Zombieland
- Thread starter FordSVT
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I don't know if the rest would be worth your time, honestly. Just about every zombie film that I've seen starting with Night of The Living Dead are pretty much just the same movie told differently. You get a ragtag group of survivors who hold up in some building and have lots of character conflict with each other. Eventually the end of the film always gets really dark because someone fucks up and the zombies get in and brutally kill just about everyone. Combined with a lot of heavy-handed messages about how the zombies represent the socially downtrodden. Even Sean of The Dead and 28 Days Later follow this formula. Almost all zombie films are like this. You seen one, you seen them all.
This film breaks that formula. Because it's not really about zombies. It's about 4 really funny good guys kicking ass and cracking wise. The zombies are just there to give them something to kick the shit out of. The end isn't a last stand, but the hero rescuing the damsel in distress. And there's just something really funny about Little Miss Sunshine blowing away a bunch of mutant monsters and then trying to explain the complex nature of Hannah Montana to a Psychobilly hooligan.
I wouldn't describe the Romero films as simplistically as that. It can be debated whether or not Night of the Living Dead has overt themes about race relations all day, but the themes about consumerism in Dawn of the Dead, conservative government in Day of the Dead, and the age of Youtube in Diary of the Dead make those films a little more complex than the formula they use to accomplish their messages.
It is like 2 weeks into fall, give me a break. Either way, I can count on one hand the solidly Good/Great movies that came out in late September/early October in the last decade or so. From August through October is generally pretty dead. A bunch of stuff that didn't make the cut for the competitive summer season and isn't "Oscar bait" enough for November/December. You run into the same lull from late January 'til April or so most years.
In any case, it is still a good movie.
BM. At least for me it was such.
I really enjoyed this movie. It took a while for the laughs to start, but it was worth it.
Yeah, but that's not what I was getting at. Just about every zombie movie sticks to a plot formula. Rarely have I ever seen any zombie film not break the formula that I mentioned. Zombieland was different in that it broke the formula.
Really? The audience I was with was cracking up from the beginning, with the fat guy trying to outrun the zombie.
I thought the whole introduction with the kid laying out his survival rules was hilarious.
I didn't think it could be done...but Star Trek has been knocked off its throne and been replaced by Zombieland as my favorite film of 2009 and that's saying a lot for me since I am not a big fan of them. This movie though is different...it's a buddy flick and a romantic comedy disguised as a zombie movie! The zombies are almost secondary in the movie. I loved everyone in the movie. I loved how it was shot, how it looked, the score, the script, and the acting were all brilliant. I'm getting the DVD for this when it comes out. I hope there's a score released too.
Loved this, btw. Definitely worth seeing.
That said, I hope one day someone releases a zombie movie based entirely on a 24 hour news network. Something about the idea of CNN or Fox covering the destruction of the United States and the world in a zombie apocalypse as it happens just strikes me as immensely entertaining.
That said, I hope one day someone releases a zombie movie based entirely on a 24 hour news network. Something about the idea of CNN or Fox covering the destruction of the United States and the world in a zombie apocalypse as it happens just strikes me as immensely entertaining.
Lol, I'm sure if that did happen FOX would find a way to blame the democrats for it, and MSNBC would find a way to blame the republicans.
Fair enough, although I'm curious, have you seen Fido? It certainly breaks from the forumla you mention.
S
Stone_Cold_Sisko
Guest
Really funny movie. I was pretty impressed actually with the filmmaking itself. Well directed, very polished, good effects, etc.
No, but I've heard it's pretty good.
I had been thinking lately how a certain genre of movie no longer existed. Genre films with a strong comedic tone. Though not parodies. Where there are likable, fun characters and a comedic sensibility but the genre elements are treated mostly seriously. There were a lot of movies like this when I grew up in the 80s.
There are others but the clearest examples of this genre were Back to the Future and Ghostbusters.
I think Zombieland is the closest too that type of movie I have seen in along time.
There are others but the clearest examples of this genre were Back to the Future and Ghostbusters.
I think Zombieland is the closest too that type of movie I have seen in along time.
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You're right about the formula; broadly speaking, the zombie genre can be called the Harlequin of horror movies. At the same time, however, I just so love the premise of the zombie film that I would gladly watch a dozen that were only variations on the 'begraddled survivors hole up and fight zombie' theme. There's something about the basic idea, the basic plot, that makes me empathize with the characters and get immersed in the story every time without fail. I've never met a zombie film I didn't like, other than Jesus Camp (a little too scary); even zombie movies I know to be objectively terribly made, I love watching them, bad acting, idiotic plotting, crummy effects and all.
This film, however, didn't have those; like I said, I'm hardly objective, but this was a top-notch zombie movie. I loved the repartee, I loved the one-off zombie gags speckled throughout, and I even liked the happy if not sappy ending. The cameo didn't work for me--I've never found him funny, honestly--but the rest was quite entertaining. Tallahasse needs a spin-off franchise, or his own comic book, maybe. I'd watch it.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
I think Evolution may have killed the concept for awhile.
Saw it on Friday afternoon. Loved it! Both DH and I thought it was hysterical! Loved the look of it, the 'feel' of it. Looking forward to getting it on DVD 
(think maybe we should get a zombie smilie....)
(think maybe we should get a zombie smilie....)
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