I <3 Zombies, I cannot lie. So when I was asked if I was interested in reviewing ‘Zombieland’ for blu-ray, it was a no-brainer! Who am I to deny the coolness of zombies and Woody Harrelson as the gun-toting zombie-killer from Tallahassee?

Zombieland is a very funny take on how to survive if the entire planet (or in this case, country) had become overrun by zombies. With Jesse Eisenberg as the narrator and ‘WoW playing nerd-cum-zombie survivor’ “Columbus”, Zombieland is a survival of the fittest (or craziest, take your pick) journey of four strangers trying to survive, with often hilarious results. It all starts with rules – there are rules to surviving the zombie holocaust and Columbus has them all figured out. If you follow these rules to the letter, you’re bound to survive… or at least live a little longer.

After meeting up with zombie-killing bad-ass ‘Tallahassee’, Columbus realises that there are times when rules don’t apply and survival really is all about who gets the best ‘Zombie Kill of the Week’. After falling victim to a cleverly orchestrated scam by two sisters named ‘Wichita’ and ‘Little Rock’, Tallahassee and Columbus find themselves without transport and weapons until as luck would have it, they run into the same girls again and again, they are made to feel like chumps and are taken hostage. After a few disagreements and exchanges, it is tentatively decided that the group must stick together to survive (well, as far as the girls are willing to go, that is).

Zombieland is an extremely entertaining ride wrapped up with some very smart humour and great dialogue. Admittedly, the best parts of the movie are all about blowing zombies away but hey, that’s what you kind of expect in a zombie movie with Woody Harrelson at the helm. Jesse Eisenberg brings some ‘nerd-lovin’ to the table, as only he can and proves to be one of the least obvious leading men in an action movie I’ve ever seen.

The blu-ray disk comes with additional features which are pretty interesting including how the crew reacted to creating Zombieland and how first-time director Ruben Fleischer envisioned the creation of Zombieland.

<3 Thanks to Danny at Metroexp PR for the review disk.

Zombieland is not due out until the 19th of May but it’s zombie-tastic!

Distributor: Madman Released: 2006 Genre: Anime/action/martial arts Credits: Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, Ron Perlman, Lucy Liu Rating: R16

Afro Samurai and Afro Samurai Resurrection on blu-ray were kindly supplied by Madman distribution for review.

Anime fans are a loyal bunch. And whilst not all anime is ‘good’ anime, the success of one animated show from another can depend solely on the voice actors alone. That’s where Afro Samurai has depth in spades with Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu and Ron Perlman lending their voices to the cast of Afro Samurai. The anime is based on the manga written by Takashi Okazaki.

If you’re a fan of action or martial arts anime, you’re bound to enjoy Afro Samurai. It’s full of all the great things that make anime so enjoyable – it’s got action, drama and some very cool characters to boot. Samuel L. Jackson voices the main character ‘Afro’ which the story is based on and does a fantastic job.

Afro Samurai’s story is well-written and paced beautifully in the animated version which can often go astray when translating from book to screen. The animation work in both Afro Samurai and Afro Samurai Resurrection is very similar to that shown in other anime such as ‘Samurai Champloo’ which aims to create a sort of modern day ‘fusion’ with characteristics of feudal Japan. This creates a refreshingly unique setting for the adventure to unfold and gives personality to the character of Afro Samurai. One of the problems that seems to plague so many animated creations these days is lack of originality which Afro Samurai does well to eradicate.

The music from rap/hip hop artist ‘The RZA’ (Wu Tang Clan) features prominently throughout the movie and was written specifically for Afro Samurai.

Blu-ray brings a clarity to the screen that is fantastic for animated movies. Fans of Afro Samurai or Samuel L. Jackson would be doing themselves an injustice if they missed out on these blu-ray releases.

Check out the trailer here:

You can buy Afro Samurai and Afro Samurai Resurrection from Madman NZ