Screenhead

There was an awesome poll over at horror-movies.ca, where they posed a question to their audience.  The question:  Which movie was better–Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland?

You likely won’t be surprised to hear that Zombieland won out.  But where you WILL be surprised is to hear that it only won by THREE PERCENT.  And there’s one more surprise in there.

The breakdown went like this:

Zombieland: 37 percent

Shaun of the Dead: 34 percent

Both were equally good: 29 percent

I have to admit I’m in the “equally good” camp myself, but I have to further admit I enjoyed Zombieland more.  Why?  Because Zombieland spoke to my cultural heritage.  Sure, Shaun of the Dead was a comic riot and watching a mostly disarmed country try to tackle zombies WITHOUT GUNS was an interesting if terrifying treat.

But Zombieland was pure baseball, mom and apple pie start to finish.  Okay, so it was more like amusement parks, family and Twinkies, but close enough for government work, huh?

In an objective sense, they’re equally good.  They show the cultural foibles of a society attacked by the horror of zombies and they do so in a hilariously overblown way that emphasizes the comic.  But most have a preference, one way or the other, which you see mirrored in the poll.

So where do you come in on this one?  Zombieland? Shaun of the Dead?  Or do you see the joy in both these comic gems?

Popularity: unranked [?]

When I saw the trailers and footage of Zombieland with Woody Harrelson playing brilliant off all the cast members, I knew it was a sure-fire hit. It’s a crazy, horrific story with some excellent messages in general. Plus, it looks like a lot of fun.  Yet, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is still up there on chart at number two. The Toy Story 3D movies are number three.

1. Zombieland
$32,801,081 — $32,801,081

2. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
$18,558,675 — $84,250,956

3. Toy Story / Toy Story 2 in 3D
$15,002,348 — $15,002,348

4. Surrogates
$9,414,387 — $28,457,467

5. Invention Of Lying, The
$8,956,605 — $8,956,605

6. Capitalism: A Love Story
$5,993,502 — $6,395,191

7. Whip It
$5,966,058 — $5,966,058

8. Fame
$5,605,503 — $17,485,739

9. The Informant
$4,863,052 — $27,643,148

10. Love Happens
$3,652,360 — $19,785,415

(Source)

Popularity: 1% [?]

After reading Steve Anderson’s review of Zombieland I am not surprised the horror/comedy flick is doing well at the box office.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs hangs at second place while Toy Story 3D movies are in third.  You’ll notice that Capitalism: A Love Story is in seventh beating Fame and The Informant!

Results:

1. Zombieland
$25,000,000

2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
$16,700,000

3. Toy Story / Toy Story 2 in 3D
$12,500,000

4. The Invention of Lying
$7,400,000

5. Surrogates
$7,300,000

6. Whip It
$4,850,000

7. Capitalism: A Love Story
$4,850,000

8. Fame
$4,800,000

9. The Informant!
$3,800,000

10. Pandorum
$1,900,000

(S0urce)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Zombieland scared Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to second place on Friday’s opening. Surprisingly, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D came in third place with The Invention of Lying in fourth place.

Results:

1. Zombieland
$ 9.4

2. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
$ 3.7

3. Toy Story 1/Toy Story 2
$ 3.2

4. The Invention of Lying
$ 2.5

5. Surrogates
$ 2.2

(Source)

Popularity: 1% [?]

I love that line.  Really I do.  Because in it is the entirety of the movie Zombieland, opening in theaters today.

Zombieland brings us back with Jesse Eisenberg, the Michael Cera knockoff whom you may remember macking on a surprisingly able Kristen Stewart back in another movie about land, Adventureland.  Anyway, this time, naturally we’re in Zombieland, a world vaguely like our own but jammed to the hilt with zombies.  Those few human beings who are left find themselves forced to make deadly choices every day for the sake of survival, but yet, even here, they still manage to have dreams.  Simple dreams, for the most part. Thoroughly American dreams.  But will they capture those dreams?  Or will they be zombie chow?

After I finished watching this one, which I had been longing to see ever since I saw the trailer, one thought hit me like a bolt out of the blue.  This is just the Americanized version of Shaun of the Dead.  Zombieland was another hilarious zombie comedy, the only real difference here being that the thoroughly British qualities of Shaun of the Dead had been replaced by thoroughly American qualities.

Sure, everyone’s got a gun in Zombieland, but they’ll also feel that British influence (after all, Great Britain really IS the mother of America if you want to get metaphorical about it) by striking out with whatever’s handy.  Rakes, hedge clippers,  the Garden Weasel (the weirdest garden tool ever), even pianos on ropes–we’ll take out zombies with whatever we can get our hands on.

Yes, Zombieland is hilarious.  Woody Harrelson is much more talented than anyone gives him credit for (he actually WAS an action hero of sorts at one point), Jesse Eisenberg makes a great foil for Woody’s over-the-top lunacy, and the fact that Bill Murray is in this just made my jaw drop.

But Zombieland will actually make you think, too.  Think about the common dreams we all share.  Oh, sure…in Zombieland, the goals of the day are amusement parks, family and Twinkies, but is that really so far removed from baseball, mom and apple pie?  And in the end, when faced with those horrible choices, and left to, as the movie so dynamically puts it, “nut up or shut up”, you’ll find that more often than not, you’ll be better equipped to nut up than you thought.

There’s so much to like about Zombieland–hilarity, personal growth, violence, zombies, Bill Murray–that the list alone is reason enough to see this.  Zombieland is an incredible movie, and as such, I can’t believe what I’m about to do.

The Screenhead Ten Scale shares my horror and wonders if I’m going soft as I pound its override button like a test-your-strength mallet into a clown’s face and award Zombieland a full-on ten out of ten.  This is just too funny and too action-packed and even too scary not to see.

Popularity: 1% [?]

What is it about Woody Harrelson movies that make people speculate so insanely about their sequel potential?  First it’s Defendor, and now we’re talking a  Zombieland sequel!

Okay, I freely admit that Zombieland is like an order of magnitude greater in the commercial potential department than Defendor can ever hope to be, but for crying out loud, Zombieland hasn’t even been released yet.  To talk about a sequel–as much as we’re all probably going to want one; it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that this will OWN its weekend–at this stage of the game is wildly premature.

Woody himself says it best:

“I think one key thing for when they want to do a sequel is that the movie is successful. Since this once hasn’t even opened, I don’t think they’re going to talk about sequel yet.”

Exactly.  Thank you, Woody.  I really hadn’t thought you were this level-headed, what with your hemp nonsense and all, but that’s a QFT if ever I saw one.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Yeah, I know…most of us Venom purists out there (of which I happily count myself among) were pretty convinced that casting Topher Grace as Eddie Brock was some kind of insult, either that or the result of the studio being utterly convinced we all had the mental candlepower of certain kinds of fish.

But I got one real good reason to cheer up and look forward to that Venom movie–two of the writers come from Zombieland.

Ohhhhh yeah.  One of the freakiest looking action horror titles of the year and they’ll be writing the Venom movie.  Apparently the script is already in Marvel’s hands, and from here it’s all a matter of getting it produced.  The current suspicion is that Spider Man 4 will actually be used to set up the Venom movie, so it’ll be at least two years before Venom actually gets a watchable big screen experience.  Ah well…we’ve waited longer for worse, and I’m definitely looking forward to this one.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Funny movie!  I love the beginning when Woody Harrelson’s plays the theme from Deliverance and then says to the Zombie “You’ve got a pretty mouth.” Is that sick or what?!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Jesse Eisenberg stars and narrates Zombieland, which appears to be a hilarious movie also starring Woody Harrelson.  Just the other night I watched Eisenberg in The Hunting Party with Richard Gere and Terence Howard. I thought he was great and wanted to see him in more movies. Sure enough, here he is in Zombieland. Enjoy the hilarious trailer.

Popularity: 1% [?]

“I want some, too!”

I like this trailer — it’s funny.

Popularity: unranked [?]