Danny Goes to ZOMBIELAND! Plus: The Simpsons, Fringe, and MORE!

Well, it's back to the grind after what was, luckily, a fun and pretty packed weekend. I spent time in a Sukkah, went to a b-day party in West LA, and saw a couple of very entertaining films in ZOMBIELAND and THE INVENTION OF LYING.

So without further ado, some TV STUFF ...

- I was pretty shocked last week during a routine check of The A.V. Club website to discover that Thursday's episode of FRINGE was unceremoniously given a D+ grade. I mean, whaaat? It was hard to imagine an episode of one of TV's best dramas being THAT bad that it warranted such a poor grade. Of course, my brother eagerly reported back to me this weekend that the episode in question did not, in fact, suck, but, in truth, "ruled." So ... which was it? I sat down last night and downloaded the HD episode onto my XBOX (because I'm cool like that), and determined that the truth was somewhere in the middle. The fact is, Fringe is, at this point, something of a well-oiled machine. Even when the plotting isn't spectacular, the characters are so consistently well-drawn and entertaining that, as long as you get to see Olivia, Peter, Broyles, and most importantly, Walter, doing their thing, you're guaranteed a fun time. And on Thursday, all of our principles were in fine form. Lance Reddick had some kickass line readings. Anna Torv really did a great job playing Olivia as a scared but determined woman looking to get to the bottom of what's happened to her by any means necessary. Joshua Jackson did a nice job and gave some intriguing hints as to Peter's shady past exploits. And man, John Noble, as always, is just a joy to watch - funny, intense, and crazy all at once. That said, I did feel a bit of frustration with some of the forced weirdness - the whole bowling alley thing was a little too random for a show that is typically less about Yoda-like mysticism and more about hard science. Still, Kevin Corrigan makes the bowling alley scenes way more bearable than they might have been otherwise with a lesser actor. And speaking of cool actors, Stephen McHattie (of Watchmen) kicked ass in this ep as the gruff Colonel who has gone off the grid to prepare for otherdimensional invasion. Sweet. I think a fundamental problem with Fringe sometimes is that the show can never 100% focus on coming up with amazing monsters-of-the week in the vein of The X-Files. Since EVERY episode of Fringe tends to have at least some tie to the ongoing mythology, you don't get to really focus as much on the weekly cases as The X-Files did, and because of that, I think you get eps like this one where the freaks-of-the-week are cool, but nothing all that memorable or mindblowing. X-Files fans can quickly rattle off classic villains like the Jersey Devil, Fluke Man, Eugene Tooms, etc., whereas Fringe is forced to divide time between a number of ongoing subplots and side characters in any given episode. I think that sometime makes episodes like this one feel a bit all-over-the-place, and you wonder why they throw in scenes of Olivia and Peter going to Iraq rather than actually spending time with the freaks and seeing what makes them tick. So no, this one was definitely not a home-run, but it was solid, and, if anything, a reminder that Fringe is now so fundamentally strong as a series that it can overcome most of its weaknesses.

My Grade: B

- THE SIMPSONS followed up on a strong season premiere with a not-as-strong second episode of Season 21. I actually really liked the initial premise - that Mrs. Krabappel is unceremoniously fired after one of Bart's pranks goes wrong, and is replaced with a cool young teacher who encourages students to text message, download homework assignments, and friend him on Facebook. There was a lot of potential there, but for some reason, the ep quickly veered away from this and focused more on Mrs. Krabappel and her woes, an area that has been covered many a time in past Simpsons seasons. Even worse, Bart found a potential cure for her miseries in the form of "The Answer," a parody of keys-to-the-universe self-help books. The whole thing felt tired and kind of dated, and a lot of the Edna-centric humor fell kind of flat. It's too bad that we couldn't have focused more on the new teach and his eventual Frank Grimes-esque implosion (which also seemed like sort of a cop-out of an ending). Overall though, a decent ep that also felt like a missed opportunity.

My Grade: B-

- As a proud member of The Tribe, I love me some Jewish humor ... but, FAMILY GUY seems unable to do satirical humor these days without being cruel and crass for no good reason. Sure, last night's FG, in which Lois finds out that she's actually of Jewish descent, had some chuckle-worthy laughs (I liked how Peter's Jewish look came complete with "glistening chest-hair"), the episode had no real meat to its satire. The Jew angle was basically a way for the show to bust out every single Jewish stereotype there is one after another, without highlighting almost anything positive at all about Judaism. Worse, most of the jokes just were not that funny. Like I said, I love Jewish humor when it's done well, even if that humor pokes fun at the religion - trust me, we can take it. But I think back to the classic Simpsons episode where Krusty is revealed as being Jewish, the son of a rabbi, no less. That episode is so smart, so well-done ... hell, we watched it in Hebrew school. This one was just lazy, which seems to be the modus operandi of late for Family Guy. Still, one final item of note: I give an automatic bump-up for the hilarious Kathy Ireland gag, which produced the very-funny image of Peter pressing his Kathy cut-out against the shower door in a scene both hilarious and disturbing.

My Grade: C+

- The second episode of FLASH FORWARD was not the kind of hour I was hoping for or expecting following the great pilot episode. After all of the twists and turns of the pilot, this one felt like a whole lot of recap. Not only that, but it's as if some network execs turned up the dumb-it-down dial. All of the dialogue just felt overly expository, and so much was simply spelled out for the viewer. There were some real cringe-worthy moments in this one. I think the show is going to need some huge moments and big reveals soon if it's going to hook people for the longrun. I mean, there's only so many times I can care about FBI agents staring at the same blurry image of a guy on a computer screen. Yes, we get it, he's the only one who didn't black out. Next. Also, there was some reaaally hokey stuff here. I mean, did we really need our heroes to chase their suspect into some weird doll factory, complete with oh-so-scary nursery rhymes being recited in the background, like they are in EVERY HORROR MOVIE TRAILER EVER? If you have to try that hard to be creepy, there's probably something wrong.

My Grade: C+


Alright, time to talk about the movie that was, without a doubt, *the* event movie of the weekend despite the large amount of highly-anticipated flicks now out at the box office. Yep, time to get in touch with my inner zombie, and bring you ...


ZOMBIELAND Review:

- Zombieland is a movie with a great sensibility, and sometimes, that's enough to carry a movie. This is a movie that was clearly made by people who know from cool stuff. They know that zombies are cool. They know that Woody Harrelson as a Stone Cold Steve Austin-esque zombie hunter with a strange obsession with Twinkies, well, they know that that right there is one badass character. They get what makes zombies cool and fun and even funny. They get that at this point, most movie fans know Zombies 101 - at this point, we can skip the introductions and get right to the good stuff.

And there is a lot of good stuff in Zombieland. There's nervous, neurotic Jesse Eisenberg teamed up with Woody H. in what is certainly an odd couple for the ages. There's Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as a team of sisters who prove that looks can be deceiving when it comes to survival of the fittest. There's action, comedy, and romance. There's plenty of Zombie mayhem and gore. There's memorable gags aplenty, and even a meta-cameo from a comedy legend, as himself. There's no doubt - Zombieland will entertain the crap out of you.

So the only remaining question is ... is Zombieland merely really good, or is it great? Well, I think it's one of those movies that has that spark, that potential for pure awesomeness. Its heart is in the right place, so to speak. Its director, newcomer Ruben Fleischer, is definitely now a name to watch - this guy knows his stuff, and has a knack for splicing genres and also for depicting stylishly framed action and carnage. He gets comedy, and gets how to create those kind of fun moments that make fanboys high five each other with glee.

But Zombieland is also a bit rough around the edges. It has many cool moments, but it feels more like a snack than a full meal. Like I said, all of the ingredients are there for not just a good movie, but a truly great one. But while the movie is great with characters, it falls short in terms of plot. There's a lot of meandering, and things sometime feel sort of directionless. There isn't exactly one driving plot point that keeps the movie moving forward - instead, it's more just about the characters living in this zombiefied, post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's a nice introductory piece, but it also makes you wonder what a crazier, bigger-budget sequel could be like. And it also makes you wish that the whole movie was as consistently good as some of its best scenes. Case in point -- Zombieland opens with an absolutely badass look at the new, zombie-apocalypse America, set to Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It's a great, adrenaline pumping montage that gets you ready to rock n' roll. It's disappointing, then, that the finale, set in an amusement park overrun by zombies, never quite lives up to that previous level of awesomeness.

Also, I think there's just an overall lack of true intensity or danger. There's only a couple of scenes where we actually fear for the characters' lives. And again, the character stuff is great, but there's so *much* character stuff that the movie sometimes threatens to become Jesse Eisenberg's previous movie, Adventureland, but, you know, with zombies. Even the very-funny surprise cameo is cool, but man, it takes up A LOT of time that could have been devoted to plot and/or action.

But Zombieland is well worth seeing for the great characters and spot-on humor. The cast does an awesome job top to bottom. Woody Harrelson is at his iconic, badass best here, and Jesse Eisenberg's hilarious performance is evidence that, when in need of a neurotic, geeky Jew / unlikely hero for an action movie, Eisenberg should always be choice #1 as opposed to Shia. Emma Stone is sort of the thinking man's teen queen, and Abigail Breslin shows that she could have a great career post-child stardom.

So yeah - Zombieland is a movie that is aimed squarely at the heart of zombie-lovin' fanboys and fangirls everywhere. It's a movie that deserves its box-office success. Not a classic, not yet. But Part II could be. I say bring it on.

My Grade: B+


- Alright, I'm out for now. Next time: a review of THE INVENTION OF LYING.