George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

I was so incredibly excited for "Land", and yet so undeniable disappointed and underwhelmed by the final outcome. So Romero's announcing a new Zombie film was entirely a good thing in my eyes. And with the release of the promo material, I became more and more skeptical. I really had no desire to see it after the trailer was released, but I really couldn't pass up the opportunity once it came knocking.
From the very first frame of this movie, I really wanted to hate it. The unlikable, 2-dimensional characters, the annoying shaky-cam perspective of the whole thing, and the fact that this kid NEVER put the camera down for ANYTHING! A zombie jumps on your girlfriend's back- what do you do? A).Try to help her B.)Get someone else to help her C.)Do anything D.) Film it like it was a movie. No, Romero. You fail.
And what's with people in horror movies just running with what's going on lately? Like their character received some mysterious copy of the script months in advance, and now that the shit is really happening, they're just acting out the part. Everyone just runs with the idea that the dead are actually coming to life so quickly that its like they were expecting it.
Having said that, I suppose somewhere into the latter portion of the movie, I finally let go of my grudge against this film and actually started to enjoy it a bit. The bad dialog fades, and we actually see this as more of a film rather than bad actors reading a script. The story becomes much more in depth, as do the characters. I think what really got me into the film was its underlying message (which is so blatant, you'd have to be the kind of guy that would film is girlfriend being attacked by a zombie rather than help her to miss it). That, and what can I say, I'm a sucker for a solid ending and this one has got possibly one of the most solid endings we've seen since NOTLD. But sadly, Diary is more comparable to Land of all Romero's films, due to its promising premise and sloppy execution. Maybe if the two had been compiled into one film...I think I just miss the epic director we used to have here. Land had really no artistic vision, and I know this one was supposed to be being shot by a film student but still...Where is the George Romero I used to know and love?