Zombieland

ZOMBIELAND DOUBLE TAP: another raucous romp

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Zoey Deutch and Jesse Eisenberg in ZOMBIELAND DOUBLE TAP

The raucous romp Zombieland Double Tap is a fun change of pace to the serious fare in theaters. To set the tone, it begins with the woman in the Columbia Pictures logo dispatching a couple of zombies. This is a worthy sequel to the riotously funny Zombieland, number one on my list of Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies.

In the original Zombieland, our young heroes (Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, Emma Stone as Wichita and Abigail Breslin as Little Rock – very early in their careers) band together to survive the Zombie Apocalypse with the master zombie killer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson).  Tallahassee’s astonishing skills and unwholesome enthusiasm are very funny. 

In Zombieland Double Tap, the characters, like the actors, are all ten years older. The young folks have learned from their mentor and are now equally adept at slaughtering zombies. This time, there is less zombie splatter, replaced by plenty of funny new threads. The four are camped out in the deserted White House and then travel to Graceland.

A new character Madison (Zoey Deutch) shows up, and Deutch practically reinvents the Dumb Blonde. A bit where she thinks up the business plan of Uber may be her funniest bit, but Deutch’s performance by itself makes watching this movie worthwhile.

Little Rock is no longer a kid, and she yearns for the companionship of a guy her age. Of course, she finds exactly the wrong first boyfriend (Avan Jogla) in a survivor who is hippie poser (named Berkeley!); not satisfied to impress Little Rock by plagiarizing Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, he even claims that he wrote Lynard Skynard’s Free Bird.

Luke Wilson and Thomas MIddleditch show up as clones of Tallahassee and Columbus. Eisenberg and Middleditch have a lot of fun with their similarly neurotic personae. Rosario Dawson is in this movie, too, and she’s a lot of fun.

In the comedic highlight of Zombieland, the group finds shelter in Bill Murray’s LA mansion where Bill Murray (playing himself) is surviving by impersonating a zombie.  If you stay through the closing credits of Zombieland Double Tap, you’ll be rewarded with a taste of Murray.

This a very funny movie. The Wife hates horror, and she enjoyed Zombieland Double Tap, too.

Movies to See Right Now

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Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY

Lots of new recommendations this week. My biggest takeaways from the Mill Valley Film Festival: 1) Marriage Story is an almost perfect film – right at the top of 2019 movies; 2) Jojo Rabbit is going to be immensely popular. And here’s my remembrance of the late Robert Forster.

OUT NOW

  • In his Pain and Glory, master filmmaker Pedro Almodovar invites us into the most personal aspects of his own life, illuminated by Antonio Banderas’ career-topping performance.
  • Where’s My Roy Cohn? is Matt Tyrnauer’s superb biodoc of Roy Cohn – and is there a more despicable public figure in America’s 20th Century than Cohn?
  • It’s tough to imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy the biodoc Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, about the first female mega rock star. 

ON VIDEO

Because its sequel is coming out this weekend, my video pick is the riotously funny Zombieland, number one on my list of Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies. It’s available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

On October 20, Turner Classic Movies is airing the timeless and fantastic comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). An assembly of eccentric, oblivious, venal and utterly spoiled characters make up a rich Park Avenue family and their hangers-on during the Depression. The kooky daughter (Carole Lombard) brings home a homeless guy (William Powell) to serve as their butler. The contrast between the dignified butler and his wacky employers results in a brilliant screwball comedy that masks searing social criticism that is still sharply relevant today. The wonderful character actor Eugene Pallette (who looked and sounded like a bullfrog in a tuxedo) plays the family’s patriarch, who is keenly aware that his wife and kids are completely nuts.

William Powell and Carole Lombard in MY MAN GODFREY

Movies to See Right Now

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Harry Dean Stanton in LUCKY. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

This weekend, I’m going to try to catch The Florida Project and Mark Felt – The Man Who Brought Down the White House. Of the movies that I HAVE seen, I like the often funny and stealthily profound Lucky, starring the late Harry Dean Stanton.

My DVD/Stream choices of the week are Woody Harrelson’s overlooked gems. The best, Rampart, is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Netflix Instant, Amazon, YouTube and Google Play. But check out The Messenger, Zombieland and True Detective, Season 1, too.

As they say, life begins with fifty Gs.  On October 22, Turner Classic Movies presents Raw Deal (1948), with some of the best dialogue in all of film noir, a love triangle and the superb cinematography of John Alton.

Claire Trevor in RAW DEAL
Claire Trevor in RAW DEAL

DVD/Stream: Woody Harrelson’s overlooked gems

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Woody Harrelson in RAMPART

Woody Harrelson has come a long way from his cheerfully amiable dunderhead bartender in Cheers.  As an actor, Woody swings for the fences and is attracted to larger than life roles.  He’s also famous/notorious as an off-screen provocateur.

And Woody works a lot.  This year, he’s featured in War for the Planet of the Apes,  Wilson, The Glass Castle and LBJ.

Here are some of Woody’s overlooked gems:

  • Rampart: In a sizzling performance, Woody plays a corrupt and brutal LA cop trying to stay alive and out of jail. If you’re looking for Woody Harrelson’s best performance, you should try this movie.  Available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Netflix Instant, Amazon, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The Messenger: Woody plays a veteran soldier helping a younger one (Ben Foster) through his new assignment: visiting military next of kin to inform them face-to-face of their loved one’s death in combat; Despite the challenging material, most people will appreciate Woody’s brilliant performance.  Available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Zombieland: Woody plays a master zombie killer is this riotously funny satire of zombie movies. Zombieland also features performances by Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Amber Heard and Abigail Breslin very early in their careers, and a priceless cameo from Bill Murray).  Available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • True Detective, Season 1: It’s a dark tale of two mismatched detectives – each tormented by his own demons – obsessed by a whodunit in contemporary back bayou Louisiana.  Woody is very good – but Matthew McConaughey’s performance may have been the best on TV that year. Available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from HBO GO, Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies

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SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Here’s my list of Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies.  I’m generally not a fan of the genre because the primary elements of a zombie movie  – gross looking zombies, gory human deaths and spectacular zombie slaughter – just aren’t enough to keep me coming back.

That’s why the best zombie movies are hybrids of another genre.    I’ve highlighted five movies that use the framework of the zombie genre to create movies that can stand on their own as comedies or thrillers.  Plus they ease off on the gore, which is just fine by me.

The very idea of reanimated dead who must eat live humans is, of course, absurd, and that absurdity can set up some fine film comedy, including Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, Fido and Warm Bodies.  And when you add a first rate filmmaker like Danny Boyle to the mix, you can get a top thriller – 28 Days Later.

2010 in Review: The Year of Lousy Comedies

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It’s not that weren’t ANY good comedies in 2010 – just not many.  And none made my list of the best films of the year.  The funniest movie was Iron Man 2, a comedy masquerading as a super hero movie.

Going the Distance and I Love You, Phillip Morris were good romantic comedies – a particularly meager genre this year.  Going the Distance was a rarity – a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults.  Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tried a novel approach that respected the audience – creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do.  Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict was the real problem of a bi-coastal romance.  The offbeat I Love You, Phillip Morris was a gay version of the con man, prison and rom com genres, and the risk paid off.

Once, we get past the three best comedies, there were the passable (but not especially noteworthy) Get Him to the Greek, Morning Glory, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Please Give, Get Low, Love and Other Drugs, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Youth in Revolt, Cyrus and Death at a Funeral.

The Locksmith, a funny little movie which won the low-budget award at Sundance, didn’t even get a theatrical release.

It was disappointing, because even the good 2010 comedies didn’t match up with 2009’s really funny and original movies:  (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Zombieland, The Hangover, In the Loop, Funny People and I Love You, Man.

This year, we had crappy comedies like Pirate Radio, Date Night and Soul Kitchen.   The worst movies that I saw this year were so-called comedies Tooth Fairy and Leap Year – two films that no one thought were good (but that I was stuck with on a long airline flight).   Not to mention that the most reviled movies of the year included the alleged comedies Sex in the City 2, Valentine’s Day, The Back-up Plan, Due Date, How Do You Know, Yogi Bear and Little Fockers.

So here’s the trailer for a non-lousy comedy (a romantic comedy, even), the original and funny Going the Distance.