Are we all just blind?

[Trin]

I had high expectations for LAND. I also had expectations (not necessarily high ones) that would not have been there had it not been GAR. My beef is that it turned into the type of movie I don't associate with GAR. I didn't expect a movie where I should turn off my brain and eat my popcorn and get spoon fed impractical plot, contrived conflict, and high action. That's just not GAR to me. The original 3 movies had depth. When you dig into the plot or characters you find a lot to think about. With Land it's worse than the opposite of that. You dig into the characters and plot and things make even less sense than on the surface. I went into Dawn '04 with expectations too. Expectations based on the fact that it wasn't GAR and was geared more to be an action movie. It met my expectations well and in some ways exceeded them. It was way more thoughtful than I expected it to be. The characters were more intelligent and planned than I expected. It had its problems, sure, but it didn't leave me questioning everything anyone did like Land. I'm definitely a GAR fan and he can make a dozen more movies like Land and I'll see them all. But I won't call a hamburger filet mignon.

[DVW5150]

i can name hundreds of lines. "Good shooting, no such thing as nice shooting", "God really left the phone off the hook, huh baby?!" , "That's why I still love you Charlie, you still believe in Heaven.", "Somebody shot the little fat man.", "Isn't that what we're doing? Pretending to be alive..." I could go on. "I came to do something... What are we standing around for? Let's do something" The theater loved that one. i could quote all day. Great lines that some critics referred to as almost poetry in a way. Compared to movies like Saw, DOTD 2004, Hostel, etc. where the dialogue is "Oh my God" or "Hello?" , Land's dialogue is really good. This one, "Trouble?",The K-man replies," In a world where the dead are coming back to life , the word 'trouble' looses much of its meaning."*Kaufman picks nose* Question: Cholo is asking Kaufman about his money, opening the champagne.What do you think he meant by "our nights together?" WTF? Not that there is anything wrong with that. Cholo hands the small glass to K man. I like how K man puts the drink in the proper glass, I noticed it in the theater.GAR mentions it in the commentary.

[acealive1]

i loved the movie personally. was there opening night.

[darth los]

You know, alot of you like to **** on Land because it isn't Dawn or Day. I never realized why until I thought about it. People like us who are in love with Romero's zombie films we're waiting to be dissapointed by Land. There is NO WAY it would ever live up to expectations. Thats why I saw it twice in theaters. The first time I watchec it, I was a bit dissapointed because it wasn't what I expected. But, I decided that If I saw it again, but this time watched it as a whole other flick, it might be better. I enjoyed it much better the 2nd time going in with the mind set that this was a zombie flick. Not a Romero zombie flick, but just a zombie flick. The original three have nostalgic places in our hearts and to try and accept a new film is almost impossible because its not familiar to us. If you compare Land to 99 % of other horror films in this country, it is brilliant and really ****ing good. All of my friends who are not obsessed with the trilogy like I am loved it. They ate it up. Because, they weren't in the ****ty mind-frame that we all are. Like look at the Star Wars geeks. They get all dressed up with their light sabers and **** and go see the new film and they come out like "That sucked. That was no where near the calibur of the first three". If George Lucas made the original Star Wars again, it'd be cheesy as **** and no one would be happy. Same with Romero. The bottom line is that we'd could have never accepted this film because we love the others too much. Do you get what I'm saying? I don't think we could ever love the fims to much.. However like you said it's all relative. For example. I have a smoking hot girlfriend who dumps me. I'm used to being with a smoking hot chick so whatever girl i'm with is not going to live up to what i had, i understand you. But even if I took the movie into a different context and not compare it to the other films it's still sub par imo. Like i've posted before, it felt to me like i was watching a sci-fi channel original movie.

[Philly_SWAT]

I look at it like this. It wasnt until I really got into Dawn that I came to appreciate Night and Land the way I do now. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Dawn is the masterpiece. That rare occurance where circumstances provide a 'perfect' movie. Both Night and Day are rife with things that I could complain about, and I didnt like either of them after initial viewings as much as I did after subsequent viewings. I believe that Land will end up being the same for most. I too was disappointed after seeing Land in the theatre, I was expecting (hoping) for something equal to or better than Dawn after such a long wait. What I got instead is a movie that I think fits nicely into the story set forth in the first three movies. The main thing about Land that sticks out from the rest is the recognizable actors. Actors that i have seen in several other movies makes it harder to suspend my disbelief that they are people in a 'dead' situation. As for Arcades057's point about the wasting of bullets, there is an explanation. If Land is a relatively short time period into the outbreak, people would still not realize the gravity of the situation. They are ignoring the problem, and thinking that life can go on, and hopefully return to normal in short order.

[darth los]

The main thing about Land that sticks out from the rest is the recognizable actors. Actors that i have seen in several other movies makes it harder to suspend my disbelief that they are people in a 'dead' situation. That was a big thing for me also. I couldn't get into it. If they were unknown then it would have been more real, the story would have been unique to them, like it was THEIR ordeal they were going through. The only thing i thought when i say leguizamo fighting zombies was" damn did super mario bros. suck." Casting relatively unknowns was a big part of the other films for me.