#32 Enjoy the little things.

This is a review, my first in quite a while due to scheduling issues, of Zombieland, a 2009 post apocalyptic zombie comedy. One of my favourite films, and one of the best zombie related pieces in quite a while, not to down talk The Walking Dead TV series...even if it's terrible.

Spoilers, as in every half decent review

So, the world has gone "total shit storm" and "Columbus" is just trying to get back to his family, if they're still alive that is. The only reason HE'S lasted this long is because he's a shut in, with a list of rules, and is a little bit paranoid. On his way back to Columbus, Ohio he runs into "Tallahassee", a one man zombie killing machine with an extraordinary vendetta against the infected, who is just looking for one last Twinkie. On their travels they run into "Wichita" and "Little Rock", con artist sisters who are headed to Pacific Playground, the zombie free havenon the west coast. After losing their car to the con artists, twice, Columbus and Tallahassee reluctantly join up with the pair and set out west. Slowly the group begin to bond, and Columbus starts falling for Wichita, and they arrive at the mansion of Hollywood's biggest star, Bill Fuckin' Murray. Stuff happens and Hollywood's biggest star bites the dust, we find out that Tallahassee hates zombies due to losing his child to them, and after an almost kiss Wichita and her sister finish the trip to Pacific Playland. In a bold heroic move Columbus and Tallahassee head after them to save the day, Columbus gets the girl and Tallahassee gets the Twinkie.

Not really a massive amount of plot, but for a film with a run time short of 90 minutes it's rather filling, and even though it's rife with cliches, it plays on them rather well. The zombie film cliches of a safe haven is immediately shot down by Tallahassee, and ironically turns out to be the worst place they could have gone. The classic romantic comedy angle of a runt like Columbus getting the beautiful Emma Stone is mocked openly by Tallahassee the entire time. Even the low budget film cliche of a single big star cameo is there with Bill Murray.

So the tone of the film, it's fun, it's funny, and in places it's quite heart warming, with moments of awkward humour that's actually laughable and doesn't make you cringe hopelessly, see anything by Miranda Hart, it really delivers as a film. Plus the tonne of memorable quotes and the text overlay onto the action is awesome. Before I critique the actors and close up I'd like to mention something that reminds me of Fight Club, you can read my review of that as well, they don't use names, except for obviously Bill Murray, in Fight Club Tyler Durden isn't technically real, the narrator uses Jack as a pseudonym, names have serious power and these films play it well.

So, the actors, Emma Stone is wonderful, albeit somewhat lacking for the main love interest of the film, Jesse Eisenberg plays his usual role but as with Now You See Me, another review of mine, the chemistry between him and Woody Harrelson is amazing, the two get on so naturally I often wonder if half the lines were improvised, and the performance of Abigail Breslin is very good for a child actor, equal to if not greater than that of Emma Stone. The choice of music was good, but much like a few other films it wasn't massively noticeable, the choice of Metalicca at the beginning was very appealing though.

8 out of 10, it's a comedy so I can't completely guarantee that everyone will agree, definitely worth the watch and maybe a few repeats...anyway, I'm hoping the plans for a sequel pull through, I'm out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156398/

Now You Don't.

Now You See Me, awesome film, saw it a couple of days ago and I'm sorry for the delay, let's jump right in! So, the film is about a group of struggling magicians who form a super-group called "The Four Horsemen" and pull off a series of increasingly impressive heists, meanwhile FBI agent Dylan Rhodes follows their every move in an attempt to stop whatever crime they are leading up to. Starring; Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo. As ever I would like to point out

THERE WILL BE SOME DAMN HUGE SPOILERS

so yeah, keep an eye out for that...

Magic is always a fascinating topic, for most people, it's a rare chance to be completely mystified by sleight of hand and trickery, and I'll be damned if I couldn't figure out some of the real magic tricks performed in the film. Director Louis Leterrier stated for filmireland.net that,

"What I wanted was 100% real magic. Nothing fantastic or supernatural, I wanted it to be real"

This meant having Harrelson trained in the art of mentalism, or "targeted guessing", and it worked fantastically. Whilst the premise of the film is original, the style certainly isn't, after watching it you might think to yourself, "I haven't watched Ocean's Eleven in a while.". The way the film is set up is very reminiscent of the Ocean's franchise. A group steal from wealthy tycoon/business in a way that is excruciatingly well planned out, then we are shown how they did it. Don't get me wrong, it worked fantastically, but it was a little disappointing considering the original material.

The acting annoyed me slightly, they all played their parts well but it was THEIR PART, Jesse Eisenberg was basically a more charming version of his character from "The Social Network" and "Zombieland", Morgan Freeman was the wise older guy who seems to know exactly what's going on, Woody Harrelson plays the slightly-goofy-but-rough-around-the-edges nice guy. It's not new terrain for these guys and they're all good actors, I'm a little miffed to say the least. If that wasn't enough the other two horsemen, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco, didn't get much time for expression AND THEY WERE INTERESTING!! However Mark Ruffalo and his french companion, Mélanie Laurent, gave a beautiful performance and had brilliant onscreen chemistry.

The camerawork was brilliant, the film looked beautiful throughout, both in the action sequences 
and the delicate parts, the CGI was noticeable bordering on being too much, however it was so 
fucking cool that I can forgive it, that machine they had AAH, SO MUCH WANT. The music 
probably fit, I have to admit I didn't really notice it, it didn't leave that much of an impression, 
interpret that as you will.

Lastly the plot twist, wow, it was fantastic. Throughout the film we are guessing at the potential
"fifth horseman" we are introduced early on to the idea of a vengeful magician whose body was 
never found, but this was too obvious. Then we're left with Morgan Freeman who has been 
scuttling around the edges the entire time, the beautiful foreign interpol agent, or a member of 
"The Eye" who has yet to step forward. It was none of them, it was the protagonist, Ruffalo. I am 
so incredibly impressed by this, DAYS AFTER WATCHING IT, this may not be such a big thing
to you reading but I didn't see it coming. As twist endings go this takes the crown, a wonderful 
change, admittedly a little cliche that he's the son of the magician but all the same it was well 
done, there are very few hints, his portrayal of a man completely oblivious to magic is 
extremely beliveable, and THE PROTAGONIST, I have never seen that done, it was sooo good.

All in all, 9/10, the issues, although they nag at me, are minor, thoroughly enjoyable to watch
and I hope you enjoy it, now the poster and the IMDB link, I'm out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1670345/