It's a sad and beautiful world: the Jim Jarmusch poll.

seems clear by the end of the story that they will end up together even though they go their separate ways

I like how they try to outdo each other with their cool guy schticks. It's a funny take on their real life personas.

yes!

I'll meet up with you again in a wee whiley - in the cemetary!

Tilda’s all-right angle turns walking up to the police station had me cracking up

Loved this

A black comedy of the anthropocene (polar fracking screwing with the Earth's tilt and rotation is intriguing and timely). Tilda Swinton's otherworldly performance is delightful. But I can only say "Meh" to the rest of the film.

I liked it ok, but wasn't really on board with the repetitiveness of some of the jokes. There were people in the theater who laughed out loud the third time the Sturgill Simpson song played though, so maybe I'm the weird one. It was a good song, so hopefully I'll stop being sick of it already sooner or later. I don't know - I haven't actually seen a Jarmusch movie since the early 2000s, so maybe I just need to reacquaint myself with the feel of his other work. Everybody's performances were excellent though.

And there was obviously a lot of bleak social commentary about climate change and materialism and racism, but I was kinda left wondering how it all tied together.

Yeah this was pretty much exactly what I was prepared for & expecting – a totally light, silly, largely aimless goof, mostly just an excuse to enjoy the screen presence of a bunch of interesting performers, which I’m totally fine with.

My only real nitpicks were that I didn’t like the meta stuff between Murray and Driver, especially the ‘script’ routines at the end – ymmv but I hate kind of schtick, reminds me of bad 90s mel brooks movies. Was honestly kind of surprised that Jarmusch would do such a corny & overdone gag like that, but w/e. The only one of those bits I liked was when Bill Murray snapped “are we improvising?”, which made me laugh, but mostly due to his delivery.

Also weird that the plotline with the three teens in blue goes nowhere (Ned I assume this is what you were referring to upthread?). Unless I missed something, did the reappear in the finale or something?

I generally hate how streaming TV has sucked up so much film talent over the last bunch of years, but watching this I thought that this mode of Jarmusch would be kind of a perfect fit for that medium – I can totally imagine enjoying something like this movie extended over twelve 30min episodes or whatever, just a total no-stakes Andy Griffith-style ramble through a weird town with an endless succession of character actors and celeb cameos doing charming little scenes, interrupted by occasional zombie attacks, with no real plot to resolve or anything.

it felt like Jarmusch’s version of one of those comedy films that parodies a genre, scary movie or whatever

i read a comment about how the zombies seeking out things from their life was poorly done and i’m like... that’s the joke?

i read a comment about how the zombies seeking out things from their life was poorly done and i’m like... that’s the joke?

Shawn of the Dead did much better with the metaphor of zombies as people going blindly through their lives.

Also weird that the plotline with the three teens in blue goes nowhere

Unless they're somewhere in the final zombie melee, their plot was left hanging. Could they have been a Stranger Things shoutout (difficulty: I haven't seen ST)?

No, not a Stranger Things shoutout to be sure.

It stood out that this small sleepy town that seemed to have a population of about twelve would have this crowded juvenile detention center with roided-out skinhead guards.

i read a comment about how the zombies seeking out things from their life was poorly done and i’m like... that’s the joke?

― mh, Monday, June 17, 2019 12:37 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's been 40 years since Dawn of the Dead and the whole "zombie people wandering blindly from day-to-day at things like malls" thing. I think a zombie Iggy looking for coffee is a real funny version of it. I think zombies wandering around going "wi-fiiii" "blueee-toooth" is too close to trenchant WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY DO U SEE for my personal comfort, but I can't exactly blame a 66 year old for not being on my level of internet irony

see also movie geek gas station guy DRINKIN A DEW

xxp I dunno, giant crowded detention centers are pretty much a main industry of sleepy small town America at this point honestly

I guess the whole "zombies are sheeple" thing was the OG Dawn of the Dead, and the "Zombies gravitate to what they like" thing is a little more contemporary

Either way, I recall seeing a zombie try to hit a tamborine with no drum in one of the '00s Romero reboots maybe?

I once wanted to start a zombie sludge-noise band called BRAINS that was just us pawing at our instruments and sounding like Flipper or something.

I was getting ready to roll my eyes at the DO U SEE element of Buscemi's red hat, but the grammatical nonsense of "keep america white again" actually made me laugh so I gotta hand it to him

yeah, that is a good gag

I thought it was trying for trenchant-as-lol tbh

Buscemi was the racist guy because a bunch of these movies have a stereotypical racist asshole guy!

so many of the scenes seemed like "well, we've got to have a lazy guy, and some kind of commentary about how we're all truly zombies in society, and we need to have some obvious reference to Romero films, but we're going to sabotage it by outright telling the audience it's a REAL GEORGE ROMERO CAR"

then there were the things that were just gags, like Driver's character driving a smart

I once wanted to start a zombie sludge-noise band called BRAINS that was just us pawing at our instruments and sounding like Flipper or something.

― space invaders are smokin penises!!!! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, June 17, 2019 11:16 AM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

down for this

That was like 06/07/08? Man, I would have beaten epic bacon Ron Swanson Internet to the punch somewhat and could have been making FAT CASH by now

I like that idea as inscrutable as it is

I’m in Los Angeles area now, I could probably hook up some people who know how to do sick zombie makeup and just play gigs at like Fantastic Fest and cons or whatever

I guess the whole "zombies are sheeple" thing was the OG Dawn of the Dead, and the "Zombies gravitate to what they like" thing is a little more contemporary

"Zombies gravitate to what they like" definitely comes from the OG Dawn of the Dead - it's why the zombies are surrounding the shopping mall - somebody even says, "This place was important to them".

Yeah this was pretty much exactly what I was prepared for & expecting – a totally light, silly, largely aimless goof, mostly just an excuse to enjoy the screen presence of a bunch of interesting performers, which I’m totally fine with.

― One Eye Open, Monday, June 17, 2019 10:20 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Accurate assessment of the movie but I'm not fine with JJ phoning it in like this. I mean, why bother? There's half a dozen stars, a decent setup, tone was good, but this went NOWHERE. rehashed everything Dawn of the Dead had to say 41 years ago plus "wiiiifiiiii" / "bluuuuuuetoooooooth." not looking for trenchant social commentary from him, but christ, punch the script up, give these great actors something to do.

definitely better than Stranger Than Paradise though

:)

haven't seen it but wasn't its devolution into grim stasis meant to be intentional, a reflection of our current world? I thought I remember Nicholas Rapold and Amy Taubin talking about it in one of the Cannes podcasts

remembered

nice

"grim stasis" is not only generous but inaccurate, it's not grim, it's too cute to ever be grim. I found this frustrating because the actors are all great, setup is good, and that's it... the tone is great, a mix of his last two movies Paterson (didn't like at the time but has really grown on me) and Only Lovers Left Alive (which I hated). really too many stars that are given short shrift. I don't think it succeeds as commentary since it's all reheated DOTD with nothing new. Everything in this movie is left unexplored. I liked the meta stuff, but fuck, go further with it! the grammatical joke with Buscemi's hat was great. wish the cast was pared down or it was longer, leaving the juvie kids hanging is a bizarre choice.

ok, will have to see it

I don't think it succeeds as commentary since it's all reheated DOTD with nothing new.

To Dan S's point, it's 'Dawn of the Dead' but the new part is responding to a zombie attack with grim resignation and droll irony

He's been phoning it in for a long time

I loved Paterson and Broken Flowers!

was ambivalent about Only Lovers Left Alive but I think I would like it if I saw it again

Only Lovers Left Alive is the only one I sort of liked. Dead Man is the last film of his I genuinely loved.

I don't think it succeeds as commentary since it's all reheated DOTD with nothing new.
To Dan S's point, it's 'Dawn of the Dead' but the new part is responding to a zombie attack with grim resignation and droll irony

― space invaders are smokin penises!!!! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, June 18, 2019 10:46 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it sounds good on paper... and ilx...

This was fun until about the halfway point

sayin

I hated Only Lovers Left Alive so much it almost put me off Jarmusch completely, largely because it was so serious and portentous but had basically nothing to back it up, idea-wise.

This worked for me bc it was self aware of how inessential it was imho, just sort of a collection of vignettes & variations on a theme. The Jarmusch film I'd compare it to the most would be Mystery Train - nothing really going on intellectually, but just an enjoyable collection of actors & scenery. I can see being disappointed if you expected more or thinking that its a good cast wasted etc, but I don't think it would have been improved by giving any of the actors a chance to really show their chops or anything.

Similarly, I took the politics and social commentary stuff as basically just being in there as a superficial nod to genre tropes. Like obviously he hates trump & global warming and stuff but I dont think theres much to unpack there tbh

Paterson was NOT a phone-in.

saw Dead Don't Die yesterday and i think it's interesting to think about, but not exactly recommendable as a movie to watch. it doesn't work very well as a horror-comedy (for me) - it's never scary, and the laughs, even the arch ones, are rare. but that seems to be the result of deliberate choices to create this dry, unhurried tone. less a nightmare than one of those unpleasant and boring dreams that loops back on itself and never goes anywhere. i think the idea is that's where we're at in the anthropocene, etc. ironic 80s/90s listlessness (personified by murray) arrives to the 2010s and finds more of the same; his cliche-spotting hipster descendants are equally doomed. BUT some hope still rests with the self-motivated, boundary-refusing teens. optimistic, if in an oldster "i guess we failed, but maybe you kids will succeed" sort of way. anyway i think this is why the juvenile offenders vanish/escape from the movie.

the more overt touches of wackiness may unfortunately act as red herrings, giving the impression wants to be an over-the-top zany thing and is just failing at it. which isn't as interesting so i'd rather not dwell on it.

with the exception of the expenditure on decent zombie makeup, it might be one of the laziest movies I've ever seen

if it wasn't Jarmusch I'd say it'd take a lot of effort to *appear* to be that lazy

The only big lol besides tiny car i had was those Sturgill Simpson cds being 12.99 when they had one song on them

just saw Dead Man for the first time, I liked it but it not nearly as much as Stranger Than Paradise or Down By Law

it was beautiful as all of his films are, but it didn't seem as inspired to me. maybe I need to see it again in a couple of years

I wasn't expecting much from Mystery Train or Night on Earth as short story anthologies, but I loved them both

this was great until it was bad but i dont think ill let the swing to the latter affect my enjoyment of the former