tagged w/ Rhett Reese
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Disney Pictures has picked up the rights to the Image Comics title “Cowboy Ninja Vikings” says The Hollywood Reporter.
The story centers on Dr. Sebastian Ghislain, a psychotherapist who recruits multiple-personality patients into a counter-intelligence outfit dubbed The Triplets.
http://www.moviesreviews2010.com/cowboy-ninja-vikings-kick-it-at-disney/Disney Pictures has picked up the rights to the Image Comics title “Cowboy Ninja... more
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Man, as if Wednesday couldn't be any weirder. Now we've got some news for you.
-So, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are going to script Deadpool. You may know them from Zombieland. [Variety]
-Mike Stoklasa discusses the motivations behind his epic 70-minute critique on The Phantom Menace. [HEEB]
-Movies and vices--even SMOKING TOBACCO--were made for each other. [ArtsBeat]
-So, Sam Mendes isn't the director of James Bond # 23. He's a "consultant." Get it? [Deadline]
-Someone accidentally a whole Armored to the Playstation Network. [Variety]
Also, one of the random extras in Eclipse got his script leaked. [Deadline]
Man, as if Wednesday couldn't be any weirder. Now we've got some news... more
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="Woody Harrleson and Jesse Eisenberg are in Zombieland"][/caption]
[Zombieland is one of the films we're doing on next week's Rotten Tomatoes Show! See that, Whip It or A Serious Man and send us your webcam review by Sunday at midnight. You could get $100 and TV glory.]
The art of the zombie film has been the subject of much scrutiny since the resurgence of "modernizing" them. Whether it was tweaking the notion into a rage virus and spawning runners or Shaun of the Dead's complete revitalization of the genre, zombies are back.
They're cheap, they're little girls, they're even raped by awkward teenage boys!
In other words, Zombieland should be a bonafide grand slam of culture, slick directing and everyone's favorite undead horror trope. And it is.
It just isn't any good.
Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) provides our nerdy narrative introduction to a world overrun with zombies as a first-person P.O.V. of a person crawling out of a destroyed motorcade framed by a burning U.S. Capitol Building. Cue zombie Secret Service agent, extreme zoom-out and one of the most compelling slow-motion title sequences set to Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls.
From there, we get Tallahassee (Woody Harrleson) and the sisters Witchta (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) to complete our zombie slaying family unit. Not to mention the ever-growing list of "The 42 Rules to Surviving Zombieland" that Columbus and a series of eye-catching digital effects display on screen, further proving that the opening sequence to Panic Room is the most influential segment in the last decade.
The argument for style over a plot is something that Ruben Fleischer appears to be a heavy advocate for, as there's almost nothing beneath the veneer of pop-up rules and a mercifully short film. The banter between Columbus and Tallahassee, courtesy of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, is enough to make up for random segeways back to "life before Zombieland," especially as Harrleson just plays the lovable bad-ass bellowing lines like "Thank GOD for Rednecks" before shooting an uzi into the air and driving off in an H3.
Not to mention, the Bill Murray cameo may be the single greatest scene of 2009. Hands down, it even beats Bill Motherfuckin' Murray from Coffee and Cigarettes. So why mention it, even if it is a cameo? That and Woody Harrleson's delivery help Zombieland transcend from a flashy genre exercise into a moment of legitimate cultural currency. It is both the high and low, since no moment in the film can ever bring the level of energy back to this, nor is any other scene as interesting.
It's odd since, for the first time in any zombie film, you feel confident that there is no way any of the main characters will die. No other significant survivors are encountered, except in one-off shots or Bill Murray, and the tone taken is almost like a genre fanboy screaming "FUCK YEAH, BOOM HEADSHOT" over and over again. But all can be forgiven because of the cameo.
Unfortunately, it's just as easy to forget Zombieland.
-John Lichman[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="539"... more
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Zombieland co-writer Rhett Reese was shocked when he discovered more than a million people had downloaded his movie illegally on BitTorrent. The Hollywood writer has now penned yet another horror scenario, claiming that this achievement could very well prevent a sequel to the successful movie from being made.
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-may-kill-zombieland-sequel-writer-claims-091111/Zombieland co-writer Rhett Reese was shocked when he discovered more than a million... more
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I can’t remember another recent movie that was both as gorily violent and as commercially viable as Zombieland, Ruben Fleischer’s big-screen directorial debut. As someone who loves zombie flicks in general, I would have been more than happy to just watch Woody Harrelson bash undead faces in for two hours. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had other plans, though – and I’m glad they did. The movie plays out in two different genres, playing the zombie mayhem and teen comedy elements both full to the hilt, not letting either compromise to the other. The result is an adrenaline-drenched gore-fest with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. It’ll draw plenty of comparisons to Shaun of the Dead, the Holy Grail of zombie comedy, but these aren’t fair; Zombieland, as it turns out, is a different beast entirely.
The main characters are fun and fleshed out well enough, and all four actors give engaging performances. You end up really caring about the people you’re watching onscreen – even if none of them are assigned any name beyond their hometown (Tallahassee says names let you get close to people – a dangerous pitfall when death waits around every corner). Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a geeky, nervous college student who has survived for months after the initial zombie outbreak because he adheres to a long and very specific set of rules, and lets caution guide his moves. Tallahassee (Harrelson) is pretty much the opposite: a larger-than-life redneck with a cowboy hat, an SUV and a sawed-off shotgun, who loves nothing more than “zombie-killin’” and will gladly risk his life for a chance at eating one more Twinkie. The guys run into sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who were runaways and con artists before the world ended. Soon, the four are trekking across the country in a Hummer, searching for an old California amusement park they hope will still be zombie-free.
The characters make a good mixture, playing off each other beautifully throughout their road trip. Tallahassee’s over-the-top bravado, Columbus’s awkward nervousness (Michael Cera could have played this role, though Eisenberg does a great job), and Wichita’s biting sarcasm provide most of the flick’s funniest lines. But the comedy doesn’t get in the way of the bloody mayhem. Zombieland’s zombie-action set-pieces seem to each work better than the last, as the stakes and number of zombies seem to increase along with the survivors’ firepower and our attachment to the characters. But even at the beginning, one is blown away by how enjoyable it is to see Tallahassee’s grin as he strides up to a zombie with a pair of garden shears, or Columbus’s slight relieved-but-despairing grimace after each “double-tap.” .....Continue reading at www.famousmonsters.comI can’t remember another recent movie that was both as gorily violent and as... more
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added this
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2 years ago
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Jorge Carreon has your passport into "Zombieland" for Examiner.com. With audiences eating up the outrageous zom-com movie hit of the season, this special edition of Personalities Interviews offers the second part of a lively insider’s tour of with the stars and filmmakers.Jorge Carreon has your passport into "Zombieland" for Examiner.com. With... more
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