ZOMBIELAND
MOVIE REVIEW |
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You Support This Site When You Buy My Books E.C. McMullen Jr. PERPETUAL BULLET "'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book." - John Grant, Infinityplus E.C. McMullen Jr. WILLOW BLUE "'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down." - Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of FINAL DESTINATION IN OTHER BOOKS E.C. McMullen Jr.'s short story CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE in the anthology FEAR THE REAPER "This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time." - Amazon Review HORROR 201: The Silver Scream Filmmaker's Guidebook featuring RAY BRADBURY, JOHN CARPENTER, WES CRAVEN, TOM HOLLAND, E.C. McMULLEN Jr., GEORGE A. ROMERO, and many more. Extensively quoted in PHANTASM EXHUMED The Unauthorized Companion Robert S. Rhine's SATAN'S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL Forward by GAHAN WILSON & FEO AMANTE. Featuring comics by ALEX PARDEE, WILLIAM STOUT, STEVE BISSETTE, FRANK DIETZ, JIM SMITH, FRANK FORTE, ERIC PIGORS, MIKE SOSNOWSKI, OMAHA PEREZ, DAVID HARTMAN, STEVEN MANNION, and more! Also IN CINEMA E.C. McMullen Jr. Head Production Designer MINE GAMES (Starring: JOSEPH CROSS, BRIANA EVIGAN, ALEX MERAZ) Dept. head Special Effects Make-Up (SFX MUA) A SIERRA NEVADA GUNFIGHT (MICHAEL MADSEN & JOHN SAVAGE). Production Designer UNIVERSAL DEAD (DOUG JONES, D.B. SWEENEY, GARY GRAHAM) ART DIRECTOR THE CRUSADER (COLIN CUNNINGHAM, GARY GRAHAM) |
It's 10 years later and in order to make this sequel work, everybody had to come back and not just the main cast, but also the director, Ruben Fleischer, and writers Paul Wernick (ZOMBIELAND, DEADPOOL [all], LIFE) and Rhett Reese (MONSTERS, INC., ZOMBIELAND, DEADPOOL [all], LIFE). A third writer comes to the team, Dave Callaham (DOOM, TELL TALE, THE EXPENDABLES, GODZILLA [2014]). As you can see from the poster up there, Woody Harrelson (NATURAL BORN KILLERS, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, ZOMBIELAND, DEFENDOR, THE HUNGER GAMES [all], WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, VENOM), Jesse Eisenberg (THE VILLAGE, CURSED, ZOMBIELAND, CAMP HELL, NOW YOU SEE ME, VIVARIUM), Abigail Breslin (ZOMBIELAND, HAUNTER, THE CALL, MAGGIE, FEAR INC., FINAL GIRL, SCREAM QUEENS [TV]), and Emma Stone (ZOMBIELAND, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2), are all back playing 10 year older versions of themselves. The passage of time shows on everyone's face except, inexplicably, Jesse. The group is currently living in what remains of Washington D.C. in what remains of the White house. Well over 10 years after the apocalypse and plumbing and electricity work just fine, thank you. This is a model of American efficiency that simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. Jesse as Columbus the narrator (which usually doesn't work in a movie but inexplicably again, does here), goes through his mental toy box of knowledge and memories and tells us that the zombies are evolving thanks to the zombie virus (wait for it). In these past ten years, Tallahassee (Woody) has set himself up as the presumptive father figure. Columbus and Wichita (Emma) sleep together and live life as a bickering couple, and Wichita's little sister, Little Rock (Abigail) isn't a little girl anymore and is aching for a partner of her own. Catching everyone off-guard and by surprise, Little Rock wants to leave to look for other people. Fearing that Wichita will stick with her sister over him, Columbus chooses this moment to ask for her hand in marriage. A loving and romantic request that gives Wichita all the reason she needs to sneak away in the night and go on a road trip with her sister, never to return. A month goes by as Columbus nurses his grief and drives Tallahassee up the wall, until the older man is ready to leave all on his own. Thus in the course of their scavenging travels they come across the giggly Madison (Zoey Deutch: VAMPIRE ACADEMY). She's only survived because she is the only one inside a shopping mall that has an enormous amount of food and a walk in freezer with a really thick door. Zombies seem to hate the cold. That miraculous electricity, again. Soon Madison is giving Columbus some much needed sexual healing back at the White house and driving Tallahassee up the wall in all new ways. Outside of the sex, however, Madison's exceedingly dim bulb is increasingly irritating to Columbus. So who should come back in their lives but Wichita? Seems Little Rock dumped big sis and lit out with a stoner hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia: DEVIL'S DIARY, THE DROWNING, GHOST WARS [TV]), and together they are looking for Graceland and Babylon. Yes, MAD MAX movies gotta have car chases and ZOMBIELAND movies gotta have road trips. That's just all there is to it. So off they go to find Little Rock and as they do they will be involved in all manner of hilarious fun and foibles. Believe me, while ZOMBIELAND is known for its snarky humor, I'm for real. This movie is a hoot! It works because ZOMBIELAND DOUBLE TAP is self-effacing without being self-referential. In a post apocalyptic world, all the characters come from a horrific place of pain and they all deal with it in their way. Columbus remains the axis by which all the other characters revolve, as he sees people as people first, and their individual flaws and characteristics will just have to be dealt with as best they can, so long as those flaws don't harm their mutual adopted family group. It's through Columbus that they other opposing characters come to terms with each other. Wichita is still a manipulative, judgmental thief in the night and Tallahassee is still a temperamental ass-kicking redneck. There are megawatts of fun and laughter as they come across new people like, Nevada (Rosario Dawson: LIGHT IT UP, MEN IN BLACK II, SIN CITY [all], DEATH PROOF, EAGLE EYE, GEMINI DIVISION [TV], THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO, PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS, UNSTOPPABLE, RAZE, DAREDEVIL [TV], IRON FIST [TV], THE DEFENDERS [TV], LUKE CAGE [TV]), Albuquerque (Luke Wilson: SCREAM 2, BAD SEED, SOUL SURVIVORS, VACANCY, HIGH VOLTAGE), and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch: KONG: SKULL ISLAND, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS). But there is also the matter of the !!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!: Okay, Columbus is supposed to be the well-read loner geek. He's supposed to be knowledgeable about the fundamentals of evolution as well as viruses, and he gets Both Wrong. Continued at THE SCIENCE MOMENT/Zombieland Double Tap. All the fun of ZOMBIELAND is back. Our old friends have new stories to tell and ZOMBIELAND DOUBLE TAP is the best road trip you'll ever take inside a theater. The unexpected re-appearance of Bill Murray is just the cherry on top of the Twinkie! This much rollicking fun gets all 5 Shriek Girls!
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