awesome:
+ Woody Harrelson
+ the other 3 main actors
+ cameo by one of my fave actors
+ lots of funny
+ lots of gore
+ lots of ZOMBIES
+ surprise!duct tape wallet
+ super happy ending

not awesome:
- the two girls do something so incredibly stupid in the last third of the movie, you almost wish the zombies would EAT them. it was kind of lame.

verdict: awesome

i wouldn’t go and see this at the cinemas again, but i would rent it or buy it on dvd (if it wasn’t too expensive). the violence by and against the zombies was wonderfully gruesome, and the zombies were just done fantastically, and the sorta-cameo made me almost sing with joy. it was lots of fun. definitely worth seeing if you like zombies and if you like laughing.

awesome:
+ story idea
+ happy (ish) ending

not awesome:
- rape scenes
- wooden acting
- the fading in and out, and the white out effects
- actions taken by the protagonist throughout most of the movie don’t make much sense

verdict: not awesome

it seemed to me like a good story, like the book might be worth a read. it has lots of interesting things to say, like how fundamentally we depend on our sight, and how quickly society could disintegrate given the right conditions. but it fell flat. the wooden acting was unexpected and disappointing (i was particularly disappointed in Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo), the fading in and out, and the white out effects (which were quite obviously employed to emphasise the whole blindness concept) were distracting and disorienting, and the characters are 2 dimensional - possibly delibrately to heighten the isolation feelings - which made me feel really separate from the characters, like they weren’t real people, which i didn’t enjoy. 2 hours of my life i won’t get back.

awesome:
+ the kid who plays Max
+ Catherine Keener
+ the monster muppets
+ surprise!James Gandolfini voice
+ scenery is beautiful

not awesome:
- it is entirely, ridiculously, and stupidly sad. the ambiance, the kid’s life, the monsters, his relationship with the people around him, his mum’s life, even the colouring of the film - the whole movie is so depressing! i was miserable for the characters from the get go, and come the last 10 minutes, i started crying and couldn’t stop until half way through the credits. and then i sat in the bathroom for another 10 minutes after we left the movie and cried some more. not fun.
- seeing it in a movie theatre with a bunch of teenage girls giggling. (i shushed them. that felt good).

verdict: not awesome.

this movie had some amazing elements, but imo, was masssssively let down by the fact it is depressing as fuck. i’m not going to see this movie at the cinema again, i’m not buying it on dvd. i might watch it again if i was at someone else’s house and they wanted to, but i wouldn’t be happy about it.