One of the more recent additions to the zombie threat is the fast-and-nimble killing machine. These reanimated corpses could care less about brains or flesh, they just want to kill you in the most frightening way possible. Even worse, killer zombies are distinctly faster and more agile than their undead brethren. Whereas a brain-eater usually takes ten minutes just to cross the street, these not-quite-dead men can leap at you with the ferocity of a rabid wolverine. Some even possess amazing gymnastic capabilities, despite not having possessed it before their death.

Heightened reflexes are your key asset here. You need to be able to deflect their quick blows, or at least dodge their fists as they try to pound you to a pulp. Try taking a few self defenses classes – they’ll help out tremendously. Also necessary is the ability to distinguish between these undead and their slower fellows. More than one town has been wiped out when they learned zombies were approaching and assumed them to be the normal run-of-the-mill shambling kind. Prepare yourself for every type of zombie attack, and you won’t fall victim to the same horrible fate.

I was originally just going to do a “Top 10 Horror Films of the Past Decade” list. However, once I started getting into it, I changed my mind. Instead of a list that would have focused on only a couple of strong years, I decided to pick the best horror movie from EACH year. Then I realized that there were way more BAD movies, so I figured I should list the best AND the worst from each year.

Although I stand behind this list 100%, I have to preface it with a disclaimer: I haven’t seen every horror film from the past decade. Sorry. This list will obviously include only those movies which I’ve seen. If you think this list is missing some important films (or if you just disagree with the picks) please let me know.

Other notes: These movies were categorized by the U.S. release date, and if the movie was labeled as “Horror” by IMDB, then it was included for consideration. If the movie was released straight to video, it was considered and reminisced about, but was not allowed to take a top spot.

Let’s go!!

2000 BEST:

AMERICAN PSYCHO

A fun movie, set in the 80s, starring Christian Bale as a yuppie investment-banker-serial-killer. Other people involved whom you may or may not care about: Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Chloe Sevigny, and Reese Witherspoon.

It’s been a while since I actually saw American Psycho, so I won’t try and write any sort of review. However, I think a handful of the other Noising Machine authors watched it not too long ago. Maybe one of them will comment?

Very close runner ups were Wild Zero (Guitar Wolf vs. Zombies) and Shadow of the Vampire (What “really” went on during the filming of Nosferatu).

2000 WORST:

There were some really weak horror films from this year, but I think it’s fair to say that none were worse than…
DRACULA 2000!! (aka Dracula 2001 in the UK)

From what I remember, this was your classic “bad actors portraying unlikeable characters within a plot that doesn’t work and doing it for far too long” type of movie. Gerard Butler plays Dracula, and it’s directed by the guy who did My Bloody Valentine 3-D.

Here is something that I wrote on June 3rd, 2005, directly after watching. It could almost pass for a review…

*Spoilers!*
“Dracula 2000: with a name like that, how can it be bad?!!? i remember attempting to watch this back in milford. well, not milford, but the upstairs of milford, otherwise known as “austin’s parents’ house”. i fell asleep during the first 20 minutes. luckily, i made it farther this time! barely. so far it seems i do hate dracula. all the movies have been rather boring. i think vampires are cool, and you could do alot with them, but these movies never seem to see it that way. so… it’s the year 2000, and dracula was never destroyed. his corpse was being held prisoner in an indiana jones type tomb inside van helsing’s vault. some theives break into it, hoping it holds treasure. OOPS!! they die. dracula escapes, grabs a trenchcoat (like a true goth), and attempts to reak havok on new orleans, while searching for van helsing’s daughter. they also gave dracula a new origin. turns out he’s judas. doesn’t work for me, sorry.”

And here’s a much better review by my pal Adam:

best part of the movie is when dracula is in new york and looks up to a big screen that has monster magnet playing on it and says: “brilliant”

proof (about the 3:45 mark):

Other movies from 2000 that were considered:
Final Destination: Stupid movie. But fun. Who cares.
The Gift: I honestly don’t remember much about this, but I’d like to watch it again.
Hollow Man: Runner up for worst film, but WAAAY more entertaining than Dracula 2000.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2: not good, but not bad enough. read a review of it here… Blair Witch 2 Review.

2001 BEST:

THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (or el espinazo del diablo)

A Spanish movie about an orphanage in the late 1930s. There’s a ghost too! It’s directed by Guillermo del Torro and produced by Pedro Almodovar, so it’s classy. However, if you’re looking for a movie with lots of gore and loud things jumping out at you, you’ll be disappointed.

2001 WORST:

JASON X

Alright… so Jason Voorhees, that indestructibly cute guy from the Friday the 13th movies, is cryogenically frozen by the government or something. Then it’s the future and these people discover a body and decide to take it to space and re-animate it. Oops. Now Jason becomes “Jason Voorhees 2099” and pretends to be the alien from Alien and kills everyone.

Honestly, I don’t know if this is the worst movie of 2001. For instance, Jeepers Creepers came out this same year. And in the non-major studio category, you’ve got Session 9, Beneath Loch Ness (read my review here), and Children of the Corn: Revelations (although this was direct to video).

With all this in mind, I chose Jason X because really, everyone should have known better.

Other movies from 2001 that were considered:
Frailty: I don’t remember this too well. So…
Bones: You know… Snoop Dogg… acting… (here’s my review)
The Bunker: German soldiers trapped in a bunker going crazy? (here’s my review)
The Forsaken: “The sexiest vampire film since lost boys,” says the quote on the box…
Hannibal: Oh look. Hannibal Lecter doing things.
Dagon: Based on a Lovecraft story. Cool creatures and environment. Thumbs up.
The Others: Pretty good haunted house film.
From Hell: Jack the Ripper story. Just read the Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell graphic novel that it’s based on.

2002 BEST:

28 DAYS LATER

This is the best zombie movie that is not a zombie movie. Very easy pick, because this film can hold its own against all the horror movies from the decade. That being said, I also enjoyed Darkness (more haunted houses) and Spider (Cronenberg film about a crazy guy) quite a bit.

2002 WORST:

FEAR DOT COM

Yikes. Here’s a review from June 6th, 2005:

“Fear Dot Com: even better title than ‘dracula 2000′!! and the actual website address in the movie is FEARDOTCOM.COM!! movies about the internet are always good. good like a blowjob from a meat grinder. remember how health department employees usually go around investigating murders? remember how hemophiliac children like to play in rusted old steel mills? remember how the internet only reaches as far as the edge of town? yeah. someone should make an internet that can go across the whole world!! and someone shoulda read the script before giving the okay to make this film. call me old fashioned, but i feel that when you write a mystery story, you should make it make sense… and be mysterious. and oh my god!! this film is horrible! everything about it!! worse than all of those independent, no budget, shot on video, straight to dvd releases!! oh man… quite possibly worse than jeepers creepers… no. it IS worse than jeepers creepers. alot worse. fuck. time to kill myself.”

Other movies from 2001 that were considered:
Cabin Fever: Ugh. This movie! Ugh.
Ju-on: Not good. Why did Sam Raimi love it?
Queen of the Damned: Any horror film with a soundtrack done by Jonathan Davis from Korn is… worth… seeing?
Deathwatch: British soldiers going crazy? Pretty good.
Red Dragon: Oh?! Hannibal Lecter is back again? Sort of? Dumb.
Cube 2: Hypercube: Pretty much the same as the first, so if you liked the first, you’ll probably like this one.
Dog Soldiers: Soldiers and werewolves, but not as bad as that sounds.
The Ring: I remember this film to be pretty creepy?
Signs: I also enjoyed this film. The effects were DUMB, though, right?
Resident Evil: Another film I remember liking back when I saw it.
Ghost Ship: Some cool deaths. Not bad if you want to waste a couple hours.

2003 BEST:

DREAMCATCHER

There weren’t a lot of GOOD movies to pick from this year. So, although I liked this movie, it basically won best movie by default. Here’s my 2005 review:

“Dreamcatcher: yet another stevie king story. god, i’m getting sick of him. it’s like half the horror section is comprised of his stories. the screenplay was written by guys who worked on return of the jedi, empire strikes back, raiders of the lost ark, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, and the princess bride. so you can imagine it’s gonna be a bit extravagant. this movie was actually pretty good. ever since first seeing the previews a few years ago, i thought it was gonna be dumb. but i was wrong. it was fun. it’s a survival horror/aliens attack film. if only it had will smith in it, i would give it 2 thumbs up.”

2003 WORST:

HOUSE OF THE DEAD

I’m kind of sad that this movie was actually released in the theater. There were sooo many other bad movies from this year, and they’ll all get ignored because of Uwe Boll’s shitty video game adaptation.

Here are a couple of movies that should have won worst film:
Jeepers Creepers 2: Like the first, but somehow much worse.

House of 1000 Corpses: “The acting is shit, the plot is a mix of a played out idea, and a fucking stupid idea, and the characters are just plain annoying.”

Other considerations:
Detour: “a small group of ravers are coming back from some big rave, when they decide to take a detour to find a large field of pot that is supposedly hidden out in the desert. then some tcm rejects attack them.”
Bloodthirst: Legend of Chupacabras: Awful. But obviously home-made, so somewhat forgivable. Review HERE
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Remakes are always good…
The Bone Snatcher: just your basic “monster chasing a couple people around in a secluded area” film. Read the review HERE.
Final Destination 2: about as much fun as the first one. You know.
Freddy Vs Jason: well… you’ve got Freddy… and you’ve got Jason. TOGETHER!!
Beyond Re-Animator: Pretty fun movie. Good gore, etc. Review right HERE.
Identity: From what I can remember, it’s fine, but I’ll never feel the need to re-watch it.
Flesh for the Beast: “pretty much your basic soft core film with murder and gut eating.”
Final Examination: “another shitty shit shit slasher film.”

2004 BEST:

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Yes, it is a comedy. However, it’s also a great zombie film. It can stand along side Romero’s “Dead” family, playing the role of the crazy uncle. Or something.

2004 WORST:

THE FORGOTTEN

I was going to pick Van Helsing, but at least that movie kind of worked within itself. The Forgotten never worked at any point. Jullianne Moore’s child is missing. Or did she ever have a child? What about McNulty? Did he have a child? WHO CARES.

Other movies that could have topped the lists, if they had tried a little harder:
Saw: When this first came out, I was hoping for a delightful maniac serial killer film. Then I watched it. Yuck.
Blood Gnome: Another direct to video, low budget trash bag. HERE’S a quick review.
Curse of the Komodo: Giant komodo dragons and zombie like creatures. Yes, it SOUNDS good. It doesn’t feel good.
Dark Harvest: Oh! A Killer Scarecrow!? How novel.
Dr. Moreau’s House of Pain: People in shitty masks being shitty. Direct to video.
Creature Unknown: “Like an x-files episode written by a 5 year old and stretched to fit into a feature length format.”
Dawn of the Dead: This is one of the few horror movie remakes that turned out alright. Not as good as the original, obviously, but fine.
The Village: I thought this was fun for what it was.
Exorcist: The Beginning: It was fine. Not great. Awful CGI, from what I remember. You only need to watch it if you’re trying to watch the entire franchise.

CHECK OUT PART 2 (2005-2009)!

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine

scott

Possibly related posts:

• Movie Challenge 2005: Chapter 9
• 10 Great German Films
• Movie Party: The Rocky Series
• I Very Briefly Grade All Of The Warner Bros. DC Comics Movies

So simple yet so good.

Scottish zombies deal with addiction to eating brains.

Choose life. Choose cannibalism. Choose a great big machete, choose taxis, wheel wrenches and air raid sirens. Choose undeath, bloody vomitus, and no pulse. Choose a cozy catastrophe. Choose a fortified country manor. Choose a happy ending. Choose one last hit of juicy, juicy brains. Choose to run and wonder if survival is as good as it gets. Choose rotting away for 28 days, a shambling, smelly, shrieking t**t. Choose your future. Choose life.

This week/end is going to be epic.  Alex and I are already having the best day ever together, and with a weather forecast for 10-20 inches of snow this weekend, our time together is only going to get more awesome.  Also, Alison gets home today and I think we all know what that means…

SOMEBODY CALL 911 SHORTY FIRE BURNING ON THE DANCE FLOOR!  WOOAHH!

So we may or may not be making constant updates here, just because we’re that cool and we want to make everyone jealous of smashing fun.

*******

So, wordpress is hilarious because you can see what people searched on google to find your blog, and how many times people searched  it. We usually get a lot of Cillian Murphy due to our general awesomeness, but yesterday, I saw something curious…

We’ve got a new audience!

-Alex

**********

**********

Still waiting for that snow to come.

*********

The snow has come. Also, I found this:

race wank

*********

HOLY SHIT that’s a lot of snow. It’s probably 8-9 inches by now. Vinca and I have been out twice and have made some delicious red velvet cupcakes. Pictures to come…

*********

ALEX, I WANT A CUPCAKE.  I’ll give you some awesome sugar cookies in exchange

Love, Kyla

**********

BEST HORROR MOVIES OF THE DECADE!! #7

Zombie movie? Political allegory? Humanist drama? 28 Days Later is all of those things and more – a genuine work of art by a director at the top of his game. What’s so amazing about the film is the way it so expertly balances scenes of white-knuckled, hell-for-leather horror with moments of intimate beauty. The “zombies” themselves – human beings infected with a blood-borne virus that causes them to fly into a murderous rage – are terrifying in part because of how quickly they transform. It’s not a slow, gradual conversion as in Romero’s Living Dead films but a near-instantaneous one that forces those around the victim to make a split second decision – kill or be killed? Of course, none of this would have mattered had Danny Boyle not been the one at the helm; it’s undeniably his movie, and it’s a transcendent movie-going experience.

source

See, I keep telling everyone that 28 Days Later is probably one of the most beautiful and fantastical films ever made, but still, people are still too much of pussies to watch it. Speaking of Cillian Murphy…

**********

I’m willing to watch that movie, I’ve told you that!  I just happened to fall asleep the last time we tried… -kyla

**********

ALEX AND KYLA TOGETHER AGAIN… without Alison   She’ll be here soon, she says.  In the mean time, it’s TWO AT A TIME WITH ALEX GORDON!  Interpret that as you wish.

Ok, I had so much fun doing the Best 9 of ‘09 I figured why not do every other year in the Aughts (2000-2009) and then the best of those best! Best of the WHOLE decade! So I’ve done that. It got harder and harder as the years went back, especially considering I was pretty young in the year 2000. But I think I’ve come up with a pretty good list of my favorites (and least favorites!) from the past ten years. Again, maybe Avatar or some other such movie will blow my brains out all over the place before the end of 2009 and force me to amend my lists, but we’ll see. Ok, I’ll start with the shakiest years and move forward ending with my best 9 of the decade:

Worst of 2000:
Battlefield Earth

Best of 2000:
9- Battle Royale
8- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
7- Shadow of the Vampire
6- The Emperor’s New Groove
5- Memento
4- American Psycho
3- Gladiator
2- Requiem for a Dream
1- Best in Show

Worst of 2001:
Jurassic Park III, Monkeybone, Planet of the Apes

Best of 2001:
9- Amélie
8- Zoolander
7- Ocean’s Eleven
6- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
5- Wet Hot American Summer
4- Shrek
3- Mulholland Drive
2- Monsters, Inc.
1- The Royal Tenenbaums

Worst of 2002:
Queen of the Damned, Signs

Best of 2002:
9- The Salton Sea
8- Solaris (2002)
7- Secretary
6- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
5- The Bourne Identity
4- Punch-Drunk Love
3- 28 Days Later
2- City of God
1- Adaptation

Worst of 2003:
Cold Mountain, The Hulk, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Best of 2003:
9- Lost in Translation
8- Bad Santa
7- 21 Grams
6- Kill Bill Vol. 1
5- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
4- The Cooler
3- Coffee and Cigarettes
2- Swimming Pool
1- Finding Nemo

Worst of 2004:
Alexander, The Village

Best of 2004:
9- Undertow
8- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
7- The Aviator
6- Kill Bill Vol. 2
5- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4- Primer
3- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2- Shaun of the Dead
1- The Incredibles

Worst of 2005:
The Jacket, The Devil’s Rejects, The Island

Best of 2005:
9- The Three Burials of Malquides Estrada
8- A History of Violence
7- Batman Begins
6- Oldboy
5- Capote
4- Grizzly Man
3- Paradise Now
2- Good Night, and Good Luck
1- Cache (Hidden)

Worst of 2006:
Ultraviolet, Thank You for Smoking, The Da Vinci Code, Superman Returns, The Wicker Man, The Black Dahlia

Best of 2006:
9- The Proposition
8- Inside Man
7- Stranger Than Fiction
6- Brick
5- Pan’s Labyrinth
4- Inland Empire
3- The Fountain
2- Casino Royale
1- Children of Men

Worst of 2007:
Transformers, Across the Universe

Best of 2007:
9- 3:10 to Yuma
8- The Bourne Ultimatum
7- The Darjeeling Limited
6- Michael Clayton
5- Superbad
4- Eastern Promises
3- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2- There Will Be Blood
1- No Country for Old Men

Worst of 2008 (and among some of the worst movies ever made):
The Happening, Wanted, Chapter 27, The Life Before Her Eyes, Choke, Repo! the Genetic Opera

Best of 2008:
9- The Fall
8- Iron Man
7- The Dark Knight
6- Young@Heart
5- Tell No One
4- The Wrestler
3- Slumdog Millionaire
2- WALL-E
1- Let the Right One In

I’ll post 2009 here again, just so your life is easier!

Worst of 2009:
The International, Watchmen, Adventureland, Surveillance, Public Enemies, Where the Wild Things Are

Best of 2009:
9- The Brothers Bloom
8- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
7- Inglourious Basterds
6- Zombieland
5- The Road
4- A Serious Man
3- Star Trek
2- Up
1- Moon

And here it is… the moment of truth…

My favorite 9 films of the Aughts!!!
9- Best in Show
8- Star Trek
7- WALL-E
6- Up
5- There Will Be Blood
4- Moon
3- Cache (Hidden)
2- Let the Right One In
1- No Country for Old Men

Well there you have it! My favorite and least favorite movies of the past ten years. Maybe not all technically the best movies ever made, but my favorite. Agree? Disagree? Think I’m crazy? Maybe I am. Why don’t you tell me about it, or better yet offer up your lists in the comments I’d love to hear them!!

December 17th, 2009 Chicago [IAN]

This list wasn’t as hard to compile as I thought it would be.  When I go to the movies, after I’m sitting there watching the credit, I decide then and there whether I’m going to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I don’t know if anyone shares the same sensation but after I see a movie I absolutely love, I look forward to owning.  Not necessarily to watch again (although that’s part of it) but to be able to share the movie with friends who haven’t seen it so they can love the movie too and we’ll have that in common (or they can hate it and it will always be a blemish on their permanent friendship record). So I looked at all the movies that came out in the 2000s and looked for the ones I owned and that made it easy*.  I also tried to put them in order of best to least best.  Honestly, the only numbers that matter is 1-15. After that it gets pretty interchangeable.

If I ever wrote anything on my blog about the movie, there’s a link to it.

50. The Fountain
49. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
48. Away From Her
47. Casino Royale
46. Up
45. Tropic Thunder
44. The Hangover
43. Little Miss Sunshine
42. The Way of the Gun
41. The Prestige
40. American Psycho
39. The Bourne Ultimatum
38. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
37. 28 Days Later
36. Raising Victor Vargas
35. Thank You For Smoking
34. Snatch
33. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
32. Lars & The Real Girl
31. The Constant Gardener
30. Old School
29. Shaun of the Dead
28. The Departed
27. Spider-Man 2
26. Best In Show
25. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
24. Finding Nemo
23. Love & Basketball
22. In the Mood for Love
21. X2: X-Men United
20. The Incredibles
19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
18. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
17. Spirited Away
16. The Royal Tenenbaums
15. Kill Bill Vol. 1
14. Almost Famous
13. Once
12. Oldboy
11. High Fidelity
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Love Actually
8. Brokeback Mountain
7. Pan’s Labyrinth
6. The Dark Knight
5. WALL-E
4. Memento
3. Children of Men
2. Before Sunset
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

To make my blog a little easier to navigate I have moved my analysis of the Dead trilogy to the link below. I’ll probably be doing this to all my written works from here on out.

Remakes & Ideological Constraints: George A. Romero’s Trilogy of the Dead

Director – Danny Boyle

Cast – Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Marvin Campbell

Release Year – 2002

Reviewed by John of the Dead

This film is highly regarded as being one of the best, if not THE best horror film this decade, and I myself agree that 28 Days Later is one of the best horror films this millennium has seen. Director Danny Boyle first came to fame for his film Trainspotting, which many consider to be the ‘UK version of Requiem for a Dream”, and has since gone on to win Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire. Pretty impressive for a guy with one of the greatest horror films of all time under his belt eh?

The film begins with lots of rioting and chaos on the street, for unknown reasons. During the chaos a group of animal rights activists break into a research facility and set free the chimpanzees that have served as guinea pigs for some very experimental material. The activists however have no clue that the chimpanzees have been infected with a “rage virus” and viciously attack the activists the second they are set loose. The “rage virus” acts quickly in the blood and within seconds they are “infected” and ready to spread the virus. Fast forward 28 days later and our main character Jim(Cillian Murphy) awakes from a coma in an abandoned hospital. He begins to wander around the city, curious as to where everyone has gone and why so many cars are left abandoned. Jim soon finds clues to lead him to believe that something catastrophic has happened. Newspapers with apocalyptic headlines and walls full of pictures of missing people adorn the downtown area of London. Soon enough he stumbles into an area of “infected” and he soon realizes that he is not alone, and must band together with a few other survivors to survive the carnage.

I really like how this film strayed away from the “zombie” element that most people wrongly associate with this film. The “infected” in this film are NOT zombies! For one they are not “dead”, and they do not eat people, they simply kill other people and that is it. The “rage virus” they are infected with simply causes the person to exhibit extreme rage that forces them to kill at will, and with extreme prejudice. I really liked how this film had the “infected” running at full speed and being quite agile, it’s pretty darn frightening and another non-zombie element thrown into the film. Directed Danny Boyle wanted this film to have a zombie feel, but to not really be a film about zombies. Mr. Boyle purposely had the “infected’ suffering from a virus due to our current/recent fear of viruses and other unpleasant pathogens. A mere bite, scratch, or even drop of blood in someone’s mouth or eye can turn them into a rage-infected person, and this happens very quickly as well. I love it!

One aspect that makes this film great is Danny Boyle’s execution and direction. Right off the back this film has the feel of a Danny Boyle film. We are shown very awesome and wide-panning cinematography and an amazing score and if you know anything about Danny Boyle…he is all about great cinematography and a great musical score. The opening scene 28 days after the carnage caused by the activists is the epitome of “apocalypse”. We see Jim staring off into the once bright and flowing city that now looks more like a ghost town all while a very chilling piece from the band Godspeed You Black Emperor graces your ears. I must also commend writer Alex Garland for his amazing scriptwriting and his use of conflict as we view scenes of strangers banding together, starting to trust each other, and then having to kill someone they just started to like due to them getting scratched by one of the infected. I also found some of the final conflict very interesting as it regards finding hope in repopulating the world as they know it, although not everyone has the enthusiasm as those who are for it and it leads to some issues of how far you would go to sustain the human species. Interesting stuff.

This film is more than just a simple horror film, and I think that separates it from the rest of the pack and is why this film has received such great reviews. The entire second movement did not incorporate much horror into it, but was actually quite fun and took a break from the “infected” action. There is still a bit of suspense because you know at the speed that the “infected” move about…they can attack at any time. The second movement did remind me a lot of the second movement of Dawn of the Dead, in which the characters go about having some fun and enjoying the fact that they are the only people around. They raid stores and take what they please just like the survivors did in Dawn of the Dead, showing that not only is Danny Boyle doing this film as his own interpretation of horror, but he respects the genre and is giving something back to the fans.

I really have no knocks against this film, although I must warn you that aside from all of the carnage this film does tend to move slow at times. I do not personally see it as a bad slow due to the fact that this film has to develop it’s characters(Danny Boyle does things right ya know…) and is really meant to shock the viewer with the visuals and dialogue and help us imagine what it would be like to experience Jim’s situation. So for those of us who can turn on our brains and take in the required development then this film’s slow pace at times should not be a problem.

Overall, this is an excellent horror film that is sure to even please non-fans of the horror genre. This film gives us a cool origin for the carnage, and is a break from the typical zombie-action that this film gets wrongly associated with. Highly recommended to all.

Rating: 9/10

Yes, it’s that time of year, when everyone makes lists of their favorite <fill in the blank>.  To boot, the end of this year marks the end of the ’00s so we’ll be seeing some longer lists as well.  I’m working on my 2009 list, and I’ll have that ready later this month, but in the meantime I put together my list of the top 50 films of the ’00s, and I’m going to share them 10 at a time over the next several days.  Please keep in mind that this is all subjective.  Some of my picks are no doubt more personal than others, and of course many films had to be left off–perhaps I’ll do an alternates or honorable mentions post.  Chime in with a comment if you are so inclined!  While I would almost certainly drive myself mad if I tried to rank the films 1 – 50, it felt right to group them in sets of 10, creating five tiers.  We’ll start from the bottom tier and work our way to the top.

I feel a bit guilty calling this group of films the bottom tier.  They are all excellent, and if I had to pick one thing that stands out to me about this group, it’s that it contains the largest number of genre films of any of my five groupings.  Many of these films reinvigorated and/or tested the limits of the genres they represent.  In order of (United States) release date, these films make up the bottom tier.

41 – 50

• Requiem for a Dream (2000) – Darren Aronofsky’s hyperstylized portrait of addiction interweaves the dreams and downfalls of richly drawn characters.  The film creates a perfect union between a familiar story made fresh thanks to Aronofsky, top notch performances (we all know Ms. Burstyn was robbed at the Oscars), killer cinematography (and sound design) and one of the greatest film scores of the ’00s.

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) – No less instrumental (ha!) to heralding in the return of the movie musical than better known titles, John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of his own off-Broadway production is a refreshingly original narrative, with an unmistakable punk rock spirit, that touches the heart with emotional universalities.  You will be singing the songs long after the credits have rolled.  The rock musical may not be a new form, but there has never been one like Hedwig.

• A Matter of Taste (2001) – I admit I have a soft spot for contemporary French thrillers, and Bernard Rapp’s A Matter of Taste is my pick for the best of the ’00s.  The film pulls from the crime procedural genre to frame a tale of obsession and control, rife with homoeroticism and uncomfortable food symbolism.  In the most Hitchcockian way, the film builds suspense not by keeping its conclusion a surprise, but by taking us on a harrowing journey en route to the place we know we are going.

• 28 Days Later (2002) – Danny Boyle may have found Oscar glory with Slumdog Millionaire, but it’s his bleak, apocalyptic zombie pic that secures him a place on this list.  With its realist look and fresh perspective on a tired genre, Boyle’s film ushered in a new era of zombie films, three years before Romero reentered the scene with Land of the Dead and two years before Zack Snyder’s well received remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) – The Harry Potter franchise as a whole could be credited with reinvigorating the family-friendly fantasy genre in the ’00s, but Alfonso Cuarón’s entry in the series remains the best to date.  Cuarón advanced the tale to the next stage, employing brilliantly dark imagery and bringing an oddly everyday feeling to the fantastic settings.  Pulling back from Chris Columbus’ bouncing crescendo style, Cuarón’s film gives the characters–and the magic–room to breathe.

• Kontroll (2005) – Nimrod Antal’s debut feature takes us underground into the Budapest subway system, and there we stay for the duration of this postmodern fable.  Dark comedy and action give way to unconventional fairytale horror and romance, all in an assured visual style.  None of it would matter if the characters were poorly written, and Kontroll owes much of its success to the motley crew that populates it.  One of a kind, and so far Antal’s best.

• The Descent (2006) – While the horror genre in the ’00s was mostly represented by a slew of disappointing remakes, Neill Marshall’s original film, The Descent, brought the scares better than any movie has in a long while.  Terrifyingly claustrophobic in its first half, The Descent boxes you in and then goes for the kill with a bloody final half that pays homage to its monster movie predecessors while remaining fresh.

• Man Push Cart (2006) – Neorealism was alive and well in the ’00s, and Ramin Bahrani’s film is a good place to start if you need a primer.  Completed in only three weeks, Man Push Cart depicts, in almost documentary style, the plight of working class immigrants in New York City.  The film is compassionate, but also unfussy and untouched by Hollywoodisms.  See also: Bahrani’s Chop Shop.

• Coraline (2009) – Pairing Henry Selick’s stop-motion wizardry with the stories of Tim Burton and Roald Dahl worked beautifully in the ’90s so one can only wonder why it took so long for him to adapt a Neil Gaiman story.  Luckily it was worth the wait.  Coraline brings a strong female protagonist to the screen (when’s the last time a children’s movie did that?) in a creepy, imaginative tale.  Seeing it in 3-D was a treat, but it’s a keeper even in 2-D.

• District 9 (2009) – Neill Blomkamp’s sociopolitically charged sci-fi pic was the surprise of the summer.  On a modest budget, Blomkamp tells a riveting story with a great cast of characters, the most relatable of whom are the computer generated aliens.  Paying homage to everyone from David Cronenberg to Ridley Scott, the film is a visceral and emotional thrill ride that is already being hailed as a classic.  Blomkamp shows a lot of promise and is definitely on FFFF’s radar as a filmmaker to watch.

]]> http://straycatcinema.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/the-top-five-horror-films-of-the-decade/ Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:01:43 +0000 J. Marshall Teegarden http://straycatcinema.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/the-top-five-horror-films-of-the-decade/

As the year 2009 wraps up, I thought I would submit another list about this decade of movies. This list of great horror films will be a shorter, more in-depth list than my last list. So without further ado, here is my list of the top horror films of the last decade.

1. Let the Right One In

Apparently, being a vampire isn’t cool or sexy, at least according to Tomas Alfredson’s Swedish horror/drama Let The Right One In. Alfredson reinvents vampires as miserable souls, and the story of a young boy and the girl/vampire next door is coldly grim instead of enchantingly romantic. Roger Ebert gave Let the Right One In 4 stars and it placed 203 on imdb’s Top 250.

2. 28 Days Later

Before Danny Boyle was an Oscar wunderkind for his Slumdog Millionaire, he made an extraordinary zombie movie that was ferociously intense.

3. The Decent

Claustrophobic and disorienting, bloody and brutal. A group of adventure-seeking women go spelunking without maps, and without knowing that the cave is infested with monsters. Watch the director’s cut for the better ending.

4. Isolation.

Deadly experimental baby cows are on the loose on an Irish farm! I know it sounds silly, but Isolation takes itself very seriously. It’s almost a crime how this great independent horror film is not widely known.

5. [REC]

[REC] is not the first film to use the “hand-held camera” gimmick, but it certainly is the best.

NATALIE PORTMAN

Read more HERE.

——-
——-

You know those typical horror mass-infection movies? Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, Diary of the Dead, and so on? Left4Dead basically lets you play out that sort of story. And it’s fun – serious fun – mowing down wave after wave of zombies with high-powered rifles. It’s mindless, really – typical rail shooter, no puzzles, just gunfire. Perfect relaxation game.

Left4Dead Title Screen

It’s based on Source, so it feels pretty much just like Half-Life 2. Just with less enemy types and more shooting. Loads more shooting. And blood – don’t forget the blood. As with most of the better games these days, it’s available over Steam.

Ah, football. A controversial rant.

I don’t mind football as such, I just don’t see the point in 20 men chasing a ball around a field for an hour and a half while two men try to stop them kicking said ball into a rope net. I don’t know – I suppose it encourages teamwork or something. To tell the truth, I don’t really ‘get’ any ball-sport. They all seem like wasted energy to me. I sort of understand people who feel the need to be able to run – I mean, if the zombie apocalypse comes, running would be a pretty useful skill to have. The same goes for archery, and motor racing. I’d like to be able to shoot a zombie enemy in the head or to power away from/through them in an F1 car*. Football just isn’t going to help when the undead start walking though… or at least not in any way that I can see.

Yet footballers earn more money than any of the scientists who might be able to stop a zombie plague. They also earn more than all the good people selling guns and cars with bull-bars on the radiator grills, not to mention the mass of soldiers who, in a 28 Days Later situation, might be able to Christopher Eccleston their way into making a stronghold.

They also earn more than doctors, nurses, bin-men, dentists, bus drivers and Steve – a guy I once met in the UEA pub.

If a football team went on strike, nothing would happen. If a bin-man – regardless of whether he was called Steve or not – went on strike, the nation would grind to a halt. Sure, football players spend more of their life in the public eye and deserve to be paid a little more for it, but no more than the men and women in the army whose lives may be lost at any moment. And no more than the doctors who could stick said army folk back together.

Even before the end of the world is brought about by half dead cannibals, it’s still grossly unfair that any one football player should earn in one game the same amount of money that most people do in a year.

You know what? It’s just not cricket.**

*I realise me driving the F1 Ferrari is somewhat unlikely, but so is the zombie apocalypse so I feel justified in mentioning it.

** Cricket is an exceptionally useful sport where killing zombies is concerned. If you don’t believe me, watch Shaun of the Dead. Ner.

Chapter Two of Syd Field’s “The Screenwriter’s Workbook” is titled About Structure. In my view it’s one of the most important chapters of the book, if not thee most important chapter. WIthout structure you’ve just got a series of scenes. A bunch of montages. A cavalcade of skits. A group of ideas. Structure provides the foundation that brings those elements together, and guides the viewer through them with some sort of narrative. I’m waxing poetic a bit here, but you get my drift.

The exercise at the end of the chapter is relatively weak. It asks you to watch a few movies and then break down their structure into a beginning, middle, and end. I’m not belittling what Syd is asking you to do in chapter two, it’s just a bit basic for someone who’s written a few screenplays, studied screenplay structure, or in my case already done the exercise for a previous screenplay.

Instead of doing the exercise I wanted to take a moment to talk a bit more about structure and why it’s important. As I was rereading chapter two, I realized that the problem I ran into with my uncle Doug, in regard to setting up “Pride is Forever,” was that he didn’t know about structure, specifically screenplay structure. He though that, along with most people, a screenplay is just a series of events. You write one event. The next event. The event after that. Then the end. Everything works out perfectly and it’s totally engrossing.

I just recently got in touch with a fraternity brother of mine, Nick. We haven’t talked in years. Nick lives in the Florida Keys and teaches wake boarding, kite surfing, and all sorts of other water based hobbies and activities. He’s quite accomplished in his field and has been featured in many demo videos for a lot of the companies that make the equipment he uses. If you’ve been to a surf shop it’s likely you’ve seen him in any of the videos playing there. Anyway, my point is, Nick’s put together quite a nice life for himself since college.

While we were catching up he asked what I was doing now. I filled him in on the whole IT thing and it’s lack of excitement. So we moved into free time, hobbies, and whatnot. Video games. Movies. Reading. Then we arrived at writing. I guess he does a lot of small short stories and stuff. I told him I wrote screenplays as a hobby. Instantly he wanted to share an idea he had for a horror movie. I don’t think this experience is that out of the ordinary for screenwriters. You tell someone that you write screenplays (be it a hobby or a job) and they want to tell you what they think would be a great screenplay. While it’s fun for an amateur like me, I can imagine that it’s really a pain in the ass for professionals. Anyway, I told him I’d love to hear it, since that’s pretty much what this whole blog is about, and I figured maybe I could lure him into writing it.

A few days later he sent me the “outline” he had for the script. I use quotes around the word outline there for a reason, it wasn’t an outline. What he sent was 6 episodes, each dealing with a different character and a different scenario. The overall gist of the story was that something happens and people just start snapping all over the world. He picked a few places people snap and then describes what happens. But it wasn’t an outline. It was a series of events.

The events were interesting to read, but there was no narrative that connected them together. There was no structure. They were completely independent from each other. I told him he needed to come up with something that connects these events together. I suggested he develop a character who is stuck in the middle of what is going on. Someone that isn’t effected by whatever is happening. Sort of like the survivors in “28 Days Later.” If the movie was just a series of events where zombies show up and tear apart various people in England it wouldn’t have been much of a movie. Instead, we follow a lone survivor as he tries to piece together what happened, while meeting other survivors, and fighting off the various threats they encounter.

I then told Nick that whatever character he comes up with should have some sort of pressing need. Something to drive them along. Maybe it’s a father who just arrived in town from a business trip and is trying to get home to his family to see if they’re okay. Or a cop who’s trying to protect an important witness. Or maybe a teacher on a field trip trying to keep all her students safe. It could be anything. But some sort of character needs to be able to drift into the various events he described.

That got Nick’s mind moving. He hadn’t thought about his story that way. He didn’t realize that there needed to be some over arching narrative that the smaller events would play into. Nick’s a smart guy, and if he wants to put his mind to it and set aside some time could turn his idea into a screenplay no problem. I’m not saying he’ll write a good screenplay, but he can definitely write it. To help him along I asked for his address and sent him a copy of “The Screenwriter’s Workbook,” though he doesn’t know it yet.

Chapter Three in “The Screenwriter’s Workbook” is called The Paradigm. I’ve talked about this a few times before, but the paradigm is a tool Syd Field has his students use to create somewhat of a skeleton to hang the rest of the story along. It’s the first time you run into plot points, mid points, pinches, acts, and all the other elements that will go into creating a proper structure for your screenplay.

I’m going to re-read the chapter tonight and post a bit on the results of the exercise tomorrow.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

The 2000s produced hours and hours of truly great cinema but, after much debate and discussion, Tangled Up in Wires has narrowed it down to our 25 favorites. Not to spoil anything for you, but Michael Bay didn’t make it. Read on to find out who did and then tell us where we’re wrong in the comments.

25. Oceans 11
Less than satisfying sequels aside, Steven Soderbergh’s remake of the Rat Pack classic doesn’t have a bad moment in it. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and the rest of the class have such great chemistry that the back and forth banter seems incredibly natural and hardly seems forced. Just as fun in the first moments as it is in the last, Oceans 11 is a movie you don’t turn off when it’s played over and over on TNT. (M)

24. Goodnight and Good Luck
Goodnight and Good Luck is a brief, fascinating intellectual and stylistic exercise that doesn’t idealize its protagonist. Instead, director George Clooney takes a journalistic approach to Edward R. Murrow’s fight with Senator Joe McCarthy. It helps when he populates the cast with low-key, naturalistic actors like Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, and David Strathairn, whose deadpan work as Edward R. Murrow went beyond a mere impression. Similarities to more recent events are irrelevant; more historical dramas should have the rigor and depth of Clooney’s. (J)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Documentaries can sometimes be tedious, 90 minute arguments for an issue that you become either strongly for or strongly indifferent towards in the end. Then there’s King of Kong, which throws all of that out the window. Documenting the battle for the record for the highest Donkey Kong score between long time champ Billy Mitchell and down-and-out everyman Steve Wiebe, the film takes a look into the cutthroat world of competitive arcade gaming while creating an emotional resonance that literally got me up and cheering the first time I saw it. (M)

22. Pan’s Labyrinth
Fairy tales are as much about tragedy as triumph, and Del Toro includes plenty of the former in his gothic horror film. Pan’s Labyrinth’s layered narrative goes to some extremely dark places, as it depicts the harsh, violent reality of life in fascist Spain in 1944, but still provides moments of tremendous beauty. This contrast is certainly helped along by some of Del Toro’s best effects and creature work ever. (J)

21. Lord of the Rings
It may be cheating to name a trilogy as one entry, but it’s really impossible to separate Peter Jackson’s three perfect adaptations of the classic books. Visually, the films are the most stunning sci-fi films you’ll see. Story wise, the films are extremely faithful to the books, and the strongest devotees have extended DVD versions with even more. The best part is that the films are hugely epic while not going over the top. Definitely classics that shouldn’t be missed. (M)

20. 28 Days Later
Danny Boyle’s anti-zombie film starts with a moment of such showy eeriness that it would have been easy to coast by on just that. But after working through the creepily empty streets of post-zombie apocalypse London, Boyle moves on to tell a story that, like the best bits of horror, is more about the monsters that lurk inside of us. Boyle doesn’t go for easy scares, and instead crafts a deliberate, assured film that’s still extremely terrifying. (J)

19. The Squid and the Whale
Noah Baumbach’s intensely personal film about a family taking sides in a divorce is at times a hard film to watch because of it’s unabashed realism. It’s hard to really side with either of the parents in the film (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels), and Jesse Eisenberg doesn’t oversell his role as the son stuck in the middle. Though he’d already gotten recognition for his debut, Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell movie), The Squid and the Whale brought Baumbach to the forefront of a new generation of indie filmmakers. (M)

18. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Despite making millions of dollars from it in the 1990s for his action scripts, its clear (probably some time around The Long Kiss Goodbye) that Shane Black soured on Hollywood. But the result was this completely overlooked near masterpiece, an entertaining, hyperactive, loquacious, hilarious action film with an excellent cast (anchored by Robert Downey Jr.’s typically strong work and Val Kilmer, looking like he’s having the most fun he’s had in year) and a fun, twisty script. (J)

17. Best in Show
Having already perfected the mockumentary with This is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest took on the world of dog grooming in his hilarious improvised comedy. A cast of fantastic improvisers come together in a film full of goofy one liners and genuine sweetness that produces some of the most memorable lines of all time. That’s really all I have to say, I have to get back to reading American Bitch magazine. (M)

16. Wall-E
Combine Buster Keaton, Arthur C. Clarke, Tex Avery, and Steven Spielberg and you get something close to what Andrew Stanton and the Pixar team achieved with Wall-E. It is not just a children’s film adults can enjoy or an adult film with some elements for children, Wall-E is a film for everyone. Underneath the shockingly dark dystopian view of the distant future and Pixar’s technical wizardry is a film with true heart and emotional heft. (J)

15. Primer
If you want mind blowing science fiction that takes at least a second viewing to fully grasp, then Primer is the movie for you. Shot with a tiny $7,000 budget and written by a former engineer and filled with technical jargon, the film’s take on time travel makes Back to the Future seem absurd as opposed to fantasy. Primer is a cult classic who’s impact on sci-fi will undoubtedly continue to grow in years to come. (M)

14. Lost in Translation
Sophia Coppola’s follow-up to The Virgin Suicides isn’t about story as much as it is about a feeling. Feeling lost, confused, and generally put down doesn’t usually lend itself to cinema, but in Coppola’s hands, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s loneliness takes on a fragile beauty, set against the backdrop of one of the most vibrant cities in the world. (J)

13. Brick
Making an old fashioned film noir picture is one thing, but setting it in a high school, as Rian Johnson did in his directorial debut, manages to make Brick an unpredictable, powder keg of a film, ready to blow at any time. A great performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a phenomenal script by Johnson make Brick one of the great independent features of the 2000s. (M)

12. The Dark Knight
Such is the nature of Christopher Nolan’s bleak vision for Gotham City that, by the end of The Dark Knight, the heroic Harvey Dent has become a supervillain who needs to be stopped, the vigilante Batman has had to burn the proverbial forest down to catch his nemesis, and half of Gotham is charred and burnt. Sure he catches the Joker at the end, but its cold comfort in a movie that is as much an anti-superhero film as it is a superhero film.(J)

11. The Incredibles
Not the most popular or commercially successful of Pixar’s stream of successful movies, The Increibles is their best. A pulpy, action packed movie that draws on 1950s comics, The Incredibles is just plain fun to watch. In a decade in which film heroes needed to be more human, The Incredibles are revealed as a normal family with the added circumstances of being forced to hide who they really are. (M)

10. Hot Fuzz
We here at Tangled Up in Wires know that Shaun of the Dead is generally the more popular choice, but, unlike Simon Pegg’s by-the-books policemanofficer, we don’t play by the rules! Hot Fuzz’s laughs are more consistent than its predecessor and Edgar Wright’s direction feels more confident, especially as he handles the big finale. Hot Fuzz is the rare movie that’s as funny when you’re shouting the quotes along with it, as when you’re hearing them all for the first time. (J)

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
If you could erase certain parts of your memory, would you? That’s the central premise of the Charlie Kauffman penned, Michel Gondry directed film. The film doesn’t so much dwell on the scientific possibilities of such invention as the human use of it. The film’s characters use it not to forget their childhood or embarrassing moments, but rather the ones they have loved or want to love. Great performances from a solid cast make the quirky story work on screen in a film that avoids any sort of classification. (M)

8. Donnie Darko
Appropriately enough for someone with a keen interest in time loops, Richard Kelly’s career has basically consisted of the same thing happening: he makes a movie, it is reviled and dismissed by the public, and then it gets a cult on video. But neither of his follow-ups work on the purely visceral level that Donnie Darko does. Part episode of Lost, part coming-of-age story, part Greek tragedy, and part nostalgic romp through the 1980s, Donnie Darko stretches the limits of science fiction until they rip apart. (J)

7. Memento
Before hitting it big with the Batman reboot, Christopher Nolan made a movie that is just as perplexing to watch the third time as it is the first. A story in reverse about a man with a severe memory condition is a taxing film to watch, but that’s what makes it most enjoyable. The film gets better and better with every viewing, as each time you know something you didn’t before. (M)

6. No Country For Old Men
As of 2006, the Coens’ output for the 2000s consisted of one decent, funny film, one puzzler, and two complete failures. Many had given them up for dead, but like Javier Bardem’s hulking, unstoppable force, they got back up and made one of their finest films yet. No Country for Old Men daringly casts aside narrative conventions, painting an impressionistic picture of the modern west and of people trapped by forces beyond their control. (J)

5. Children of Men
Alfonso Curan’s futuristic film could have veered into the realm of bad science fiction, but with minimal acting and barely even a musical soundtrack, Children of Men is a haunting and beautifully photographed film. The film never dwells on how the world got to be the way it is, instead focusing on what it is and how it can better, and once things are set in motion, there’s hardly a moment to breathe. Fantastic performances by Clive Owen, Julianne  Moore, and Michael Caine are punctuated by Curan’s trademarks style in this truly fantastic film. (M)

4. There Will Be Blood
Oil, money, greed, religion, violence. The question is what happens when you combine these forces and the answer is there in the title. There Will Be Blood makes no qualms about wanting to toss the last 10 years in a blender, but it avoids overt politicizing. Instead, P.T. Anderson’s finest film takes a stark, unflinching look at one person and how a combination of those forces mentioned above turned him into something much less. The violent, divisive epilogue to the film plays, especially upon seeing the film a second time, as the only natural conclusion to the preceding three hours. (J)

3. Adaptation
Charlie Kauffman had already established himself as a daring screenwriter, but with Adaptation, he raised the bar for originality in Hollywood. Rather than writing a straight adaptation of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, Kauffman wrote his struggles as a writer and person into the story, as well as a fictional brother Donald. Throw in director Spike Jonez, Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, and a fantastic Chris Cooper, and you have a quirky, thoroughly enjoyable film. (M)

2. Ghost World
Being young sucks. It’s not exactly the newest theme but Ghost World plays it to the hilt, casting Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson as the most convincing, disaffected youth this side of Neptune High School. But its only after they attempt to prank another outcast, just as lonely and misunderstood as them, that they begin to connect with the world. Ghost World is often hilarious, but there’s a real sadness underneath the laughter that gives the film a weight, boosted by Terry Zwigoff’s assured direction. (J)

1. The Royal Tennenbaums
Wes Anderson became an indie auteur master in the 2000s, but it’s first film of the decade, that is the most fun to watch. Filled with rich characters in an oddly vintage world, The Royal Tennenbaums manages to be a film about disappointment and forgiveness while at times be absolutely hilarious. Aided by a great cast, The Royal Tennenbaums is one of the few films I find I can watch over and over again without getting tired of it. (M)

For Wes Anderson’s third movie, he set out to make a film about Something. The largely ensemble nature, the more openly emotional beats, and the way he cranks his signature stylistic tics up to 11 all point to the high potential for messy overreach. And yet, through the clutter emerges a starkly personal vision of life’s ups and downs, filtered through the candy coating of Anderson’s direction. He borrows from Welles and Salinger (and from Schultz and Konigsberg and Scorsese and Jagger and Smith) like a neighbor borrowing sugar and eggs to bake a cake. Even if you recognize the ingredients the results are something completely unique. (J)

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Alex Garland

Tagline: His fear began when he woke up alone. His terror began when he realized he wasn’t.

Plot: Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

Cast:

Alex Palmer – Activist

Bindu De Stoppani – Activist

Jukka Hiltunen – Activist

David Schneider – Scientist

Cillian Murphy – Jim

Review(spoiler):

In the beginning we have a strange sort of virus which has infected some monkeys.  An activist group of some sort enters the laboratory with those monkeys with an intention to save them or whatever? I didn’t actually care about those screaming bastards and found no compensation for them, it was an irritating scene, after one monkey escapes he bites a person. The end? Unfortunately not.

Now we follow a guy named Jim Who suddenly wakes up from a long coma in which he has been for an unknown period of time. After he exits the hospital he finds out that the whole city is deserted. He aimlessly wanders around it picking up money & stuff. That is the only good scene in the whole movie because we have a nice view of what would it be to be feel/or be alone on the world, the ideas from “last man on earth” are clearly visible here, the mood & the soundtrack are nice, everything is in it’s place, too bad that this is the only good atmosphere we will be watching, the rest is just shitty.

After being chased by infected (who look like zombies but they can ran – no big difference to me but we will call them infected just to please those die hard horror fanatics) from a church Jim teams up with few servaviors who tell him what is actually happening (that dialog is filled up with all that apocalypse zombie movie cliche and all that survival bullshit). The tension is slightly falling now but it still seems like it will be a good movie.

Jim now wants to check out if his parents are still alive (although he knows they are dead) and guess what!? Those servaviors agree to help him??! What the? I mean, that lady explained a little while ago that every man is here for himself(if I can remember correctly, it’s been a while since I watched it), why suddenly help some bastard to find his parents (which you see the first time in your life) who are already dead? It’s unrealistic. But no matter.

Well in that dead parent group we lose 1 guy from our survival party. From the beginning it was obvious that the poor guy was only cannon folder and he will eventually die and we should feel no remorse for him. Bah. Anyway…I’ll skip some parts because they are boring.

Now our new party is Jim, the main female character, I forgot her name, some new girl and new girl’s father. They are trying to find some military base. After shitloads of zombie movie  cliche like “kill him, he isn’t your family member anymore!” we are in the military facility with some god damn horny soldiers.

As we move more towards ending we less know what’s going on. First the soilders want the party to join them than they want to rape the girls, than they want to kill Jim , than Jim wants to kill them by using the infected, than everyone kill everyone the survival party vs the soldiers vs the infected etc. It sounds like a god damn fucking soap opera to me.

Well, after all the movie has a happy ending (Who would guess that?!?!).

My rating: 5/10… The movie sux, it is boring as hell, it looks like some soap opera with love/hate stories etc. , and it is horribly overrated 2. I was bored  even by thinking about it while writing this review.  Another movie horribly overrated.

28 DAYS LATER #4
Written by Michael Alan Nelson
Drawn by Declan Shalvey
SC, 24 pgs, FC, SRP: $3.99
COVER A: Tim Bradstreet
COVER B: Francesco Biagini
Release Date: December 3rd, 2009

Selena and her new comrades have faced the Infected, but how will they fare against all the firepower used to enforce the U.K. quarantine? The pulse-pounding conclusion to the first arc ends here and the crew will never be the same again!

Dead Air 2009

Director: Corbin Bernsen

Writer: Kenny Yenkel

Starring Bill Moseley, Patricia Tallman, David Moscow, Corbin Bernsen, Dan Lauria, Elle Travis, Susan Ruttan, Larry Drake, Lakshmi Manchu and Federico Dordei

    This was a film that piqued my interest mainly due to the fact that Bill Moseley and Patricia Tallman were in it.  It sounded like a very cool concept, a besieged late night radio talk show besieged by zombie attacks.  The film did not disappoint it was like Talk Radio combined with 28 Days Later.  The film is anchored by the excellent performances by Moseley and Tallman, they are always a delight to watch and here there is no difference.  The film has a very isolationist and claustrophobic feel and it works very well.  It also feels a lot like a 3 person play and I could definitely see it played on the stage.  Also, the idea of terrorist biological warfare is a theme that everyone can relate too in these modern times.  All of these conceits are melded together well and it ends up being a great little horror film.

    The plot basics are this, it seems to be another average night for late night radio talk show host Logan Burnhardt (Moseley) who decides to talk about paranoia tonight, but that seems to be a prophetic choice of topics.  When a group of terrorists unleash a biological attack on the city, he sees things begin to unravel and soon he is the only person on the air that is able to warn people about what is happening.  It seems that the infected begin to act like zombies and anyone who is outside will be torn to pieces.  Not long after, one of the terrorists (Dardei) breaks into the station and holds Burnhardt captive along with his co worker and ex girlfriend, Lucy (Tallman).  It seems the terrorist wants to take over the broadcast and trick the city’s denizens into going outside so more people are infected and now it is up to Logan to find a way to stop him before more blood is shed.

    This was an exceptional film.  Bernsen’s direction is taut and suspenseful and there are lots of times where you feel nothing is going right for the characters.  They way he filmed it reminded me a lot of Talk Radio and that is one of my favorite Oliver Stone films.  The way Burnhardt eggs on and goads both his audience members and his coworkers is mesmerizing to watch.  Bernsen also films the attack scenes very well they are frenetic and quick and that works well in propelling the film forward.  The script is great too, you really get into the head of Logan and see how his brain machinations work.  He can be thoughtless and rude, but you also see sparks of his humanity in there and that makes him more than a stereotype.  The cast is phenomenal, Moseley steals every scene he is in and when he goes on one of his diatribes on the air, you are transfixed.  Tallman is another great member of the cast, you watch as she tries to get the humanity to come out of Logan, and you can see it is an uphill battle, yet she still perseveres.  The SFX and effects in the film are quite effective, there is not much but what is used is used effectively.  The film is more about mood and atmosphere and that works really well in this film.  If you want a original and fresh take on zombie films with something to say, definitely seek this one out.

This one gets 5 out of 5

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5FxYEmz7jjc&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5FxYEmz7jjc&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

Controversy and the games industry go hand in hand like Ico and Yorda if you’ll forgive the incredibly nerdy analogy. And if you’ll forgive that, please forgive my blatant theft of a quote from Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. Despite it not being an original comment of mine, you know the saying; if the shoe fits and there is no more snug fit for this comment than Left 4 Dead 2.

A comparison to the original Left 4 Dead is inevitable in any review. You can dodge it all you want but in the end, reviewers must face the fact that this is a sequel. So let’s get one thing straight: Left 4 Dead 2 is NOT Left 4 Dead. The underlying principles and gameplay mechanics are all there but so much has changed that a direct comparison between the two is unfair. With that out of the way, let’s get into the sole of Left 4 Dead 2.

Taking things a few steps beyond the traditional point and click affair of the genre, Valve have taken old concepts and utilised them in new and unique ways. Melee weapons are by far not a new idea within first person shooters but they’ve always played a background role, something you rely upon once you’ve exhausted everything else, or a way to humiliate that AWPing scumbag who didn’t have the foresight to move after he killed you last time. There is an impressive array of melee weapons to choose from and, despite what you might have heard, they are not all the same with a different skin, Some are more powerful, some are faster, some even have larger areas of effect. However when it comes right down to it, they all perform the same basic function and once you know how to utilise them it simply becomes a matter of preference whether you prefer a Katana, Cricket Bat, Guitar or any of the other 5 melee weapons in the game.

Valve also more than doubled the selection of weapons available from Left 4 Dead but considering the range of choices back then this may be seen less as an improvement and more as a necessity to add some variety to the mix. You now have a range of primary weapons to choose from all with different attributes to suit every gamer and the introduction of the new pistol (Desert Eagle) is very welcome. Not content with simply providing new weapons however, Valve also gives you a small ability to upgrade them with Laser Sights which increase accuracy dramatically and two new types of ammo; Incendiary and Explosive. These new ammo types either set on fire or stun targets respectively. Nifty little tools which add another element of strategy to the game.

Speaking of strategy, it hits the ground running right from the beginning and if you don’t catch up, you will be left behind and you will die. With the introduction of three new special infected and 4 new uncommon infected, the forces stacked against your chances of survival have greatly increased since last time. Particularly in the new Realism mode, players must work very efficiently as a team if they hope to make it to the end of the campaigns. The difficulty has been stepped up since the previous game and you’ll also find that the pathing on infected has greatly improved along with the number of ways that they can approach you. The “running climaxes”, despite sounding like a dirty movie, really seal the deal in making Left 4 Dead 2 feel like a frantic struggle for survival in a highly dangerous world. It captures the feeling of survival that you might obtain by being the sole surviving team member on a paintball field, or watching from your University Classroom as “zombies” stream past in a game of Humans versus Zombies.

The campaigns are more evocative and story focused than they previously were. There is a much greater emphasis on story this time around and each campaign links to the next, creating a wonderful sense of progression from Dead Center all the way to the thrilling finale of The Parish. Standard old game types are back with Versus rearing its ugly, trash-talk inducing head. Survival, which was a recent addition to Left 4 Dead, returns and little has changed there either. Scavenge is an interesting new game mode similar to versus except the survivors must obtain enough gas to escape and the infected must stop them and I’ve already mentioned Realism mode. In regards to replayability, if you don’t play Left 4 Dead 2 with friends you probably won’t feel like you’ve gotten your moneys worth. This is a game where you really need to play it with other people to obtain the full satisfaction of working together to complete some quite difficult scenarios.

That and the AI is absolutely terrible. No really, there were complaints about the survivor AI back in the original and in a surprising case of back-pedaling, Valve has managed to make the surivor AI worse. Whether this is to further encourage teams and social play I don’t know. Oh there’s another thing I need to mention; you can now form teams and go up against other teams to make Versus and Scavenge matches a little more balanced for Average Joe who just hits “quick match”. I don’t know if this will really catapult Left 4 Dead 2 into the competitive market but you never know.

In the end, what is Left 4 Dead 2? It’s certainly fun. I would say it’s a lot more fun than the original Left 4 Dead, but I still don’t agree that it’s a sequel. To me, Left 4 Dead 2 feels more like the final release of a beta. A beta I had to pay fifty US dollars for. I would go so far as to say that it’s worth the investment, with the caveat that the original Left 4 Dead was not. Having seen how much they were able to improve upon in one year and knowing that it certainly wouldn’t have taken them that long to impliment these changes in the original game I can’t help but feel a little bit cheated out of money that I had a year ago. So I’d put this up as a recommendation. It’s a fun game with truly interesting concepts and I’m not going to get into the whole censorship debacle because we’re saving that for a different article. Enjoy your zombie killing mayhem!



We have an odd and rather morbid fascination with the apocalypse. It seems that every year, there’s at least one blockbuster movie playing up the “World is at an End” motif. Just off the top of my head: Terminator 2, Independence Day, Armageddon, Deep Impact, End of Days, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 28 Days Later, The Matrix, I am Legend and so on and so on and so on and so on.

This year is no different with the release of “2012” based on the Mayan prediction that the world will come to an end on December 21^st, 2012 (12-21-12).

If memory serves me correctly, there’s been a few times in my brief life when the world was supposed to end.  There was Y2K of course, when computers were supposed to rise up and eat us.  There were those crazy Zetas, who warned that the Earth would stop rotating on its axis in 2003.  Most recently, a British group by the name of “The Lord’s Witnesses” promised that a final World War would destroy Earth on March 21, 2008.

These nuts have real balls.  If I were a delusional Nostradamus wannabe I’d pick a date like 2505 when I know for sure I wouldn’t be around. These Zetas and Lord’s Witnesses…what do they do now?  Did they all go back to their alpaca farms? Were they like…”Woe to you Jupiter’s moon! My life has been one big lie!” How many do you figure broke into investment banking, realizing that they’ve got to shine it on for just a while longer than expected?

The Book of Revelations promises signs for the coming apocalypse (see The Four Horsemen).  I’m a Christian, but at the same time I’m a skeptic.  Not about God’s ability to send us real and discernable signs. No, I’m skeptical about all those loonies who see the image of Jesus in their McSkillet Burritos.

But I have to admit that with 12-21-12 quickly approaching, I was a bit rattled when I heard the following news (as sure a sign of the apocalypse as I’ve ever seen):

The Oprah Winfrey Show to End September 2011

Said Winfrey: “I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye. Twenty-five years feels right in my bones, and it feels right in my spirit. It’s the perfect number—the exact right time. So I hope that you will take this 18-month ride with me right through to the final show.”

Winfrey continued, “So, the countdown to the end of The Oprah Winfrey Show starts now, and until that day in 2011 when it ends, I intend to soak up every meaningful, joy-filled moment with you.”

And so the countdown to the end of days has begun. So allow me to make MY predictions

On that fateful day, a couple things will happen. As soon as the curtain drops on her final show, Oprah will be beamed up to a spacecraft waiting to take her to New Earth located in the EL-RAM X System.

The rest of us will devolve into something like the following (just imagine a horde of dazed and purposeless women in place of the zombies).

Fill your canteens now, people.  Nuclear winter is coming.

Thể loại : Kinh dị, Xác sống, Mỹ

Năm : 2003

Hãng sản xuất : Fox Searchlight Pictures

Đạo diễn : Danny Boyle

Diễn viên : Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns

Nội dung : Một nhóm bảo vệ động vật đã đột nhập vào phòng nghiên cứu vi khuẩn để giải thoát cho bầy khỉ đang bị nhốt tại đây. Nhưng trong số đó có một con khỉ mang trong mình 1 loại virus lạ, nó làm cho động vật trở nên điên cuồng khát máu. Con khỉ tấn công nhóm bảo vệ và tất cả đều bị lây nhiễm. 28 ngày sau, Jim – nhân viên giao thư thức dậy tại bệnh viện London. Anh phát hiện ra toàn bộ London hoang tàn không 1 bóng người, thay vào đó là vô số những xác sống điên cuồng đang săn đuổi những người còn sống sót.

Audio : English

Subtitles : English – Vietnamese

Chất lượng : HD

Giá : 15.000 đ / 1DVD

Hello there fellow human beings: I’m Professor Magic Xylophone, an expert in all things science. If it’s Microbiology, Geology, Botany, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology well… you get the idea, I know it all. I’m going to use my extraordinary brain to stop you being deceived by the devils in Hollywood who use phoney science to fool innocent movie-goers. Let the science begin!

I will begin my new series with the charlatan of 113 minutes that is 28 Days Later, and also to a lesser extent its lame follow-up, 28 Weeks Later.

These two movies revolve around the concept of the accidental release of a highly contagious virus called ‘rage’, which causes all sorts of post-apocalyptic nonsense to occur. The rage virus itself is the most dangerous zombie virus ever depicted, causing the infected to run extremely fast with increased athletic abilities (not so bad), but with the side-effect of being really angry and spitting blood everywhere.

So could this actually happen, or is it just fantasy horror? Let’s take a look.

Point number 1:

In the movie, the rage virus is so fast and potent that a single drop of blood from an infected person can result in near instant zombification (in about 20 seconds)! Could this happen? No! A virus has to invade host cells, use their DNA to replicate thousands of copies of themselves and burst out, infecting new cells, and so on. Bet that took about five seconds to read? Imagine how long it takes to actually do and then have enough viruses to infect the behaviour of a massive animal like a human!

Point number 2:

Could you imagine how much DNA that virus would have to pack to cause such drastic changes in a human’s behaviour and physiology? Probably not, as you are mere mortals, but I can assure you no virus is large enough.  

Scrubs really jumped the shark after Season 5

Point number 3: