15 questions for the movie Zombieland

15 Questions I have for Zombieland.

1. Do zombies eat because they are hungry, or do they just eat people for fun? They seem to be constantly eating all the time.

2. If they eat because they are hungry do they ever get full? They seem to always be hungry for people when the four main characters are around. They never say you know what I'm full and I don't feel like eating at the moment.

3. Why does it seem that they only eat people, why don't they eat other zombies? They have flesh and meat as far as I can tell.

4. What happened to the zombie plague that turned people into zombies?

5. Why don't the four main characters have the zombie plague?

6. How is the zombie plague passed to people?

7. What did the four main characters do to avoid the plague? I mean they must have done something right, like maybe they were real stiflers for washing their hands a lot.

8. How come the four main characters are so good at shooting guns? I mean they are all sharp shooters and they seem like normal people. Well maybe except for Tallahassee (character played by Woody Harrelson) . I don't think I would be near as good as them at shooting zombies.

9. Do they have unlimited gun-shells? It seems like they never run out of bullets.

10. Why do they shoot their guns in the air for no reason? I mean if it was me I would want to conserve my ammo.

11. Instead of traveling around the country, wouldn't you want to stock up on food and water and just lock yourself in a building?

12. Do gas stations still work in a post apocalyptic world? They are always driving around and I never see them stop for gas.

13. Why do the four main characters want to be loners so bad? When the different characters first meet they act like they don't want to be around other people. If it was me and I was living in a zombie world with few survivors I would stick around every human being I came across.

14. What is Tallahassee's background? He is so good at killing zombies it makes me wonder if he is like a former army ranger or something. There's got to be some explanation at why he is so good as shooting different weapons and never seems to be scared.

15. How long does the average zombie live? Like I said if you lock yourself in a building maybe the human population could outlive the zombies. I mean the zombies don't reproduce as far as I can tell, and humans can.

Top 5 most underrated and disappointing movies of 2009

Top 5 underrated and disappointing movies of 2009

Here is a list of movies I didn’t think got enough love in 2009, and movies I was really disappointed in.

Underrated

1. 500 Days of Summer

- This is getting good reviews from critics; it got Golden Globe nominations for screenplay and actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and might get an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay, but it still isn’t getting enough attention. It should be talked about more for it’s ingenious screenplay and direction, and should be higher on people’s lists.

2. Taken

-This didn’t get bad reviews but it was kind of passed over as just your normal action flick. I think it’s more than that. They don’t give Liam Neeson enough credit for that role. He really makes you feel the anger and sadness he is going through in finding his daughter. So much that you don’t fault him in killing and torturing everyone that gets in his way.

3. Away We Go

-I haven’t heard many people talk about this movie and I thought it was the funniest comedy of the year. I don’t think I laughed any louder than when John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph visit the home of Maggie Gyllenhall and her husband, with their ultra hippie style. Also I though it had the best soundtrack of the year.

4. Monsters Vs. Aliens

-I feel like this movie has gotten lost in the Animation Movie shuffle. It’s not near as good as UP but still it’s a funny and fun movie to watch. I especially like all the scenes with Bob the Blob voiced by Seth Rogen.

5. Push

- I don’t think this movie got good reviews but I thought it was an interesting take on movies with people that have superhuman powers. It was kind of like a dark version of X-Men. I like the terminology they use for each other like pushers, bleeders, sniffs, watchers, and movers. I thought it had a very creative ending to it.

Disappointing

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

- Considering that this is one of my favorite books of the series I couldn’t believe how much they messed up this adaptation. They took out scenes that I loved in the book and they added scenes that made no sense. There were too many shots of that stupid cupboard, and they did the whole Harry and Ginny love story wrong.

Wolverine: X-Men Origins

- Wolverine is easily the best character out of the X-Men movies and is the reason those movies did so well. The story was not interesting and the action was not very good. They could, and should have done so much more with such a great character.

Knowing

- This looked like a cool sci-fi thriller with great action effects but slow pacing and a terrible ending ruined it. I don’t want to spoil the end for you but it doesn’t end well for planet Earth.

Watchmen

- It’s a nice idea for a story but goes on way too long. The violence is too disturbing and every time the big blue guy is on the screen I want to fall asleep.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

-Being a much-anticipated sequel to the very fun movie Transformers, it did not deliver. Is it possible to have too many action scenes and explosions? This movie answers with a definite yes. It went on way too long and didn’t have enough

Oscar Predictions

Best Picture- The Hurt Locker

Best Actor- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Best Actress- Sandra Bullock for The Blindside

Best Supporting Actor- Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress- Mo'Nique for Precious

Best Directing- Kathryn Bigalow for The Hurt Locker

Best Original Screenplay- Inglorious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay- Up in the Air

Best Cinematography- The Hurt Locker

Best Editing- The Hurt Locker

Best Art Direction- Avatar

Best Costume Design- The Young Victoria

Best Makeup- Star Trek

Best Original Score- Up

Best Original Song- The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart

Best Sound Mixing- Avatar

Best Sound Editing- Avatar

Best Visual Effects- Avatar

Best Animated Film- Up

Best Foreign Film- The White Ribbon

Best Documentary- The Cove

Episode 5- Classic Review, American Idol, DVD Review of Julie and Julia

Here is a link to the 4th episode of my podcast. In this episode I give a review of some classic movies: The Song of the Thin Man and The Great Ziegfried. I then talk about American Idol and the top 24. Then I end the podcast with a DVD review of the movie Julie and Julia.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-18T16_12_46-08_00

Top 10 Movies with a Romantic Plot

Top Ten Movies with a Romantic Plot

1. Life is Beautiful

- The first half of this movie has the most romantic plot of any movie that I’ve ever seen. Our main character tries so hard to sweep the girl off her feet that she can’t help but fall in love with him. The characters are so likeable and charming, and the way he gets her is so creative. I can’t explain it here but you must check this movie out and make sure you have a hankie handy.

2. Rocky

- This is an inspirational boxing movie but I also feel that the love story is done so well. They are both lonely and are looked down upon by the opposite sex. He’s a bum fighter and she’s a nerdy pet shop worker. They bring the best out of each other in the end. The first date and the scene where she goes to his apartment are great scenes that make you fall in love with these characters.

3. Braveheart

- Yes I know you are probably wondering why I have this on the list. It’s known more for being a bloody war movie, but it starts out as a great love story. The love between the two is so real and makes it all the more shocking when she is killed. He avenges her death and starts a revolution afterwards, which seals the deal for how strong their love was. I love it that at his death scene his wife comes to take him to the after life.

4. Princess Bride

- This is a fun fairy tale story revolved around the love of Wesley and Princess Buttercup. Wesley is a servant turned pirate turned rescuing hero. He is elegant and poetic and stops at nothing to rescue his love. In fact he comes back from the dead in order to rescue her from the evil prince. There’s nothing you can do to top that.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

- This movie starts out as a bad breakup in which Kate Winslet’s character erases the memory of her ex boyfriend played by Jim Carey. Carey decides to erase her from his memory but finds out through the process that he wants to hold on to the great times he had with her. It proves that you don’t know how much you love someone until they are taken away.

6. WALL E

- Who would have known that a movie about robots would be so romantic? WALL E is lonely and so falls head over wheels for EVE at first sight. Over the course of the movie she sees how much he’s done for her and in return falls in love. The dancing in space scene is so cute it makes you go ahhh.

7. Groundhogs Day

- I liked this movie so much because it’s about a guy living the same day everyday and at first uses this power for his own selfish gain. He tries to manipulate the girl he likes but gets turned down. Only when he decides to use this opportunity to make him a better person does he win the heart of the girl he loves.

8. The Goodbye Girl

- This is a classic tale of two people forced to live in the same apartment who don’t get along. Then as the movie goes along they fall in love with each other. The girl has a history of falling in love and then being left behind. Finally at the end she has found someone who will not say goodbye to her.

9. About a Boy

- Hugh Grant plays a self-absorbed guy who doesn’t want a serious relationship. He spends the first part of the movie lying and manipulating women to sleep with him. Then he meets Rachel Weiss and falls in love. Then for the first time he starts caring about other people. I’ve always felt that true love makes you want to be a better person.

10. Love Story

- Yes this is a sappy, sad love story but it really works. It’s another case of two conflicting personalities that come together and fall in love. I love the two main characters and their chemistry together. It’s funny, it’s sad, and it will live forever in your heart once you see it.

I'm now on itunes

You can now listen to my podcast on itunes. In itunes type in Oscar Geek Movie Cast and it should take you right to my podcast. You can click the subscribe button and every new episode of my podcast will be downloaded to your itunes. Also I would really appreciate it if you give me a rating and a review in itunes. Hopefully it will be good, haha.

podcast Episode 3

Here is the 3rd episode of my podcast. In this episode I discuss some movie news of the last week then talk about some of my favorite shows like American Idol, Lost, Castle, The Office, Community, and Parks and Recreation.


http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-15T15_33_10-08_00

Episode 2- Movie news, The Hangover, Top Ten most anticipated movies of 2010

Here is a link to Episode 2 of my podcast. In this podcast I go over some movie news from a week ago, then do a DVD review of the movie The Hangover, then end it with a top ten list of my most anticipated movies of 2010.

2010-02-13T14_33_36-08_00.mp3

Movie Review- An Education

An Education

When I walked out of this movie I had some mixed feelings. The first half of the movie was very funny and the characters were very interesting and fun to watch. The story flowed very well and I was having one of the best movie experiences of the year. Then about half way through the movie it turned into something different. I didn’t get the choices of the characters, the story seemed bogged down with lots of conflict, I didn’t buy the relationship between the two main characters, and I left the movie a little disappointed. Now that I’ve had a day to think about it I’ve come to the conclusion that the movie was better than my original reaction. I was disappointed because the movie wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. I thought it was suppose to be a romantic drama, but I realize now that it was much more than that.

The movie stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a 16-year-old girl living in England in 1961. She goes to an all girls’ school studying hard to make it into Oxford. She is driven by her strict, and very easily flustered father played incredibly by Alfred Molina. Her father wants nothing less than the best education for his daughter. So he makes her study hard, pays for language tutors, and forces her to play the cello in order to get her into one of the best colleges in the country. One could say he probably pushes a little too hard, and lets no room for Jenny to have any fun. Then steps in David played very charmingly by Peter Sarsgaard. He’s an older man, 30 years old, who is wealthy, drives a nice car, has class, and seems to have fun all the time and never works.

Jenny becomes fascinated by David and joins him and his friends to concerts, clubs, auctions, and trips to Oxford and Paris. Her father of course doesn’t approve at first but David is so charming that he can talk him into letting Jenny do whatever she wants. As the movie goes on one gets the feeling that there is something shady about David. He never talks about work yet him and his friends seem very wealthy with lots of pricy possessions, and to top it all he’s dating a 16-year-old girl. Jenny has to decide does she want to study English at Oxford for what she perceives will make for a boring life, or does she want to quit school and marry David and live a life full of fun and adventure.

Like I said before the movie really isn’t about the romantic relationship between her and David. I know the trailers and posters seem to just feature Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard looking romantically at each other, but really it’s a little misleading. It’s really about a young girl trying to make grown up decisions that she really isn’t ready for or doesn’t fully understand. She sees her life as being very boring. She sees her future as being very boring and her only way out it through David. So she ends up making hasty and foolish decisions, like normal 16 year olds do, and learns from them the hard way.

One can’t blame her for her perspective though. Her parents do seem to live a boring life. Her mom is a housewife and spends all her time cleaning the house and cooking dinner. Her dad works all day to provide for the family and seems to have no fun at all. Her female English teacher seems very plain and spends all her time grading papers. Yes growing up can seem kind of boring to a teenager, being loaded with responsibility can do that to a person. She learns in the end though that as you grow up your perspective on life changes. You might not do all the fun things you did when you were younger, but it doesn’t mean your life is boring. In fact for most, working hard and providing for a family brings more meaning to your life, which is more important than just having fun. If only we could all understand this sooner in our life.

I really liked this movie and I recommend it to anybody who likes a smartly written, sophisticated movie. It was surprisingly very funny and had a lot of witty dialogue. It slows down in the latter half of the movie but not enough to ruin it. Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, and Peter Sarsgaard all gave some of the best performances of the year. Mulligan is worthy of all the award praise that she has been getting. She has a great comedic ability and handles all the frustration a teenager would have, in the situations given, very convincingly. The movie made me think about my own life, and the choices I’ve made. My life isn’t always fun, but it is full of meaning. Is yours?

Grade: B

Rated PG-13- Some scenes involving sexual content but nothing explicit, some sexual dialogue.

Podcast Episode 1

I've successfully created the first episode of my new podcast: oscargeekmoviepodcast. If you click on the link below or paste it into your browser it should take you right to my podcast where you can listen to my episode. In my first episode I give an introduction of my self, then give a rundown on all the Oscar nominees. I appreciate it if you listen to it and give me a comment on what you thought.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-09T14_15_16-08_00

DVD Review- The Hangover

The Hangover is another entry in the long list of "stupid comedies". When I use the term "stupid comedies" I am referring to those comedies that purposely don't deal with logic, realistic characters, realistic situations, or realistic choices. Being a stupid comedy doesn't mean it has to be a bad movie, I quite enjoy these kinds of comedies (Dumb and Dumber, Austin Powers, Waynes World, Anchorman, etc.). It all comes down to two things: did I laugh a lot, and did I have fun while watching it.

If you don't know what The Hangover is about let me give you a quick synopsis. Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married and goes to Las Vegas for his bachelor party with his 2 friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and his new brother in law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After taking a shot of alcohol we cut to a scene where Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up with a hangover. They can't remember what happened the night before, and they can't find Doug. So for the whole movie they are searching for Doug and are trying to figure out what crazy antics they got into the night before.

In one of the first scenes of the movie Zach Galifianakis is shown hugging Justin Bartha. When the camera pans back we see that Zach is naked from behind. At this point I knew exactly what kind of movie I was getting into. I knew when reviewing this movie I wasn't going to waste my time using terms like unrealistic and stupid, because that's what the movie wants to be. I knew I had to just not think too much about what's going on and just sit back, relax, and try to enjoy it.

This movie gave me some chuckles here and there but as a whole I didn't find it that funny. I thought the whole idea was kind of funny, and I was never bored, but it was ruined for me with all the foul and vulgar language, and male nudity. I'm not a fan of comedies filled with so many F-words (and there was quite a lot in this movie), and other vulgar language. If you're going have that then the movie has to be really, really funny for me to like it. If they made this movie PG-13 I probably would give it a positive review. The three leads did fine but none had a real breakout role. The best role went to Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, a Korean mobster they find naked in the trunk of Doug's car. He stole every scene he was in.

So if you don't mind a movie with lots of swear words, drugs, vulgarity, and male nudity you might like this movie. The movie became the highest grossing comedy of all time, and won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, so there is evidently a lot of people who find the movie very funny. I must admit I watched the movie alone which is probably not the best way to view it. If you do watch it I would advise you to watch it with a group of friends. For some reason watching a stupid comedy is much funnier when other people are laughing at it too. Then after the movie you can quote some of the funny lines and make the movie sound funnier than it actually was.

Grade: D

Rated R- Lots of foul language, drug use (mostly scenes of getting really drunk), male nudity (Zach Galifianakis from behind, and Ken Jeong full frontal), brief female nudity (Heather Graham is breast feeding a baby), and some scenes of violence (the three main characters get beat up multiple times resulting in bloody mouths and bruises).

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

1. Toy Story 3

- Toy Story 1 and 2 are my favorite Pixar movies so far and that’s saying a lot. Pixar is on a role with Oscar winners like Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. I love Pixar movies and coming out with another sequel to this great series has me very excited.

2. Iron Man 2

- Iron Man was my favorite movie of 2008. So naturally I’m really excited to see the sequel. Robert Downy Jr. is really on a role the last two years, I think mostly due to the success of the first film. The trailer looks good, especially Mickey Rourke as the Russian bad guy. I just hope they don’t mess this up like other superheroes sequels (Spiderman 2 & 3, X-Men 3, and The Dark Knight).

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

- Even though I was very disappointed with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I look forward to every Harry Potter movie. Since this is only half a movie I’m kind of afraid it’s going to feel incomplete until the last one comes out. Still the book is great and they have a chance of making one of the best of the series.

4. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

- Looks like a real fun movie. I thought the trailer was a lot of fun to watch; it looks like it should have some good action, some good special effects, and probably some humor in between. It won’t be a best picture contender but I’m sure it will get a lot of viewers.

5. Clash of the Titans

- Just like Prince of Persia it looks like a good action adventure movie. The trailer looked great, with some cool looking monsters to boot.

6. The A-Team

- I’ve never seen an episode of the T.V show but it has my two favorite acting performances of last year: Liam Neeson and Sharlto Copley. I’m such a big fan of Liam Neeson that any movie he is in has my attention.

7. The Last Airbender

- I know M. Night Shyamalon is on a bad streak at the moment but he’s made some really good movies with Signs and The Sixth Sense so I still have hope for him. I thought the trailer looked pretty cool and I have a feeling there will be some good action and special effects scenes in the movie.

8. Shrek Forever After

- Now these movies aren’t as good as the great Pixar movies that come out every year but they are a lot of fun to watch. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with this one especially now that Shrek and Fiona have children. Shrek, Donkey, Puss and Boots, Ginger Bread Man, and Pinocchio really put a smile on my face. They can make 10 of these and I’m totally on board.

9. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

- The Chronicles of Narnia books are good stories, I don’t think they make the best movies necessarily, but they are solid. I haven’t read this book yet but I’m a fan of the series so I’m interested in what this will turn out to be.

10. The Other Guys

- This movie stars Will Ferell and Mark Wahlberg as cops steeping onto the big times. Whenever you have a comedy staring Will Ferell I’m always on board. It also is Directed and Written by Adam McKay who wrote and directed