Rant: Simon Pegg hates fast zombies

From The Guardian:

As an avid horror fan, I found the prospect of last week's five-night TV zombie spectacular rather exciting. Admittedly, the trailer for E4's Dead Set made me somewhat uneasy. The sight of newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy warning the populace of an impending zombie apocalypse induced a sickening sense of indignation. Only five years previously, Edgar Wright and I had hired Krishnan to do the very same thing in our own zombie opus, Shaun of the Dead. It was a bit like seeing an ex-lover walking down the street pushing a pram. Of course, this was a knee-jerk reaction. It's not as if Edgar and I hadn't already pushed someone else's baby up the cultural high street - but that, to some extent, was the point. In Shaun of the Dead, we lifted the mythology established by George A Romero in his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead and offset it against the conventions of a romantic comedy.

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Something Awesome: Peanuts Watchmen

From /film

Posters: *NEW* Watchmen (2009)

Review: Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Charlie Kaufman makes his directorial debut with a film he also wrote (natch), starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, and way too many other famous actresses to name.

The movie is very surrealistic and odd; the notion of a timeline is irrelevant. It's hard to know what is real, and what is in the mind, but after a while, I start to not care anymore.

I appreciate the production value, and the film is well made and ambitious. However, it's overly complicated. So many characters flee in and out of the picture, it's unclear who is important and who is not. There are too many things unexplained and left frustratingly ambiguous.

The problem here is not Kaufman's directing, but his writing (surprise!). I desperately wanted to feel for the characters, and hurt when they hurt, but there's nothing there, and where his last script (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) triumphs, this one fails.

I think that this film is good; it is well made and well performed, and the script does sail mostly on positive waters, but just because it's good, doesn't mean I have to like it. See for yourself.

Grade: C

Drool: Robert Pattinson on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

EW.com

Interviews: Paul Rudd

The fabulously stunning (and frighteningly overused) actor Paul Rudd sits down with the A.V. Club

Review: RocknRolla (2008)

Guy Ritchie does one thing and does it well: The British Gangster flick. The setup is the same as we've seen it in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch. Several storylines overlapping without the characters knowing they're connected, usually involving drug dealers, junkies, mob bosses, etc... Even though I've seen it before, twice, there's still no reason not to like it.

The characters are cheeky and clever, the dialogue is fast and witty, and the film work is sensational. Say what you will about Guy Ritchie's ability to tell stories, the man knows how to make films.

Even though the film is thoroughly enjoyable, it is, however, forgettable. It has its moments of the classic Guy Ritchie wit, but if you skip it, you're not missing out on much. You'd do better to sit back with Lock Stock and Snatch for now, and save this one for Netflix.

Grade: B-