The Film Buzz » Waz

The Informant!

Waz — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:51:07 +0000

Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen, Erin Brockovich), The Informant! is a politically themed comedy about an innocent employee Mark Whitacre, (Matt Damon) who has worked his way up the hierarchy only to be approached one day by the FBI to aid them in spying on the company he has worked in for so many years.

In the time Mark Whitacre progresses as an informant, he feels the extreme pressure of working for the FBI and his own company at the same time and soon ends up losing more than just his mind.

This comedic take on the book (written by Kurt Eichenwald) is based on true events about the ADM price fixing conspiracy. With the screenplay by Scott Z. Burns, the film stars Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale and Melanie Lynskey.

I immediately had a smile on my face after watching the trailer as there were parts there that I definitely found amusing. It seems as though Matt Damon makes for a very good adaptation, portraying how clumsy the character was at the beginning of being an informant until the end where I could easily see Matt Damon gradually losing his grip on reality.

Matt has also done remarkable works in his past films both in comedy (Ocean’s Eleven) and drama (Good Will Hunting), this role is well suited for him. In fact the role Matt plays in Ocean’s Eleven as an agent from the ‘Nevada Gaming Commission’ to remove Bernie Mac for fraud reminds me a lot of his role in The Informant! Having said that, it does seem like a very typical film for Steven Soderbergh to direct, it may lack originality or differentiate from his older works with Matt Damon.

I personally think that this comedy goes along the same lines of ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’ so if you like that particular style of comedy then I think you will appreciate and enjoy this film. So based on the fact that this type of comedy may not be for everyone I will give this a Film Buzz Anticipation Rating of…….7 Buzzes!

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7/10

UK Release Date: 20^th November 2009

Director’s: Steven Soderbergh

Writer’s: Scott Z. Burns

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes

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Carriers (2009)

Waz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:54:14 +0000

Carrier Bags? No. Zombies, in point of fact. ZOMBEEHHHSSSSS!

Waz here, your zombie blog guru blogging about a zombie flick to be released in the UK on 11th December.

Written and directed by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, Carriers is a thriller/horror film that is set in the US and focuses on four individuals in their attempts to survive a viral pandemic.

During their struggle to survive, they come across all sorts of people looking for aid and following their rules of survival, they stay away from as many infected as possible.

Over the course of their survival each individual is faced with extreme moral decisions that no one should have to face and as the story progresses, they feel as though they are more dangerous amongst themselves than the actual viral pandemic.

Carriers stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp.

As you all should know, I lurve me some zombehs, so there’s nothing I’d rather review than a zombie film. After watching the trailer I found myself quite intrigued, even more so than Zombieland. Carriers seems less childish and is set in a time frame where the virus is spreading and a mass of zombies has not erupted. In a way, this film is quite similar to that of 28 Days Later (2009) about a viral pandemic. As much as I enjoyed the trailer and the idea of zombie survival, I did however question the amount of actual zombies within this film. I mean, I know that there are zombies, that’s a given, but the extent to which zombies were active during this film is to be questioned; I didn’t see any zombies crazed over with a hunger for flesh, they just seemed to pop up from a bed an go ‘boo’.

Saying this I’m questioning the true extent to which this is even a zombie film, as the plot summary suggests, they find themselves more dangerous than zombies and then end up eating at each other? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a zombie/viral pandemic film? Take away the zombies and you have any other film where it’s every man for himself. As previously mentioned in my Zombieland post, zombies are always a great start but have a habit of going pear-shaped when it comes to films.

Comparing Carriers to Rec (2007) and 28 Days Later (2009) - my two favourite zombie films, I would say that this film is worth a watch but be prepared for it to prove itself as too predictable. Also another point to add is that this film was released in the US in September and the DVD will available to rent from December 8th – yet again questioning the true quality of this film.

So based on the fact that the trailer and plot synopsis almost gives everything away, I would give this particular zombie flick a Film Buzz Anticipation Rating of… 6.5!

Originally I had it at 6.0, but I’m a sucker for zombie films I have to see.

Tell us what you think! Until next time.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 6.5/10

Release Date: 11 December 2009

Director: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor

Writer’s: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes

Zombieland (2009)

Waz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:24:50 +0000

Zombieland is a horror comedy based on, you guessed it, zombies! And with that entails everything else within the zombie package: survival, courage, guts, balls and braaaaiiiiinnsssss, all of which our main survivor cast has none of.

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a ‘never-kissed-a-girl’ type school boy who has a unique cowardly personality that has brought him to follow a strict set of rules that he fully abides by, which in turn aids him in surviving against the zombie invasion.

On the flip side, our other main survivor is Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), who demolishes zombies without any signs of hesitation and teams up with Columbus to survive against the impending zombie apocalypse.

Zombieland also stars Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin who all play the main survivors in this film.

Now personally I am a HUGE fan of zombies; there’s nothing I’d like more than to be in a huge, fully equipped mall packed full of zombies surviving while annihilating mass amounts of zombies.

Having said this, zombie films have an immense tendency to prove some what… average… monotonous and just overplayed to be honest.

So when I finished watching this trailer I wasn’t too amped up. I mean I was definitely excited about the concept of mass zombie killing, however from the trailer and synopsis I felt that Zombieland was missing (like most other zombie movies) a substantial plot with quality.

So far the best zombie oriented films I have seen are 28 Days Later and Rec. Both of which sent chills down my spine, so when I read that Zombieland was a comedy/horror, least to say I was slightly reluctant as to how good a film this was actually going to be.

However after Zombieland’s release I had noticed a considerable amount of attention drawn to this film, most of which turned out positive. Zombieland grossed more than $60.8 million in 17 days, becoming the top-grossing zombie film in history, surpassing the Dawn of the Dead remake – interesting.

So what is so good about this particular zombie flick I ask…

I made my way to IMDb and behold an almighty 8.2 Rating, making it #185 on IMDb’s Top 250 Films of all time! Stunning!

Due to this very intriguing score, I have decided to remove my initial and very average Film Buzz Anticipation score of 5.5/10 and I now officially give it an anticipation score of *drum roll* - 7.5/10

Tell us what you think about Zombieland!

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7.5/10

Release Date: 7 October 2009

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writer’s: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes