When it comes to end-of-the-world movies, I avoid them like, well, the plague.
But it seems like filmmakers and the movie-going population must like something about these kinds of stories. During a recent trip to the theater to see "Zombieland" (see the review in the Weekend Pinnacle Friday), which in its way is an apocalypse movie, though I prefer to see it as a zombie comedy, I saw previews for two new movies to add to the end-of-the-world genre.
I knew what "2012" was going to be about when I saw the title of the film. I learned about Aztec culture in Spanish class where we watched a film about it. Apparently the Aztec calendar predicts the end of the world on Dec. 12, 2012. That's only a few years away. It doesn't bode well for my chances of winning a pulitzer, writing a novel or falling in love and having a baby, if that timeline turns out to be accurate.
The movie "2012," which is set to come out in December, is about the end of the world and the people who survive it. Even John Cusack, who I enjoy watching in most films, isn't enough to make me want to watch this movie.
The other movie previewed this weekend is "Legion" and I got totally turned off when an old woman bit a man in the preview with crazy weird fangs and then scampered up a wall like a bug. And then evil angels came down to Earth. From what I can gather of the preview a pregnant waitress is carrying the messiah and has to be protected to save mankind.
These, of course, are just the most recent in a long line of movies. In fact there are so many, there is a whole Web site devoted to them. The Web site classifies the movies by date, dating back to the 1950s or by sub genre. They include zombies, plagues, nature, aliens and more.
The Web site is updated regularly because it does have movies for 2009 listed, including "Zombieland" and "9.
I will admit I've seen my share of apocalypse movies, inlcuding the animated film "9" and the zombie comedies "Zombieland" and "Shaun of the Dead."
But it is rare that a movie about the end of the world will get me to the theater. I just happen to see some when they are out on DVD or because it just happens to be on TV when there is nothing else on. I saw "I am Legend" with Will Smith, though I didn't really get it. I saw "City of Ember," which I didn't really think of as a post-apocalyptic movie until I saw it listed on the apocalyptic movie site, though given that it is about a city under ground I guess it fits into the category. I saw "Children of Men," the drama starring Clive Owen as a man who has to ferry the only fertile woman to safety in a dangerous world, but again I didn't really get it.
Most of the time I just don't like these movies because they are downers since they all involve a world that humans have destroyed - though sometimes aliens or zombies do the deed. They usually run for two hours, and then offer a little glimmer of hope. I'd rather have more hope up front. And I guess a little part of me feels that all the production and marketing money spent on these films could be better spent on fighting global warming or world hunger or any one of the plagues that is killing humans right now.
Of course, if a virus mutates to turn humans into zombies that can be passed through a rabid zombie bite, we're all probably just screwed.
Showing posts with label Zombieland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zombieland. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I love movie trailers
While most people skip through the trailers at the beginning of DVDs, I watch them. The same goes for the ones in the theater. I always make sure that I get to the theater early enough to watch all of the previews. If I don't, it somehow ruins the whole trip to the movie for me.
When the trailers start rolling, I put every future movie into one of three categories - I must see it, you couldn't pay me to see that and maye if it was playing nearby as a matinee I might see it. You could say the trailers are background research for future movie columns. While it sounds fun, writing a movie column can be a lot of work. I added up the movies I saw in the theater for 2008 and it totaled more than 30. That's more than one movie every two weeks. Crazy.
The good thing is that even when a movie isn't a hit for me, at least I leave the theater with something to which I can look forward. The last three weeks I saw "The Ugly Truth," and "Funny People," which I reviewed in the Pinnacle and didn't like, and "Julie and Julia," which will be reviewed Aug. 14.
The one thing I got out of all those visits to the theater is a list of must-see and maybe-see films. Here are a few of the ones that caught my attention.
Gamer - This is a sci-fi thriller about a video game in which players control the actions of real human beings who are prisoners sentenced to death. Not generally my type of movie, but it stars Michael C. Hall who is awesome in "Dexter." Gerard Butler and Alison Lohman are also in it, and the storyline reminds me of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game." This is one of those maybe for a matinee movie.
Zombieland - Okay, who doesn't love a campy zombie movie, especially when it is a horror comedy? This one stars Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg as gun-toting zombie fighters. This is a must see,but I do have some worries that it will never be able to live up to "Shaun of the Dead."
2012 - This is another apocalypse movie from the director of "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," Roland Emmerich. It is based on a Mayan belief that the world will end in December 2012, and to the chagrin of all the nonbelievers things really start falling apart then. From the trailer it looks as though U.S. government has secretly planned for this, but only the lucky will get safe passage out of the disaster. The movie stars a bunch of people including Thandie Newton, John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover and more. This is a couldn't pay me to see it movie.
Couple retreat - Parts of this trailer about a group of married friends who go on a couple's retreat looked pretty funny, but movies like this sometimes give all the laughs in the previews. The two reasons I might see it are Kristen Bell who played the ever-sarcastic girl detective Veronica Mars and Vince Vaughn who is just funny. This is a maybe.
The next two movies are both based on books I really enjoyed, and generally I go to see movies that are based on books I really enjoy, and then I am disappointed because the movie never tells the entire story.
The Lovely Bones - This is a tear jerker of a story about a young teen girl who is murdered, and whose family can't get over her death. In the movie, Susie is caught between this world and the next, as somewhat of a ghost who haunts her family. It is a heartbreaking story, but beautiful in the way author Alice Sebold tells it. Hopefully with the acting powerhouses of Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and others the movie will stand up to the book.
The Time Traveler's Wife - When I heard this book by Audrey Niffenegger was being adapted into a movie, I wondered how it would work. The story is a circuitious one of a man who travels through time, but with no control over it. He is not a scientist, but just someone born with a mutation that makes his molecules travel back and forth through time. He knows his future before it happens, and he revisits his past. The big concerns is how the filmmakers will deal with Henry's (Eric Bana) disappearances on screen, and also whether Bana and Rachel McAdams can carry a movie on their own.
When the trailers start rolling, I put every future movie into one of three categories - I must see it, you couldn't pay me to see that and maye if it was playing nearby as a matinee I might see it. You could say the trailers are background research for future movie columns. While it sounds fun, writing a movie column can be a lot of work. I added up the movies I saw in the theater for 2008 and it totaled more than 30. That's more than one movie every two weeks. Crazy.
The good thing is that even when a movie isn't a hit for me, at least I leave the theater with something to which I can look forward. The last three weeks I saw "The Ugly Truth," and "Funny People," which I reviewed in the Pinnacle and didn't like, and "Julie and Julia," which will be reviewed Aug. 14.
The one thing I got out of all those visits to the theater is a list of must-see and maybe-see films. Here are a few of the ones that caught my attention.
Gamer - This is a sci-fi thriller about a video game in which players control the actions of real human beings who are prisoners sentenced to death. Not generally my type of movie, but it stars Michael C. Hall who is awesome in "Dexter." Gerard Butler and Alison Lohman are also in it, and the storyline reminds me of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game." This is one of those maybe for a matinee movie.
Zombieland - Okay, who doesn't love a campy zombie movie, especially when it is a horror comedy? This one stars Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg as gun-toting zombie fighters. This is a must see,but I do have some worries that it will never be able to live up to "Shaun of the Dead."
2012 - This is another apocalypse movie from the director of "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," Roland Emmerich. It is based on a Mayan belief that the world will end in December 2012, and to the chagrin of all the nonbelievers things really start falling apart then. From the trailer it looks as though U.S. government has secretly planned for this, but only the lucky will get safe passage out of the disaster. The movie stars a bunch of people including Thandie Newton, John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover and more. This is a couldn't pay me to see it movie.
Couple retreat - Parts of this trailer about a group of married friends who go on a couple's retreat looked pretty funny, but movies like this sometimes give all the laughs in the previews. The two reasons I might see it are Kristen Bell who played the ever-sarcastic girl detective Veronica Mars and Vince Vaughn who is just funny. This is a maybe.
The next two movies are both based on books I really enjoyed, and generally I go to see movies that are based on books I really enjoy, and then I am disappointed because the movie never tells the entire story.
The Lovely Bones - This is a tear jerker of a story about a young teen girl who is murdered, and whose family can't get over her death. In the movie, Susie is caught between this world and the next, as somewhat of a ghost who haunts her family. It is a heartbreaking story, but beautiful in the way author Alice Sebold tells it. Hopefully with the acting powerhouses of Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and others the movie will stand up to the book.
The Time Traveler's Wife - When I heard this book by Audrey Niffenegger was being adapted into a movie, I wondered how it would work. The story is a circuitious one of a man who travels through time, but with no control over it. He is not a scientist, but just someone born with a mutation that makes his molecules travel back and forth through time. He knows his future before it happens, and he revisits his past. The big concerns is how the filmmakers will deal with Henry's (Eric Bana) disappearances on screen, and also whether Bana and Rachel McAdams can carry a movie on their own.
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