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THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
REVIEW
'Warm Bodies' provides a fresh take on zombie movies
While romantic zombie comedies are rare, this sub-genre has in fact been around for quite some time. "Shaun of the Dead" comes to mind as the prime example, although Peter Jackson made the first foray into this territory more than 20 years ago with the bloodiest film ever made. "Dead Alive."
However, "Warm Bodies" takes a totally new approach by not only telling the story from the perspective of a zombie, but placing the romance between an undead boy and a human girl. Before you go and think "so, 'Twilight' with zombies?" let me clarify: the story cleverly models itself after a famous piece of literature, but it sure as hell isn't one about misogynistic, sparkly vampires.
The opening sequence makes it clear that "Warm Bodies" intends to bring some lightness and warmth to a genre that's usually full of darkness and despair. More importantly, it wants to imbue the walking dead with some heart.
Our protagonist (Nicholas Hoult) wryly narrates this tale, filling in the audience on his daily routine. Though he remembers
his name started with an "R," he doesn't know where he belonged before. So, he wanders around an airport and continues some habits from his living days, like listening to vinyl records and conversing with his friend (Rob Corddyr), mostly through grunting.
While searching with a group for food one day, they encounter some scavenging humans. Among those survivors is blonde beauty Julie (Teresa Palmer, aka the hotter, more likable Kristen Stewart), whose boyfriend is eaten by R. He becomes smitten with her at first glance and manages to bring her back to his airplane home, where he shows Julie he won't eat her. R slowly becomes more human-like, being able to talk in broken sentences and show emotion, while Julie develops a strange connection with him as well.
I never thought I'd call a performance as a zombie impressive, but Houtt manages to portray this undead nice guy with an understated depth that makes you actually sympathize and care about him. Palmer's sweetness and gorgeous allure engages viewers too, and John Malkovitch reliably satisfies by angrily hamming it up as her controlling father and leader of the human resistance.
Much of the charm in this movie comes from its subtle silliness. Writer/director Jonathan Levine perfectly balanced humor and drama in "50/50," while here he is able to create a friendly, nongory,inventive crowd-pleaser out of creatures we usually watch for their bloody carnage.
So with "The Walking Dead" returning next weekend, prepare by taking in the delightful entertainment zombies can occasionally offer us before diving back into their normal brutality.
- Edited by Elise Reuter
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
excess HOLLYWOOD review
--helmed by name directors like James Guin ("Slither") and Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour"), are strictly of the hit-or-miss variety. The good ones are over too soon and the worst seem to plod on forever. My audience's favorite sketch was the one starring Kate Winslet as a lovelorn businesswoman and Hugh Jackman as her handsome blind date whose scarf masks a tragic case of scrotum-throat. No, seriously. He has testicles on his neck. I apologize if I ruined that for you.
MOVIE PRODUCTIONS
Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin take dirty talk to agonizing extremes in the grossly uneven comedy "Movie 43."
'Movie 43' skits turn stale with bad humor
Steve Martin, a preeminent comic authority, once famously remarked, "Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke."
Martin clearly never anticipated the existence of something like "Movie 43," a deliberately tasteless anthology piece that has far more interest in triggering the gag reflex than tickling the funny bone. The film features A-list listener (Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Halle Berry, Chloe Grace-Moretz and Richard Gere) who engage in painfully self-aware attempts at naughty sketch comedy. Movie 43 desperately wants to convince you that what you're seeing is genuinely shocking and outrageous, to the point where even its most outlandish material seems forced. For this desensitized YouTube viewer, it feels pitifully quaint. The average episode of "Tosh.0" contains more artful gross-out humor.
The 12 short films that make up "Movie 43" are framed around a marginally clever premise: an out-of-work, mentally unstable filmmaker (Dennis Quaid) takes a Hollywood producer (Greg Kinnear) hostage and begins pitching him ideas at gunpoint, with every pitch dissolving into a new segment. Quaid, wearing what appears to be Justin Bieber's hair and a club rat wardrobe that would look unsettling on a man half his age, clearly took inspiration from his off-the-reservation brother Randy to play this crazed nincompoop. Kinnear, for his part, manages to look about as befuddled as the rest of us.
The shorts, some of them
ketball fan Jason Sudeikis playing a horndog Batman who interrupts Robin's (Justin Long) speed-dating session with Lois Lane (Uma Thurman, mercifully not reprising her Poison Ivy role from "Batman and Robin") and Supergirl (Kristen Bell). 10 minutes of bad puns and stale vagina jokes ensue.
The most disturbing segment has Naomi Watts and her real-life husband Liev Schreiber playing the parents of a hapless, home-schooled teenager. In an effort to give their son the complete high school experience, the two alternately abuse, seduce and ridicule him, all ostensibly for the sake of his own growth and development. The most tedious vignette is a tie between the lazily written "truth or dare" session with Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant at a Mexican restaurant and the skit starring Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin (the highlight of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World") as ex-lovers trading obscenity-laced nonsense at a grocery store checkout counter, at a horde of late-night shoppers has gathered to gawk and glare at them. The worst bit of them all has SNL star and KU bas-
It's no surprise that my favorite ("favorite" being a relative term here) story happens to center on Anna Faris ("Observe and Report"), a blithe comic presence inexplicably condemned to forever elevate bottom-rung dreck like "Movie 43." Her segment, involving a bizarre romantic gesture and the consumption of untold quantities of bean burritos, ends with an abrupt, scatological climax worthy of vintage "South Park."
Aside from that brief stirring of competence, the rest of "Movie 43" plays like a communication intercepted from some bizarro parallel universe where comedy was never properly introduced as an art form and supposedly cultured, intelligent movie stars shed their integrity at the first sign of an easy payday. There's something almost whimsical about the idea that someone, somewhere actually spent millions of dollars to get this thing made.
So, is this the worst movie of all time? No, but to paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in "No Country for Old Men," it'll do until the worst gets here.
— Edited by Haylev Jozwiak
FASHION
Super Bowl Sunday perfect time to try designer trends
CALLAN REILLY creilly@kansan.com
PHOTO FROM IAM.BEYONCE.COM
If you're like me, you're going to be spending the Super Bowl drooling over Beyoncé and using it as just another excuse to support wedge sneakers and the athletic trend. What is this athletic trend I speak off? It's quite possibly the most convenient movement in fashion since the beginning of time. Alexander Wang, DKNY and Isabel Marant are all supporters of the comfort meets chic theme. Try pairing a classic graphic Adidas trefoil tee with a pair of feminine printed pants and heels and you've found yourself a match made in heaven.
The thought of a heel and a sneaker combination scare you? Both the halftime act, queen Beyoncé, and Victoria's Secret's front woman Miranda Kerr wear them nonstop. The sneakers also give you a hidden and subtle lift, causing your legs to instantly look slimmer and longer. What more could you want in a shoe? They're comfortable, and make you look skinnier. They suddenly sound much more appealing, don't they?
Super Bowl Sunday couldn't be a
better time to try the trend. Rather than throwing on a jersey and jeans and matching 40-year-old drunken beer bellies nationwide, incorporate your favorite team's colors into your outfit instead. Baseball hats are huge on runways right now too, thanks to Tracy Reese, Jen Kao and Lacoste. The trick is to always have a girly edge to go with your sport look. My favorite ways to include femininity are pops of pink, lipstick, or some faux fur. Sporty can be glam when it's done the right way.
Color blocking is another great way to support your team. Luckily
both the 49ers and the Ravens have great colors to work with. Rich hues are always fun to wear head to toe, so whether it's purple or red, you'll be looking royally stylish.
Whether you'll be wearing your preferred teams colors or a Destiny's Child concert tee this coming Sunday, be sure to wear it fashionably. Just because you're pretending to watch football doesn't mean you should let the fashion slide. Think Sporty Spice meets Posh Spice, and you'll be the real winner come Feb. 3.
—Edited by Megan Hinman