Zombifried

First, some links. It’s amazing how these things will accumulate, isn’t it?

On Saturday, I watched the original Dawn of the Dead. I’d rented it once before, years back, but for some reason never actually watched it. I’m very familiar with, but have never actually watched any of George Romero’s zombie movies before this.

It’s a really interesting movie — although, as Romero himself acknowledges on the DVD commentary, not a particularly frightening one. There’s more dark humor and social commentary than there are real scares. That’s not to detract from the film; those are precisely the things that have made it such an enduring classic, and arguably the quintessential film of the genre.

I definitely intend to watch Romero’s other zombie films. Although purists may be dismayed to learn that I’m also interested in seeing the 2004 Dawn remake.

Smoke gets in her eyes

Vaguely disappointed by The Ruby in the Smoke, which I just finished watching. The acting’s quite good, and there are some really nice moments, but it just doesn’t hang together very well. There are moments of rushed exposition, when we discover how things actually happened, often straining credulity and happening much too quick. The commenter who called it “a bit frantic” wasn’t at all wrong.

Still, it was interesting to see the future Doctor Who, Matt Smith, in action for the first time. He’s actually not at all bad — nor is Billie Piper. The IMDB user comments are much less kind about the sequel, but this way okay. Not remarkable, but okay.

Another couple of movies

The thing about a paint-by-numbers movie like Defiance, which is what I saw this afternoon, is that…well, okay, some of those numbers work, and sometimes they’re painted well. Clichés are so tempting because they do resonate; there is truth deep at the heart of them. But just because a movie’s at the high end of mediocrity, that doesn’t make it any less mediocre, and clichés are so problematic because ultimately they make the truth in them ring false. Defiance isn’t bad, even reasonably entertaining at time, but it’s remarkably forgettable.

WALL-E, on the other hand — which is what I watched last night — was just lovely.

“Oh, I’m on vacation.”

Last night, I watched Eraserhead. I can’t pretend to have understood it, and it would probably be going too far to say I “enjoyed” it, but… It’s a very interesting movie, but it also felt disorienting even by David Lynchian standards.