I cannot say that I am happy with the Arts and Entertainment editor of ICC's Harbinger student news paper. My review for "Zombieland" is the second one in which he has cut out my introduction (the other being my review of for "Inglourious Basterds"),
and after reviewing the finer points of my last review also, he does
not feel it necessary to include my knowledge and personal opinions to
further rave about why one should see the films.
If my reviews were over a page long, I'd understand. Heck, I cannot say
that I'd be miffed if he cut out 46 words to make it an even five
hundred. But without incite into my incites, my reviews are no better
than those of quote whores (since he also decided to omit mentioning
that I wrote a negative review for "The Informant!") and as bland as the reviews the Journal Star pulls off the AP wire to simply have movie reviews.
And I believe that what is omitted is done to allow an image that takes
up too much space in the paper that is relative to the film. It was a
virtual spread for Brad Pitt in my "Basterds" review that did not share the page with any other stories in it's issue. When it comes to my "Zombieland "review, it seemed unnecessary to put the image featured in the review when it was already used on the front page of the paper.
We read the opinions of certain critics not because they are good
critics, but because the great critics have their personality attached
to them. I maybe damning future publication in this section of the
Harbinger by saying that my articles are not news and I'm not a
journalist. They are suppose to be an expression of who is writing it,
not the paper that wants to avoid offending anyone at all cost. If I
wanted to write bland stuff like what I feel my reviews have been
treated, I would not have dropped Creative Writing with instructor C....
Alright. Enough ranting, let me get to what you all came to see, my review for the Jesse Eisenberg vehicle, "Zombieland."
It has been too long since an American zombie movie worthy of mainstream attention was released, but "Zombieland" fills
that void. Graphic violence, never taking itself too seriously, and
ridiculous premises make this movie what director Zack Snyder ("Watchmen", "300") was trying to capture with his 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead".
In the not so distant future, the zombie apocalypse has occurred. It has
turned the United States into Zombieland, a place where people are only
known by the city they are trying to reach so that no one gets too
attached to potential meals to the undead.
This is a story about Columbus Ohio (Jessie Eisenberg), a paranoid,
Mountain Dew Code Red drinking, WOW obsessed underclassman who is hoping
to make friends and find his family for the first time in his
life. He’s stays alive by following his 32 rules to survive zombie
attacks and befriending Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a crazed zombie
killer in search of the last package of Twinkies in existence. After
they are hijacked by the sisters Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and
Abigail Breslin), they all decide that Southern California and its
Pacific Playland Amusement Park is the perfect location to celebrate
their survival skills.
"Zombieland" is very similar at least in spirit to "Shaun of the Dead", but is definitely not as subtle or restrained with its humor. Like Sam Raimi’s "Evil Dead" trilogy,
all of the gore is suppose to be humorous in some form, but the humor
beyond that is constant throughout the film, and there is no reason for
the audience to stop laughing out loud throughout it.
This film follows all of the rules to a great zombie film, and the
violence featured is never wasted. It is actually closer in attitude to
the original "Dawn of the Dead". There is always to be fun from
enjoying unbridled consumption (Woody Harrelson’s brilliant performance
emphasizes that), but in the end a realization that there is something
more important than being comfortable. Snyder’s remake focused so much
on shocking the audience that he only glanced over these elements in a
single montage. The most glaring flaw of Snyder’s film is that he does
not take time to use to have fun with the limited space the characters
are confined to. A zombie trying to survive an amusement park is far
more entertaining than buses trying to escape a parking deck.
The ultimate irony of "Zombieland" is that director Ruben
Fleischer is able to capture the film using a style very reminiscent to
Snyder’s great comic book movies. "Zombieland" feels like there is a great mind for film behind the camera instead of a guy best known for working on the crews of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and writing episodes of MTV2’s "Rob and Big".
"Zombieland" is
a celebration of gore and humor that is brilliantly captured on
film. Because the film focuses on having fun with graphic violence while
"Shaun of the Dead" was more of a parody of the genre, this may not only be the best zombie comedy of the decade, but the best zombie film since "28 Days Later". I hope your cardio (zombie survival rule #1) is good, because fans of comedy should rush to see "Zombieland".
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