Rage Against the Hype Machine

It is starting to feel as if I'm destined to be a curmudgeon about the horror movies people are digging this year, but really it's only actually been two at this point -- there was Dangerous Animals a couple of weeks ago and now there's Danny Boyle's long awaited zombie catch-up 28 Years Later, which hits theaters this weekend and which most other critics seem to be loving. Unfortunately I cannot in good conscience agree! Here is my review at Pajiba. I think the movie looks great and I think Ralph Fiennes is having fun and that's really almost all that worked for me? The kid's fine, I guess. My issues aren't to do with him. I just don't understand any of the people calling it "scary" or even "tense" as I found it to be neither of those things. But even more brains-boggling to me are the people thinking there's genuine emotion or any kind of profundity in this thing -- it's no deeper than a hollowed out eye-socket. I cannot fathom the people I heard around me sniffling emotionally during its last act -- I don't consider myself dead inside. I cry real easy most of the time! But not here. These are shallow unrealized duds of characters being moved around willy-nilly without a single thing of purpose to say -- I am good and truly baffled by some of the reviews I'm reading. You can only give something so much credit for trying something different when it thoroughly fails at what it's trying. Oh well! I'm a fan of the first two movies and generally Boyle as a filmmaker so here's to hoping the next one is better. At least Cillian Murphy will supposedly be back.