Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Zombieland (2009)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-04-2009, 09:58 PM:

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #8, 35mm SR-D. No presentation problems.

A zombie comedy! I liked it. Thought at first it was going to go a certain direction that would be "conventional" for a zombie movie, but then it kind of went another direction, and it sort of works. Heh heh.

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
Bill Murray? Get out! His 5-minute appearance makes the movie worth the ride.

The nerdy kid channels Michael Cera to the point where I wanted to strangle him. Note to filmmakers: Either hire Michael Cera and let him do his thing, or write a different character.

Love that the girls repeatedly outsmart the guys.

That said, this was entertaining and I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 10-04-2009, 10:16 PM:

This was a well made Zomedy (see what I did there haha) Everyone I think fit well into their part, Woody was great. I like how they would show the rules randomly when they would follow one of them.

4/5 [thumbsup]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-05-2009, 10:55 PM:

A good movie that I enjoyed. I might rent it again on Blu-ray, but probably won't buy it. MUCH better than that turd Shawn of the Dead which, I'm told, is supposed to be funny but seemed more like a serious zombie movie to me that was too long for its own good.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-09-2009, 08:08 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 18
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Dolby Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: The Zombie genre meets the road movie genre and spits out a sort of...I don't know...campy romantic comedy? Wackiness ensues.

Well that was fun. Not sure why...but it was.

Posted by Tom Inglis (Member # 5181) on 10-11-2009, 07:02 AM:

While not quite up to the standards of Shaun of the Dead, this is clearly the best the US can manage in the ZomCom genre.

I really enjoyed the ride, which took me completely by surprise. All the performances were spot on, and i for one love Jesse Eisenberg.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-11-2009, 03:50 PM:

quote: Tom Inglis
this is clearly the best the US can manage in the ZomCom genre.

Nationalize much?

Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 10-11-2009, 07:31 PM:

quote: Tom Inglis
While not quite up to the standards of Shaun of the Dead, this is clearly the best the US can manage in the ZomCom genre.

Don't forget that without George A. Romero's masterpiece 'Dawn Of The Dead' (an American movie), there would literally be no 'Shaun Of The Dead'. That's where the idea for the movie came from, not to mention the title itself.

Posted by Tom Inglis (Member # 5181) on 10-12-2009, 02:37 AM:

I clearly didn't say anything about an inability to make good films, or anything about the zombie genre as a whole.

I love and admire the US for the films it makes, but the sense of humours of our great nations are very different, and to me, the US idea of a comedy can never really approach ours.

Which isn't to say the US doesn't produce great comedy... just... oh dear, i should probably just stop now.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-12-2009, 04:25 AM:

Yes, I think that would be best.

Posted by Paul J. Neuhaus (Member # 3205) on 10-15-2009, 12:51 PM:

Great!! Had me laghing my ass off the whole thing through!

Joe, how could you not like Shawn of the Dead?? Next thing you'll say is you didn't like Hot Fuzz either!

Definetely Entertaining. Loved the Bill Murray tie in [thumbsup]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-15-2009, 01:19 PM:

Paul, watch those spoilers!

I didn't like Shawn of the Dead because it was boring. Also, everyone smoked in that movie which made me not care about one single character. I don't care much for its star, either. Hot Fuzz looked retarded (known as "spastic" overseas).

Posted by Gavin Lewarne (Member # 5397) on 10-17-2009, 08:49 AM:

Joe, "spastic" is an extremely offensive term over here in the UK and you will almost never hear it in any films or conversations.

I like both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. perhaps its an english thing, but most people over here love them both!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-17-2009, 02:16 PM:

Yes, Hot Fuzz looked "spastic". Very much so.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-17-2009, 02:37 PM:

So Joe thinks the movie is spastic (retarded). Some people like to smoke fags (cigarettes). Big deal, no reason to let it get to you.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-17-2009, 03:12 PM:

I thought Hot Fuzz was reasonably entertaining. But it sure wasn't great as the dog's bollocks!

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 10-25-2009, 01:51 AM:

I really liked the opening credits. I tried to catch them once or twice a week if I could.

quote: Bobby Henderson
dog's bollocks

When I was in Prague in November 2007 with some friends (one of them being British) we found a bar/restaurant called Dog's Bollocks. Here's my friend Tom [said Brit] by it. (it was closed, so we didn't go inside)

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-22-2010, 09:08 PM:

I rented the Blu-ray of Zombieland over this past weekend. The movie turned out to be better than I expected. All the promotional materials gave anyone a clear idea this was a comedy instead of a horror movie. Zombieland did a good job of keeping its momentum and maintaining a consistent tone even with some of the darker more serious character points thrown into the mix.

The visual style helped this movie as well. I loved how the various Zombieland rules of survival would appear on screen during various scenes. Titles of that sort don't work well in most other types of movies, but they were great in this one. Thanks to some help from CGI the zombies spewed and spurted more blood and fluids than usual. The crew took chances to cross lines of bad taste in putting zombie contact lenses into the eyes of 5 year old kids and having a soccer mom do a skidding face plant onto pavement after being ejected from her van. It's shocking, but strangely still funny. Rule #4: Seat belts.

The opening title sequence was pretty cool, definitely one of the better ones I've seen over the past few years. It's one thing to fit the titles into the perspective of each camera shot and another to have them getting bumped and broken by the rampaging zombies and fleeing humans. The high speed videography in the opening titles was created with a Phantom HD camera capable of speeds as fast as 1000fps. I kind of wish the crew used the Phantom camera a little more throughout the production; maybe it would have been able to handle some of the low light scenes better than the Panavision Genesis used on much of the production.

Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 02-25-2010, 02:27 AM:

When you re-watch it, pay attention to the little girls that grab on the the back of the bumper of her mini-van. One of them turns in to a midget with a full beard.