Movie Madness

Jus and I went down to our local megaplex last night to see No Country for Old Men, a Coen brothers movie about a Texan who stumbles across $2m from a drug deal gone wrong, the hit man sent to retrieve the dosh, and the sheriff who is overwhelmed by the whole mess. Not sure if I've seen a movie with a higher body count that wasn't about a war. Brilliant though, engrossing, chilling. Impressive right from Kelly Macdonald's (she's about as Scottish as you can get) flawless Texan accent (well at least to my Antipodean ears) to the score, to the relentless ending.

So after that joy-fest Jus and I wandered into the cinema foyer and noticed that I Am Legend was just starting and so we quietly slipped in. (You could spend all day in this cinema going from theatre to theatre without anyone noticing). Quick switch of genres to science fiction, virus-infested zombies and Will Smith being as charismatic as you can be when you're the last dude left on Earth.

I am a massive sci fi fan so it is super annoying (have lost the use of the word 'very' already as you can see) when they move from the sublime to the ridiculous and you can't suspend disbelief because of massive plot flaws. Like if the infected humans/zombies are so crazed how do they have the wits about them to keep zombie dogs? And if the zombies are so hungry why don't they eat the zombie dogs if they're happy to chow down on a raw deer? And if the zombie dogs are so rabid and aggressive why don't they eat the zombie people? And since when can humans leap like monkeys and scoot up poles like bears? They're not supernatural, they're just infected with some virus.

Anyway, after that lollapalooza of special FX transforming our actual neighbourhood into a dangerous wasteland (like the 80s!), absorbed from the front row mind you, I felt strangely vulnerable and paranoid walking home. The image here from the film is the actual cinema where we watched the movie, at Union Square. Jus and I agreed that if some virus ever gets hinted of breaking out in New York we will be on the first Qantas airbus home, because this place would disintegrate like a cookie.

Needles to say I had the craziest dreams: basically both films intertwined and produced a hellish night of Texan landscapes, zombies, killers, manikins and congested city streets.

I do not recommend this film combo as a double feature at the drive-in.