Experiencing life in Southern California in the seventies and actually visiting many Licorice Pizza record stores and also owning a waterbed, this film and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood have been an interesting experience in nostalgia. While Q.T.’s take was more visual and grand, Anderson’s focus is more character-driven and less extravagant.

The inhabitants of this world are not superheroes (well maybe Bradley Cooper’s take on Jon Peters might qualify) but normal folk just trying to find their way in an ever-changing landscape. It’s particularly emotional watching Cooper Hoffman act as his father feels very present in almost all his actions. Alana Haim is also very effective as the gawky coming of age Alana.

Licorice Pizza feels like a very personal statement from Paul Thomas Anderson and as such fits nicely in the film universe he has created thus far with films like Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood. His art and action seem on the subtle side this time but the underlining truth feels universal. Ultimately it should become a valued addition to his oeuvre.
Rob Hudson
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Who will come out on top of the battle for best dry line delivery in the business? In this corner the reigning champion, William James Murray and in this corner the new leader pretend, Adam Douglas Driver. With lines so dry you can practically see the dust in the air, the two go head to head. And the winner is? Sorry you’ll just have to see the film.

Set in a small town, Centerville, population 738. The pace of life in this minuscule American town is what you might call relaxed. As in nothing really ever happens but when Big Oil fracks the earth’s poles, both North and South, it changes the planet’s axis and sets off the impending zombie apocalypse.

Jarmusch doesn’t even attempt to make a current Zombie flick, in most ways this is some real old school s@#$, even to the point of using one of the best croaks in the business to narrate, yes Tom Waits channels his best wooly mammoth look and keeps things moving, sort of. Those looking for modern day thrills might be disappointed but for this scribe, the leisurely pace and toned down dialogue and action was utterly charming.

Rob Hudson
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In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors. No one quite knows why. News reports are scary and scientists are concerned.

But no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: THE DEAD DON’T DIE — they rise from their graves and savagely attack and feast on the living — and the citizens of the town must battle for their survival.

The independent filmmaker’s newest foray into genre film (after the western with Dead Man, Samurai/crime film with Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and his vampire film, Only Lovers Left Alive) promises to be “the greatest cast ever disassembled”: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Selena Gomez, RZA, Sara Driver, Austin Butler, Luka Sabbat, Eszter Balint, Carol Kane and Tom Waits.

The Dead Don’t Die also reunites Jarmusch with many of his frequent collaborators including Director of Photography Frederick Elmes (Night on Earth, Paterson, Broken Flowers) and Editor Affonso Gonçalves (Only Lovers Left Alive, Paterson). The Dead Don’t Die is Jim Jarmusch’s thirteenth feature film and stands as not just a humorous and sometimes scary subversion of the genre (with a nod to George Romero’s seminal film, Night of the Living Dead) but also a tribute to cinema itself.

The Dead Don’t Die is in Australian cinemas October 24.
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