The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Jim Jarmusch's latest is a zombie movie unlike any other. It's not a horror movie. It's a comedy, an unconventional one at that. It breaks the fourth wall. It has a huge cast of familiar Jarmusch faces in bit parts. The humor is kind of awkward, off kilter. Bill Murray and Adam Driver are perfect for the dry, slow-paced, often deadpan jokes. I'm starting to like Adam Driver more in his comedic work. There are a lot of seemingly irrelevant characters. Surely there is something Jarmusch is trying to say about the outcasts of Centerville, a small American town (village?) with a cast of lonely characters. I'm not quite sure what. The movie takes a wonky turn at the end. It wouldn't have been how I ended it, but I'm not entirely unsatisfied cause it's appropriately bonkers.

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes is a series of 9 random vignettes centered around the theme of characters--some top notch actors--chatting over coffee and cigarettes, which look good in classy black-and-white. The conversations are abundantly awkward, and that it makes it hilarious and cringy at the same time. Very little happens in some of them (No Problem) and you just wait wanting more. There are some recurring topics of conversation, but the scenes are otherwise unrelated. Some of the best segments are Twins, Somewhere in California, Those Things'll Kill Ya, Cousins, Cousins? and Delirium. 

Paterson (2016)

This is a movie about daily life for a bus driver in Paterson, NJ. And you know how exciting New Jersey is. The most action we get is his bus breaks down. I was waiting for his bus to get hijacked. But his life is too mundane for that. Their dog is cute, but I don't like to give in to animals. Even if Nellie won the Palm Dog posthumously for acting in drag.  It's cheap. Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren, essentially. His acting is flat and monotone, maybe a little less angsty. And he writes poetry, some of which is insufferable. His poem about the matches literally put me to sleep. He and his wife are perfectly content and their marital bliss is almost too perfect. The wife has her hobbies and the husband indulges her. It feels like manufactured happiness.  It is a slow movie that I didn't particularly care for.

Gimme Danger (2016)

It's not a bad film, it's just not a midnight movie. At midnight, you need a blockbuster to keep you up. This movie lacked explosiveness. And I found that not being familiar with Iggy Pop's music made it difficult to care. I just wasn't really engaged with the movie. And it was too late and I was too tired to try very hard. But Iggy Pop showed up, naturally without a shirt. I don't think he passes the red carpet dress code, but they let him through. It is a pretty typical documentary with talking head interviews and archival clips. One weird thing was I thought the font they use in the movie was borderline illegible. It was something you'd find on a Halloween party invitation. It seemed inappropriate for a documentary about a rock musician.