Zombieland – Ruben FleischerWatching this film for the second film after seeing it in the cinema and then again on Blu-Ray, you find little things that you may not have seen on the first viewing. This happens for most films. You pick up on things that improve the viewing, showcasing the acting or the direction. But sometimes, watching a film again, it makes it show its true face, you know, when you watch it again and it becomes laughable. Like recently, checked out the director’s cut Blu-Ray version of Watchmen. It was bad. I remember seeing it at the IMAX in London, and it was good, it wasn’t amazing, but it was good. Now i agree with some people saying it’s very boring. Anyway, back to Zombieland, another dose of Jesse Eisenberg with the recent review of Adventureland, here he plays a more confident type, but still shit at love. He’s the new version of Michael Cera, the middle-class version. It’s strange how both these actors have made a living being the uncomfortable geeky type. They both play it well, but it will get to a point where they will become utterly annoying. I love both actors, so we’ll see how it fairs.Anyway, back to the review, and the plot of the film is simple, Eisenberg who plays Columbus, lives in a world infested with zombies and meets Tallahassee, Woody Harrelson’s character and they form a friendship in helping them get to a certain place. On the travel to these places they bump into the sisters Little Rock and Wichita, played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, yes the kids from Superbad and Little Miss Sunshine. They all have place names to show where they are from, so they can show how far they’ve travelled trying to find a place to stay and hole up because of the millions of zombies after their flesh. Each actor brings a different style of comedy and acting, and it works brilliantly, all actors started from independent films that focused on acting and showcased how good these cats are and here they are allowed to show their funny bones with Harrelson stealing the show. A lot better than his strange cameo in 2012. Also look out for the hilarious Bill Murray cameo, which almost steals the whole film.It’s a great film to check out with friends and it’s a decent piece to add to the zombie survival genre, being genuinely funny, not as good as Shaun of the Dead, but it’s very close to being. Out of the two, Adventureland and Zombieland, i prefer Zombieland, so go check it out for the weekend if your bored.7/10Simon Childs
Adventureland – Greg MottolaJesse Eisenberg is a hero of mine. And with heroes, i can’t really say anything bad about them. And luckily, there is nothing bad to say about him, his acting, his career and especially this film, as it’s really great. It’s a lovely summer film, with an iconic soundtrack, a great cast and some really funny scenes. Maybe the inclusion of K-Stew or Kristen Stewart will want to rip your eyes out of your socket, but surprisingly she isn’t as annoying here then when she’s gallivanting in a fucking forest with that Pattinson lad. Here she kinda owns it a little. But when the cast around you are Eisenberg, Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig and mother fucking Dead Pool himself, Ryan Reynolds, its hard not to be funny. It’s gonna be in the air most of the time. I loved Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Parlour on Trouble, and Reynolds was fucking funny. I grew up with him. And then starred in amazing films like Blade 3, Van Wilder, Waiting, Just Friends, Smoking Aces, The Nines, Defiantly, Maybe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and filming at the moment, The Green Lantern, sure, it sounds like a shit career, but i loved like 90% of those. I respect the man, he married Scarlett Johansson for fuck sake, and the dude deserves credit. Set in 1987, it follows Eisenberg’s character, James Brennan, after graduating from college and finding that he wants to go to Europe and then University, he finds a summer job at Adventureland, the local amusement park owned by Hader and Wiig. There he meets Kristen Stewart’s character and they instantly have a connection of being wandering lonely souls who are stuck in a shit town. Throw in Ryan Reynolds, a local player on the amusement park who sleeps with pretty much anyone, and the relationship of Reynolds and Stewart is teased in front of Eisenberg and really, just little scenes that are sometimes funny, sometimes romantic occur. It’s a decent film, with a decent plot, we’ve seen it before, but it’s the way the characters act and the interactions that make this film what it is. The soundtrack as well is very memorable, and the older audiences will defiantly recognise some of the hits.Overall, it’s a good summer film, it has set pieces that will make you smile, and think of the summers you’ve had, chasing the girl or guy of your dreams, listening to certain songs or albums, going to parties meeting new people, drinking copious amounts of booze, wearing shorts and snazzy new t-shirts and wearing sunglasses all the time and my favourite, having most of the time you scratching your body because of either having hay fever or you’ve been rolling around in the grass. Yes, a summer of wonderful fucking times. The stereotype of the summer. Why don’t they show a real summer, most of the time too hot or raining, staying inside, not being able to sleep because of the heat, no more roast dinners, too poor to go out. It’s really lame.6/10Simon Childs
Clash of the Titans – Louis LeterrierSeeing this film on the back burner of a great film-centric weekend with Shutter Island and Kick-Ass, coming into the film i had doubts. I knew it wasn’t going to be great from the reviews and from the trailers I’ve seen. And plus my mother wanted to see this. And knowing her choice of films to watch at the cinema, the last film i took her to see was Inkheart. Yes Inkheart. I know. Shocking. And before that was The Mummy series too. All of them. But she did love Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. But still. Mummy and Inkheart. It was horrible. And this film fell into that category of being an action adventure film taking the viewer into a new place, into a new timeframe, and just letting their imagination be freed for an hour and a half. And that what Clash of the Titans tried to do. It tried to reimaging the original using better graphics and teaches the audience about Greek mythology. But because of my addictive God of War playing. I have a totally different perspective of the tales of Greek mythology. And I’m sure all of you reading this knows what I’m talking about!The film follows Perseus, a fisherman, after his mother and father with children are killed by Hades after a statue of Zeus is destroyed by civilians of Argos. It then sets a motion of events leading Perseus to question his birth and go on a mission to find weapons to kill Hades including getting the head of Medusa and using it to kill the Kraken. I won’t reveal the massive twist, but it’s obvious. Sam Worthington plays Perseus with Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. It’s a pretty great casting choice for Zeus and Hades and i would have loved to see more of these two. Just fighting or some shit. It was pretty good to see. But alas no Poseidon or Hercules were seen; disappointment. You’ll see throughout the film, a cast of relatively known people who have you racking your brains in having seen in past films like the villain from Casino Royale, the two off Skins and some other geezers looking hard. Sam Worthington plays a cross between the character in Terminator and Avatar. Shocking really, i think i know why he got the role. He must surely make a better film soon, maybe something that isn’t the same.It’s a film to see at film with a group of people, loads of popcorn, maybe a few drinks. It’s fairly gory and some scenes will make you numb. For an action film, it lacks action. Which is strange to say, but the set pieces just feel the same, like the whole scorpion set piece which just reminds you of Transformers. The ending is not built up and not realistic. The Kraken is fucking massive; i don’t understand how one wave he made would not have just destroyed that fucking city in the first place. Makes no sense!
5/10Simon Childs
Zombieland – Ruben Fleischer
