Hello readers! After a long absence I am back to working on my blog. Instead of boring you with crummy details about my dry boring life as a cubicle jockey I will get right into it. Over the weekend I had the pleasure to enjoy a double feature of World War Z and Man of Steel at our local drive in, nothing like a two for one! The double feature kicked off with the newest take on the Zombie Genre, World War Z. WWZ stars Brad Pitt as former UN Investigator Gerry Lane who must come out of retirement to ensure his families safety after the world is ravaged by a virus that turns people into mindless, violent Zombies (for lack of a better word). The film is loosely based off of the award winning book World War Z by Max Brooks, though some fans of the book have criticized the film for being a poor adaptation of the interesting angle that Brooks takes in his book I for one that it was a refreshing burst of life into a genre that has over the years begun to go stale. The virus responsible for the outbreak is much more believable and requires a lot less suspension of disbelief than other zombie fare and stirred my memories of the cult classic 28 Days Later. It has plenty of action to keep you interested and was paced nicely with very little lead up to the meat of the story. I would definitely recommend to see it in the theatre but wouldn't kick myself if I missed it.
Where Man of Steel is concerned I have to admit that I went in with some low expectations, I mean a Superman origin story? How many times do we have to see the same thing? I was pleasantly surprised by the movie that Zack Snyder has managed to pull together from source material that most average people on the street could give a decent account for. The movie focuses more on the years between Clark's late teens and when he goes to work for the Daily Planet and we get to see him discover who he is and where he came from and we get small glimpses into his childhood through a series of flashbacks that are surprisingly well placed throughout the movie. Henry Cavill does a great job portraying the titular Man of Steel and the new costume that drew so much fire when it was revealed works well with the style of the film especially when contrasted with the costumes of Zod and the other Kryptonians. Michael Shannon is phenomenal as General Zod and perfectly mirrors the despotic nature of so many historical dictatorships. The pacing was a little slow for the time of night that the movie started (11:30 PM) but overall it was an enjoyable film and I look forward to seeing where they go with this new take on the familiar Superman.
