ZOMBIELAND

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone

Runtime: 80 minutes

MPAA Rating: R for horror violence/gore and language

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer

Many zombie fans will cry blasphemy at any zombie comedy now due to the tremendous success of the British cult classic “Shaun of the Dead”. After seeing “Zombieland”, all I can say is that I’m sorry Shaun, but this is better.

This comes as a surprise even to me due to that the film is 80 minutes long. It seems to be an Americanized version of a foreign idea (which never works), and has had several disappointing trailers that while funny, seemed to have nothing new. However, I haven’t been this entertained by a film since my first viewing of “The Dark Knight”. This film had me completely gripped from start to finish with never a boring scene or dull joke bogging it down.

The story begins with a survivor of a Zombie apocalypse nicknamed Columbus(Jesse Eisenberg) for his hometown and thus where he is headed to see if his family is still alive. While on his way, he meets another survivor nicknamed Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), as that was where his destination was. They then meet two other survivors, two sisters named Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) in a way that I won’t spoil here.

From there it turns into a road trip movie with the destination being an amusement park in California that is supposedly zombie-free. With this simple concept and characters and more then a few completely stupid plot developments, how does “Zombieland” manage to be as good as it is? This film proves that delivery is everything, and that simple mechanics used well and consistently throughout (you’ll see what I mean) can make even the most basic premise amazingly effective, entertaining, and just plain awesome.

Not only is “Zombieland” one of the funniest movies of the year, but it is without a doubt the best zombie film since “28 days later”. The gore and action sequences in this film are awe-inspiringly amazing and thrilling, while pulling great jokes off at the same time. For example, a zombie is killed with a banjo, a falling piano, and even more wacky things that I don’t want to spoil here.

The actors in this film are also very well-cast and include what is perhaps the funniest cameo I have ever seen put on film. Jesse Eisenberg does a great job playing what is essentially the nerdiest character to ever survive the apocalypse, while being very funny and charming. Woody Harrelson is a complete hardcore psycho when it comes to killing zombies and is a complete riot whenever he’s onscreen, which is all the time. Then, the girls, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, both carry their weight as well, being more than just a pretty face. Emma Stone plays a very effective…well, you’ll see who she plays, and Abigail Breslin of “Little Miss Sunshine” kicks off some truly hilarious moments.

In conclusion, see this one in the theaters as it is one to watch with a crowd that’s getting just as shocked, grossed out, and completely entertained as you.

 

A-

GAMER

Starring: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Logan Lerman Runtime: 95 minutes.

MPAA Rating: R for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content, nudity and language.

Directed by: Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor.

Gamer is a sci-fi action/adventure movie about a new type of entertainment, called Slayers, in which death row inmates are used and controlled in a real-life video game. Players, through modified brain cells in the inmates, gain direct control over their slayer in a real combat situation.

The inventor of this “game”, played enthusiastically by Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame, is a multi-billionaire who makes a deal with his slayers that if they survive 30 sessions in his game then they would be set free and receive a full pardon.

Into this mix comes Kable, played by Gerard Butler from 300, the most famous and recognizable slayer because the boy prodigy Simon, played by Logan Lerman from Hoot and 3:10 to Yuma, that controls him has won 27 battles and is as famous as Kable is. Kable is now trying to get out of jail to get back to his wife and daughter. I don’t want to spoil why he’s in jail in the first place or anything else because there’s so little story in the movie that I don’t want to ruin any chance that any of you will enjoy the story.

The basic premise of this movie, as in prisoners fighting for their lives to gain freedom has been done many times before, in movies such as “Death Race”, “The Running Man”, and “The Condemned”, to name a few. The only reason I had any hope for this film was that it was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the directors of the Crank films, which I loved as over the top action films with a seriously cool protagonist, Jason Statham.

Unfortunately, while Gerard Butler isn’t bad, he just doesn’t have the screen prescence that Statham has and thus the film can’t rely on it’s protagonist like Crank did, so all the weight falls on the action. The good part is that these directors know action and how to do it right, and while it isn’t spectacular towards the beginning, where we see all of these average, familiar slayer shootouts, it still is very bloody and pretty serviceable. However, (SPOILER ALERT) once we’re out of the prison, the action and the intense scenes become much more engaging and clever, particularly one in a rave. (END SPOILER)

The acting is pretty serviceable for the most part, especially Michael C. Hall and Logan Lerman, and some of the dialogue makes very funny allusions to gaming culture and thus has some great moments that I won’t ruin here. However, Ludicris plays the leader of the resistance against the Slayer phenomenon and he almost train wrecks every single scene he’s in. There’s one back and forth between him and Lerman that’s absolutely cringe-worthy.

Now, having said all that, it really is a pretty good movie. It has more than its fair share of problems, especially in the acting and story department, like a lack of character development for anybody, but it is a very fun and often exciting movie to watch. There are several very fun sequences and gory moments in here that’ll be satisfying for any casual action fan.

The only thing that really let me down in the movie is that there are several ideas and concepts in the movie that I haven’t mentioned here that just seem incomplete to me. I won’t say what they are, but there were several concepts that were included in it that only served in one or two scenes and just seemed like a waste of a good idea.

The bottom line for Gamer is if you have interest in it and want to see some pretty cool, but not terribly original action, go see it in the theater and see it loud and big, because it won’t work too well on DVD.

B-