21. The Dead Don't Die (FTV)
Longtime indie film director Jim Jarmusch takes on the zombie movie with an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton and Selena Gomez. What could go wrong?
Well, for starters there's virtually no story here: fracking at the poles of the earth has caused the Earth to tilt off its axis which somehow makes the moon glow purple and corpses to become re-animated as guts-hungry ghouls. This has the the typical awkward quirky feel of a Jarmusch movie, but none of the intelligence, artistry or subtlety. There are some obvious swipes at consumerism and politics, but they are about as subtle as a zombie biting you in the neck. The whole thing feels like Jarmusch knew he didn't have anything original to say or do, so he didn't really even try. By the time characters start making self-referential meta-movie jokes, you get the feeling no one was telling the director this wasn't a very good idea. It's like he made the movie that he could get financed, not the movie he wanted to make.
That said, I didn't hate this movie. It surely was non-demanding to watch, and while certainly laconic, it never really dragged as it stumbled along much like a zombie: graceless and brainless, but hard to take your eyes off of. The acting was excellent across the board; I especially enjoyed the interactions between an older Bill Murray and the young, deadpan Adam Driver, who won me over with this under-reaction to finding a victim's guts spilled on the floor: "Oh, gross." If you liked the humor of Fargo or perhaps The Big Lebowski, you'll probably get a few chuckles out of this movie. But if you really want to laugh at a zombie comedy, I can think of at least five funnier ones with a better story without even trying that hard.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2019 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Next of Kin (1982) 4/5 (FTV)
2. I'll Take Your Dead 2/5 (FTV)
3. Nightmare Cinema 4/5 (FTV)
4. Murders in the Zoo 3/5 (FTV)
5. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween 3/5 (FTV)
6. Joker 4/5 (FTV)
7. Annabelle Comes Home 3/5 (FTV)
8. Midsommar 5/5 (FTV)
9. The Banana Splits Movie 3/5 (FTV)
10. Brightburn 4/5 (FTV)
11. The Spiral Staircase 5/5 (FTV)
12. The Shining 5/5
13. Madhouse (1981)3/5 (FTV)
14. Child's Play (2019) 3/5 (FTV)
15. LEGO Scooby Doo 3/5 (FTV)
16. In The Tall Grass 2/5 (FTV)
17. As Above, So Below 3/5 (FTV)
18. The Ritual (2017) 4/5 (FTV)
19. Crawl 4/5 (FTV)
20. Halloween (1978) 5/5
21. The Dead Don't Die 3/5 (FTV)
Longtime indie film director Jim Jarmusch takes on the zombie movie with an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton and Selena Gomez. What could go wrong?
Well, for starters there's virtually no story here: fracking at the poles of the earth has caused the Earth to tilt off its axis which somehow makes the moon glow purple and corpses to become re-animated as guts-hungry ghouls. This has the the typical awkward quirky feel of a Jarmusch movie, but none of the intelligence, artistry or subtlety. There are some obvious swipes at consumerism and politics, but they are about as subtle as a zombie biting you in the neck. The whole thing feels like Jarmusch knew he didn't have anything original to say or do, so he didn't really even try. By the time characters start making self-referential meta-movie jokes, you get the feeling no one was telling the director this wasn't a very good idea. It's like he made the movie that he could get financed, not the movie he wanted to make.
That said, I didn't hate this movie. It surely was non-demanding to watch, and while certainly laconic, it never really dragged as it stumbled along much like a zombie: graceless and brainless, but hard to take your eyes off of. The acting was excellent across the board; I especially enjoyed the interactions between an older Bill Murray and the young, deadpan Adam Driver, who won me over with this under-reaction to finding a victim's guts spilled on the floor: "Oh, gross." If you liked the humor of Fargo or perhaps The Big Lebowski, you'll probably get a few chuckles out of this movie. But if you really want to laugh at a zombie comedy, I can think of at least five funnier ones with a better story without even trying that hard.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2019 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Next of Kin (1982) 4/5 (FTV)
2. I'll Take Your Dead 2/5 (FTV)
3. Nightmare Cinema 4/5 (FTV)
4. Murders in the Zoo 3/5 (FTV)
5. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween 3/5 (FTV)
6. Joker 4/5 (FTV)
7. Annabelle Comes Home 3/5 (FTV)
8. Midsommar 5/5 (FTV)
9. The Banana Splits Movie 3/5 (FTV)
10. Brightburn 4/5 (FTV)
11. The Spiral Staircase 5/5 (FTV)
12. The Shining 5/5
13. Madhouse (1981)3/5 (FTV)
14. Child's Play (2019) 3/5 (FTV)
15. LEGO Scooby Doo 3/5 (FTV)
16. In The Tall Grass 2/5 (FTV)
17. As Above, So Below 3/5 (FTV)
18. The Ritual (2017) 4/5 (FTV)
19. Crawl 4/5 (FTV)
20. Halloween (1978) 5/5
21. The Dead Don't Die 3/5 (FTV)