The must-see reputation of that romantic zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead (opening 9.24) is a bit overblown, I regret to say. The first third has delicious wit and invention, but the second two-thirds don’t sustain this. The Ain’t-It-Coolers have been far too obsequious in kissing this movie’s ass. Director/co-writer Edgar Wright and writing partner Simon Pegg’s script is about two London slacker-somethings in their late 20s dealing with an onslaught of flesh-eating ghouls. The problem is that the zombies aren’t theatening enough. They walk and react way too slowly, so no live humans are in any kind of serious jeopardy (well, some but not enough) and so the story tension suffers and it all goes down a notch or two. “We are on the cutting edge of zombology,” Pegg claims. And they are, I suppose…in a sense. Especially if you equate “cutting edge” with “check your brain at the door once the second act begins.”

Open call to those interested in sending in VISITORS submissions: in typical fashion, I’ve allowed my haphazard work habits to affect my editing duties, and so I’ve mislaid at least one interesting submission and possibly two. Please send them in again, and to anyone considering sending in something fresh, please do!

False alarms have been sounded before, but Woody Allen’s Melinda and Melinda (Fox Searchlight) has struck at least one critic (Screen Daily‘s Jonathan Romney) as a seriously commendable comeback flick. An intriguing concept — i.e., cutting back and forth between comic and tragic versions of the same story — and a “career best” performance by Radha Mitchell (along with Will Ferrell’s appealingly low-key turn as a Woody-esque nebbishy sort) are the stand-out elements. “After a run of lightweight comedies that caused even hardcore supporters to lose patience, Woody Allen achieves a heartening return to form with his most idiosyncratic and substantial film in some time,” Romney proclaims. “[Pic] finds Allen stretching himself more, and clearly enjoying himself more, than in any film since 1999’s Sweet And Lowdown. Its complex structure and speculative seriousness mean that Melinda and Melinda is closest in Allen’s canon to such heavyweight ensemble pieces as Crimes and Misdemeanors and Hannah And Her Sisters.” Melinda was shown at the San Sebastian Film Festival, but won’t open in the U.S. until 3.18.05.