Land of the Dead (2005)
This is a very dark movie, literally. I don't remember a peek of sunlight throughout it. It goes from nighttime to gray, cloudy skies, and back to nighttime. The zombies are pretty brutal and eat a lot of people, and they also learn to use weapons. The bad guys led by Dennis Hopper's character, depend on warriors for protection from the rotting fleshed masses.
It's bleak, but the context I saw this movie in -- projected on a wall in a crowded apartment, with breaks every 20 minutes to switch to the next downloaded section, and Japanese ads floating across the screen every now and then -- made it fairly light viewing. I was with a bunch of Mexicans, so the "cholo" name calling of John Leguizamo made an impression. The scene where zombies ford a river toward the wealthy downtown district inspired cries of "Rio Grande"! So, audiences don't always suck. Sometimes they make you warm cinnamon tea and and zesty Dorito's-TapatÃo-lime juice-nachos with ice cream and beer to boot.
Like in real life, the "Rio Grande" is a moat protecting the rich. Outside the moat live some regular humans, like the warrior class and their families, in a fairly run down post-industrial environment. They don't have the money to actually live in the city. Curiously, the zombies, too, live in the suburbs. It's like the whole urban renewal movement succeeded, and the city is no longer the scary place. (I imagine Escape from New York represents the previous sentiment.)
The cacahuate gallery I watched with made it a fairly entertaining flick, but even on its own, the movie moves briskly. It's grittier than a lot of action movies I've seen. It's morally more interesting, as it does a convincing job of inspiring sympathy for the zombies while still depicting their disgusting methods.
I'd say this is definitely worth a download.
It's bleak, but the context I saw this movie in -- projected on a wall in a crowded apartment, with breaks every 20 minutes to switch to the next downloaded section, and Japanese ads floating across the screen every now and then -- made it fairly light viewing. I was with a bunch of Mexicans, so the "cholo" name calling of John Leguizamo made an impression. The scene where zombies ford a river toward the wealthy downtown district inspired cries of "Rio Grande"! So, audiences don't always suck. Sometimes they make you warm cinnamon tea and and zesty Dorito's-TapatÃo-lime juice-nachos with ice cream and beer to boot.
Like in real life, the "Rio Grande" is a moat protecting the rich. Outside the moat live some regular humans, like the warrior class and their families, in a fairly run down post-industrial environment. They don't have the money to actually live in the city. Curiously, the zombies, too, live in the suburbs. It's like the whole urban renewal movement succeeded, and the city is no longer the scary place. (I imagine Escape from New York represents the previous sentiment.)
The cacahuate gallery I watched with made it a fairly entertaining flick, but even on its own, the movie moves briskly. It's grittier than a lot of action movies I've seen. It's morally more interesting, as it does a convincing job of inspiring sympathy for the zombies while still depicting their disgusting methods.
I'd say this is definitely worth a download.
posted by Pete @ 12:51 AM
1 Comments:
At 3:14 PM,
Chris said…
yeah, i'd recommend the whole quadrilogy of "... of the (living) dead" movies. the first (night of the living dead) is about racism, the second (dawn) is about how the suburbs suck, and the third is about american imperialism, i think.
i saw this movie at the first midnight showing, not quite as good an audience as you seem to have had (no one made me tea,) but very enthusiastic anyway.
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