Amistad

Captives from Africa aboard a Spanish slave ship revolt and take control, but are re-captured and taken to the USA. Various factions claim ownership of these people, and a trial is required to attempt to settle the situation. This is one of those very important Spielberg films, portraying a significant and specific moment in history, with a phenomenal cast that had me going “Hey it’s that guy!” every 5-10 minutes. When your cast boasts the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Paymer, Ralph Brown, John Ortiz, Anna Paquin, Stellan Skarsgard, Xander Berkeley and Pete Postlethwaite amongst it’s supporting members, you know there’s going to be something worth your time.

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Dawn of the Dead (2004)

This review was originally written as part of my USA Road Trip series for French Toast Sunday.

I normally use the first paragraph or so of my reviews to outline the plot of the film. However, in terms of Zack Snyder’s semi-remake of George A. Romero’s 70s horror movie, that plot can be summed up in one word: Zombies. Ok, maybe two words: Zombies attack. Or ten: Zombies attack a town, survivors hole up in a mall. Yeah, that’ll do it. Either way, it doesn’t really need an entire paragraph to talk about it, because as set-ups go it’s a fairly rudimentary one.

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