This is the second movie in a row that I just watched that is narrated by the protagonist. Starring Nicholas Hoult, who was recently seen in "Jack The Giant Slayer", and Teresa Palmer, it is a most unusual romantic zombie movie. The other stars include Robert Corddry and Dave Franco.
Thus far, all the zombies in movies are portrayed as the undead, living dead or simply dead people with no hope of ever recovering from the condition. On the other hand, this movie showed Nicholas as the zombie "R" who still retained some human consciousness but "lived" or wandered through the airport with nary a collection of his actual name or past.
His existence was as aimless and meaningless as any dead people. That was, until he met a living female in the form of Teresa as Julie, who remotely reminded me of Kristen Stewart. A group of youngsters, which included Julie, from an isolated group of remaining survivors hiding within the confines of a walled area in the city was out salvaging medical supplies and encountered the pack of zombies who attacked them. R killed Julie's boyfriend Perry, ate his brain and absorbed some of his thoughts and memories, further strengthening his attraction towards Julie. Perry was played by Dave Franco, who is James Franco's younger brother, and who reminded me of the Taiwanese eurasian actor Rhydian Vaughan.
Therein begins the most unusual relationship between a living person and an undead, where R went all out to protect Julie from being harmed by other zombies and his strong attraction towards her brought on a reversion of his condition. His heart gradually started to beat, pumping blood that coursed through his body as he slowly reverted to being a living person once again as he escorted her back to her father who is the leader of the survivors. The attraction was contagious or infectious, and his zombie friend "M" too was converted together with many other zombies who witnessed R and Julie holding hands.
As with all movies, there are always the good and bad characters. In this light-hearted movie, the bad characters were in the form of skeletal zombies, who were at a more advanced stage of zombie infection and were really beyond reversion since they already peeled off their human skin. These zombies were more aggressive and actively attacked and ate the living with a vengeance. They detected the changes in the human zombies and actively pursued the pair of lovers in an attempt to prevent the infectious reversion of the human zombies back to the living. The outcome of the battle between the groups was rather predictable as good triumphed over evil.
Nicholas as the affable and charmingly likable zombie R played the character with much aplomb and such ease. The chemistry between R and Julie was also convincingly believable and the pair was quite a couple. If anyone wants a different ending to a zombie movie, this is definitely the movie not to be missed.
It was movie week for me and I caught this sci-fi movie starring one of my favourite actress Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel and William Hurt.
Set in the future where an alien "amoeba-like" parasite known as souls came to earth to inhabit the bodies of humans. When that happens, the human host usually loses its self-consciousness and gets taken over by the identity of the inhabitant, which is able to tap into the memories of the former. In some rare cases, the human host is strong, resilient and possesses a consciousness to resist the soul. Saoirse as Melanie Stryder, is one such case.
Taken away from her younger brother Jamie by a group of possessed humans and implanted with a soul known as "wanderer", her love and desperation to find her brother gave her the will to co-exist with the wanderer in a single body. On the other hand, the kind and compassionate wanderer which live thousands of years and traveled across the intergalaxy was moved by Melanie's personality and love for her brother and boyfriend Jared that it helped her escape to seek out her uncle in the desert. Hot on her heels is her alien pursuer known as the Seeker, who was relentlessly obsessive with converting Melanie into one of their kind.
Melanie was rescued by her uncle, found her brother and boyfriend while at the same time, the wanderer fell for one of the humans Ian. Conflicted with the feelings of two minds in a single body with two separate lovers, Melanie has to race against time to maintain her sanity to save herself, the wanderer, her brother and the rest of the human survivors.
Saoirse gets prettier by the day, since I last saw her in "The Lovely Bones" and earns my respect that she's one of the best younger actresses, with a squeaky clean image, of today. Max Irons, who is Jeremy Irons son, and Jake Abel delivered credible performances in the movie as skeptics who initially doubted Melanie's continued existence with an alien soul in her body but turned protective towards the two separate identities in the latter part of the movie.
I don't think this movie did well at the box office because there was hardly anyone in the cinema. I guess it may appear very strange to viewers to see two minds conversing with each other throughout the movie but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, this movie adapted from a fairy tale is mainly for the kids, I felt. Having said that, I love the landscape, which was a magical setting with many magical and out of this world plants. I was thrilled by the amazing plants and forest creatures. That much I really enjoyed.
There was the familiar yellow brick road but that was where the magical experience ended. There wasn't the familiar Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and Doggy anywhere. Some movie critics commented that James Franco was the weakest link in the movie but I begged to differ. He was humourously funny and I thought he did well playing the self-centred magician turned hero. Rachel Weisz was as usual, looking ever so pretty as one of the wicked witches. Mila Kunis was alright. I personally didn't like Michelle William's portrayal of the good witch though.
I wonder if there will be any sequels to introduce the original characters of the fairy tale although I seriously doubt so.
Similarly, over at Bay East, the following are some of the interesting plants or plants that were in bloom:
- Central Grove - Calotropis gigantea with white flowers at car park, Harpullia ramiflora, Nerium oleander, Holmskioldia sanguinea and yellow Casuarina
- Skyline Promenade - Delonix regia, Bougainvillea cultivars and Russelia equisetiformis
- Arrival Grove - Saraca declinata at Promenade Lawn and Megaskepasma erythrochlamys at Visitor's Centre
