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January 27, 2008
Bloody London
Apparently the people at Clovis like to screw with my head, because they put the poster up for Sweeney Todd but so far haven't bothered to actually put the movie up on a screen. I've been trying to get some sort of movie date deal going to see it, and we finally just gave in and drove to Lubbock this weekend to catch it with Professor Tech.
I was not about to give any hints to the hubby on what was going to happen. He's a Depp fan, of course, but if he knew the subject matter (or that the movie was going to have a pretty good gore factor) he probably would have preferred to wait for video. So, of course, I get a nice big giggle when we get our first big gushing slice and the hubby cringes. He still liked it. He loved the soundtrack. But he's not going to watch it again.
I rather liked it. It's got the expected Burton/Depp chemistry, and loads of that uber-gothick ambience. In fact, it's so gloomy that in the middle when they do a quick cut to a sunny picnic scene it gets so bright by contrast that it hurt my eyes. This is the only version of the story I've ever seen though, so I don't have that psycho perfectionist thing going that is supposed to make me hate anything that isn't the original. I'll let the theater wonks do that and just be happy with having enjoyed my time. And for those of you who haven't seen it and are curious, here is a teensy spoiler you may appreciate - I'm not kidding about the gore, this movie gushes.
So after the movie we go back to Prof. Tech's place for dinner and games. It turns out that our just-after-midnight movie DVD selection was 28 Weeks Later. I've been wanting to watch it, because I really liked 28 Days Later. I'm not one of those crazy zombie freakout people, but I do like a nice living dead movie now and then. This time we were nice enough to let the hubby know what he was getting into.
This movie was definitely more tense than the first one. I remember being surprised at the relatively relaxed pace in 28 Days. (Relatively, mind you, as in not having jumps and shaky camera scream moments for the whole last 2/3 of the movie.) Well 28 Weeks does not fuck around. It does give a nice break after the initial in media res massacre, where you get your necessary chunk of plot, but once the zombie action kicks in again it just keeps on going. Definitely a good addition to the fast-zombie genre.
However, there are nits to pick. Well, only one of note really. This one is a sure spoiler, so if you don't want this bit ruined I suggest you stop reading now. Ready? - WTF is up with the dad in this movie? Is he the new fucking superbreed of zombie? That sonofabitch is chasing those kids constantly, he always shows up to be the next big freaky jump. Does he have a GPS installed or something? I can understand the whole trauma thing they're trying to play out here, and it works for a while, but give me a break. I just don't buy that he manages to always be ready to leap out at his kids every time the movie needs to start another chase sequence.
I am willing to forgive that little nonsense though, because there is the gorgeous payoff near the end. One of the military guys has a big pissy moment when one of the refugees tries to leap on the helicopter (which is a major no-no at this point in the movie). He flies all crazy, trying to fling the guy off the skids, then he takes the copter into a forward thrust and pulls off this great move. As soon as he went for it I was cheering and laughing my ass off, because this is so exactly the kind of thing that my friends and I would do in a game - Shadowrun, in fact. I can see this exact same moment in a Shadowrun game. The helicopter pilot does a full-on lawnmower slash-fest on a big crowd of zombies. It is so great - body parts and gore everywhere. It is so nasty, so over the top, I'm still grinning over it.
So, two movies, set in London, caked with gore. How was your weekend?
Posted by damyano at January 27, 2008 08:42 PM