Movie Mon. - Return of the Zed-Word Comedy

28 Weeks Later: Sequel to the entertaining pseudo-zed-world film 28 Days Later has some interesting ideas and scenes, but suffers from an overabundance of stupid character decisions which are all made for no other reason than to advance the plot. Mildly frustrating film that fails to capture the fun of its predecessor.

Bug: Strange little psychological thriller about a lonely woman who becomes involved with a mysterious drifter who claims to have been the victim of government experiments; when the end credits rolled, Maverick turned to me and said "I hope you can get your money back for this," to which I simply replied "I liked it." The film was adapted from a stage play, and boy, does it show; highly dialog and character driven, and once we get past the initial intro of characters, the bulk of the film takes place in the same room. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing; as the main characters begin their descent into rampant paranoia, the claustrophobic nature of their environs worked to enhance the tension. A bit slow-going, and a bit too strange for some, but if nothing else one that I'll recommend to fellow Odd Squodder Li'l Random.

Fido: Horror-comedy which could probably be described as Night of the Living Dead meets Leave it to Beaver, with a smattering of Lassie or Old Yeller thrown in. It's the 1950s, and the great Zombie Wars are over; the zombie problem still persists, but has been contained and controlled by ZomCon and their zombie-control collars, which have turned the blood-thirsty living dead into menial labor -- mailmen, milkmen, crossing guards, etc. After Timmy Robertson's mom buys a brand new zombie to help out around the house, social outcast Timmy realizes that he now has a new best friend, although things take a turn for the worse when Fido's control collar malfunctions and a neighbor pays the price . . . Funny, stylized film that might not be threatening Shaun of the Dead's position as "funniest zed-word movie ever," but it definitely ranks in the top five. I mean, how can you not love a film with lines such as "Bill, just because your father tried to eat you does that mean we all have to be unhappy?" Check out the trailer here.

The Tripper: Semi-humorous slasher film from writer/director David Arquette about a serial killer in a Ronald Regan mask terrorizing a music festival filled with drugged out pseudo-hippies. The concept is much better than the actual film, which never quite lives up to the fun inherent in the premise. Still a worthwhile movie for fans of the genre, although gorehound aficionados might be disappointed by the lackluster, man-that-looks-fake FX.

The Condemned: Surprisingly entertaining Stone Cold Steve Austin vehicle about a group of death row inmates from around the world who are given a chance to fight for their chance at freedom as part of a crazy businessman's latest attempt at reality TV. As far as mindless action movies go, this one wasn't all that bad, although the architect of the whole scheme made the leap from "slightly cold hearted" to "maniacally evil bastage" in such a short amount of time that it kind of took me out of the film. Plus, I have a low tolerance for overly violent movies that try to be a commentary on how horrible we are for loving to watch violence; there's usually a pretty fine line between satire and hypocrisy, and this one felt like it fell a bit on the hypocritical side.