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.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coen Brothers' latest movie is a Western anthology. Comprised of six stories of varying length and depth. They are all humorous in one way or another. Some end happily, some don't. But all are entertaining. The stories have little to do with each other, sharing only the wild west theme. There is quite a decent amount of singing too--you never quite know what to expect. I must admit I did not understand the last story, but after reading more about it online, I realized juts how creepily dark and brilliant it is. Even if you're not into Westerns, it is worthwhile viewing.

The Old Man & The Gun (2018)

This is such an unassumingly charming movie. I love everything about the retro, sort of grainy film-style. Robert Redford, in supposedly his final acting role, is just delightful. He acts so effortlessly, demonstrating decades of experience. You can't help but smile and be charmed like Sissy Spacek. And the movie is wistful, full well acknowledging the nostalgia factor in a brilliant Wes Anderson-esque montage at the end (paying homage to a young Redford, I think). The movie is actually quite funny, too. The dialogue between Redford and Spacek is disarmingly charming.

I do have one big criticism of the film. I really cannot stand Casey Affleck. He basically plays the same character from his previous collaboration with director David Lowery, A Ghost Story. Yes, in that movie he plays a dead sheet ghost. And in this film, he plays just as lively a character unironically. Actually, he plays himself. So is he even really acting? I don't think his story line really adds anything to the movie. We clearly are meant to sympathize with the criminal, so why go to the detective's point of view at all? Tika Sumper is fine but we unfortunately have to get Casey Affleck to get her. I am willing to overlook this glaring black spot because the rest of the movie is so darn pleasing.

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.