Have to agree with most, if pretty much all of that.
I think another point would be that due to the amount of time that had passed since Romero had last made a zombie film put high expectations on films like Land Of The Dead and Diary Of The Dead.
Especially in a climate where Danny Boyle had delivered 28 Days Later, Zack Snyder had defied the high expectations put on his "remake"(which his Dawn Of The Dead isn't really, his film stanRAB on its merits IMO) and Simon Pegg had a big hit with a zombie romcom in Shaun Of The Dead so for the "Godfather of the Zombie flick", he had to come back and try and make something to stand alongside his previous three zombie films as well as try and garner the same reactions from both critics and moviegoers on both a critical and commercial level and he failed to do both with Land Of The Dead and Diary Of The Dead.
Land Of The Dead ideally should have been a hit movie because there was enough action, thrills and blood n' gore to make it a hit but the story lacked the conviction and emotion his previous films had shown, the acting was generally awful as well.
Simon Fraser had all the charisma of a soggy dishcloth, John Leguizamo was so ridiculously OTT as a villain he ideally should've grown a pencil moustache and worn a top hat and red cape and perhaps he might've been slightly convincing, and Asia Argento looked like she would have been more comfortable acting in a Resident Evil movie than LOTD.
Lest we forget Dennis Hopper as well, he actually looked like he was reading his lines off a cue card but in the same way a person visiting the opticians and squinting whilst they try to read the eye test card and havering as they read the tiniest letters. Just plain f*cking awful.
In fact, the best actor in it was the guy who played the zombie called Big Daddy but even then, i think i would've been more convinced if the guy had been dressed as the late British wrestler Big Daddy in a Union Jack bowler hat and matching wrestling garb and stomped around clapping his hanRAB and shouting "EASY! EASY! EASY!" than this Bub wannabe.
Diary Of The Dead was let down badly by characterisation too, it seemed to me that Romero couldn't have picked a series of more stereotypical characters if he tried.
Jock? Check. Dumb blonde? Check. Nerd? Check. Unhinged professor with a drink problem? Check. Depressed teenager? Check. Crazy rebellious teenager? Check. Strong and emotionally intact teenager who will pull herself together in the face of adversity? Check. Guy who thinks he is an artist and who will gladly suffer for his art even if it means he is a certain-to-die type idiot who will get everyone else into bother because of his stupid decisions? Check.
The actors he cast to play those characters were all dreadful too, you could've put the cast of Prisoner Cell Block H in Diary Of The Dead and even then, every single character would have been a damn sight more believable and three dimensional despite the poor stereotyping.
[REC] probably didnt help Diary's chances because it was a far more of an adrenaline-pumping horror ride(and a truly brilliant film to boot too) than Diary whereas Romero was trying to focus more on the sociological, political and emotional impacts a zombie outbreak would have on the world, i just think he didn't focus enough on what the outside world would be like because he spent so much time focusing on what these boring unimaginative characters would do in such a situation, which is not very much other than get themselves into unrealistic situations like meeting an Amish farmer who kills zombies in a comedic way with a stick of comedy dynamite.
I just think Romero has let himself and his fans down by poor writing and poor acting.
Siebenburgen, you've probably put me on your dreaded ignore list by now but f*ck it i don't care, i won't lose a wink of sleep if you don't agree with me, all i will say is this to you, people not liking Land or Dawn has nothing to do with people being stubborn and not being open-minded enough, everyone has their own reasons for not liking a movie but IMO they are just bad movies let down by bad acting and bad writing, with which Romero should bear the brunt of and responsibility for, you say there is a lack of respect for film-makers like him? i would sincerely doubt that due to the fact he has made some of the most memorable and classic horror movies ever made, you don't get more respect than that, the trouble being now that his latest additions to the genre aren't particularly well-made, interesting or engaging films compared to the ones he has made in the past, simple as that.
My criticism of those movies also has nothing to do with me loving Night, Dawn and Day as movies nor does it have anything to do with me enjoying Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead for being simply a good entertaining adrenalin-fuelled romp, i just thought those movies were simply more entertaining and more satisfying for different reasons than either Land or Dead so please, do yourself a favour get over your own narrow-minded double standarRAB-laden temper tantrum of a post above.
Oh and if you don't like my post and haven't responded to it, then its because i have put you on my ignore list.
Boo hoo
