Defending Dawn O4

[DjfunkmasterG]

Awm, man, no Riley? I know the guy has some flaws, and you are anti-Land, but the professor and nicotine are in the list and no Riley? That just makes me sad... I'm really not going to say they are great characters. Don't get me wrong, they are good characters and none of them would keep his movies from greatness. But they don't rise above the general quality of characters coming out in movies in general. And for every good character he has a wealth of really bad characters. For every Charlie there is a Pillsbury, Motown ("call me motown"), Foxy, Manolete, two dweebs shooting in the dark while on guard, etc. Otherwise I agree. He's got to get back to basics and write a good story. Just not a fan of Riley... don't know why... yes I do, that dumb ass statement at the end of LAND... "There just looking for a place to go... Just like us" These things just ate up a huge bunch of people from fiddlers green and you're going to let the last group walk into the sunset (sunrise in this case) Bullshit... Kill'em all. That scene alone kept Riley off the list.

[bassman]

Just not a fan of Riley... don't know why... yes I do, that dumb ass statement at the end of LAND... "There just looking for a place to go... Just like us" These things just ate up a huge bunch of people from fiddlers green and you're going to let the last group walk into the sunset (sunrise in this case) Bullshit... Kill'em all. That scene alone kept Riley off the list. Just curious how you felt about Barbara's line in Night90 of "We're them and they're us"? I personally love the "place to go" line and the moment of "understanding" between BD and Riley. I liked Riley, too. Cool character.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Just curious how you felt about Barbara's line in Night90 of "We're them and they're us"? I personally love the "place to go" line and the moment of "understanding" between BD and Riley. I liked Riley, too. Cool character. Not a very good line, in fact it was a weakly written version of the Dr. Millard Rouche (sp?) speech in Dawn and a comment Fran and Steve made about why the zombies are at the mall. That is just my opinion of it. Riley is an OK character... my thing is Land was so bad that the only real acting came from Robert Joy who played Charlie. Hence why he made the list. Other people who made the list got it from my connection with the character in the context of the movie, or how well they performed the dialog written for them in the film. I don't know how I feel about Night 90 in general. I like it, Tony Todd was a great Ben, but the movie had some other issues. I still firmly believe Romero and Savini shot themselves in the foot by letting Barbara say the line "They're so slow... we could walk right by them." I think that line was just wrong, although very accurate to describe them, but for me it ceased making the shambling zombies scary anymore. Its funny, Night 68 is such an effective film because the radio Dj giving the news reports makes the situation seem and sound very dire, this was also done to great effect in Dawn with the opening TV station program and other news reports given by the different media personalities. Day gets the effectiveness of the dire situation by showing how fucked up Florida was. Being on the streets overrun with the walking dead helped set the tone for that film, then all the in-fighting between the two groups just makes it better. I think LAND's biggest problem is not having anything like that. The opening to Land shows a small town with hardly any zombies in it, then suddenly after they raid the town.. BD assembles a small army to go invade Fiddler's Green... but suddenly his Army is in the thousands when they emerge from the River... If George was trying to show a heavy zombie population he should have used a better opening that what he used... it felt weak and didn't make me feel the dead had taken over the world... maybe Pittsburgh... maybe, but not he world.

[bassman]

I think there weren't that many because it was just a small town outside of the city. As they traveled the miles(?) it took to get to Fiddler's Green, they picked up other followers on the way.

[darth los]

Awm, man, no Riley? I know the guy has some flaws, and you are anti-Land, but the professor and nicotine are in the list and no Riley? That just makes me sad... I'm really not going to say they are great characters. Don't get me wrong, they are good characters and none of them would keep his movies from greatness. But they don't rise above the general quality of characters coming out in movies in general. And for every good character he has a wealth of really bad characters. For every Charlie there is a Pillsbury, Motown ("call me motown"), Foxy, Manolete, two dweebs shooting in the dark while on guard, etc. Otherwise I agree. He's got to get back to basics and write a good story. Dude, pillsbury has the best line in the film, if not the funniest.

[Trin]

Just not a fan of Riley... don't know why... yes I do, that dumb ass statement at the end of LAND... "There just looking for a place to go... Just like us" I said he had flaws!! Yeah, I hate that whole zombie/human connection angle, sorry bass. Riley is an OK character... my thing is Land was so bad that the only real acting came from Robert Joy who played Charlie. Hence why he made the list. I actually think Cholo is one of the standout characters in Land. Yeah, okay, the whole ransom for money angle I don't buy. But I blame that on plot, not character. His basic motivation was good, and he was a complex and believable character. He wasn't just a single dimension bad guy. I think LAND's biggest problem is not having anything like that. The opening to Land shows a small town with hardly any zombies in it, then suddenly after they raid the town.. BD assembles a small army to go invade Fiddler's Green... but suddenly his Army is in the thousands when they emerge from the River... If George was trying to show a heavy zombie population he should have used a better opening that what he used... it felt weak and didn't make me feel the dead had taken over the world... maybe Pittsburgh... maybe, but not he world. I think that's a good point about Land. I agree with bass that the Uniontown angle doesn't really support more zombies, and they could've picked them up on the way. Where I see the problem is in creating the setting for the Green they attempted to portray a claustrophobic enclosed environment but then showed miles of empty streets. They really missed the boat by portraying the Green as having no zombies outside. Dude, pillsbury has the best line in the film, if not the funniest. NOT... THE... POINT!!!!

[DjfunkmasterG]

I think there weren't that many because it was just a small town outside of the city. As they traveled the miles(?) it took to get to Fiddler's Green, they picked up other followers on the way. I could just see big daddy grunting his recruitment speech... betchya it was filmed too... You can't look at Land and all of its absurdity and not think that it wasn't, especially with the dumb as hell plot.

[BillyRay]

I could just see big daddy grunting his recruitment speech... betchya it was filmed too... You can't look at Land and all of its absurdity and not think that it wasn't, especially with the dumb as hell plot. Big Daddy, standing in front of a giant American flag a la Patton: "RRrrrrraaaAAAAAARRr!!! Rrahgrrr! Raaaaaaghrrr!!! YAAAAAAAArrrrgggh!" (etc) For twenty minutes...

[darth los]

What's dad is that Deej is probably right. GAr probably filmed it and thought it was essential to the film. Don't worry though he'll rehash the idea in 20 years like all the stuff he recycled from the original day script a forcefully jammed into land. Imo, that's big reason the film was dumb and incoherent. 20 year grudges will do that ya know.

[Wrong Number]

I just got an 50" HD TV and Blu-ray player so of course the first film I bought was the original Dawn of the Dead. I watched the documentary on it and it reminded me of yet another reason I so disliked Dawn '04....a remake of Dawn of the Dead is not an entirely awful idea. As much as I love the film it is getting very dated. The giant walkie talkies, b&w arcade games, the fashion, etc. stick out like a sore thumb especially to a younger viewer. An updated remake that actually is closely based on the original movie could be great. Instead we got Dopes of the Dead. WN

[Mike70]

four years on and this thread refuses to die. that must be some kind of record.

[darth los]

All the flaws in dawn 04' and it's still a better film than land or more enjoyable to watch anyways. Don't buy it? Just get a few buds together and ask them which one they'd rather watch or if they have seen them which one is better.

[BillyRay]

four years on and this thread refuses to die. that must be some kind of record. The problem isn't that this thread refuses to die, The problem is that it refuses to die, and it's running...

[darth los]

The problem isn't that this thread refuses to die, The problem is that it refuses to die, and it's running... That reminds me of the line from diary: "The problem is not that people are waking up dead, it's that dead people are waking up."

[krisvds]

All the flaws in dawn 04' and it's still a better film than land or more enjoyable to watch anyways. Don't buy it? Just get a few buds together and ask them which one they'd rather watch or if they have seen them which one is better. My friends hate Dawn remake. I can enjoy it for what it is: a really DUMB action flick.