Dawn of the Dead (2004) - 3/5

This movie has all the zombie tropes, from the rag-tag group holed up in a mall to the zombie hordes mindlessly wandering around or beating down the doors. There are plenty of bone-crunching and flesh-ripping deaths for fans of the genre, delivered with visceral special effects, but nothing can save the dearth of relatable, well-written characters. Zombie movies live and die on the interpersonal drama of the survivors and this movie forgot to make the audience want them to survive at all, with two exceptions that aren’t enough to carry the story along.

Content warning: gore (obviously), female nudity

Closest comparison: It’s a flashier, shallower remake of the 1978 classic.

Setting: Zombie
Plot: Zombie
Tone: Zombie

The Incredible Hulk (2008) - 3/5

The action scenes are pretty fun, though they don’t always make much sense. The plot is kept simple and plays out decently enough, though it also sometimes doesn’t make sense. Characters often act in a mildly confusing way, but luckily their core motivations are easy to track and land them right where the movie was going all along. The CGI doesn’t really hold up over time, but I can’t fault a film for being a product of its era. Edward Norton and Liv Tyler are pretty bland, but fortunately Tim Roth comes through with a solid performance to balance them. Still, if you’re in the mood for a thoughtless action superhero movie, it’s certainly watchable.

Closest comparison: It shifts from a bad Jason Bourne imitation to Venom-style CG fight scenes.

Setting: Military Thriller
Plot: Spy Thriller
Tone: Action