Playlist: The Crazies

 As we've seen, a zombie movie is a zombie movie only when it is actually a zombie movie. Couldn't be clearer. But what about this outbreak of pseudo-zombie movies, these zombified outbreak movies? Should we call them "plague" movies? "Virus" films? What about "epidemic," or even "outbreak"? They are definitely another specific, and prevalent, offshoot, along with zombie movies, of the apocalyptic umbrella (not to be confused with the Umbrella Corporation from the Resident Evil universe, though I suppose you could and still retain my point).

The Crazies is the latest entry in this subgenre, though it is actually a remake of a 1973 film by none other than George Romero (it was his follow-up to Night of the Living Dead if you discount, as he has, his 1971 romantic comedy, There's Always Vanilla). While there are some differences, the overall story is the same: idyllic small town deals with the aftermath of being exposed to a military biological weapon (revealed to be Rhabdoviridae, rabies, the en vogue movie virus. The infected become blood-thirsty killers, though not literally, and the army rolls in to cover-up their bad. Of course, there's a hero, someone in the town who is healthy and pissed off and, as is often the case, a cop.

Here we have my guy Timothy Olyphant basically playing his character in Justified, which is fine by me since I'm a fan and it supports my theory that actors should play their best character in everything (more on this in another post). Olyphant is the town sheriff and he tries to lead his pregnant wife and not-pregnant deputy out of town, past the military-guarded perimeter and through a maze of Crazies. Unfortunately, there aren't enough Crazies int he way. The movie doesn't have the splatter-faction of the best zombie movies or the psychological drama of the best quarantine/confinement films. It's essentially an escape movie and I don't think that quite lives up to its potential. There are some good scenes, but not enough, or rather, good scenes not crafted together well enough by director Breck Eisner. Yes, he's Michael "I Used to Run Disney" Eisner's son, and no, I don't believe nepotism exists in Hollywood.

So, I did enjoy this, but was hoping for a little more.*

*That's what she said.

Playlist: Justified

FX had me at "The Shield". Then, "Sons of Anarchy". So, my faith in their programming is...well, justified, but that's just a coincidence. Stupid puns.

There's nothing like good writing, is there? Smooth segue, eh? Good writing delivered via good actors. I'm not sure why so many producers treat this as a top secret formula. Sometimes it feels like more people know KFC's magical recipe. Which, SPOILER ALERT, is people.

Justified is based on the exploits of the Elmore Leonard character, U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens (played cool as all hell by Timothy Olyphant). If you're not familiar with Leonard, get familiar with him. He's one of the best crime fiction writers ever and a master of dialogue. And this show is dripping with his style and flair. At first, I worried it would unfold as a case-of-the-week procedural--which would have been entertaining enough--but having been spoiled by so many good recent shows, I have come to expect more. And this does deliver as a season-long arc hit a very satisfying conclusion last night.

But back to the writing and acting. Some of the best scenes you'll see on TV--anywhere, really--are between Olyphant and Walton Goggins, who was so powerful on "The Shield". Mesmerizing. Not so much for what is said, but how. How they own their characters and the space they're in, how they feed off each other, and how you could watch one scene play out for the whole hour and still want to see more.

So, yeah, check it out.

Playlist: The Perfect Getaway

What would we do without the twist ending? Well, for one, watch a lot fewer bad movies. Does that describe last year's Hawaiian honeymoon in hell thriller? I...think so.

My hesitation comes from the fact that the twist in question is actually pretty good. The problem is everything around it. For starters, director David Twohy's tone is a bit off-kilter throughout. Some forced humor here, some way played out self-referential movie insider talk there. All of it unnecessary and distracting to the central tension, which isn't bad at all and greatly enhanced by a strong cast including Milla Jovovich (actually underused here), Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors), and relative unknown Kiele Sanchez.

But the lethal blow for this film comes the moment after the big reveal. Rather than using the momentum to play out the climax, they inexplicably embark on a completely superfluous 20 minute backstory of the major characters. In black and white no less (actually, blue and white--is that more or less pretentious?). Without giving anything away, here's the premise: three couples hiking along a remote path; one couple are serial killers. That's not exactly screaming for SparkNotes, is it? (And if it were, they would be written in crayon on the back of a Steak 'n Shake menu.)

Honestly, it just comes down to poor filmmaking, a bit of a surprise since Twohy's 2000 Pitch Black was a very good and original film and probably one of the top science fiction movies of the decade. Then again, it also gave us 10 years of Vin Diesel. And counting.