The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Who knew that polar fracking was a bad thing?  I mean, the fracking industry said it’s perfectly safe, so it must be.  Right?  I mean, so the Earth’s orbit was tilted just enough to raise the dead.  No biggie.  How bad could it be?  The people of Centerville are about to find out.

The police department has only three members:  Chief Cliff Robertson, Officer Ronnie Peterson and Officer Mindy Morrison.  (It would seem that Mindy serves mostly as a dispatcher, though.)  It’s a small town with just over 700 residents, not including the undead.  The epidemic starts with two bodies rising from their respective graves searching for coffee instead of brains.  That takes them to the local diner, where the two zombies kill the staff.

Soon, zombies are everywhere.  It becomes overwhelming for the three police officers, who have to defend the town essentially by themselves.  No attempt is made to call in for backup from neighboring towns, but they do have new undertaker Zelda Winston on their side.  As with most zombie movies, decapitation seems to be the main means of stopping the undead., so it’s fortunate that she’s really good with a blade.

The zombies aren’t particularly good in combat, but there are a lot of them.  Each becomes obsessed with what they loved in life.  This could be as general as their favorite type of drink or as specific as a particular brand of candy.  Ronnie and Zelda are each good enough to take out quite a few of them, but it’s not enough.  They just keep coming and there’s no end in sight.

The movie tries to walk the fine line between being subtle and being obvious.  We get that being a zombie is akin to being a good consumer and buying the lies of an entire industry.  But I’m not really sure where the movie is going with it.  All anyone does is try to avoid the zombies.

Farmer Miller is a key example of this.  He wears a Keep America White Again cap and goes so far as to say that his coffee is too black…er…too strong, or whatever.  Everyone just sighs and goes back to what they were doing.  Then, the first zombie Farmer Miller has to deal with is, or was, a black man.

There’s also a certain amount of irony is the anti-consumer message given that there’s a fair number of products mentioned.  Ronnie and Mindy discuss specific brands of cars.  As I mentioned, brads of candy are named.  Ronnie has a Star Wars keychain, prompting Zelda to comment that it was a good piece of fiction.  (Given how many times the title track is mentioned, I suspect this is meant to satirize product placement rather than promote a particular item.)

The movie has its funny moments, but falls flat sometimes.  For instance, I didn’t get the whole thing with the pets and livestock disappearing.  Is it that they knew our time was up?  It’s not shown where they go or what they intend to do.  They simply leave.  (The same could be said of Zelda, for that matter.)

There are even some self-aware moments, such as when Ronnie reveals that Jim (presumably referring to writer/director Jim Jarmusch) let him read the entire script.  I do think that Ronnie was right, though.  This isn’t going to end well.

IMDb page

The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man (2018)

Working at Wolf Camera, I came across a few famous names.  One customer was married to the grandson of Franz Kafka.  (She was surprised that I recognized the name.)  Another was an actress who had appeared in a lot of Spanish-language television. 

There was one story that sticks out most in my mind.  It was during the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas when the store was really busy.  We had more customers than we had employees, which meant that people had to wait.  As I’m helping someone, I see who I think is Tony Soprano milling about.  I want to give my full attention to the person I’m helping, but I can’t help but glance over.  Unfortunately, we were so busy that he ended up leaving without being helped.  That was the time that I almost met James Gandolfini.

The experience of meeting a celebrity can vary.  Some are nice.  Some aren’t.  They tend to be regular people going about their business, which makes for a normal assortment.  Then, there are celebrities like Bill Murray.  He’s almost taken on an Elvis-like aura.  People have seen him at parties.  He’s done dishes.  The first one I heard had him taking a French fry and saying, “No one will ever believe you.”

Tommy Avallone got the idea to make a documentary.  This is how widespread the stories are.  It’s not an easy task, though.  Bill Murray has no agent.  He has a phone number with an answering service that he might occasionally listen to.  (It’s not clear if Avallone made the documentary with Murray’s consent, as the director is not shown having contacted the actor directly.)

You’d think one man making this sort of documentary wouldn’t be interesting, but it is.  It doesn’t have the glitz and polish of a big studio, but it does have a story to tell.  This is probably due in no small part to the fact that Bill Murray is a fairly recognizable name.  There are a few documented events shown and the majority of the people present knew who he was.  Despite this, everyone had a good time.  He even crashed someone’s wedding photos.

The documentary paints Murray in a fairly good light.  I’m sure there’s another side to him, but it’s also kind of nice to hear a good story.  Most stories I hear of celebrity encounters tend to be negative.  (Celebrities seem to have their fair share of bad people.) 

This would make for a good movie to watch when you need something a little different.  While there are interviews with a lot of people, it’s hard to believe that all the stories are true.  It does also appear that Avallone was sticking to the stories that had some sort of verifiable documentation.  The wedding photographer has the photos, for instance.  There are also cases with grainy video footage.

I hage to seem unenthusiastic about the movie, but I think this is going to be mostly for fans of Bill Murray.  It’s a good movie and I think most people might find it at least a little interesting.  However, I don’t see this being something of general interest.

IMDb page

Ed Wood (1994)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

If you’ve been reading my recent reviews, you know that I’ve been looking for really bad movies to watch.  One name that keeps popping up is Ed Wood, the director of Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 From Outer Space.  While people do recognize the names of his movies, the name of the director isn’t as well known.  Still, Edward D. Wood, Jr. gained such notoriety for being so bad that a movie was produced about him and his work.

Johnny Depp stars as the title character.  The movie starts with Wood working at a movie studio when a producer comes across a script.  Wood wants to direct it, but can’t as the rights were acquired by another studio.  So, Wood writes his own, semi-autobiographical version which goes on to become Glen or Glenda.  Despite having Bela Lugosi in it, the movie tanks and it tanks hard.  The producer calls to let Wood know that if he ever decides to set foot on studio property, Wood should first make out his last will and testament.

Wood goes on undeterred.  He has to struggle for funding and apparently would often do shots in one take regardless of how they came out.  He makes several other movies with Lugosi, including Bride of the Monster.  They all meet with very bad reviews.

The movie closes shortly after Wood finished making Plan 9 From Outer Space.  He has a Baptist Church backing him on this film, which does cause some tension.  They want to make major changes to the script and don’t really like that Wood wants to direct wearing women’s clothes.  A chance meeting with his idol gives Wood the inspiration to finish the movie.

The movie is a pretty straightforward account of Wood’s life.  It covered his best-known movies, although IMDb lists a lot more movies during that time frame.  Wood was apparently a very prolific director.  He was a man that wouldn’t take no for an answer, even if the answer was well justified.  Wood kept doing what he loved.  (As the saying goes, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down; it matters how many times you get back up.)

The directing was great.  I’ve come to like a lot of Tim Burton’s movies, but this one was a little different.  As I said, it was very straightforward.  It’s not at all like Mars Attacks! or Edward Scissorhands.  Having the film shot in black and white was definitely a plus for the movie.

I also liked the acting.  Martin Landau was great as Lugosi.  Bill Murray was also great in his role.  I even enjoyed Sarah Jessica Parker.  This was one of her few roles where I didn’t find her to be over the top.  (She’s usually just a little too outgoing in most of her roles.)

Ed Wood is one of those movies that just comes together to work perfectly.  It’s a great movie about a director that was known for his horrible movies.  I find it strange, though, that his name isn’t better known.  At least his movies will live on.  I plan on watching Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or Glenda.  I have to wonder if I’ll want to see more of his movies after that or if I’ll be done with watching bad movies. 

IMDb page