I seen a competent and entertaining Zombie movie. The remake of "day of the dead" "diary of the dead" and the rest were poorly done cliche's and by the numbers. Until "World war Z" this movie has the most promise to be one of the more entertaining zombie flicks. They won tons of cool points with be with Woody as the zombie killer with Van Halen's "Everybody wants some" in the background. They had me at Van Halen...
-
It's called DAWN OF THE DEAD. Get an education son. OH yeah, Zack Synder did not direct the one I am bringing up.
-
Sounds great and I love me Woody lol ;)
-
was in the 70's. I did like the remake for it's own merits. I can count all the zombie movies I liked like so:
Night of the living dead, Dawn of the dead (1) Return of the living dead 1&2,Day of the dead (1st), Shaun of the dead, Dawn of the dead (2nd) 28 days later 1,2. That's about it. Meanwhile, there have been over a dozen really bad zombie movies since 1994. -
already? It will be the zombie movie to end all zombie movies
-
Went to a screening for it on south beach last night and I did enjoy it....opening credits were the best and not to mention....Cardio....lol
-
As much as I love Harrelson, it's time to retire zombies for about 10 years. The genre has become too self aware for it to be scary anymore. I'm pretty tired of all these so-called zomedies that have popped up within the past five years.
-
Director Tom Holland said that once a genre is parodied, it's dead. He was talking about the movie "Love at First Bite" and was about to unleash "Fright Night" with it's good old-fashioned vampire Jerry Dandridge.Yeah, I think Zombies are about done for a few years. Pity, I like the genre.
-
I love the zombie genre, but I feel like I've been waiting way too long for something original to come along and add something fresh. The only zombie movie that needs to happen in the forseeable future is WWZ and it needs to be the LOTR of zombie movies. Otherwise, no point.
-
WTF?
-
Aintitcool is like the Special Olympics for Journalism.
-
So you missed the sarcasm in the True Grit TB and the irony in this TB. Solid.
-
So you missed Herc's sarcasm in the True Grit story and the reviewer making a joke in this one. Solid.
-
post a third time so I can catch it.
-
post it a third time so I can catch it.
-
So you missed Herc's sarcasm in the True Grit story and the reviewer making a joke in this one. Solid.
-
Did mommy proof read that one?
-
I'm probably going to be be sorely disappointed by this, but I can't not see it. Just this one shot from the trailer - riding the Wild Mouse coaster and picking off some dead folks - has me in line right now.
Sure, the zombie genre needs a major kick in the ass and "World War Z" may be it. But after watching Inglorious Basterds, I'm all about hoping that Tarantino gets around to his own zombie opus. -
This will be sweet. Should retire the genre.
-
That review had to written by a 1st grader.. right?
-
By the way, the typo was intentional.
-
Read some of the script, and it seemed like a fun time.
-
a lot of fine actors
-
I realized it was the actual stories you couldn't read and interpret correctly, not the talkback. My mistake.
-
and really thought that one out from that little noggin of yours. "Eureka! Hehehe...."
-
Thats a good thing in my book, because I cant remember one redeming feature of that utterly forgetable film.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 419 total posts 209 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 131 total posts 129 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 123 total posts 122 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 124 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 191 total posts 47 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 42 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 27 total posts 27 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 506 total posts 26 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 77 total posts 24 posts