World War Z Movie Review

"World War Z" plays as if somebody watched the similar "28 Days Later" and thought, "That was a good movie, but it would be even better if it cost $200 million, there were millions of zombies, and the hero were perfect and played by Brad Pitt." Which is another way of saying that if you need proof that sometimes more can be less, here you go. Directed by Marc Forster and written by everyone in Hollywood, if rumors are to be believed (though three got credit), this adaptation of Max Brooks' oral history of a zombie apocalypse is...
Hold on. I'm sorry, before taking this thoroughly professional but mostly uninspired movie apart, let's back up for a second and look at that last phrase: "oral history of a zombie apocalypse." Those six words tell you everything this film gave up by going in a conventional direction. I've never read Brooks' book and don't have any immediate plans to, but the idea of telling this tale in a roundabout way, by having survivors of the conflagration sit there and talk to an unseen cameraperson -- perhaps against a plain black background, with or without cutaways to still photographs or "news video" -- is electrifying to consider. Such an approach might have yielded the first fresh contribution to this amazingly varied and vital horror genre, which I've obsessed over in numerous written pieces and in a video essay, since the first "Rec". The latter viewed an undead attack through the eye of a home video camera and treated the result as "found footage" -- a great post-"Blair Witch" embellishment, considering how much of horror is about what you don't see. A faithful transcription of "World War Z" might have taken fright-film minimalism even further. What better way to amplify the night-sweat-inducing hideousness of the dead attacking the living than by fixing a camera's unblinking eye on the survivors and having them talk about what happened to them -- the people and property and perhaps limbs that they lost in the struggle to survive? A friend who's heard the audiobook version of "World War Z" said it reminded her of old time radio drama: "Theater of the mind," she said.
"World War Z," in contrast, is just bloody eye and ear candy. I realize it's problematic to review a film on the basis of what it might have been, but when that same film substitutes a vision that's vastly less intriguing and original than the one offered by its source, it's a fair tactic. What's onscreen here is just another zombie picture, only gigantic, and it's not too scary until you get to the end. Ironically, what makes the movie's final sequence unnerving is its embrace of time-tested low-budget zombie film values: intimacy, silence, suggestion, and the strategic deployment of boredom to lull viewers into complacency and set them up for the next scare. Instead of the David Lean-on-caffeine panoramas of thousand of computer-generated zombies swarming ant-like up walls and over barricades and taking down computer-generated choppers while panicked generals watch on monitors from thousand of miles away and Forster's close-up camera wobbles and wiggles and swings all over the place to generate unearned "excitement", the drawn-out final setpiece follows three people sneaking into a building that's overrun by a few dozen sleepy and distracted flesh-snackers. And what do you know? It's pretty scary, and unintended proof that when you try to re-invent the wheel, the result doesn't carry you as far as you would have liked.
Brad Pitt plays the movie's protagonist, Gerry Lane, a former United Nations field agent who retired to spend time with his wife Karin (Mirelle Enos) and his two charming daughters. He's every other character played by Robert Redford in the 1970s and '80s: noble, brave, calm in a crisis, endlessly resourceful, kind to his spouse and children, respectful of authority but not slavishly so, independent-minded by not arrogant; a snooze.
Forster and his collaborators deserve a bit of credit for plunging us into the thick of things: the Lanes learn that society is collapsing when a seemingly ordinary urban traffic jam is jolted into surreality by an explosion, a stampede of terrified civilians and their vehicles, and a furious attack by people who've been infected by a virus that turns them into ravenous ghouls. (The film's details are fuzzy, but I think they actually are ghouls here, not just rabid and homicidal mortals, as in the "Days" pictures.)  The rest of the picture is a globetrotting medical mystery that just happens to feature zombies, with Lane and various helpers, some military and others scientific, trying to figure out what sparked the disease and counter it before the undead overrun everything. It's "Contagion" or "The Andromeda Strain," but with zombies, and without a whole lot of panache.
Although Mirielle Enos' talents are wasted -- she anchors a police procedural on television, but this Hollywood movie is content to cast her as a standard-issue Dutiful Wife -- there are some dandy cameos and supporting turns. I like David Morse's one scene as a twitchy, traumatized CIA agent who knows something about the origin of the disease, and James Badge Dale as a U.S. Special Forces captain whose gung-ho competence is no match for the zombie hordes, and Daniella Kertesz as Segan, an Israeli soldier whose indefatigable spirit helps the hero save the day even after she's suffered unimaginable trauma.
But aside from Segan, a rare action film character you haven't seen a zillion times, none of the characters rise above the level of purely functional placeholder-types, and there are too many scenes that merely replicate the usual zombie film tropes without adding any new wrinkles. When a supporting character is infected and instantly "turns," I was reminded of that incredible sequence in "28 Days Later" in which Brendan Gleeson's jovial dad catches a drop of contaminated blood in his eye and wrestles with the virus while his daughter looks on. The sheer terror of losing one's soul has rarely been communicated on film so economically. Nothing in "World War Z" comes anywhere near its power.
Forster deserves credit, I suppose, for finding a way to make a usually R-rated genre PG-13 without totally softening its force. Horrendous acts of violence occur off-camera or just below the frame-line, and they don't lack for impact. And there are some shiveringly good moments near the end, particularly when the hero gets too close to a walker with snicker-snack yellowish rat-teeth. But there and elsewhere you still feel as though a genre's essence has been somehow betrayed. This is a zombie movie for people who don't normally like zombie movies. That's an accomplishment, I guess, but it strikes me as the sort one shouldn't brag about

Source: http://http://www.rogerebert.comwww.rogerebert.com

Paula Deen Fired: Food Network Cancels Show After Racism Scandal

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Food Network said Friday it's dumping Paula Deen, barely an hour after the celebrity cook posted the first of two videotaped apologies online begging forgiveness from fans and critics troubled by her admission to having used racial slurs in the past.
The 66-year-old Savannah kitchen celebrity has been swamped in controversy since court documents filed this week revealed Deen told an attorney questioning her under oath last month that she has used the N-word. "Yes, of course," Deen said, though she added, "It's been a very long time."
The Food Network, which made Deen a star with "Paula's Home Cooking" in 2002 and later "Paula's Home Cooking" in 2008, weighed in with a terse statement Friday afternoon.
"Food Network will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month," the statement said. Network representatives declined further comment. A representative for Deen did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment on the decision.
The news came as Deen worked to repair the damage to her image, which has spawned a vast empire of cookbooks, a bimonthly cooking magazine, a full line of cookware, food items like spices and even furniture.
She abruptly canceled a scheduled interview on NBC's "Today" show Friday morning, instead opting for a direct appeal via online video – one that allowed her and her staff complete control of what she said and how she said it.
"Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable," Deen said in the first 45-second video posted on YouTube. "I've made plenty of mistakes along the way but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners - I beg for your forgiveness."
Deen adopted a solemn tone as she looked straight into the camera. Still, her recorded apology featured three obvious edits – with the picture quickly fading out between splices – during a statement just five sentences long.
It was soon scrapped and replaced with a second video of Deen talking unedited for nearly two minutes as she insists: "Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter to me."
""I want people to understand that my family and I are not the kind of people that the press is wanting to say we are," Deen says in the later video. "The pain has been tremendous that I have caused to myself and to others."
Deen never mentions Food Network or its decision to drop her in either of her online videos.
Deen initially planned to give her first interview on the controversy Friday to the "Today" show, which promoted her scheduled appearance as a live exclusive. Instead, host Matt Lauer ended up telling viewers that Deen's representatives pulled the plug because she was exhausted after her flight to New York. Deen said in her video she was "physically not able" to appear.
Court records show Deen sat down for a deposition May 17 in a discrimination lawsuit filed last year by a former employee who managed Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House, a Savannah restaurant owned by Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers. The ex-employee, Lisa Jackson, says she was sexually harassed and worked in a hostile environment rife with innuendo and racial slurs.
During the deposition, Deen was peppered with questions about her racial attitudes. At one point she's asked if she thinks jokes using the N-word are "mean." Deen says jokes often target minority groups and "I can't, myself, determine what offends another person."
Deen also acknowledged she briefly considered hiring all black waiters for her brother's 2007 wedding, an idea inspired by the staff at a restaurant she had visited with her husband. She insisted she quickly dismissed the idea.
But she also insisted she and her brother have no tolerance for bigotry.
"Bubba and I, neither one of us, care what the color of your skin is" or what gender a person is, Deen said. "It's what's in your heart and in your head that matters to us."

AP Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this story from New York.

Slim Whitman Dies At Age 90

Today the sad news emerged that "America's Favorite Folksinger Singer" Slim Whitman died at the grand age of 90.

 

Here is a short synopsis of the wonderful career  of Slim Whitman

Though he was once known as "America's Favorite Folksinger," Slim Whitman was, for the majority of his career, more famous in Europe than in the United States. Best remembered for his early-'50s hit singles like "Love Song of the Waterfall," "Indian Love Call," and "Singing Hills," Whitman was an excellent yodeler known for singing mellow, romantic, and clean-cut songs.

As a child, Slim Whitman (born Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr.) became infatuated with music and learned to yodel listening to Montana Slim and Jimmie Rodgers records. At age 17, he married 15-year-old Geraldine Crist, a preacher's daughter. The newlyweds moved to a 40-acre farm south of Jacksonville, Florida, where Whitman worked as a meat packer. While working in the plant, he suffered an accident and lost two fingers on his left hand. After the accident, he began working in a Tampa shipyard. During World War II, Whitman served in the U.S. Navy, where he learned to play guitar. Following the war, he returned to the shipyard and also joined a local minor-league baseball team, the Plant City Berries. Whitman remained with the team through 1948, but then began building a singing career at several Tampa radio stations, eventually creating a backup band, the Variety Rhythm Boys.

Slim Whitman got his first big break after Colonel Tom Parker -- who was managing Eddy Arnold at the time -- heard him singing on radio station WFLA. Parker landed a contract with RCA for Whitman by the end of 1948. After reluctantly complying with the label's request to change his first name to "Slim," he released his first single, "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" -- eventually to become his theme song. He made his national debut on the Mutual Network's Smokey Mountain Hayride in the summer of 1949, and the following year joined The Louisiana Hayride. Despite his national exposure, Whitman's career wasn't making much of an impact, and he was forced to take a job as a part-time mailman.

In the early '50s, he released a cover of Bob Nolan's "Love Song of the Waterfall," which became his breakthrough hit, peaking at number ten on the country charts; the follow-up single, "Indian Love Call," made him a star, peaking at number two on the country charts and crossing over into the pop Top Ten. Both sides of his next single -- "Keep It a Secret"/"My Heart Is Broken in Three" -- were also major hits and he continued to have a string of Top Ten hits into the mid-'50s. In 1955, his title song for the film Rose-Marie became a smash on both sides of the Atlantic; following its success, Whitman joined the Grand Ole Opry, and then went to Britain in 1956 as the first country singer to play the London Palladium. Throughout the late '50s and early '60s, he had a string of British hits, including "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Unchain My Heart," and "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen."

Although he was experiencing great success in the U.K., Whitman's career was in neutral in the U.S. After 1954's "Singing Hills," he had only two Top 40 hits in the course of a decade. In 1965, he bounced back into the country Top Ten with "More Than Yesterday." For the next few years, he had a series of minor country hits, including "Rainbows Are Back in Style" (1968), "Happy Street" (1968), and "Tomorrow Never Comes" (1970). Throughout the early '70s, he continued to have minor hits, but in 1974, he retired from active recording.

In 1979, Whitman filmed a television commercial to support Suffolk Marketing's release of a collection of his greatest hits. On the strength of the commercials, All My Best sold four million records and became the best-selling television-marketed album in history. After its success, the label released Just for You in 1980, and The Best in 1982. Between 1980 and 1984, Whitman had a small run of minor hits, highlighted by 1980's number 15 hit "When." In the late '80s, he returned to television-marketed albums, releasing Slim Whitman: Best Loved Favorites in 1989 and 20 Precious Memories in 1991. During the '90s, Whitman recorded infrequently but continued to tour successfully, particularly in Europe and Australia. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Source: http://www.cmt.com/artists/slim-whitman/biography/

Zantrex-3 Fat Burner-What You Should Know And People Have To Say About It.

Zantrex-3 is trending very high online at the moment which means that there are a lot of questions and comments being made about it, so why is this happening and what does it mean to the people who are considering using it, who do they believe and more importantly where can they find reliable informative information about this product?

That's my task in this blog post, I have to find the most reliable and informative information available and present it here to you so that your curiosity can be satisfied with reliable information. It does not matter if you are considering using this supplement or not, the important issue is to provide rock solid information so that you are well informed about this product.

So I suppose the first port of call in this investigation is to the manufacturer to ascertain what is in fact in the product and what was the effects a user should have from using it.

Zantrex-3 manufactured in the USA by:
Zoller Laboratories
5742 West Harold Gatty Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84116

Here is just some of what they say on their website:

"YES! It’s Zantrex®-3. America’s hottest selling new “Super Pill”. Finally, rapid weight loss and incredible energy in one new, power-packed “Super Pill.” Zantrex-3*... the kind of intense, non-stop energy kick you want from a diet pill… and more. Much more!"

So with very positive claims like that I certainly want to know if they are right making those claims. I also would like to know the following:

1. What exactly is in Zantrex - Zantrex ingredients
2. Are there Zantrex side effects?
3. Does Zantrex work?
4. What are the Zantrex results?
5. Are there Zantrex reviews

 So I will start by going through each of the above questions.

(1)  What exactly is in Zantrex - What are the Zantrex ingredients?

Here is what I found as being the published ingredients list for the ingredients of the Zantrex-3 as published  by the manufacturer Zoller Laboratories.

 Kelp Powder
 Alpha lipoic acid
 Fennel (seed) Powder
 eleuthero (root) extract
 Rhodiola rosea (root) extract
 Guarana (fruit) extract
 Citrus (fruit) Complex
 Trimethylxanthine (Caffeine)
 Kola Nut (seed) Extract
 Schisandra (fruit) Extract
 Green Tea (leaf) Extract 

Other Ingredients:  Starch, Rice Flour, Gelatin, Magnesium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide, Titanium Dioxide, FD&C Red #40, FD&C Blue #1, Active Fat Burner Compound: (Citrus (fruit) complex and Guarana (fruit) extract), Active Oxydrene® Compound: (Rhodiola rosea (root) extract), Active Energy Compound: (Trimethylxanthine, Guarana (fruit) extract)

 (2) Are there Zantrex side effects?

Having read quite a few  forum posts online which were made by Zantrex user's the overwhelming side effect which is talked about a lot is the upset stomach experienced by users after starting using Zantrex. This is widespread but can be easily be remedied by starting with taking one tablet at a time, one at breakfast and then one again before having lunch. It is also widely discussed that it is very important to have a healthy portion of food before taking the Zantres-3.

Sleeplessness is also mentioned by some users as a side effect, buy this can easily be over come by not taking a pill at least 8 hours before you go to bed.

Nausea is also mentioned as a side effect but again having a good healthy portion of food before taking the pill will dispel any of those nausea feelings

(3) Does Zantrex work?

To answer this question  a quick trawl of the internet will disclose to you a variety of answers.
The most spoken about success story you will find is the success of a character in a TV program called Jersey Shore her name is Nicole Polizzi aka "Sonnki"

Nicole Elizabeth "Snooki" Polizzi is an American reality television personality who is best known for being a cast member of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore and currently stars in Snooki & JWoww

Here  is a photo of Snooki, which was taken as a before shot of her before she started sing Zantrex-3

Here is a second photograph of Snooki after she had been sing the Zantrex-3 for a period of time.

I bought this to try to kick my weight loss into higher gear. I read an article in a magazine about taking this with an over the counter pill that works on belly fat to increase fat and weight loss. I had already loss 33 pounds on my own, and it was getting extremely difficult to take off more weight. I tried the Zantrex 3 by itself first, just in case there were any side effects. I found it did nothing, except possibly make me hungrier. I took it as directed but did not find a difference. I used it for two weeks and finally decided I was wasting my time. I know some people swear by it, but it didn't work for me at all, although I will say it didn't have any negative side effects. The results that Snooki achieved  as a result of using Zantrex-3 were so noticable that the company that manufactre the pill Zoller Laboratories have engaged Snooki to promote their product, which is great for Snooki.

Will yo achieve the results that Snooki achieved if you start using the Zanrtex-3, I can't possibly answer that question. Each one of s is an individual and we all have our own way and approach to doing things. If a person stick rigidly to the program of taking the pills, eating a healthy diet and plenty of exercise then I think you know the answer!

(4)  What are the Zantrex results?

Here are a list of typical results

Loose weight just like Snooki
Loose weight just like many normal people who follow the program and look good
Loose weight the first week, then stop following the program
Don't loose any weight because you bought the pills and didn't take them
loose a little weight and then stop following the program
No weight loss because you took the pills and did'nt watch what you eat or exercise.

Which category will yo fall into? Only time will tell.

Are there Zantrex reviews?

Fortunately there are many reviews of Zantrex-3, I have gone to the most reliable and biggest online retailer
to find reviews from their customers who have purchased  Zantrex-3 from them and who have used the products and felt it important enough to return to Amazon and leave a review about their experience with Zanrtrex-3.
I have included both types of reviews both positive and negative so that you can judge for yourself whether Zantrex-3 is a product which you believe will solve your current weight loss issues or just satisfy your curiosity.

I have chosen Amazon because they have very strict terms of service and they will only stock products and goods which are trustworthy and legal. In 2012 Amazon sold over $62 Billion  worth of products online, so they know how to do things properly and right.
There are over 40 customer reviews on Amazon where the customers who have purchased Zantrex-3 have returned to give their reviews, here are a few samples, if you want to read the rest of the reviews just go to this page and click on customer reviews.


Positive reviews
1.

I have used Zantrex 3 in the past (blue bottle) and it gave me a major energy boost at first and periodically it would scare me but it helped me seriously control my appetite--i had lost 10lbs in a couple weeks on the blue bottle pills but they were extreme!!! i felt like a freaking crack head!--this new recipe of zantrex with oxydrene seems to be a little more tamer and I am still losing weight just a tad bit less rapidly but I can tell it is making a difference. I am 230 and after one week with no exercise and not over eating to much I am 225. I get energy boost and it helps with my appetite but i like how it doesn't have that crazy egde most pills give you.

2.

I tried and it works! The pills give me energy.

The box says 2 pills in the day and 2 in the afternoon. I tried different things and even combo pilling, 3 pills, 2 pills, 1 pill, day afternoon and night etc. Took a few weeks to figure out the dosage and found a good dosage so I thought I would put it up to help others.

Zantrex3 alone made me jittery and it didn't really keep my appetite down. So I tried combo pilling with relacore max (green/white box). The best dosage was to take two relacores 1-2 hours before bed with water. Then one relacore in the morning with water and two Zantrex3.

You have to eat something with Zantrex or you will get nausea and jittery later. No coffee and LOTS of water, just carry a big sports bottle around and drink it ALL! Yes it means lots of bathroom trips but it works well only with water! Hey...it means your system is being cleaned, that is a good thing! If my day is busy, I take one more Zantrex3 at around 1-3 pm, two was just too much. This works cause it wears off by bedtime so I get a good nights rest and when I go to bed and get a full 8 hours boy do I feel good in the morning! Do not take zantrex less than 8 hours before bed! The loss of sleep will get to you the next day, talk about crashing! The lunchtime pill dosage I eat with a bigger lunch meal again to avoid the nausea. On the weekends, I don't take any zantrex3 on the weekends when I am relaxing around the house to give my system a break or I just take one Zantrex when I wake up. I stay on the relacore dosage all week. When I got to 165, I stop taking the zantrex because I already had energy from not carrying around the bag of dog food around my waist.

The weight loss average was about 2-4 lbs a week for me. I weighed myself first thing when I woke up and marked my weight on a calendar on the wall to see my progress. If I weighed myself at different times in the day it was confusing so I recommend first thing when you get up before you eat breakfast. Put your scale when you can get on it first thing in the am with a calendar/pen for you to look at while you are weighing yourself. I lost about 15 lbs the first month, then 11 the next, then 9 the next, it seems the bigger weight loss is in the beggining with the heavy stuff. I was at 198 and now I am at 163 after three months, I feel so good and my good clothes fit me now!! Again if I worked out, I know I would lose more weight. I have more energy and more energy with each pound I lose. I think in the future, when I reach goal weight of 140 I will taking 1 relacore occasionally and definately 2-3 hours before I go out to eat so I won't be so hungry and stretch my stomach out. Having my appetite suppressed and not eating so much has shrunk my stomach, so I get full fast now. What I found is consistancy is important, time taking your pills around the same time each day.I saw results after the pill was consistantly in my system constant, 1-3 days. I like the combo pilling for energy. The zantrex gets your energy up a bit and the relacore just makes you calmer. Great combo for weight loss and appetite control. I also noticed that my stomach shrunk faster if I got a full 8 hours of sleep when taking the pills.

This may not be for every body type. If you are on birth control or medication, it may interfere with how it works, ask your doctor. It says does not take it if pregnant, I would never do that! I don't recommend being on relacore for longer than 5 months! I don't recommend being on Zantrex for longer than 3 months!

3.

I was looking for something that would curb my appetite and give me a lot of energy. I am in college full time and I work full time. Some days I don't even get a chance to eat a proper meal and I am sometimes constantly tired. When I do eat, I eat a lot and have no time to work out. I started packing on some pounds.
I had used the blue bottle in the past and remembered how well it curbed my appetite. Also, it gave an amazing energy boost. I decided to try out the new kind to see if it would help my situation.
I have been taking it for a few weeks now. I take two in the morning and two in the early afternoon around lunch time. It helps me stay alert and focused in class and I am not incredibly hungry all the time. When I do eat, it is in smaller portions. I haven't weighed myself but it seems I have dropped a couple pounds without really consciously dieting or exercising. Also, it puts me in a very upbeat mood.
It makes you a little jittery, but it is nothing that is unmanageable. Do not take it after 4 pm or you will have trouble sleeping.
I have had the blue bottle in the past and I have to say the effects are a bit more intense and noticeable so I think I will buy that kind again next.
All-in-all, if you buy this only to lose a lot of weight, you absolutely have to eat a well-balanced diet and exercise regularly. Otherwise, it is just basically an energy booster.


Not so positive reviews.

I bought this to try to kick my weight loss into higher gear. I read an article in a magazine about taking this with an over the counter pill that works on belly fat to increase fat and weight loss. I had already loss 33 pounds on my own, and it was getting extremely difficult to take off more weight.

I tried the Zantrex 3 by itself first, just in case there were any side effects. I found it did nothing, except possibly make me hungrier. I took it as directed but did not find a difference. I used it for two weeks and finally decided I was wasting my time.

I know some people swear by it, but it didn't work for me at all, although I will say it didn't have any negative side effects.

As you can see there are as many different positive and negative reviews as there a people who use and get different results from using Zantrex-3

So in conclusion I would like to know what your views are and have you any experiences  using  Zantrex-3, and would you recommend it as a weight loss product to others?