Holy Christ this movie was awful, and definitely a sign that zombie movies might better saved by being taken behind the shed.
The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
- AWA
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
I'm a huge Jarmusch fan, and this looks funny (although I have to admit I'm not a horror genre fan at *all*, with few exceptions, and don't watch "zombie movies" or whatever). However, instead of Jarmusch doing Ozu or something this looks like Jarmusch doing... Tarantino? Or maybe it's just the trailer. But it looks like a Tarantino film, is cast like one (with a bevy of cool names) and has some characters that look like they'd fit right in a Tarantino movie (Tilda Swinton's character, somewhat reminding me of Kill Bill? Or something along those lines). Seems very very broad for a Jarmusch film. And will likely do bang up business at the theatres - certainly at art houses where the hip crowd will line up around the block for this for the cast as well as the director, but also should have some bigger box office appeal as well.
- Lost Highway
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
So you didn’t like one (generally well received) movie of the nine zombie films I mentioned. That obviously voids my arguement that the zombie film still manages to successfully keep reinventing itself without Jarmush.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Anna, but the jokes in the Jarmusch trailer are pretty similar to the ones in that film. Both trade on the slowness and stupidity of the zombies.
Last edited by Lost Highway on Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
- dda1996a
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Only Lovers didn't revive, it annulled the need for more. But the thought of a vampire film after Twilight and all the other vampire crap that came out, Jarmusch created a film that mythologized and remade the vampire lore. That's what I meant. I might be wrong but I can't think of another philosophically inclined vampire movie about the nature of art and humanity. This...doesn't look like it has this philosophical inclination like all Jarmusch's great films (I consider Paterson one of the greatest film of the decade for example, and Ghost Dog and Deadman are brilliant imo)
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
That film just jumped out at me as something completely uninspired, seemingly existing purely to be 'Because you liked...' Netflix filler, that reminded me of why I'm so sick of the genre. I only saw Train to Busan and One Cut of the Dead of the other films you listed, and both were pretty decent, but the latter is because of its intricacy as a comedy about filmmaking.Lost Highway wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:20 amSo you didn’t like one (generally well received) movie of the nine zombie films I mentioned. That obviously voids my arguement that the zombie film still manages to successfully keep reinventing itself without Jarmush.
I think zombies are a pretty narrowly defined subject and it's very hard to find an original take now.
- Lost Highway
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
What is all this post-Twilight vampire crap you are talking about ? Sure not everything will be first rate but Let the Right One In, Kiss of the Damned, Stake Land, Midnight Son, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Byzantium, The Transfiguration and What We Do In the Shadows all are interesting and very diverse post-Twilight vampire movies. Personally I found the relentless name dropping of cultural touch stones in Only Lovers toe curling and Let the Right One In is my favourite 21st Century horror film.dda1996a wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:51 amOnly Lovers didn't revive, it annulled the need for more. But the thought of a vampire film after Twilight and all the other vampire crap that came out, Jarmusch created a film that mythologized and remade the vampire lore. That's what I meant. I might be wrong but I can't think of another philosophically inclined vampire movie about the nature of art and humanity. This...doesn't look like it has this philosophical inclination like all Jarmusch's great films (I consider Paterson one of the greatest film of the decade for example, and Ghost Dog and Deadman are brilliant imo)
Jarmusch got his vampire film in as the horror genre had already shifted from vampires to zombies as the monsters-du-jour and it was hardly the last word on vampires. These things a cyclical and vampires will be back. So let’s see how he saves the zombie movie, which still is doing fine without him.
Last edited by Lost Highway on Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
- dda1996a
- Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am
Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
First of all fact check yourself before you call what I write "crap". LTROI came out in 2008, Twilight ended and Only Lovers came out in 2013. I haven't seen many you listed, but hardly any of them were popular or well known. And even Let the Right One, which I think is great, doesn't say anything new on the genre. It's a great film, but it hardly deconstructs the lore (the subservient role is the most it does). Even Byzantium which is fine is a solid, regular vampire film.
Jarmusch takes genres and makes them anew. Ghost Dog for the hitman/samurai, Deadman for the western.
I'm not saying there can't be more vampire films, but I felt like Jarmusch found a very modern way to recontextualize vampires, art, and technology. Great westerns came after Dead Man, but only Assassination of Jesse James and The Proposition felt like they had anything new to say about the genres.
Just because something isn't new doesn't make it bad.
On the other hand, I'm being very polite and eloquent and you seem to shout at everyone, so...
Jarmusch takes genres and makes them anew. Ghost Dog for the hitman/samurai, Deadman for the western.
I'm not saying there can't be more vampire films, but I felt like Jarmusch found a very modern way to recontextualize vampires, art, and technology. Great westerns came after Dead Man, but only Assassination of Jesse James and The Proposition felt like they had anything new to say about the genres.
Just because something isn't new doesn't make it bad.
On the other hand, I'm being very polite and eloquent and you seem to shout at everyone, so...
- Lost Highway
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
I didn’t mean to call what you write “crap” I quoted you in referring post Twilight movies as “vampire crap”, so I apologise if there was a misunderstanding. I most certainly don’t believe you ever write crap, even if our opinions differ on Jarmusch.
In most places LTROI got released after the first Twilight movie and I remember many reviews referring to it as another vampire romance in the wake of Twilight. Which of course was rubbish because the characters are pre-pubescent.
We can argue till the cows come home whether Only Lovers is more innovative than several of the other films I mentioned. They may not do exactly what you thought was new or profound about Only Lovers, but the queer subtext of Let the Right One In and the way it deals with the nature of evil are reasons why I responded so strongly to that film. In terms of vampire lore it focused on the tradition of having to invite a vampire in far more, than any vampire movie before it.
I’ll now leave it here, till I’ve seen the new Jarmusch film.
In most places LTROI got released after the first Twilight movie and I remember many reviews referring to it as another vampire romance in the wake of Twilight. Which of course was rubbish because the characters are pre-pubescent.
We can argue till the cows come home whether Only Lovers is more innovative than several of the other films I mentioned. They may not do exactly what you thought was new or profound about Only Lovers, but the queer subtext of Let the Right One In and the way it deals with the nature of evil are reasons why I responded so strongly to that film. In terms of vampire lore it focused on the tradition of having to invite a vampire in far more, than any vampire movie before it.
I’ll now leave it here, till I’ve seen the new Jarmusch film.
- dda1996a
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
It definitely read like that, but I see what you meant. As I said, I really like Let the Right One, and I expect that I would What We Do in the Shadows as well. What I meant, and why I referred to someone who was aware of Only Lovers' release materials before it came out, wether it too looked like a regular genre film or more like the actual film, because while I was at first excited about this film, the trailer isn't exactly making me rush to see it, as much as I expected a Jarmusch zombie film with Murray and Driver in it.
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- furbicide
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Used to love Jarmusch (particularly his early films), but have to reluctantly join in with the scepticism about this one – his 21st century stuff hasn't done much for me so far (Paterson was good, but I found Only Lovers Left Alive, Broken Flowers and The Limits of Control kind of tedious), and do we really need another deadpan zombie comedy? Watching the trailer without credits, I would have had no idea this was even a Jarmusch film, tbh.
- Omensetter
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
If that is what it takes for Jarmusch to keep making movies when he still wants to make movies, then yes. Paterson was lovely, and all the more lovelier in its commitment to remaining lowkey---perhaps with the potential success of this, he can move toward a project not dependent on pre-awareness genres and starry casts.
The trailer's shit, but it's still a trailer, edited and scored as it will be, although Jarmusch's still on the hook for the Chardonnay joke and the Driver one-liner before the zombie decapitation at the end.
I do like how they slot in Sara Driver in the cast alongside Iggy Pop, RZA, and Selena Gomez as if anyone watching this trailer is expected to know who she is.
The trailer's shit, but it's still a trailer, edited and scored as it will be, although Jarmusch's still on the hook for the Chardonnay joke and the Driver one-liner before the zombie decapitation at the end.
I do like how they slot in Sara Driver in the cast alongside Iggy Pop, RZA, and Selena Gomez as if anyone watching this trailer is expected to know who she is.
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- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
an asshole farmer (Steve Buscemi sporting a “Make America White Again” hat
- Big Ben
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
The Indiewire Review gives it a B- though? That's certainly not a rave but it's not exactly an admonishment either.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
This description from the other review makes that sound a little better:domino harvey wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 6:09 pman asshole farmer (Steve Buscemi sporting a “Make America White Again” hat
At the diner, Steve Buscemi shows up as a farmer in a cap that reads “Keep America White Again,” and the fact that he’s buddies with the guy seated next to him at the counter, played by Danny Glover, is one of Jarmusch’s feel-good corkscrew liberal jokes.
- hearthesilence
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Amy Taubin digs it, though this is an interview, not a full-fledged review.
A summary of reactions, it's pretty much split the critics.
A summary of reactions, it's pretty much split the critics.
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Not sure if split or lukewarm.
- Michael Kerpan
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Looks promising to me... (I note it borrows a motif from I Am A Hero, namely persistence of one's top living obsession even after becoming a zombie). Should be out in time for my birthday...
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
I mean, that’s from all the way back in Dawn of the Dead first, but either way it shows there are no more ideas left for zombie movies no matter who is at the helm
- furbicide
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
That's kind of been my fear from the first moment I heard of this. What could this possibly achieve that Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland etc. haven't already done?
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Night of the Living Deb was the last one I saw that had a good idea (transposing a traditional romantic comedy onto a backdrop of zombie apocalypse without altering the tone), but even that one ran out of ideas halfway thru and turned into a mostly typical zombie movie in the homestretch
- tenia
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
I keep wondering why zombie movies HAVE to come with social or political subtexts or high concepts when it fail so often to live up to it. Why can't they simply be mindless horrific and/or funny entertainment ?
- FrauBlucher
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
Maybe when it’s all said and done for Jarmusch he wants to say he did a film in every genre....Awaiting war pic.
- dda1996a
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Re: The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
A hipster, deadpan war movie focused in the small delights of life does sound very interesting indeed