Review Movies: Woody Harrelson | Zombieland | Died Young Stayed Pretty

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 8 October 2009

Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson

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• Zombieland. Directed by Ruben Fleischer. Certificate: 15

WHY do Zombies have such a rotten-handed grip on film-makers?
From seriously scary horrors such as the early Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead films, to contemporary offerings such as 28 Days Later, through to the simply silly examples of the genre such as Shaun of the Dead, the idea of a staggering corpse seems to be a default setting. This time round, we see Woody Harrelson in a role very similar to the one he played in Natural Born killers – a rather unthinking macho dude who likes to tote a gun and wave it in the general direction of anything that moves.
We meet Tallahassee (Harrelson) and Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) as they confront a world overrun by the undead. They join forces with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who. like their new partners, have developed rather unique ways to survive a planet in which the undead rule.
A silly comedy with plenty of ticklish effects.

• Le Donk and Scor-Zay Zee. Directed by Shane Meadows. Certificate: 15

THIS is a spoof rockumentary with enough gags to tickle, but not enough originality to make it a classic like Spinal Tap.
While Shane Meadows finds it very hard to do anything wrong in cinema today, it is essentially an extended skit.
Donk is a roadie who sees himself as a George Martin/Phil Spector producer genius rather than a cabinet-carrying stage monkey. His big hope for cracking the big time is Midlands-accented rapper Scor-Zay-Zee who does a tasteless line in rhymes dissing his ex-girlfriend.

• Died Young Stayed Pretty. Directed by Eileen Yaghoobian. Certificate: 15

An odd flick about the history of American rock posters, chronicling the growth of a particular style of indie graphic design and by doing so casting light on the driving forces behind a huge cultural maelstrom that is everywhere but rarely recognised for its insidious effect on every day life, be it via MTV or fly posters on city streets.

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