Film Review: Zombieland: Double Tap

"Life Is About More Than Just Survival. We Were A Family. Dysfunctional, Sure, But What Family Isn’t..."

How a lot can change in the world of cinema in just one decade. Since the release of the first Zombieland back in 2009, Emma Stone has picked up a much deserved Academy Award, Woody Harrelson stunned audiences with a career-best performance in the first season of True Detective and Jesse Eisenberg has become more and more of a sanctimonious asshole after winning plaudits for his central role in the outstanding, The Social Network and then bombing any chances of redemption after delivering one of the worst villainous performances in the history of cinema in the awfully misguided, Batman Vs. Superman. Forever placing itself in the hearts of cult movie fanatics since its' initial release, the world of Zombieland returns with Double Tap, a movie which finally hits the big screen after years of development hell and one helmed once again by returning director, Ruben Fleischer, whose exploits since the original movie have included the vacuous and noisy double bill of Gangster Squad and Venom. With jokes aplenty, some juicy comic violence and an erratic, lightning-fast pacing, Fleischer's movie is exactly the movie you think it is, and an enjoyable one at that. 

Whilst there is some degree of a central narrative at the heart of the movie, one involving our four horsemen (and ladies) of the apocalypse splitting off from each other in search of individual life decisions, Double Tap is without doubt more interested in set pieces, set pieces involving smart, sarcastic and well timed comedic gags during the heat of the battle against the hordes of the undead who make their way into the storyline when absolutely needed. With particular gags from the original being repeated, including the well-versed "zombie rules" utilised as a recurring flashpoint and the mighty Metallica returning to boost the soundtrack's awesomeness, Double Tap is far from original, and whereas the original was essentially America's answer to Edgar Wright's superior zombie classic, Shaun of the Dead, Double Tap concludes with the most Americanised and overly ridiculous climax ever seen in a zombie flick. With the cast being supported by excellent supporting cameos including the scene stealing, Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!!) and a weird post-credits sequence involving Bill Murray (Groundhog Day), Double Tap is perfect Friday night nonsense, with emphasis on the nonsense. 

Overall Score: 6/10

Film Review: The Goldfinch

"When I Lost Her, I Lost Sight Of Any Landmark That Might Have Led Me Someplace Happier..."

Around twenty minutes into The Goldfinch, Jeffrey Wright's overly mawkish and completely unbelievable side character says something along the lines of "it's a reconstruction, and not a very good one," and if ever there was a key segment of dialogue to accurately summarise a movie as whole, that one is pretty much bang on the money in the case of The Goldfinch. Directed by John Crowley, whose previous work in the form of the absolutely superb Brooklyn confirms he is a filmmaker who understands when a film is undoubtedly working or not, The Goldfinch is a bloated, overlong and thoroughly unengaging adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning 2013 novel of the same name by American author, Donna Tartt, a two and a half hour marathon of a movie which sacrifices an interesting narrative for dull, hateful characters and a sanctimonious, chin-wagging sensibility which assumes all audience members are the type of people who could spend all day finding interest in the texture of a painted wall instead of having, you know, a bit of fun. 

Told in a narrative structure akin to that of an over-exuberant art spinner, Crowley's movie predominantly focuses on the life of Theodore "Theo" Decker, whose witnessing of a museum bombing and the subsequent death of his angelic-esque mother results in him stealing the titular famous painting from within the rubble of the attack and then spending the majority of his young life moaning about past life choices and feeling up furniture in order to impress the love of his life. With the younger form of Decker being portrayed by Oakes Fegley of Pete's Dragon fame, the first eighty minutes or so sees Decker move from family to family and location to location without any real sense of dramatic point, with the plot strangely content with introducing boring character after boring character, each of whom feel the need to talk about some of the most face-palming waffle I have ever had the displeasure of hearing within the confines of a cinema without any purpose whatsoever. With the elder side of Decker being handled by Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), the movie then concludes with a pondering, self-absorbed level of crass melodrama which makes Hollyoaks look like a masterpiece in understatement, and even with the likes of Radiohead on the soundtrack not once, but twice, The Goldfinch is the type of holier than thou cinematic garbage which made me want to leave five minutes in, but like the good old fashioned cinephile I am, I withstood the wave and took comfort in the safe knowledge that nothing this year can be as skull-crushingly dull as Crowley's latest. 

Overall Score: 2/10

Film Review: Brad's Status

"You're Fifty Years Old And You Still Think The World Was Made For You..."

Tackling notions of the mid-life crisis and looking back on a lifetime gone swiftly by, School of Rock writer, Mike White, directs and provides the screenplay for Brad's Status, a low-key and pleasantly thoughtful comedy which utilises the leading star skills of Ben Stiller who returns to the big screen after a somewhat nonexistent cinematic footprint over the course of the past few years or so. Whilst Stiller's comedy can somewhat not exactly hit the mark, take the likes of Zoolander 2 for instance, the emergence of White's script and a wide range of lovely supporting performances from an extravagantly well-versed cast, proves to be a solid winning return for the comedic stalwart, and although the underlying narrative point of the movie is one which has been tackled before in a wide range of differing movies ranging from American Beauty to last year's Ingrid Goes West, Brad's Status is a cool, sombre and sometimes heartwarming drama which doesn't ever feel the need to raise up from its' subtle examination of its' titular leading character. 

Accompanying his son, Troy (Austin Abrams, Paper Towns) along the East Coast whilst they seek out potential future colleges, Brad Sloane (Stiller) reminisces about the success of his out of touch school friends whilst he contemplates his own life's middling mediocrity, one which is full with seething regret and unwarranted shame in comparison to his long lost forgotten acquaintances. With the narrative primarily explained through the use of Stiller's voiceover and some rather excessive yet undeniably comedic dream sequences which convey's Sloane's belief of his friend's individual successes, White's movie works primarily thanks to a brilliantly conflicted leading performance from Stiller alongside the grounding of its' youthful cast, with the likes of Abrams and Shazi Raja counteracting Sloane's contempt for the world by explaining its' true riches in a It's a Wonderful Life style monologue. Whilst the movie falls at times for swaying too much from the central narrative and limiting its' actual comedic zingers to a minimal amount, White's movie is still an interesting social drama which reinforces the idea that when put to good use, Stiller is still an important and welcome leading star. 

Overall Score: 6/10