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Diary of the Dead, a review by Jon

Diary of the Dead
4 out of 5

George A. Romero returns to the roots of his zombie saga with film students filming their own horror movie as the outbreak starts. The cameraman continues filming as he and his friends discover more about the disaster.

Supposedly genuine footage forms the story. Yawn. Blair Witch tried it, Cloverfield almost nailed it. Does one of the godfathers of horror really need to jump on a bandwagon when he can normally be relied on to be the one driving? Well, ultimately the film struggles because of the limitations of such a conceit, but his take on the idea is more inventive and insightful than the others.

Sadly it seems to have been lost on many people who watched this film in the wake of the new Dawn of the Dead or the before mentioned Cloverfield. The comparisons are very unfair though and could easily be reversed as both of those films lack substance [they don't need]. There is a tangible difference between horrors and thrillers. They can overlap of course, but essentially, just as thrillers don't need monsters to scare us, monsters don't have to be scary. Well, not in an immediate "Boo!" sense anyway. No, the scare factor in Diary and the other Dead films is in why there are zombies and how we react. The joke in Dawn of the Dead was that the zombies weren't actually an immediate threat, but through greed and boredom the survivors let their defences down, almost becoming one of the shambling masses in the shopping centre, a danger we all face! Diary attacks the media saturated Internet culture, where we become oblivious to the most horrendous events and rely on knee-jerk, unfiltered testimony. The real zombies are the ones staring at Internet terminals all day... 

None of this excuses the fact this is a weaker entry in Romero's saga. The cast aren't great (the professor is really overdone, but I thought Ridley was great in the last act) and the handheld camera is pushed to its very limits, opening some huge plot-holes. In some ways, the film is a victim of it's own success in that when you try to make something look like shit, it actually does look like shit! That said, I did enjoy the mix of feeds and the voiceover at the start saying music was added to scare you was a clever indictment of the whole idea; why would a news reporter need to over-dramatise and edit the footage that was already shocking? They're of the Youtube generation, undermining their own claim that their footage is uncensored.

He doesn't pull punches in this, which is an improvement on Land of the Dead. A sly defence of slow zombies; a P.O.V. from an arsehole cameraman who is probably going insane (Peeping Tom style implications that the viewer is involved); inventive set-ups for kills (Amish hard-case!); and I loved the "goldfish bowl". I just wished it had more passion; something to rival his best gore moments. Like Day of the Dead when the zombies finally break in and there's a long, lazy shot of sheer carnage. Even Land aspired to that, but this is more like a remake of the first one. A scene with a couple of zombies being ran over could easily have been extended to a few more. There's a memorable and repulsive final shot which shows he hasn't lost that touch, but it's out of sequence and feels like an afterthought.

Overall Romero had something to say and said it well with flashes of ironic humour and some great set-ups in varied locations. A better, more lively cast and more gore could have papered over the holes that were unavoidable in an idea like this.

(From Diary of the Dead on August 16th, 2008)

The Apartment, a review by Rich

Academy Award Best Picture winner 1960

The Apartment





Wonderful script and totally polished performances by Jack Lemmon and beautiful Shirley MaClaine, this satire is absolutely timeless and the plot intricate and complex, full of coincidences and mishaps.
Punchy and brutally honest, the infidelity is rife amongst the cynical money-driven office workers, and there is sadness in this unsavoury merry-go-round. But tender and tough Fran and wimpy Bud dream of something better, and whilst the film depicts a dark subject the movie always feels bright and breezy.
For anyone that has ever loved somone who loves someone else, it is easy to relate to. For anyone else it is a Hollywood masterpiece, and perfect examples of Wilders directing skills and an ideal platform for showcasing Lemmons acting strengths and mannerisms.
 

(From Riches Random Reviews on February 20th, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season Seven
Year: 2009
Director:
Rating: TV-MA
Length: 317 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Larry David
Jerry Seinfeld
Jason Alexander
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Michael Richards

Plot:
Larry David leads a troubled life — he's got a high-maintenance girlfriend he'd like to dump, an ex-wife he'd love to win back, fed up friends, and offended celebrities wishing him physical harm. So how can he turn it all around?

See Larry woo a paraplegic, offend a midriff-baring assistant, bludgeon a pet swan, and let loose on nine-year-olds, all while planning the much anticipated Seinfeld reunion. Will reviving his former show bring Larry's old life back as well...or only invite more problems?

Awards:

Primetime Emmy Awards	2008	Nominated	Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series	Allison Jones
Primetime Emmy Awards	2008	Nominated	Outstanding Comedy Series	Larry David , Jeff Garlin , Gavin Polone , Alec Berg , David Mandel , Jeff Schaffer , Tim Gibbons , Erin O'Malley
Primetime Emmy Awards	2008	Nominated	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Shelley Berman
Primetime Emmy Awards	2008	Nominated	Outstanding Picture Editing for a Comedy Series (Single or Multi-Camera)	"The Bat Mitzvah": Steven Rasch

Extras:
Bonus Trailers
Closed Captioned
Featurettes
Interviews

The closest we will ever get to a Seinfeld reunion. Larry David (who was the co-creator and executive producer on Seinfeld) is organizing a Seinfeld reunion show. This season was the most fun since season four where Larry David was cast by Mel Brooks in a "The Producers" stage production.
We get all four Seinfeld cast members back and even Wayne Knight (Newman) and Estelle Harris (George's mother) appear. And they have rebuild two sets of the Seinfeld series. Jerry's apartment and the diner.
When they are playing the Seinfeld characters on these sets, it is hard to believe that already ten years have past since the Seinfeld finale. Seeing these scenes you can very well image them doing another full season without big differences to the old series.

Here the final few minutes of the last episode where we see the final product of the Seinfeld shooting (spoilers!):

#	Episode	Rating
01	Funkhouser's Crazy Sister
02	Vehicular Fellatio
03	The Reunion
04	The Hot Towel
05	Denise Handicap
06	The Bare Midriff
07	The Black Swan
08	Officer Krupke
09	The Table Read
10	Seinfeld

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 26th, 2010)