If you want to get in touch with him for RedEye, I’ll send you his e-mail.

But honestly, after watching a bunch of Peta freaks gets the blame for the death of civilization, I had a hard time feeling any anti-conservative bias.

Good point! If they weren’t so worried about some dumb monkey, they wouldn’t have decimated their whole country.

ScottMcC, John Cassady is an amazing artist! Plus he’s a handsome young gentlemen if you like that sort of thing (I do). I agree, he’d be great on TV.

1) No zombies in 28DL — people infected with rage. Remember, the protagonists called them “the infected.”

2) The military unit in 28DL, to me, seemed to be a metaphor for an engineered, socialist society. Hardly a society which individualists (using William F. Buckley’s definition) would condone, or attempt to create. I thought 28DL portrayed well how the horrors of such a society compare to the horrors of the rage-infected anarchy outside. But that might just be my political leanings filtering the material.

2a) I guess 2 kind of agrees with armylawyer’s take on the military group in 28DL.

3) I like Danny Boyle’s (28DL, Trainspotting, Millions, etc.) work. He isn’t directing 28WL but he is the executive producer. I imagine the quality of the film will be directly proportional to his influence on it.

I liked the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (not the movie, of course, the screenplay for which was written by a friend of mine who had the pleasure of watching that incompetent hack of a director destroy it), but Watchmen is in my mind damn near perfect.

I like the idea of the League, but to me it just sorta degenerated into an oh-so-clever deconstruction of Victorian fantasy literature. I feel for your buddy the screenwriter… Norrington totally f—ed that movie up.

I would’ve given up on comics about 10 years ago if I didn’t want to keep up with my buddy from high school, Johnny (I think I’m supposed to say “John” now), who draws a comic series called Planetary and has been drawing new X-Men comics for the guy that did Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly.

Hey, Johnny lives in NYC–you guys should have him on RedEye the next time you talk anything comic book related. He’s quite a character and would’ve been a helluva guest to talk the death of Captain America (he drew these great WWII-era poster style covers for a comic series of The Cap’ right after 9/11).

Of course, Harrison Ford had the same line in Air Force One…

That’s because it was okay to like the President back then. He was a Democrat you know. Then a cowboy, unilateral, hard-charging Pres comes along and it’s like, “WHOA! Reverse Course!!”

The best part about 28DL was that some enviroterrorists released the RAGE virus on the UK. They were busting out some poor repressed monkeys. LOL.

So the evil Americans want to weaponize the stuff? Let’s rip off of Alien a little more. And what a craptastic weapon anyway, like Allah says, zombie outbreaks always deal humanity a losing hand.

Especially when you’re dealing with fast zombies. Just sayin’, y’know?

Anyway, I’ll probably still check it out. Anyone who reinforces or second guesses their political beliefs based on zombie movies is kind of an idiot.

Anyway, just wanted to toss in my feeling on that, because I can generally pick out bias where others would claim I am nitpicking, but I really didn’t feel this was anti-British military, because I didn’t feel like those guys represented “The Military”. I thought they represented a bunch of terrified very young men who’s lives (families, everything) had been taken away, in and unthinkable situation.

RightWinged on April 15, 2007 at 4:15 PM

I have to agree here. Maybe this latest one is an attack on the US military, but I didn’t see it in the first one.

But honestly, after watching a bunch of Peta freaks gets the blame for the death of civilization, I had a hard time feeling any anti-conservative bias.

After seeing 300, I am cautiously optimistic about Snyder’s helming Watchmen, but don’t expect much out of it. I’m not a fan of Moore’s writing because it’s less about story and more about being pseudo-literary and clever… Killing Joke totally fell apart at the end and all of those League of Public Domain Heroes books are the prime examples.

I liked the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (not the movie, of course, the screenplay for which was written by a friend of mine who had the pleasure of watching that incompetent hack of a director destroy it), but Watchmen is in my mind damn near perfect.

And I agree with your cautious optimism, not least of which is because based on Snyder’s post-”300″ comments, I don’t think he’ll turn it into some kind of inane anti-Bush/anti-American/anti-West screed of the kind that prevented “V for Vendetta” from being a better film. (Which to be fair is what Moore intended, I suppose…)

People who don’t understand that the fascists are who we’re fighting make me giggle! And then burst into uncontrollable sobbing, of course..

28 Weeks Later looks like mass suckage though.

Have you seen the trailer? Looks pretty cool to me. Idris Elba is the man. (By which I mean he’s a fine actor, not that he’s The Man. I apologize for the confusion.) I’ve liked him from Ultraviolet to The Wire, and it’s cool that he’s in a big summer movie.

Never did understand the reverence for Romero. Dawn of the Dead was great, but it wasn’t scary at all. Whereas the remake had me peeking through my fingers. And that was watching it on a 13-inch set!

All that said, “Shaun of the Dead,” and – to a lesser extent – Zack Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” rocked. (And please, God, don’t let Snyder screw up “Watchmen”…)

Levy on April 15, 2007 at 10:29 PM

All true.

After seeing 300, I am cautiously optimistic about Snyder’s helming Watchmen, but don’t expect much out of it. I’m not a fan of Moore’s writing because it’s less about story and more about being pseudo-literary and clever… Killing Joke totally fell apart at the end and all of those League of Public Domain Heroes books are the prime examples.

That is to say ‘they thought the problem was solved in the first movie…. THEY WERE WRONG!’

ehhh.

I’ll still probably see it, dammit.

But luckily for us, we have artistes such as George Romero and Joe Dante, who, through the sheer force of their intellect, can show us the light and hopefully allow us all to think exactly like them, and act exactly like them, and… hey, wait a minute!

(Of course we elite Hot Air readers all know that when the zombie horde comes, we gun enthusiasts nuts will be humanity’s last, best hope!)

All that said, “Shaun of the Dead,” and – to a lesser extent – Zack Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” rocked. (And please, God, don’t let Snyder screw up “Watchmen”…)

They crave BRAINZZZZZZZZZ!

Are you kidding? His most memorable line is, “We do not negotiate with terrorists.” Romero has admitted in interviews that the scene at the beginning of security forces gunning down crowds of zombies indiscriminately is a nod at Iraq.

Eh, to the first, guess I didn’t find the movie memorable enough to notice that quote or draw the connection. Of course, Harrison Ford had the same line in Air Force One…

To the second, if he said it symbolized a chocolate cupcake’s gooey goodness, I’ll take him at his word. Doesn’t mean it comes across in film.

Land of the Dead was the ultimate synthesis of zombie horror and George Romero’s social subtext, meaning, in short, it was utter crap. Rich people bad. Poor people good. Zombies eating rich people good. Zombies eating poor people? Um… “They’re just trying to find their way.”

The solution? Screw ‘em all, plant your ass in the RV and head for… CANADA! So long, suckers!

“Event Horizon” was an exception in that at least one of the survivors made it (and saved another) through quick thinking and decisive action in an apparently hopeless situation, and another sacrificed themselves effectively to save others.

It was sort of a “flying pig” moment for horror movies.

I tend to prefer creepy to slasher, but creepy + action is my favorite.

To all those who can’t see the agenda behind the films:
Merovign on April 15, 2007 at 7:02 PM

All true. Normally I’m the guy to point out those facts here in the comments, so I can’t wait to see the attacks you get from the “it’s only a movie” hive.

One of the reviewers at AICN has seen the movie, says the political message is there, but it doesn’t hit you over the head.

Consider the source: AICN. None of them are identify themselves or are considered by their peers as social conservatives or traditionalists.

Well, I won’t say 100% of the films are based on such an agenda, but as a former fan of the horror/sci-fi film industry (still a fan of the genre, less interested in the sausage-making), the behind-the scenes of these films often REEKS of politically-driven “social commentary.”

Find yourself a library that has “Cinefantastique” and dig through some interviews. Or just visit some random horror fan-sites – the “social commentary” angle is like a fetish, especially when preceded by the word “brilliant.”

Luckily, most of them suck at it, so a lot of the casual audience or even just non-fanatic audience just don’t see it. Occasionally it’s even the fans who “invent” that angle, when it wasn’t there – that happens with every genre.

Romero is a drooling idiot, BTW, and his “social commentary” is pretty explicit – it’s no secret that “Land of the Dead” was thinly disguised political hackery.

The Zombie Genre is basically a zombie itself, locked in its own conventions, much like most of Hollywood’s products. “Shaun” was good precisely because it mocked those conventions, but satire is usually a one-time deal (Police Squad seems to have avoided that trap).

Oh, how I long for actual independent films. You know, films not almost entirely derived from other popular films. They happen, occasionally, but usually they’re boring.

Spoilers at the link.

I used to be a moonbat before I started reading and never once did I get anti-American vibes from the classics. Still don’t see it that way, just some good ol zombie killing fun. If you really want to be offended, check out some of the Italian horror.
Land of the Dead blew though.

Nice ad too.

Not Land of the Dead – the metaphor was as large, ponderous, and slow moving as… well, as a zombie!