Deej & lou movie commentary thread - pick the movie

[Trin]

I personally couldn't care if the zombies were real actors, CGI zombies, or large stuffed animals with blood on their faces. I can pretend they're zombies if they look even close. I'm very forgiving on that. The two shots there are great. But they don't make sense given what we saw around that. When Big Daddy storms the motor pool there are a couple dozen. When they "surround" Dead Reckoning on the bridge they weren't even 3 deep. The list of shots that depicts handfuls goes on and on. It's almost a continuity issue more than a scale issue. But that's really kinda beside the point for me. My bigger problem with lack of zombies is the overall concept behind the situation. This is nearly the last human city, right? And there are no zombies around? "They don't much come around here any more." Okay, fine, so this is some kind of statement about zombie intelligence like when the zombies in Day stopped coming to the pen doors "cause they know what Frankenstein is gonna do to them" but on a larger scale. I get that. But does it work? I mean, if the zombies have lost interest why are we still trapped in this city? How does Kaufman keep control without the relentless fear of having zombies at the gates? If we never see more than one or two, and we've lapsed into this "ignoring the problem" mode, why do we have so many people at the electric fence? If we have people at an electric fence that is rarely challenged, why is the river completely unprotected? As for the expectation of "epic" I know a lot of people attribute that to 20 years of built of expectations. But it's not that. The Land poster that hung outside the movie theater depicted a literal sea of zombies surrounding the last human city. It said, "The Legendary Filmmaker Brings You His Ultimate Zombie Masterpiece." All of that screams, "This movie should be BIGGER than anything previous. You're gonna see a LAND full of zombies." And then we see a group of people struggling to survive in a city that was never seriously at threat. If it had said, "The Creator of the Moden Day Zombie Brings You the Next Chapter in Zombie Evolution," I think people would've been more satisfied.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I personally couldn't care if the zombies were real actors, CGI zombies, or large stuffed animals with blood on their faces. I can pretend they're zombies if they look even close. I'm very forgiving on that. The two shots there are great. But they don't make sense given what we saw around that. When Big Daddy storms the motor pool there are a couple dozen. When they "surround" Dead Reckoning on the bridge they weren't even 3 deep. The list of shots that depicts handfuls goes on and on. It's almost a continuity issue more than a scale issue. But that's really kinda beside the point for me. My bigger problem with lack of zombies is the overall concept behind the situation. This is nearly the last human city, right? And there are no zombies around? "They don't much come around here any more." Okay, fine, so this is some kind of statement about zombie intelligence like when the zombies in Day stopped coming to the pen doors "cause they know what Frankenstein is gonna do to them" but on a larger scale. I get that. But does it work? I mean, if the zombies have lost interest why are we still trapped in this city? How does Kaufman keep control without the relentless fear of having zombies at the gates? If we never see more than one or two, and we've lapsed into this "ignoring the problem" mode, why do we have so many people at the electric fence? If we have people at an electric fence that is rarely challenged, why is the river completely unprotected? As for the expectation of "epic" I know a lot of people attribute that to 20 years of built of expectations. But it's not that. The Land poster that hung outside the movie theater depicted a literal sea of zombies surrounding the last human city. It said, "The Legendary Filmmaker Brings You His Ultimate Zombie Masterpiece." All of that screams, "This movie should be BIGGER than anything previous. You're gonna see a LAND full of zombies." And then we see a group of people struggling to survive in a city that was never seriously at threat. If it had said, "The Creator of the Moden Day Zombie Brings You the Next Chapter in Zombie Evolution," I think people would've been more satisfied. The poster, title, and tagline were very misleading, but I don't think I would have been satisfied even with the suggested changes. To Bassman and anyone else... Has anyone here been to Uniontown, PA? it isn't really as small as depicted in the movie, in fact the population is over 10K I believe, so out of 10K people there are only 12 zombies left and they joined up to be in the Big Bad Daddy posse? I call BS Sorry Land was an EPIC failure of a small movie. I blame the producers more than anything.

[Trin]

Has anyone here been to Uniontown, PA? it isn't really as small as depicted in the movie, in fact the population is over 10K I believe, so out of 10K people there are only 12 zombies left and they joined up to be in the Big Bad Daddy posse? I call BS I'm not sure if the real Uniontown should have any bearing on the discussion. On the one hand, if it was depicted as a smaller town then it should only have to make sense in those terms. On the other, anyone familiar with the location might draw different conclusions based on their foreknowledge. Sorry Land was an EPIC failure of a small movie. I blame the producers more than anything. I wouldn't say it was an epic fail. I'd say it was a fail if it was trying to be epic. I get where you're coming from, but personally I think the problems with land started well before a camera came into play. I think it didn't get any better once the film was rolling, but a better story would've made a better movie.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I'm not sure if the real Uniontown should have any bearing on the discussion. On the one hand, if it was depicted as a smaller town then it should only have to make sense in those terms. On the other, anyone familiar with the location might draw different conclusions based on their foreknowledge. I wouldn't say it was an epic fail. I'd say it was a fail if it was trying to be epic. I get where you're coming from, but personally I think the problems with land started well before a camera came into play. I think it didn't get any better once the film was rolling, but a better story would've made a better movie. I hear what you're saying but the script seemed so much better than what was put on the screen and I am talking about the Land of the Dead script, not Dead Reckoning script. I am just trying to figure out how you screw up a decent screenplay. I guess from being on set and seeing how things worked I expected a lot more, but I also should have known there was trouble in paradise when the issue with the producer kept popping up every 20 seconds.

[EvilNed]

it isn't really as small as depicted in the movie, in fact the population is over 10K I believe, so out of 10K people there are only 12 zombies left and they joined up to be in the Big Bad Daddy posse? I call BS To me, the town in the film actually seemed like a BIGGER town than a 10k town. So kudos to Land for that one. Sorry. Not seeing what you're getting at. Land was as epic as it set out to be, but that wasn't the point of the film. Not for me. Also, the Producer and Unit production manager is never on set and they're the "Bad cops, bad cops" of the movie business. It'd be strange if you DIDN'T hear any major bitching about the producers.

[LouCipherr]

For every picture of a "zombie horde" in Land, I could post 3 (or more) from Dawn04 that showed many, many more zombies than you ever see in Land. That's how you get the words 'zombie apocalypse' across. You show the world has gone to shit and why. The world is INFESTED with dead people. Where do you get that feeling in Land other than those 3 quick scenes? Matter of fact, I think the 3 pics posted where the only three scenes where there were what I would consider a 'horde' of zombies in Land (10-15 zombies don't make a horde). However, once again, we're picking on the 'epic' thing and the 'lack of decent amount of zombies' - and while I realize we hammered that point home quite a bit, i've said this at least 4 times already: we picked on a bunch of other stuff too. Why is no one questioning the fact that we thought Eugene Clark was a piss-poor choice for Big Daddy and a poor actor (at least in this film)? Why isn't anyone questioning our thoughts on the rest of the poor acting in the film? The aspect ratio chosen not being used to it's fullest potential? The poor directing? Poor choice of angles? The choice of filters and color scheme used by the DP? Does this mean that the only thing everyone is disagreeing on with us is our "epic lack of zombies" comment?

[EvilNed]

Where do you get that feeling in Land other than those 3 quick scenes? The opening planted it and set it up. The rest of the movie followed suit. I wasn't really looking for any epic hordes, and I was fully satisfied with the zombie content that we got. Does this mean that the only thing everyone is disagreeing on with us is our "epic lack of zombies" comment? Truth be told, I haven't listened to the audio commentary, and am just posting here because I thought DJ made a rather funny and poor attack against Land because of it's title. I won't listen to it either. Not out of disrespect, but from the get-go I wasn't very interested in hearing someone bitch over Land for the duration of the movie. I enjoy it. I'm sure you have a few good points, but so do I. Meh. Why waste my time. You catching my drift?

[bassman]

I think everyone can agree the casting of BD was a big goof. As for the techincal stuff....i'm not that deep into film, so I can't really comment on lenses and such. The color scheme I actually enjoyed. The dark gray/blue tone to the whole film was great. Ya know the problem with your commentary? It wasn't epic.

[LouCipherr]

I won't listen to it either. Not out of disrespect, but from the get-go I wasn't very interested in hearing someone bitch over Land for the duration of the movie. I enjoy it. I'm sure you have a few good points, but so do I. Meh. Why waste my time. You catching my drift? Ned, I completely understand. If you really enjoy a film, the last thing you wanna hear is people tear it apart. In all fairness to Dj and myself, we did point out quite a few things we liked in it too, so rest assured, while it was quite a bit of a hate-fest, there were indeed some things we did like and were noted during the commentary. Matter of fact, MZ is the one that asked if we'd do that (talk about the things we did like), and while I razzed him for not doing the same for Dawn04 yet <ahem>, we still pointed out the things we liked. Ya know the problem with your commentary? It wasn't epic. lmmfao! That's it - next commentary, we're gonna skype in every single person from HPotD for an EPIC GROUP COMMENTARY!

[EvilNed]

I think everyone can agree the casting of BD was a big goof. Nope, not me. I think Eugene Clark definetly looks the part and plays the part well. I think the zombie BD itself is kinda poorly written, tho... Or rather, I disagree with the way he was written.

[Trin]

I hear what you're saying but the script seemed so much better than what was put on the screen and I am talking about the Land of the Dead script, not Dead Reckoning script. I am just trying to figure out how you screw up a decent screenplay. I agree with that. The script would lead you to believe there are more zombies than what we saw. In several scenes the actors are reacting as if there are more, and I think that jives with the script. Then you see it translate on screen and go... whu?? To me that still only gets you halfway there. The rest is couched in bad storytelling. I think everyone can agree the casting of BD was a big goof. As for the techincal stuff....i'm not that deep into film, so I can't really comment on lenses and such. The color scheme I actually enjoyed. The dark gray/blue tone to the whole film was great. I hate to say it, but the casting of BD didn't bug me. The role itself did, but as I've said a few times before, the whole BD angle didn't ruin the enjoyment for me. It would've been better had they spread out the zombie evolution a bit. Maybe let some of the others get the spark from his initial epiphany. But I thought he fit the part well and if he over-acted it, well there was a guy there who could've changed that. I also enjoyed the dark gray/blue tone to the film. The whole atmosphere of Land was just fantastic to me. When I pop in Land it's mostly to get another glimpse into the zombie apocalypse well into it.

[MinionZombie]

The Big Daddy character hasn't aged especially well ... or the performance hasn't ... or I don't know really. Was totally fine with BD in 2005, but each time I view the film (seen it a good ten times by now I'd think) I like BD a little less. Over a few viewings in more recent years I've spotted things that annoy me, or niggle me, or lines of dialogue I'd have personally written differently which therefore annoys me a bit, or the odd bit of this or that that makes me go "*winces* hmmm..." HOWEVER - while I started out as a Land Lover, I will always remain a Land Quite Liker. While there's some dodgy CGI in the movie (the Priest Zombie), there's also some astonishingly good CGI (e.g. the wide shot of Riley and Charlie ascending the steps out of the subway and into the street later on in the movie - I thought that was a location, then I saw the greenscreen/CGI featurette on the DVD and it blew my fucking mind - there are many other moments in the movie with CGI as great as that - nice little touches here and there). Yes, more zombies would have been nice ... indeed deep down it was one of the reasons I wrote my own zombie epic the way I did (I'm still waiting for Deej and Lou to have a gander at it out of interest... ... it's first draft from a couple of years ago, so I'd change a lot of it now, but the foundation and basic content would remain). Rather than get all into it again, I'll leave it at that - I'm a Land Quite Liker for life. I have problems with it that have presented themselves over the years, but I rather dig the vast majority of the movie. And perhaps one day I will do a "What MZ *LIKES* About Yawn04 List" ... ... the mere suggestion alone is enough to plant a seed of pestering in my mind. Heck, the aforementioned epic zombie script I wrote was simply because Deej said "you should turn this short script into a feature script" (it was a short zombie script, on which I also based "Signing Off") ... so the seed of pestering was planted and the 130 page script resulted.

[LouCipherr]

The Big Daddy character hasn't aged especially well ... or the performance hasn't ... or I don't know really. Hasn't "aged" well? It wasn't "well" the first time it was shown on screen. HOWEVER - while I started out as a Land Lover, I will always remain a Land Quite Liker. ...and the transition begins... albeit a bit late there, MZ. And perhaps one day I will do a "What MZ *LIKES* About Yawn04 List" ... ... the mere suggestion alone is enough to plant a seed of pestering in my mind This I'd be very interested to hear. Dj and I found and pointed out some cool stuff in Bland, it's just the 'overall presentation' that we didn't like. I'd be interested to hear about the things that you did indeed did about Dawn04. There has to be at least a handful of things.

[bassman]

Hasn't "aged" well? It wasn't "well" the first time it was shown on screen. As if THIS was any better...

[Trin]

Over a few viewings in more recent years I've spotted things that annoy me, or niggle me, or lines of dialogue I'd have personally written differently which therefore annoys me a bit, or the odd bit of this or that that makes me go "*winces* hmmm..." HOWEVER - while I started out as a Land Lover, I will always remain a Land Quite Liker. Before the Land Haters dive on this like the last cupcake at the birthday party shouting things like, "You see? Land ISN'T going to gain popularity over time!!!1!11!!", I'll throw on a balancing opinion. I like Land more now than I did back in 2005-2006. Like MZ, I want that taken in context. I don't think the movie has overcome its flaws. I just have learned to live with them better. And Diary/Survival made me appreciate Land more too. Oh, and anytime I feel the need to like Dawn '04 all I have to do is remember zombie baby. I can watch the movie up to zombie baby. I can watch the movie after zombie baby. But I invariably switch channels during that scene. Thanks for the reminder Bass!!