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SUNDANCE ’08! One Spy’s Breathless Report on DIARY OF THE DEAD And HAMLET 2!

Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

Normally I’d at least throw in a few paragraph breaks, but I like the way this guy’s one solid paragraph sort of imparts his enthusiasm for the entire experience. Like he just couldn’t wait to tell us.

And I love his nickname. Made me laugh. Because I am evidently thirteen years old.

Check it out:

Hey there fellow geeks, Ah, January and once again there is actually a cool reason to live in Salt Lake City. Every year I try to hit up a movie or two from the Sundance festival, and this year I saw a couple of pretty good ones. So let us get right into it. First, I caught a screening of George A Romero's Diary of the Dead. It would be impossible to not want to think it's Cloverfield with zombies, but really DOTD has very little in common with Cloverfield other than the cameraman constantly saying things like "I'm just going to keep on filming so someone can see what REALLY happened". The plot is pretty simple with Diary of the Dead, some students are making a movie for their class at Pitt University, and the zombie apocalypse goes down. Well, most of the crew wants to find their loved ones and they start off in a RV to do so. From there everything goes down the crapper. But do you care about the story or the kills. Before the movie started, I said to my brother who went with me, "As long as there are three good zombie kills, then I'll be happy." Well, there are more than three and I don't want to spoil any of them, but let me say this: Amish zombie warriors should be in every zombie movie ever made from now on. As a hu! ge hater of Romero's Land of the Dead, which I looked forward to from conception, I was wary that he would continue on his downward trajectory. Well, fellow haters, I would say that Diary of the Dead is a huge step up from Land of the Dead. Going back to a smaller budget and a smaller story was a wise choice, and I say that I would gladly pay to see the sequel. And now for something completely different, Hamlet 2. I bought my tickets for this one well before it's large payday, and it was on the strength of one Mr. Steve Coogan. I've been a fan since 24 Hour Party People and enjoyed his funny parody of himself in both Coffee and Cigarettes and Tristram Shandy. Mr. Coogan, I must say, pretty much rules in Hamlet 2. His American accent is goofy and his haircut is almost as lame as Javier Bardems, but hopefully he will break out in the USA with this role. He plays a failed commercial actor named Dana Marschz who now teaches drama in Tuscon, AZ. He writes plays based on recent films (Max Fisher would be jealous of his "Erin Brockovich".) After getting a much larger class because of budget cuts, then finding out his own class will be part of the same budget cuts next semester, he decides to write his own original work, "Hamlet 2". With a time traveling Hamlet trying to fix all the stuff that happened in the original, his play end! s up turning into quite the controversy. Once again, I don't really want to spoil too much, but my sides ached as they put on the play and did their musical numbers, including the awesome "Hard Rockin Sexy Jesus"(this may not be the exact name, but I was laughing too hard to remember it perfectly). Most of the performances in the flick are strong, including Catherine Keener as Dana's wife and Elisabeth Shue as herself. SNL's Amy Poehler pretty much steals every scene she's in as an ACLU lawyer who is helping Dana make sure his play is seen. The kids in the drama class are pretty good as well, but Phoebe Strole is a stand-out as the drama nerd/racist. Anyway, I would say if you are a fan of Coogan's or like strange, quirky comedies about social freaks, check this one out when it's released. Thanks fellas, and if you use this, call me taintyourwagon.

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LAST!
by jesterean
Jan 26th, 2008
05:40:33 AM
Halcyon Days.....
by zufflezipperfish
Jan 26th, 2008
05:50:11 AM
Third is the new First
by classyfredblassy
Jan 26th, 2008
06:38:40 AM
Fourth is even better
by quantize
Jan 26th, 2008
06:46:06 AM
Hamlet 2: Tokyo Drift
by Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World
Jan 26th, 2008
06:46:38 AM
2 Rosencrantz 2 Guildenstern
by Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World
Jan 26th, 2008
06:46:59 AM
2 Be or not 2 Be
by PoweredUpPacman
Jan 26th, 2008
07:03:54 AM
Hamlet 2: Yorick's Revenge
by PoweredUpPacman
Jan 26th, 2008
07:05:27 AM
MySpace Page of the Dead
by Iowa Snot Client
Jan 26th, 2008
07:40:52 AM
"I've been raped...In the face!!"
by SkinJob69
Jan 26th, 2008
07:54:33 AM
What's so funny about "Tainty Our Wagon"?
by SuperSneaky
Jan 26th, 2008
08:06:31 AM
Cloverfield with zombies = REC
by CuervoJones
Jan 26th, 2008
08:26:51 AM
"2 Rosencrantz 2 Guildenstern". That's pretty damn funny.
by CreasyBear
Jan 26th, 2008
08:40:29 AM
dairy of the dead
by rxse7en
Jan 26th, 2008
10:07:39 AM
Shakespeare
by brassai2003
Jan 26th, 2008
10:36:36 AM
I really liked Land
by EvilGeek1
Jan 26th, 2008
10:40:27 AM
I know everyone has different tastes
by smackfu
Jan 26th, 2008
10:58:44 AM
smackfu
by EvilGeek1
Jan 26th, 2008
11:30:39 AM
Diary of the Dead is doomed at the box office
by HudLives
Jan 26th, 2008
11:37:27 AM
MAX FISCHER IS MY HERO
by haggardatbest
Jan 26th, 2008
12:08:21 PM
Diary of the Dead was the best thing at Sundance 08!
by Jawa 007
Jan 26th, 2008
12:16:03 PM
Just about to watch a bootleg version of Cloverfield!
by EvilGeek1
Jan 26th, 2008
12:59:17 PM
Smackfu...
by Dr. Chim Richalds
Jan 26th, 2008
01:27:46 PM
"The trek downhill started with Day of the Dead."
by Gwai Lo
Jan 26th, 2008
01:31:10 PM
LAND OF THE DEAD is good stuff
by Hikaru Ichijo
Jan 26th, 2008
01:44:08 PM
Hamlet 2
by strangernparadis
Jan 26th, 2008
01:48:22 PM
"The trek downhill started with Day of the Dead."
by Ray Gamma
Jan 26th, 2008
02:37:29 PM
Both films are rubbish...........
by godhatesyou
Jan 26th, 2008
04:08:04 PM
Land of the Dead...
by rxse7en
Jan 26th, 2008
04:20:36 PM
The most underrated Zombie movie
by EvilGeek1
Jan 26th, 2008
04:26:40 PM
Hamlet 2.The Hamletting!
by travis-dane
Jan 26th, 2008
04:28:55 PM
LotD; Zombi 2; 'Part II' movies
by FatherMcGruderKicksAssForTheLo rd
Jan 26th, 2008
05:07:53 PM
DAY has some of the best gore special effects ever
by George Newman
Jan 26th, 2008
05:16:57 PM
Hamlet 2 this time even more Hammy!
by skywalkerfamily
Jan 26th, 2008
05:17:42 PM
Methinks found footage is a particularly effective gimmick
by TerryMalloy
Jan 26th, 2008
05:28:40 PM
Land of the Dead on TNTHD
by haggardatbest
Jan 26th, 2008
05:40:46 PM
Dear George, please invent a new monster
by skywalkerfamily
Jan 26th, 2008
05:48:55 PM
Hamlet will return in...THUNDERBALL!
by I Dunno
Jan 26th, 2008
07:25:03 PM
Just so I don't look retarded
by taintyourwagon
Jan 26th, 2008
07:40:36 PM
maybe i shouldn't do that first, now i do look retarded
by taintyourwagon
Jan 26th, 2008
07:42:39 PM
It's not your fault , taintyourwagon
by I Dunno
Jan 26th, 2008
08:43:23 PM
Hamlet 2 starring Jim Carrey
by skywalkerfamily
Jan 26th, 2008
09:38:25 PM
Hamlet 2: The Search for Curly's Gold
by Dingleberry Jones
Jan 27th, 2008
12:13:08 AM
Legend, Legend of Curly's Gold...dammit
by Dingleberry Jones
Jan 27th, 2008
12:14:45 AM
please hammer, don't hurt 'em
by ironic_name
Jan 27th, 2008
04:00:36 AM
Day and Land
by radio1_mike
Jan 27th, 2008
10:11:12 AM
FUCK THIS, YA HEARD!!? FUCK THIS!
by tHeGRinGoGenTiLE
Jan 27th, 2008
02:34:54 PM
Hamlet Dynamite
by FatherMcGruderKicksAssForTheLo rd
Jan 27th, 2008
06:22:51 PM
guess I'm jumpin on the wagon
by ClockWorker
Jan 27th, 2008
08:19:36 PM

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