"Zombieland" Makes the End of Humanity Look Fun!

In the new up and coming genre of horror-comedy, "Zombieland" sets the bar high for future flicks.

When the Earth is taken over by zombies, four completely different people find each other and help one another fight to stay alive. In order not to get too close to one another, they use hometowns as their names. Theres Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a cowboy ready to kick zombie-butt if they get into his way; Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a paranoid loner who lives by a set of self made rules, and the sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who are only concerned for watching each others backs. The audience follows the group on a wildly hilarious road trip to California.

Going into this movie, I had my doubts. Comedic zombie movies have been done before. For example, "Shaun of the Dead" did the same type of movie in 2004. But "Zombieland" takes it in a whole other direction...American style. It's got Hummers, Twinkies, and Bill Murray. What else could you ask for?

If your too spooked to see a real horror movie like "Saw VI" this Halloween season, go see the funnier alternative "Zombieland."

Overall Grade: A-

"Taking Woodstock" is Totally Groovy Man!

Director Ang Lee has done it again because "Taking Woodstock" was easily the best movie I have seen in 2009 so far.

Although none of the musical elements of Woodstock are featured in this film, Lee retells the story of the man who made it all happen.

Elliot Teichberg (who now goes by Elliot Tiber)was just looking for some extra money to help out with his parents motel business in White Lake, NY. After he heard that a music festival was banned by a near by town due to it being a "hippie festival," Elliot takes matters into his own hands by bringing the festival to his own town. Little does he know that they had already sold over one hundred thousand tickets.

Elliot Tiber wrote the book "Taking Woodstock" and this movie tells the story of Woodstock through his eyes. The audience gets pulled into the background of how Woodstock went down behind the scenes. And with Lee's direction and accuracy to the story, the audience can feel like they were actually there watching what happened.

With more B-list actors than A-list, Lee was able to focus more on the plot of the film rather than the "movie stars." Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild" and "Milk") played a young Vietnam veteran who is having problems adjusting to life back at home in White Lake. Hirsch did a fantastic job portraying this character and said in a recent interview that prepare for his role, Lee provided him with a thick binder full of materials and set up meetings with real Vietnam veterans.

"Taking Woodstock" is really worth seeing. Not only is it factually accurate of how Woodstock happened, it has great cinematography, great actors, and is just entertaining to watch.

Overall Grade- A

"Paper Heart" Leaves the Audience Asking, "Documentary or Mockumentry?"

Have you ever left a movie wondering what parts of it were true and what part were fictitious? "Paper Heart" is one of those movies for me.

I went into the Colonial Theater on Sunday night with a little background of this movie (the plot, actors, characters, ect). But when I came out of the theater, I rushed to my computer to ask the bigger question, "Was this movie a documentary or a mockumentary?"

The movie follows comedian and actress Charlyne Yi across the country searching for the true meaning of love. Yi interviews a wide variety of people. Some have been in love and married for fifty years. Some are divorced but have been in love. And some have only recently found love and want it to last forever.

The movie also follows Yi's own relationship triumphs with actor Michael Cera. They meet at a party where Yi and Cera have mutual friends and their relationship builds through out the movie. This is the part I found confusing. Was this couple real or fake?

As soon as I got home, I was determined to find out which parts, if any, were real. In an interview with traileraddict.com, Yi discusses that the story with Cera and herself was in fact planned out, but not scripted. Yi said in the interview, "We had a loose outline and we improvised a lot hoping that our dialog felt real."

Yi also went on to say that the people she conducted her interviews with around the United States were REAL people with REAL stories.

The premise of the movie is a different take on documentaries today. Although the parts with Yi and Cera's relationship was often very awkward for the audience, the stories of the real couples and their stories was worth the $6 admission.


Overall Grade: C+

Question to the readers: Would you consider this a documentary even though there is some fictitious parts to it? Why or why not?


Here is the interview with Yi from trailer addict to possibly help you make your decision:

H1N1 at Keene State College

Keene State College officials are urging any students with H1N1 flu-like symptoms to stay away from campus, isolate themselves, and if possible, to just go home to ride it out.
That is a lot easier said than done for some students who travel to KSC from their hometowns in other states. Students from outside of New England might find it harder to make future plans for something that might not affect them at all.
According to Christine Burke, Director of the Heath and Wellness Center at KSC, students who can go home when ill should make arrangements to do so as soon as possible. But for those whose hometown is further away than others may not have that luxury.
Burke said, “When people get sick it’s not for a long period of time…it usually last about three to five days. Isolation is our strategy.”
Burke recommends that students have an emergency pack of supplies in case they suddenly get sick. “The pack should have things like soup, Gatorade, and a thermometer to keep them going.”
“We really need our recommendations to be followed,” Burke urged to students.
Although students are supposed not to go to the health clinic on campus when coming down with symptoms because they may infect more people, they are urged to call the clinic for instructions on how to take care of themselves during this time.
Students with chronic physical ailments such as asthma, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, pregnancy or transplants along with the flu may be urged to go in and visit the clinic or go to the hospital.
Burke also said if one roommate is sick and can not go home, the other roommate should treat it as if a sibling or parent is sick while they are at home.
They should make sure to wash their hands constantly, use hand sanitizer, use anti-bacterial spray or wipes, and have the roommate wear a mask when he or she is up and around.
According to Burke, the germs can only survive 2-3 hours on hard surfaces and is a hand to hand virus.
If someone living on campus can not leave, Burke said there are up to thirty isolated beds available in dorms on campus that they can move into. Though, this does not mean they will have any campus personal checking up on them, it is just an isolated place to stay for the time they are sick.
Burke suggests putting together a buddy system so if someone is sick, there will always be someone to check in on them sporadically to see how they are feeling or if they need anything.
The H1N1 virus carries all the same symptoms of the common seasonal flu, except there have been reports of nausea and diarrhea.


H1N1 Symptoms
• Sudden onset- the fever will be in full force within hours
• Fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit
• Sore throat and/or cough
• Body ache/headache
• Chills/hot sweats

• Nausea and/or diarrhea

Jennifer's Body

High school boys should really be more cautious when dating. The girl may turn out to be devilish.

"Juno" writer and Oscar winner, Diablo Cody, is back with a vengeance. "Jennifer's Body" stars Megan Fox (Jennifer) and Amanda Seyfried (Needy). These two best friends have been there for each other since elementary school. But one night after the town bar goes up in flames, Jennifer goes missing only to show up at Needy's house in the middle of the night covered in blood and looking like she had gotten the beating of her life.

Soon, Needy discovers that Jennifer had been the victim of a satanic sacrifice gone array. Now she must feed off the boys in her high school to stay alive and beautiful.

"Jennifer's Body" also stars Adam Brody from "The O.C." as the guy who essentially makes Jennifer the way she is. He has definitely broken out of his geeky shell from the former teen soap opera and has become a creepy, yet sexy man in this movie.

The trailer of "Jennifer's Body" makes it out to be JUST a horror movie. With the writing talents of Cody, it is more of a comedic thriller. Cody may have created a brand new genre.

If you can't decide between a thriller or a comedy at the movies this weekend, see "Jennifer's Body," its a little bit of both!

Overall Grade: B

"Sorority Row" is Not So Hot

Take note Kappa Gamma. Don't kill one of your sorority sisters and leave her for dead in the middle of nowhere...it may come back to haunt you.

"I hope I won't be too scared to sleep tonight," I thought to myself as I parked my car in the dark and rainy parking lot of the Keene 6 movie theater about to enter what I thought was going to be a horror movie. But I shook it off and went into the movie.

Well luckily for me, this "thriller" got more laughs from the audience (filled with girls wearing their sorority lettered sweatshirts) than screams.

When six Theta Pi sisters going into their senior year of college decide to play a prank on a guy that had been two-timing a couple of them, things suddenly take a deadly turn. The girls find themselves at the crossroads of whether they should turn themselves into the police or just dump the body. Of course, they choose the latter. Eight months later, the girls graduate and have one last party to celebrate. Thats when the girls start getting hunted down one by one.

Although there were no big name stars in this movie, you might recognize a few. MTV star Audrina Patridge of "The Hills" had a brief stint in the movie. Also, Rumer Willis (daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis) made her acting debut. All in all, Willis was not the worst thing to happen to this movie, she was actually not bad at all.

Overall, if you want to see a good horror movie, don't rush out to theaters to see this one.

Overall Grade- D

If you want to see the trailer, click the link to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdY3_vLc2k