Zombieland: Double Tap Is Way Too Familiar For Its Own Good

Comedy sequels have got to be one of the most treacherous subgenres out there, the track record for these films is just not great at all. Exceptions like 22 Jump Street do exist, but more often than not, comedy sequels are just reheated leftovers of jokes that just aren't as funny the second go-around. Even getting the entire Anchorman crew back together resulted in a middling Anchorman 2 rather than a laugh riot. Zombieland: Double Tap is the newest entry into the world of comedy sequels, and as far as these types of movies go, it's actually one of the better comedy sequels out there. However, that's not exactly the highest bar to clear and when considering it as just a movie on its own terms, Zombieland: Double Tap can't help but feel more than a touch underwhelming.

The Art of Self-Defense Humorously Confronts Toxic Masculinity

Casey Davies (Jesse Eisenberg) is a mild-mannered individual, no two ways about it and that personality is apparent in his day-to-day life consisting of a routine accounting job, taking care of his wiener-dog and absorbing every aspect of French culture he can. One night, Davies is attacked by a group of motorcycle-riding fiends who leave him brutally injured. Afterward, the perpetually terrified Davies looks for ways to defend himself, at first opting for a handgun before discovering a karate class run by Sensei (Alessandro Nivola, channeling Liev Schrieber in his terrific performance). Through learning this form of fighting in this dojo, Davies feels like he can finally take control of his life...and then things get prickly.

Surviving The Undead Inhabiting Zombieland Proves To Be A Recipe For Great Comedy

The two writers behind Zombieland are Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, a pair of individuals who are most well-known today for writing both of the Deadpool movies. Watching Zombieland through the lens of it being a precursor to the pair's work on Deadpool, one begins to notice some similarities between the two projects. Most notably, both are extremely violent works containing a large amount of dark humor that inhabit well-trodden grounds of genre fiction (superhero movies and zombie movies) with lead characters who have varying degrees of self-awareness of the circumstances they're stuck in and provide narration to the audience on circumstances that are playing out on-screen. Like the two Deadpool movies, Zombieland is also funny, even moreso, in fact, than the pair of Deadpool movies Reese and Wernick would pen in the years to come.

Cafe Society Review

Woody Allen really stretches his boundaries as an artist with Cafe Society. Topics he's never touched in his forty-plus years as a filmmaker like the appeal of New York City and the romance between a pretty girl and a neurotic young man all show up here. Bold new storytelling terrain for the master filmmaker, wouldn't you say? All snarking aside, it's no problem for directors to have recurring traits or story elements in their work, but it does become a bit of an issue when said reoccurring aspects are executed in a paint-by-numbers fashion like they are in Cafe Society.

Woody Allen's Next Movie, Cafe Society, To Open The Cannes Film Festival!

The Cannes Film Festival is a little over a month away and while which films are specifically during the high-profile event is still a hotly debated topic, we do now know which motion picture will be opening the prestigious occasion, and it's a director whose works have been a frequent participant at Cannes. The one and only Woody Allen will debut his next film, Cafe Society, at the festival as the opening film of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on May 11th.

The End Of The Tour Review

You know how they say to never meet your heroes? Well, that's just what David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) is off to do, as he's gotten the chance to interview David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) for the Rolling Stone magazine. Meeting the famous author at the tail end of a press tour for his newest book is an interesting experience for Lipsky, mainly because Wallace defies his expectations at every twist and turn in their brief but tremendous time together.

American Ultra Review

Reuniting six years after the underrated 2009 feature Adventureland (and a year before the two again come together for Woody Allens 2016 effort), Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart have managed to become indie film mainstays in the years since, with especially Stewart developing a large following for her recent dramatic acting forays. Seeing the duo in the comedic feature American Ultra doesn't yield the best results either actors has ever seen, but it does work as a charming and inventive production, no denying that.

Entertainment Weekly Has Unleashed Tons Of New Images From Batman v. Superman!

Comic-Con is coming up next week, and Warner Bros. is bringing the heat by showing off their two DC Comics motion pictures next year. One of those films is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film that has generated an enormous amount of debate, ranging from the casting to the quality of the new Batman suit to the lack of color in promo images for the movie. Entertainment Weekly, as part of their annual Comic-Con issue, is not only putting Batman v. Superman on the cover of the magazine, but also a number of images from the movie, as well as my analysis of each image, that you can view below!

The Squid And The Whale Review (Classic Write-Up)

Family Ties

Divorce is a massively tremendous event in any families life. No matter how old you are, no matter how much you think you're prepared for it, no one is ready for the level of change divorce brings. Noah Baumbach, the director of The Squid And The Whale, uses divorce as a catalyst to upend the life of one family driven by intellectualism, a trait especially salient in the case of the father, Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and the oldest son, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg).