28 Days Later... (non-spoiler review, and then subsequently a lot of spoilers)

[Pielorinho]

I quite enjoyed it. But then, I also loved Blair Witch Project, so clearly I'm not bothered by characters acting stupidly in movies .

The movie is about zombies, sure, but it's more interestingly about humanity's descent into savagery, real Lord of the Flies material.

Sure, there are "Boo!" scares, but not too many, and the ones I remember made perfect sense -- in fact, I was laughing at myself for not expecting the loud noise/sudden movement.

I definitely recommend it as a stylish, character-centered horror movie. If you want your movie characters to act like chess pieces, however, stay away.

Daniel

 

[Mallus]

OT...

Hey, don't you remember in the X-Files episode Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"

I think that episode is my favorite hour of television.

The same writer {Darin or Darrick something} wrote a brilliant episode of Millenium, also featuring JC, called "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense", which was a postmodern skewering of Scientology and self-help gurus like Deepak Chopra.

Pure hilarity...

 

[ArcOfCorinth]

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

 

[frankthedm]

....is the "Reign of Fire" of Zombie movies.

DEAD ON!

Also Brotherhood of the wolf seems to fall in this half an hour of trauma fluffed up with 1 1/2 + of drama fluff. Some Drama can work but these movies just didn't have enough good stuff for how long you had to sit through.

T2 had a perfect balance as an example.

 

[DWARF]

Oh, and Fight Club also rocks. But what makes it so great is how it contradicts its stated message... I mean, it features Brad Pitt dressed in Versace as an anti-consumerism terrorist? Without those credit card companies, how the hell did he afford those clothes??

Ummmm.... you do realized that Tyler was a figment of Jack's imagination, right? Tyler was what Jack wanted himself to be; and Jack wanted to look good but still be beyond consumerism. The fact that the way his brain interpretted "looking good" related to Tyler wearing Versace just underlines the fact that society has groomed us to be consumers.

 

[Velenne]

I may be incorrect in this (our resident Brits can help me on this one), but I believe the reason only the military had guns is that the UK doesn't have the whole "Right to Bear Arms" thing. IIRC, it's extremely difficult to procure a gun in the UK.

 

[Mistwell]

Horror movies in the past several years that I really liked: The Ring, and Blair Witch Project.

Horror movies in the past several years that I really did not like: Freddy movies, Jason movies.

Based on that small sample, can anyone who has similar taste rate this movie?

 

[Pielorinho]

I quite enjoyed it. But then, I also loved Blair Witch Project, so clearly I'm not bothered by characters acting stupidly in movies .

Mistwell, I suspect we share similar tastes, though I've not seen The Ring. This movie is literate: although the characters sometimes act stupidly, lord knows real people often act stupidly too. And there's a great use of the frame: watch for the scene early on in the church stairway to see what I mean, and keep watching for other brilliant shots. You'll have to roll your eyes and pretend you didn't see the Monster Truck Rally scene, but if you can do that, I think you'll highly enjoy the rest of the movie. Boyle loves teasing you, building suspense, changing what you're afraid of. Great stuff!

Daniel

 

[Morrus]

I may be incorrect in this (our resident Brits can help me on this one), but I believe the reason only the military had guns is that the UK doesn't have the whole "Right to Bear Arms" thing. IIRC, it's extremely difficult to procure a gun in the UK.

That's right. The only people with guns are the military and certain police branches (and some criminals, of course). I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that some weapons (shotguns, rifles) can be obtained with a license (farmers, target shooters etc.) but handguns are very hard to get.

 

[Numion]

Second, it cannot be expressed how unbelievably stupid the characters are. Tense situations caused by UTTER STUPIDITY (the tunnel anyone?) are NOT TENSE. They are stupid, contrived and make you want to see the characters die.

I agree. It wouldn't require einsteins brain capacity to realize that you'd have to put a helmet and thick clothes on. Both should be pretty easy to find (either riot control police helmet, or plain ole motorcycle helmet). The one who got blood in his eyes could've prevented it so easily (well, maybe they didn't know it infects that way, but why not play it safe?).

Best precaution would've been to find a robust car, which shouldnt've been too difficult. Even a normal truck could be modified quite easily into a zombie-proof vehicle.

I always hate movies were humans put themselves in ty situations and further help the situations get worse. Like I absolutely hated Phone Booth. Why didn't the guy just bolt? It's about impossible to hit with a lasersight at high ranges (which he could've guessed), since you know whether the shooter is taking advance in his aiming or not.