Negromancer News Bits and Bites from February 21st to 28th, 2021 - Update #21

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

BOX OFFICE - From Deadline:   The winner of the 2/26 to 2/28/2021 weekend box office is the animated "Tom & Jerry" with an estimated take of 13.7 million dollars, the second highest pandemic opening weekend.

GOLDEN GLOBES - From Deadline:  "Deadline" is live-blogging the Golden Globes, which will allow readers to keep up with the announcement of winners.

From Deadline:   Ellen Pompeo penned an open letter the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and “White Hollywood” a day before the 2021 Golden Globes.

From Deadline:  The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which puts on the Golden Globes, does not have a single voting member who is black.  The Directors Guild of America has joined the chorus of voices castigating the HFPA for this.

SCANDAL - From Deadline:  "Justice League" actor Ray Fisher and Warner Bros. still having a public feud.

COVID-19 - From YahooEntertainment:  Oscar-nominated actress, Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine), has revealed that her father, Michael, recently died of complications of COVID-19.

MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment:  Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Lee Daniels, talks about creating his own lane in Hollywood and why he still independently finances his films.

COMICS TO FILM - From Deadline:   Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams prep "Superman" reboot for Warner Bros.  There is no word on whether Henry Cavill, who has been playing Superman since "The Man of Steel" will be back.

SPORTS - From YahooSports:  The WNBA finally rids itself of its worst owner, former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, with a new ownership group.  One of the owners is a player, Renee Montgomery, whom Loeffler once disparaged.

STREAMING - From Deadline:   Winston Duke ("Black Panther") is in talks to play African-American historical figure, Marcus Garvey," in Amazon's "Marked Man."

MOVIES - From IndieWire:   No longer involved in the Marvel's "Blade" franchise, Wesley Snipes is developing his own "Blade-killer" movie.  It is a supernatural action movie with elements of shapeshifters and time travel.

STREAMING - From Deadline:  Steve Soderbergh will direct Zoe Kravitz in New Line's "KIMI" for HBO Max.

STREAMING - From THR:   ViacomCBS makes its pitch for the streaming service, "Paramount+" which is a rebranding of CBS All Access. There will be sports, reboots, sequels, and spinoffs.

COMICS TO FILM - From VanityFair:  The true history of "Justice League: The Snyder Cut."

SCANDAL - From THR:   Revered and controversial French actor, Gerard Depardieu, was charged by French authorities with rape this past December.  The news just broke recently, and the charge relates to an accusation of the rape of a young actress back in December 2018.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   BET has renewed "Tyler Perry's The Oval" for a third season after its Season 2 premiere.

STREAMING - From Deadline:   Netflix has won the auction for a story pitch for a film called, "The Bluff," which would be a vehicle for Zoe Saldana.

COVID-19 - From WebMD:  500,000 Americans now dead from COVID-19

BOX OFFICE - From Variety:   The winner of the 2/19 to 2/21/21 weekend box office is "The Croods: A New Age" with an estimated take of 1.7 million dollars.

SCANDAL - From YahooEntertainment:  Actress Gina Carano says that she is not going down without a fight after "devastating" firing from Disney-Lucasfilm, where she was an actress on the Disney+ series, "The Mandalorian."

BLM - From TheRoot:  African-American St. Louis Officer Luther Hall has secured a $5 million settlement agreement in his lawsuit against the city, related to his alleged assault by white members of the St. Louis Police Department while he was working undercover as a demonstrator during protests against police violence.

SCANDAL - From Deadline:  Fired-from-Lucasfilm actress, Gina Carano, says that she has some shocking stuff to say about Lucasfilm.

Review: Asa Butterfield the Best Player in "Ender's Game"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ender’s Game (2013)
Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violence, sci-fi action and thematic material
DIRECTOR:  Gavin Hood
WRITER:  Gavin Hood (based on the novel by Orson Scott Card)
PRODUCERS:  Orson Scott Card, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Alex Kurtzman, Linda McDonough, Roberto Orci, Gigi Pritzker, and Ed Ulbrich
CINEMATOGRAHER: Donald A. McAlpine
EDITORS:  Lee Smith and Zach Staenberg
COMPOSER:  Steve Jablonsky

SCI-FI/DRAMA

Starring:  Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Aramis Knight, Suraj Partha, Moises Arias, Khylin Rhambo, Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak, Nonso Anozie, and Conor Carroll

Ender’s Game is a 2013 science fiction and drama film from director Gavin Hood.  It is based on the 1985 award-winning novel, Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card.  Ender’s Game the film focuses on a boy who is recruited to lead the new fight against an alien race that nearly annihilated the human race in a previous invasion.

Ender’s Game opens in the year 2086.  An alien species called the Formics (or “Buggers”) have invaded Earth and only a legendary commander, Mazer Rackham, manages to stop the invasion, by great sacrifice.  The story jumps ahead 50 years.  Young cadet, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), has attracted the attention of Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis) from International Fleet, the organization that leads the fight against the Formics.

Graff and Anderson offer Ender a spot in Battle School, the place where he would be trained to lead the battle against the Formics.  Graff has the highest hopes for the boy.  However, the very things that makes him attractive:  his intelligence, ruthlessness, and empathy, may also cause him to fail.

Although I have been planning to do so for a long time, I have yet to read Ender’s Game the novel.  I think I even once had a two-volume edition of the novel and its sequel (Speaker for the Dead) that I bought from the Science Fiction Book Club.  From what I’ve read, much about the novel is left out of Gavin Hood’s film adaptation.

That may explain why Ender’s Game the film seems shallow and superficial.  It is an entertaining movie.  It even raises some issues that have real-world relevance:  child soldiers, war-mongering military institutions, lying governments, etc.  When it comes to military training and science fiction, the narrative simply offers the familiar.  It is as if the filmmakers did not want to offer the audience anything new for fear of making them avoid Ender’s Game.  As I watched this movie, I often thought, “There’s something missing here that I want to see.”

Another problem is that the film never really delves into the characters beyond Ender Wiggin.  The female characters fare the worst.  Ender’s female academy mate, Petra Arkanian (Hailee Steinfeld), and Ender’s sister, Valentine (Abigail Breslin), are wasted.  Because of her immense talent and skill, Viola Davis makes every moment that she is on screen as Major Anderson powerful.  The latter half of the movie sorely misses what Davis brings to the film.  By the way, Harrison Ford is not good here, or, to be put it nicely, is perhaps miscast as Graff.

Asa Butterfield is the champion here, creating Ender’s Game’s most powerful moments by making the rest of the cast rise to the level of his game.  I found that he glued my attention to this story.  There are several scenes in which he gives this movie an emotional charge when it really needs it.  There is depth and layers to his performance as Ender Wiggin.  Butterfield is the reason to see Ender’s Game.  He makes me want to see a sequel to this movie and to also follow his career.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, March 06, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Halle Berry is Good in "The Call"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Call (2013)
Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, disturbing content and some language
DIRECTOR:  Brad Anderson
WRITERS:  Richard D'Ovidio; from a story by Richard D'Ovidio, Nicole D'Ovidio, and Jon Bokenkamp
PRODUCERS:  Bradley Gallo, Jeffrey Graup, Michael A. Helfant, Michael Luisi, and Robert Stein
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Yatsko
EDITOR:  Avi Youabian
COMPOSER:  John Debney

THRILLER/CRIME with elements of action

Starring:  Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, David Otunga, Michael Imperioli, Justina Machado, Jose Zuniga, Roma Maffia, Evie Louise Thompson, Denise Dowse, Ella Rae Peck, Jenna Lamia, and Ross Gallo

The Call is a 2013 thriller and crime film starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin.  The film follows a veteran 911 operator who takes an emergency call from a teenaged girl who has just been abducted.

The film focuses on Jordan Turner (Halle Berry), a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) veteran 9-1-1 operator.  One evening, Jordan takes a 911 call from Leah Templeton (Evie Louise Thompson), a frightened teenager, when tragedy strikes.  Six months later, Jordan is now a trainer of new 911 operators, when she is forced to become an operator again after an inexperienced operator takes a 911 call she cannot handle.  Back in a situation she had hoped to avoid, Jordan must help Casey Weldon (Abigail Breslin), a teen girl who has just been abducted.  As Jordan tries to work with Casey, she realizes that a terror from her past has unexpectedly returned.

After watching The Call, which I greatly enjoyed, I realized that Halle Berry is at her best as an actress when the characters she is playing are in a bad place.  When Halle’s characters are being menaced (Gothika) or when they are living life on the edge (Monster’s Ball), Halle has a hit movie or critically acclaimed film.  Well, The Call features Halle played both – a tormented woman seemingly living on the edge of sanity.  Jordan Turner is menaced by the fact that a teen girl has been abducted by a terrible human being, and she is living on the edge as guilt eats away at her professional life.

The Call received what can be described as mixed reviews, but it was a hit.  I am giving it a very good review, and it is a hit with me.  I can see myself watching this again – in its entirety or in parts – whenever it starts appearing on basic cable channels or on local over-the-air television.

Abigail Breslin is quite good as the victim, Casey Weldon, being hysterically frightened or righteously angry, whichever a particular scene requires.  Breslin does not come across as the typical “missing white girl,” pure fluffy innocence and absolute virginal whiteness.

The Call has some holes in the plot.  The characters make some wrongheaded decisions, even when not under duress.  You have to really suspend disbelief because you know real people might have made smarter choices.  The big hole, however, is the villain.  He’s like a crystal meth-addled version of Hannibal Lector, which makes The Call’s last act sometimes seem like a cheesy copy of the last act of Silence of the Lambs.

Still, this is mostly good stuff.  Like Taken, The Call is a compact and mean little thriller that is determined to punch the audience to attention.  Halle Berry needs to do movies like The Call more often.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, September 01, 2013


The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause - Well, I Like It

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 227 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Michael Lembeck
WRITERS: Ed Decter and John J. Strauss (based upon characters created by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick)
PRODUCERS: Robert F. Newmyer, Brian Reilly, Jeffrey Silver, and Tim Allen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robbie Greenberg
EDITOR: David Finfer
COMPOSER: George S. Clinton

FANTASY/FAMILY/COMEDY

Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Spencer Breslin, Liliana Mumy, Ann-Margret, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Art LeFleur, Aisha Tyler, Kevin Pollack, Jay Thomas, Michael Dorn, Peter Boyle, and Charlie Stewart

Walt Disney Picture’s 1994 holiday smash, The Santa Clause, was a delightful surprise. Eight years later, the 2002 sequel, The Santa Clause 2, was entertaining but didn’t have the same magic or sparkle. Four years later, Walt Disney Pictures drops The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause – a riff on Frank Capra’s classic Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. While this new Clause doesn’t quite recapture the magic of the original flick, it certainly looks like a Christmas movie.

Christmas is approaching and Santa Claus (Tim Allen), the former Scott Calvin, not only has to get ready for delivering Christmas presents to children all over the world, but he and Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell), the former Carol Newman, are preparing for the arrival of a baby Claus. At the risk of giving away its secret location, Scott invites his in-laws, Sylvia and Bud Newman (Ann-Margret and Alan Arkin) to the North Pole to be near their daughter Carol at this special time. Scott also invites his extended family: son Charlie (Eric Lloyd), ex-wife Laura Miller (Wendy Crewson), her husband Neil (Judge Reinhold), and their daughter Lucy (Liliana Mumy) for the holidays.

Scott, however, doesn’t have much time for them, as he and head elf Curtis (Spencer Breslin) have their hands full with last minute details for Santa’s magical Christmas Eve sleigh ride. Offering his assistance at this busy time is Jack Frost (Martin Short), but Jack is chillingly envious of Santa. While Santa juggles family strife and a workload crunch, Jack is plotting to change time and take over Santa’s holiday. Who amongst his extended family will help Santa save the day?

Early in The Santa Clause 3, Allen appears listless, as well as seeming burdened by the 75-pound Santa suit he wears for the title role, but Allen springs to life when facing Martin Short as Jack Frost. A shameless ham, Short is the classic entertainer, always hungry for attention – happy as a pig in mud to get applause anywhere he can, so he’s been on TV, in movies, and on stage, as well as being an animated television character. Short gives every inch of his body to the physical performance of being a sneaky and lanky villain – twisting and hunching his body and contorting his eyes as he builds the kind of gentle bad guy that would fit perfectly on Saturday morning TV.

There’s no real edge to the rivalry between Allen and Short’s characters, but they make The Escape Clause’s unyielding holiday sentiment work. The concept and subsequent script are shallow, but it’s the stars that convince us of what the story is trying to sell. Allen and Short’s battle decides the fate of the real soul of the Christmas holidays and The Santa Clause 3 – putting up with your family and accepting your place in it.

Director Michael Lembeck, a veteran of TV comedies (and the director of The Santa Clause 2), doesn’t wow us with a virtuoso display of directing, but he knows how to sell sentiment, which TV does so well. Lembeck smartly captures all the visual splendor that Disney money can buy. It’s the technical staff: director of photography, the art director and set decorator, the costume designer, and the special effects wizards and their crew that give TSC3 its visual magic. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause looks and feels like a Christmas movie, and a glittery, colorful, and pretty Christmas flick, at that. For a little under two hours, this movie fooled me into believing that on a mild day in mid-Autumn, I was really home at the North Pole for Christmas. I can’t ask a Christmas movie for anymore than that.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, November 5, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards: 5 nominations: “Worst Actor” (Tim Allen – also for The Shaggy Dog-2006 and Zoom-2006), “Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment,” “Worst Prequel or Sequel,” “Worst Screen Couple” (Tim Allen and Martin Short), and “Worst Supporting Actor” (Martin Short)

Oscar-Nominated "Rango" Returns in Limited Engagement

PARAMOUNT TO RE-RELEASE ACADEMY AWARD®-NOMINATED “RANGO” BEGINNING THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 27th

The now Academy Award®-nominated Rango, from director Gore Verbinski and starring the voice of Johnny Depp, saddles up for a one week limited engagement at the ArcLight Hollywood beginning this Friday, January 27th. The original animated comedy-adventure from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies a Blind Wing/GK Films Production that takes moviegoers for a hilarious and heartfelt walk in the Wild West, was this morning nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film.

Rango is the winner of the National Board of Review and Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature, while top critics’ groups around the country have declared Rango the Best Animated Film of 2011, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

The incomparable Johnny Depp voices Rango, a chameleon living as an ordinary family pet who dreams of being a fearless hero and is challenged to become just that when he inadvertently becomes the sheriff of a lawless desert town called Dirt. Story by John Logan, Gore Verbinski, and James Ward Byrkit, Written by John Logan, Directed by Gore Verbinski, the visionary behind the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Rango delighted audiences of all ages, earning more than $230 million worldwide. The film also features the voices of Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.

Review: Excellent Cast Keeps "Little Miss Sunshine" Shining (Happy B'day, Alan Arkin)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 186 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sex, and drug use
DIRECTORS: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
WRITER: Michael Arndt
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Suhrstedt
EDITOR: Pamela Martin
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin, Paula Newsome, Dean Norris, and Lauren Shiohama

Seven-year old Olive Hoover’s (Abigail Breslin) deepest wish is to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, CA. Schedules and financial issues compel her parents: her mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) and her father Richard (Greg Kinnear), who is struggling to take his motivational seminar national, to make the trip from their home in New Mexico to California in a VW bus. The trio won’t be alone, though; the rest of her odd clan is coming along on this stressful road trip. That includes her heroin snorting Grandpa (Alan Arkin), her suicidal, gay uncle, Frank (Steve Carell), and her brother, Dwayne (Paul Dano), who has taken a vow of silence until he attains his dream – the Air Force Academy. Along the way, the Hoovers must learn to deal with their broken dreams, heartaches, and the broken-down VW bus. It’s the only way they’ll learn to accept themselves for who they are and to give each other the support that helps to overcome the challenges on the path of life.

Steve Carell’s hit NBC comedy, “The Office” resonates with audiences not because its portrayal of the working life in a corporate office is necessarily real, but because it captures the spirit of absurdity and idiocy that often thrives in the office space. Carell is also part of the ensemble cast of the film, Little Miss Sunshine, and perhaps, this movie resonates with audiences and critics not because it is a realistic portrayal of the nuclear and extended family (though the script does take verisimilitude to the next level). Little Miss Sunshine captures in its spirit the irritation, aggravation, and disappointments of being in a family while simultaneously capturing the essence of what makes being in a family so damn cool when it works right.

This charming little film gets it right from top to bottom – character, plot, setting, and concept. In fact, the Hoovers’ odyssey on that little VW bus and how they have to work together to make it run long enough to get them to the pageant and back is a metaphor for the hard won teamwork that it takes to keep a family in working order and working together – especially when it often seems that by every right it should be broken into hundreds of little pieces. Little Miss Sunshine doesn’t laugh at the family or their drama. Instead, it reveals the creamy inside of the family’s tough exterior through dry humor – the kind the family uses to deal with itself.

Little Miss Sunshine is also a superbly cast film because it has a superb cast. They hit their marks, and they get their moments right. Each actor knows that he or she has scenes scattered throughout the film when it’s up to the individual to not only sell his or her character, but to also sell this movie. From Steve Carell’s Frank having a run-in with a lover who spurned him to Abigail Breslin’s moment to make Olive shine at the pageant, this cast hits a home run or at least gets an extra base hit. It’s hard to find an ensemble cast that outshines them this year.

Little Miss Sunshine sometimes offers pat resolutions, but those are the sweetest pats of butter around. Sometimes, the actors seem too earnest and overact in making their characters weird and troubled. This flick, however, is filled with black humor, and ultimately, its seeming ease at reaching a resolution is hard fought. They show us the dark side of family, but it’s sweet as dark chocolate, and the aftertaste is one we’ll enjoy. Hooray to directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who saw the magic in Michael Arndt’s script and spun gold cloth from it, and bravo to the fates for giving us an enchanting cast to bring it all to life.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, August 27, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Michael Arndt); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Michael Arndt); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Toni Collette), “Best Film” (Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, and Ron Yerxa), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)

2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Toni Collette)

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Review: Creepy "Signs" Dances with Fate and Faith

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 127 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Signs (2002)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some frightening moments
WRITER/DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
PRODUCERS: Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tak Fujimoto
EDITOR: Barbara Tulliver
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

DRAMA/SCI-FI/THRILLER with elements of horror

Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, and Patricia Kalember

Farmer and pastor Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) lost his faith when his wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed in an auto accident, but when he discovers intricate patterns of circles carved into his corn fields (called “crop circles”), he embarks on an path that will alter his life. The mysterious markings cause a media storm and worldwide panic; trapped in his farmhouse with his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) and his son (Rory Culkin) and daughter (Abigail Breslin), Graham must discover if the crop circles are the signs of an impending invasion or are they part of a larger pattern of fate and predestination.

Signs was hit-making director M. Night Shyamalan’s third big-time studio film, and it was a huge theatrical hit. It’s a very entertaining film, although it is also a bit too serious and moody. In fact, Signs is so somber that it’s almost a chamber music version of solemnity. Still, like Shyamalan’s other best-known films (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable), Signs is a superbly creepy suspense thriller, a brilliant stroke of quiet, edge-of-your-seat thrills.

The performances and the mood of the film go a long way in dictating how an individual viewer will feel about Signs; those two elements decide the “fate” of the film, as it is. Gibson and Phoenix’s performance are too low-key, so much so that it seems as if they’re stuck in the mud. The children, however, are very good in the film, and young Ms. Breslin manages to be super cute and precious without being annoying; she delivers each of her lines and gives each one maximum impact on both the film and audience reaction. Signs is also an excellent rumination on fate and faith and on how often people mistake the “signs” and the important incidents in life as coincidences. If the film wasn’t so stiff, stuck in the mud, and so deathly deliberate and formal, I’d call it brilliant.

7 of 10
B+

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Review: "Zombieland" is Like No Other

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

 

Zombieland (2009)

 

Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)

MPAA – R for horror violence/gore and language

DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer

WRITERS: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

PRODUCER: Gavin Polone

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Bonvillain (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Alan Baumgarten

 

HORROR/COMEDY

 

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, and Bill Murray

 

It is common wisdom that horror comedies do not do well at the box office, but last year’s late summer horror comedy, Zombieland, was a hit. Things seemed to come together for this peculiar zombie flick that mixes the zombie apocalypse genre both with gleeful destruction and with silver-tongued clowning.

 

The United States of America is no more. The world is no more. All there is left is Zombieland. Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg) is an easily spooked guy and, in general, a big wuss, but he has managed to stay alive using his book of rules. He joins forces with a wild man named Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun-toting, zombie-slaying badass whose primary goal is to find the last Twinkie on earth. Together, they fight for survival in a world virtually taken over by freakish zombies.

 

Columbus and Tallahassee eventually meet two others survivors, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who have a unique way surviving the zombie mayhem. These young ladies are traveling west to a supposedly-safe, abandoned amusement park, Pacific Playland. As they join forces, these four people will have to determine which is worse: trusting each other or succumbing to the undead hordes.

 

Zombieland does work as a zombie movie simply because the zombies are convincingly dangerous and frightful. The film even has that air of doom, desperation, and forlorn resignation that permeates most zombie movies. Although it is clearly a descendant George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, while also borrowing the fast zombies from 28 Days Later, Zombieland is most closely aligned with the 2004 zombie horror comedy, Shaun of the Dead.

 

As a comedy, Zombieland is not particularly sarcastic, snarky, or even edgy. It is, however, witty and has a wry sense of humor. The film feels so strange because the humor is absolutely at odds with the terror of the zombie death lurking around every corner. The comedy seems most dry and droll when the cast is killing zombies, and there is nothing like deadpan humor in the face of bile- and blood-drooling monsters.

 

The performances are good, with Jesse Eisenberg pitch perfect as the hapless, virginal everyman, Columbus. Woody Harrelson is brilliant, and the proof of his exceptional talents is that he brings the same skill and dedication to this zombie movie that he does to his more serious (if you will) dramatic work. Director Ruben Fleischer, a veteran of late-night television and reality shows (Rob & Big, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”), creates the right tone for practically every scene, seeming to know when the movie should be comic, gross, scary, poignant, or just odd. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have created a concept, story, and characters that give the impression of being brand spanking new, while managing to make their influences practically not obvious.

 

Zombieland is a fine zombie movie. It is a distinctive horror comedy with inimitable style. I don’t know why it works, but I love this strange new film feast made from old genre ingredients.

 

7 of 10

A-

 

Saturday, March 27, 2010 

 

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