Zombieland

**The Mike** · 10-04-2009, 04:09 AM

Quoting Dead & Messed Up (view post)

My favorite moment being when Abigail Breslin tries to explain Hannah Montana's two personalities to an impatient Woody Harrelson.

This might have been my favorite bit too.

**Fezzik** · 10-04-2009, 01:07 PM

Great fun.

The opening credits were amazing, and the extended slo-mos were pretty damn impressive.

I loved how the film kept coming back to Eisenberg's "rules" throughout the movie.

Everything was handled so blithely, even the uneven moments were hard to dislike.

As DAMU said, the cameo was just perfect and really put the film in a different mode entirely.

I'm glad you guys mentioned the Hannah Montana moment, because that stood out for me too.

The line delivery, in general, was spot on, especially Harrelson. I loved how, when they found the Hostess truck, he lamented aloud how he hated coconut, but added, almost as an apology: "Not the taste, mind you, but the consistency."

Really, really fun.

**Fezzik** · 10-04-2009, 01:12 PM

Quoting Sycophant (view post)

Though I will concede that "Albuquerque" may be one of the best names for a hero character, particularly played by Woody Harrelson.

Oh, his name is different in the final product. Still a city, though (all the characters are known by the cities they're from/going to).

**Raiders** · 10-04-2009, 03:27 PM

The film almost never steps wrong. It is very much dedicated to the character interactions and the terrific "rules." I will concede that the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" (an obvious inspiration here) being a big hit amongst my circle of friends certainly aided in my appreciation of this film. It never really tried to overplay any of the drama it occasionally interspersed and I actually found the moment where it reveals the truth about Harrelson's back story to be well handled. If there's a fault it is in the rather over-reliance on music cues and jump scares to generate the tension of the zombie attacks and the zombies themselves are not particularly interesting.

Oh and yeah, the cameo is pretty much the best thing ever.

**EyesWideOpen** · 10-04-2009, 03:37 PM

The cameo was great and the first ten minutes or so where entertaining but everything else was pretty mediocre.

**Dead & Messed Up** · 10-04-2009, 06:44 PM

This film also furthers my opinion that the best zombie movies are movies that take the time to avoid the zombies and get into the characters. Shaun, Dawn, Night, and 28 Days Later are first and foremost movies about people, and, frequently, the best sequences are ones that avoid zombies altogether.

I wouldn't place this film on equal footing with them - my point is just that Zombieland has a real heart underneath all its guts.

**number8** · 10-05-2009, 06:14 AM

Terrible dialogue aside, this was great fun.

**Ezee E** · 10-06-2009, 05:47 AM

Very fun indeed.

Is it just me or do you think Jesse Eisenberg was originally written with Michael Cera in mind?

The cameo was great, and I like the Emma Stone, even though she's not a great actress.

**Watashi** · 10-06-2009, 05:49 AM

Quoting Ezee E (view post)

Is it just me or do you think Jesse Eisenberg was originally written with Michael Cera in mind?

There's a difference?

**number8** · 10-06-2009, 07:35 AM

Quoting Ezee E (view post)

Is it just me or do you think Jesse Eisenberg was originally written with Michael Cera in mind?

What, you mean did his parents raise him to become Michael Cera?

The answer is yes.

**Raiders** · 10-06-2009, 02:07 PM

No. Eisenberg has been doing this longer than Cera (Roger Dodger anyone?) and though I'm a fan of Cera's, Eisenberg is more animated and to me all around more amusing.

**The Mike** · 10-06-2009, 10:22 PM

Quoting Raiders (view post)

No. Eisenberg has been doing this longer than Cera (Roger Dodger anyone?) and though I'm a fan of Cera's, Eisenberg is more animated and to me all around more amusing.

Right-o.

**Spun Lepton** · 10-09-2009, 10:18 PM

How much gore is there? I have a friend asking me. He can handle everything up to internal organs, so if there are any "intestine-pulling" scenes he wants to know ahead of time.

Hopefully, I'm gonna catch this over the weekend, so I might be able to answer the question myself. Given how frequently I get to the theater these days, though ...

**number8** · 10-09-2009, 10:44 PM

There's a brief intestine pulling. Just once, I believe.

**Pop Trash** · 10-10-2009, 09:36 PM

I mostly hated this. Terrible screenwriting that relied heavily on an unfunny and laaazy voiceover, unfunny and overcooked dialogue (I can just picture the screenwriters saying "What's a better way of saying taking a shit?" "Taking the Browns to the Superbowl!" "Oh yeah! Good one! Hi five dude!"), and flat, uninspired direction to prop up the bad screenplay. Eisenberg plays Eisenberg as usual, but with much worse writing/directing than The Squid and the Whale and Adventureland (two excellent movies BTW), his shtick feels forced and dull and I felt he easily could have been replaced by Michael Cera with about the same results.

There are, however, two scenes I liked and one is so great that it awakened me from my boredom and waiting for this thing to be over. That scene is indeed the one everyone is talking about, but I believe it has more to do with the awesomeness of the unnamed actor from the 80s than anything the filmmakers bring to that scene. The other scene is a series of jump-cuts of conversations about random topics like Abigail Breslin explaining Hannah Montana to Woody Harrelson. That scene made me laugh and at least demonstrated some inspired craft. The rest was pretty bad.

I made some comment in the "At the Movies" thread about AO Scott needing to come down from his ivory tower (re: his opinion of this movie) but I realize now he doesn't like it because it's a zombie comedy; he doesn't like it because it's a bad zombie comedy. It's neither funny nor scary. And I love Return of the Living Dead, Re-Animator, The Evil Dead Trilogy, Dead Alive, and Shaun of the Dead as much as the next guy. Sorry Scott. All is forgiven.

**Raiders** · 10-10-2009, 10:19 PM

I really liked the dialogue and the voice-over.

:: shrug ::

Don't know what else to say, really. Yeah, that one line you quoted is rather lame and writerly, but most of the dialogue isn't like that at all. His rules, and the film's frequent use of them, were pretty inspired I thought (and as I mentioned, certainly cribbed from the clever Zombie Survival Guide book). And the Twinkie motif, considering their reputation, was amusing as well.

And really, the whole Eisenberg = Cera thing is lame. So because some actor came along and created a similar persona, he should stop playing to what he's good at doing? Not to mention he's more neurotic and much more lively than Cera, and all around more enjoyable.

The part fit him well and he excelled in it. Same for Harrelson.

**number8** · 10-11-2009, 01:07 AM

I could tolerate most of the dialogue even though it was very terribly written, but the voiceover was just completely 100% shitty.

I think the director deserves a lot of credit for making it as fun as it is even with the crappy script.

**Dukefrukem** · 10-11-2009, 05:15 AM

I also enjoyed the voice over and thought this movie was pretty fun. I saw the BM scene from a mile away............

A couple of things bugged me. Wasn't it pretty obvious that turning on the lights and sounds would attract all the zombies? And why did they ever think to go on that ride?

**Dead & Messed Up** · 10-11-2009, 06:11 AM

I thought the product placement was worse than the dialogue (which I liked) and the voice-over (which I tolerated). I mean, hawk products if you have to, but Mountain Dew Red? Seriously?

**Dukefrukem** · 10-11-2009, 06:15 AM

Quoting Dead & Messed Up (view post)

I thought the product placement was worse than the dialogue (which I liked) and the voice-over (which I tolerated). I mean, hawk products if you have to, but Mountain Dew Red? Seriously?

I didn't even notice. I just figured that is what they thought nerds drink.

**number8** · 10-11-2009, 06:19 AM

Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)

I didn't even notice. I just figured that is what they thought nerds drink.

Then they're posers. Wrong Mountain Dew flavor, man.

**Dead & Messed Up** · 10-11-2009, 08:22 AM

Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)

Wasn't it pretty obvious that turning on the lights and sounds would attract all the zombies?

Yes.

And why did they ever think to go on that ride?

Because they are dumb.

**eternity** · 10-11-2009, 07:41 PM

That was...okay.

**Dukefrukem** · 10-12-2009, 12:02 PM

A couple of things I thought about driving to work this morning.

Driving into LA, there should have been way more zombies looming around. Just like in The Walking Dead, there should have a been a fear to go anywhere near a city. They drove through LA way too easy.

And I wish they revealed more of the "rules". There were 32 of them? (33 was added in the movie) Why didn't we get to see more? Instead the first three were the only ones really repeated. They could have had fun with that.

**NickGlass** · 11-03-2009, 04:54 PM

Quoting Pop Trash (view post)

I mostly hated this. Terrible screenwriting that relied heavily on an unfunny and laaazy voiceover, unfunny and overcooked dialogue (I can just picture the screenwriters saying "What's a better way of saying taking a shit?" "Taking the Browns to the Superbowl!" "Oh yeah! Good one! Hi five dude!"), and flat, uninspired direction to prop up the bad screenplay.

Yes.

There are, however, two scenes I liked and one is so great that it awakened me from my boredom and waiting for this thing to be over. That scene is indeed the one everyone is talking about, but I believe it has more to do with the awesomeness of the unnamed actor from the 80s than anything the filmmakers bring to that scene. The other scene is a series of jump-cuts of conversations about random topics like Abigail Breslin explaining Hannah Montana to Woody Harrelson. That scene made me laugh and at least demonstrated some inspired craft. The rest was pretty bad.

Yes. And everything that follows is so much worse than what came before.

Thread: Zombieland

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