Zombieland by The Professor

Writer: Steve Niles
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, appearance by Bill Murray
Run Time: 88 minutes

With a plot that is entirely clichéd and predictable, and some fairly one-dimensional characters, Ruben Fleischer managed to make a movie that was a pleasure to watch. The characters hook up along the way, going only by the names of their hometowns to avoid an excessive attachment which in the end is perhaps inevitable, they travel west seeking a certain golden treasure and Pacific Playland, an amusement park outside Los Angeles rumored to be entirely free of the zombie menace.
 
Woody Harrelson is spectacular as the Sno Ball hating, smart-assed zombie-killing machine, Tallahassee. And Emma Stone worked as, Witchita, the grifting and conniving older "sister" to Abigail Breslin's Chloe Moretz-esque too precocious 12-year old, Little Rock. Jesse Eisenberg filled out the main cast as main character, Columbus (Ohio). Bill Murray's appearance was typically brilliant and all too brief. "In the words of the immortal philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, Gopher.'"
 
The movie didn't bring any surprises with its concluding scenes (or any of the rest for that matter), but felt oddly satisfying. Surely the absolutely brilliant soundtrack (Doves, Metric, Black Keys, Raconteurs, even Mozart for cripe's sake) helped stir the soul in favor of this movie that on paper should probably be less than it ended up being.  

4 out of 5!