Jim Jarmusch

As is obvious from this picture, and from one viewing of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch is too cool for school. He‚Äôs a walking breathing art-house who doesn‚Äôt need to try to make quirky movies ‚Äì he opens his mouth and talks in close-ups and awkward lighting. Coffee and Cigarettes is the culmination of a running story idea he started in 1986 with the production of a six minute short named “Coffee and Cigarettes” starring comedian Steven Wright and Italian filmmaker Roberto Benigni (more than a decade before Life is Beautiful made him an international star). ¬†Then in 1989 Jarmusch made “Coffee and Cigarettes II” starring real life twins (and brother and sister to Spike Lee) Joie Lee and Cinque Lee. And in 1993 he completed the trilogy with “Coffee and Cigarettes III” with rock icons Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. 10 years later, Jarmusch returns to the idea, and creates 8 more vignettes to round out the collection, and releases all 11 as a feature film called Coffee and Cigarettes. And in case the actor names didn‚Äôt cue it up for you, this is a comedy. And when no one says anything at all for 15 seconds or more, it‚Äôs ok to feel uncomfortable. And it‚Äôll happen a lot. The discomfort is magnified because all but 1 of the actors plays a character named after them. So Steven Wright plays ‚ÄúSteven,‚Äù Rza plays ‚ÄúRza‚Äù and so on ‚Äì and it helps to blur the line in more than one of the segments. The film opens up with Iggy Pop’s version of “Louie Louie” and black on white and then white on black and then black on white etc… credits. It’s a black and white art-house movie, and they’ve got to clue you in on that from the beginning.
So, 1 at a time:

Iggy and Tom

Strange to Meet You
The 1986 short inserted as the beginning vignette Roberto Benigni meets Steven Wright for coffee and cigarettes at a local café and introduce us to the motifs of overhead shots of the diner table and awkward dialogue as they talk (both in stilted English) about the dentist and dreaming fast.

Twins
The 1989 short in chronological order featuring Joie Lee and Cinque Lee as the good and evil twin respectively along with the Elvis Pressley adoring waiter, played by Steve Buscemi. The three talking unwillingly with each other about Elvis conspiracies.

Somewhere in California
The final of the first three short films is one of the funniest of the whole show, putting Iggy Pop and Tom Waits in a dive chit-chatting about music and quitting smoking, while constantly misinterpreting what the other is saying.

Top 5 Actors as Themselves in a Fictional Movie
(The I Can Pronounce “Being” as 1 Syllable If¬†I Want to Haiku Edition)

Sweet Libby Shue

5 ‚Äì “No man, you‚Äôre famous” ‚Äì
Tom Petty delivers it
all in The Postman

4 – Floor seven and a
half. Malkovich Malkovich
Being John Malkovich

3 – Terry Gilliam
dead of heart attack: Monty
Python’s Holy Grail

2 – Charlton Heston knew
a girl who lived on Gordon
Street in Wayne’s World 2.

1 ‚Äì “Ali with an ‘i’”
Sweet Libby Shue nurses Steve
Coogan: Hamlet 2.

 

Meg and Jack

Jack Shows Meg his Tesla Coil
Jack White and Meg White of the White Stripes (they’re a rock and roll band) are having… coffee and cigarettes, and Jack has a Tesla Coil. Cinque Lee returns as a waiter here, and Jack explains the science of the coil and a brief overview of Nikola Tesla (who was played expertly by Ziggy Stardust in The Prestige, which really should have been a better movie). And did you know Nikola Tesla perceived the earth as a conductor of acoustical resonance? It’s a beautiful idea.

Cousins?
Even funnier than the one with Iggy and Tom, Alfred Molina hosts Steve Coogan in an L.A. coffee shop (for tea) to drop a bombshell: they’re related! Alfred is the nicest (if not a little creepy) guy in the world, and Steve Coogan’s douchebag act is so damn convincing sometimes. I know, it doesn’t sound like fertile comedy fodder, but haven’t you SEEN Hamlet 2? And didn’t Alfred Molina’s acting in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark convey his brilliant timing?

Delirium
I swear we’re almost done. This is number 10 right? And totally worth the damn wait. Wu-Tang steadfasts GZA the Genius and RZA a.k.a. Bobby Digital discuss herbal remedies while drinking decaffeinated tea when they notice their waiter is Bill Murray, who’s either hiding incognito, or is losing his mind. 

Raphael is Cool... But Rude

A Note About Psychosis: Folie a Deux
A “folie a deux” is an extremely rare psychiatric occurrence where a particular hallucination or delusion is actually transmitted from one person to another. This is either possible if an already delusional person has a strong enough personality to actually influence the thoughts of another weaker personality. The madness of the first is just accepted by the second. The madness in these cases can usually be dissolved by separation of the two and reasonable medication. In a second situation, two independently delusional people share a psychosis that is usually ignited by one of the two, and because the other is already predisposed towards delusional beliefs, will come to share the delusion (see also drug-induced psychosis as in the military experimentation with the hallucinogen BZ or 3-quinuclidinyl bezilate ‚Äì see also a fictionalized account of BZ in Jacob‚Äôs Ladder starring Tim Robbins and Danny Aiello)

Champagne
Here‚Äôs where Jarmusch gets tricky on you. You‚Äôve been laughing mildly throughout, and softened up for a comedic finale, when he pitches you two veterans of the New York Modern Art Scene, Bill Rice and Taylor Mead on a coffee break at work. Bill likes his coffee coffee, and Taylor pretends he‚Äôs drinking champagne. You can almost imagine it‚Äôs Paris in the 1920s so much so that the two share a temporary folie a deux and hear the singing of opera superstar Janet Baker performing ‚ÄúIch bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” from Gustav Mahler‚Äôs 5 song collection, Ruckert-Lieder, and with the 2 minutes of break he has left, Taylor wants to just take a nap. Peacefully.

I love this “movie” because there’s no bothering to compose any kind of overarching narrative. The vignettes exist unto themselves even while featuring a few callbacks here and there to previous episodes. It’s like a book of short stories, and watching this movie this most recent time really reminded me of James Joyce’s Dubliners – not in any real academic sense, but more in the idea that there’s a collection of stories all centering around a specific topic that even though fairly unconnected, move with a flow that shows them to be part of the whole.

GZA The Genius, RZA a.k.a. Bobby Digital and Bill Murray

Felix Bush (Robert Duval) is a hermit that’s been living on his own for close to 40 years. ¬†He has 300 acres of land and a cabin he built himself. ¬†A gentleman shows up to his property one day to inform him that a long time friend of Felix’s has passed away from old age. ¬†Felix decides that he doesn’t want to wait until his death to be the next time he speaks to folk so he decides to stage a living funeral. ¬†He hires the local funeral home, run by Buddy (Lucas Black) and Frank (Bill Murray), to stage the preceding. ¬†Along the way, a past love interest (Sissy Spacek) is thrust back into his life to further complicate things.

So let’s talk about the one aspect you might not expect from a movie like this- humor. ¬†Now I’ll admit that the premise is rather silly but there is some great comedic material throughout. ¬†Duval has a way of making an old, crotchety man just as lovable as the Carl from Up. And of course when you have Bill Murray it’s damn near impossible to not include the funny. ¬†His portrayal as an opportunistic funeral home manager handles a great balance of humor and drama. ¬†Lucas Black, who just seems to be the more consistent young actor working today, is not lost in the sea of acting experience either. ¬†He proves to be a great adversary to Murray in key scenes and bonds with Duval’s Felix rather nicely. ¬†In a male dominated cast, Spacek comes across really well. ¬†She does her best holding her own and well… That’s all I can really say. ¬†All around, the cast is great.

So as I said, it’s a simple movie that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. ¬†I enjoyed it much more than I usually do with films like this and that probably has a lot to do with how funny it is. ¬†I know some folks, particularly the younger crowd, will take issue with the slow pace and old fashioned nature the flick offers. ¬†But honestly, this is a pretty damn good movie. ¬†Check it out when it releases in July.

The movie begins with Tripper (Murray), head counselor at Camp North Star, making the morning announcements from the comfort of his bed. ¬†While he explains that he’ll be playing the national anthem, he in fact plays a recording of bag pipes, thus setting the tone for the movie- scatterbrained. ¬†Usually at this point in my reviews I start to tell you about the plot but for the life of me I couldn’t really tell what the fuck was going on. ¬†Yes, Tripper is the focal point for everything but there’s a lot of ancillary crap going on that while funny, has nothing to do with… well anything really. ¬†Take the moment where one of the female counselors commandeers a boat to tell one of the male counselors that she’s interested in him. ¬†Who gives a shit?

It’s interesting though because this is really not all that different than the “plot lines” found in other films from these same guys. ¬†Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis, who direct and write Meatballs respectively, both worked on Animal House and of course Ramis went on to write and direct Caddyshack. ¬†All three of these movies don’t necessarily have a plot so much as they have a lot of loosely connected scenes of hilarity at varying levels. ¬†And then they all three end with some sort of a contest, Meatballs having a two day relay with rival, Camp Mohawk, to give the audience the notion that a plot might actually exist. ¬†I guess the difference with Meatballs is that other than Bill Murray, you don’t recognize any of the actors nor is there anything particularly funny going on when Murray isn’t involved. ¬†Any one of the characters in Animal House could be your favorite but that’s just not the case here.

So you start with those detriments and there’s really not a lot to go off of for the film. ¬†I know I’m being pretty harsh here but not all is lost as Murray really does bring the funny. ¬†You almost get the sense that he had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted as his performance just seems more like “Bill Murray” than like a character. ¬†In particular I enjoyed his interactions with camp newcomer Rudy (Chris Makepeace) mainly because he didn’t treat him as a kid so much as he just treated him as a fellow human. ¬†Rudy starts off as a rather shy kid so Tripper takes him under his wing. ¬†It’s interesting though because according to the special features, many of these scenes of Tripper and Rudy bonding were shot after the filmmakers realized they didn’t have enough of their main character interacting with the more featured of the campers. ¬†While these scenes do work, they feel shoehorned into the film and don’t do enough story-wise to be called necessary. ¬†But you can’t have a 65 minute movie now can you?

I mentioned how Tripper treated Rudy as more of an adult than a young adolescent. ¬†It’s interesting because all of the counselors do this to some extent, almost to the point of illegality. ¬†Look, I know a lot of unruly shit goes down at camps but it’s a wonder that any parent ever let their child go again after watching this movie. ¬†There’s a scene at a dance where Tripper tells two male counselors to sort all the virgins to one side of the dance floor and the non-virgins to the other. ¬†The counselors then start to fight over who gets to sleep with either grouping of female campers. ¬†I know it’s farce but aren’t most of these campers super young? ¬†It’s kind of creepy. ¬†And speaking of creepy, there’s a sequence where Tripper basically tries to rape a female counselor he’s been eying for a few years. ¬†In perfect Hollywood fashion, his abusive actions lead to the eventual and consensual bedding of said counselor. ¬†Bizarre but good news, honey- now I know how to get laid!

Look, I know I’m being pretty cynical here but damn it, the movie just didn’t work for me. ¬†I laughed quite a bit actually so I guess Meatballs has that going for it. ¬†But I have a hard time recommending you place it in your Netflix queue. ¬†The one thing I will say is that for a low budget 1979 film, the Special Edition DVD looks and sounds pretty damn impressive.

Retro Review is a weekly column written by Dustin and occasionally other authors from the Breach. ¬†Here we take a look at films from yesteryear. ¬†1989 and older to be exact. ¬†At times we’ll try and analyze how the film has influenced modern cinema, discuss the quality of the current release, or just do a traditional review of the damn thing and throw it up here. As always, requests for these reviews are welcomed.

So after what has been years of speculation, including countless vague blurbs from Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, MTV has confirmed that Ghostbusters 3 is indeed happening and will be directed by Ivan Reitman.¬†¬† Other than Reitman adding that there is at least one draft turned in by Year One writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, he hasn’t dropped any other knowledge on us just yet.

The original Ghostbusters will be in this, but in what capacity we do not know.¬† Will they be mentors to a younger set of Ghostbusters?¬† Will they be old farts running around with proton packs throwing their backs out moaning about how they’re ‘too old for this shit’?¬† No clue.¬†¬† Sigourney Weaver thinks that Pete Venkman will make a cameo as a ghost, and that her son Oscar from Ghostbusters 2 will be one of the new guys.¬† I think Weaver just wants attention and to read a quote from herself as she wasn’t even involved in the Ghostbusters videogame which was for the time being, the third movie.¬†¬† As much as I would love to see the original group of guys as the focus,¬† I just don’t see it happening.¬† The chemistry is really long gone unfortunately.¬† If this does end up focusing on a newer group of Ghostbusters, then let’s all hope they get a good, funny set of younger guys in there who click.

Ghostbusters 3 will start shooting next year and is scheduled for release in 2011.¬† I think the only entity we can absolutely confirm will be back without even seeing one page of a script would be Slimer.¬† I mean come on, there’s no way that little green blob doesn’t make a cameo.

Mr. Fox, the title character voiced by George Clooney, loves stealing chickens. ¬†I know what you’re saying, we all love to steal chickens. ¬†But you don’t understand- Mr. Fox loves it! ¬†It’s almost a drug for him; concocting schemes with his new friend, Kylie the possum, to try and steal chickens along with alcoholic cider from three nearby food processing factories. ¬†What they don’t realize is that these humans aren’t going to take too lightly to their thieving ways. ¬†From there, things spiral out of control as their entire colony is uprooted by the former proprietors of said chickens and cider. ¬†All of this is done in a very entertaining manner and when it’s all said and done, you’ll hopefully realize that it was quite easy to fall in love with this movie.

So let’s talk about the animation for a moment. ¬†Shot with digital SLR cameras, the film was made using the stop-motion animation technique, which is rather uncommon in this day of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation. ¬†I did some research (read: Wikipedia/IMDb trivia pages) and found that the film was actually shot at 12 frames a second. ¬†This will cause a sort of stutter to the whole film. ¬†The filmmakers decided to do this so that it was easier to tell see the style of animation they were aiming for. ¬†Another interesting addition is the fur. ¬†All of the animals have it and you can see it lightly move between frames, likely due to adjustments made between shots. ¬†It’s subtle but something about it came across as genuine. ¬†Everything just felt more organic than all the CGI movies we see nowadays. ¬†This is something I wanted but didn’t realize I wanted it. ¬†If that makes any fucking sense!

Another great thing was the music. ¬†As per Wes Anderson standards, it’s all put to great use here. ¬†The best use is saved for the third act though. ¬†The whole climax plays like a montage put to some really great music and if you have any doubts about the flick to that point, they’ll be obliterated within the first few verses. ¬†That was kind of my experience- I was digging the movie but didn’t think it was anything special. ¬†By the time the climactic set pieces were flowing with the music, I had a giant movie-nerd boner and was really into it. ¬†The music is simply the heart of the whole movie. ¬†Without this element, I think it would have been lost on me.

Now I know this is a trite statement, but this is really a film that can be enjoyed by both children and adults equally. ¬†The kids in our screening were really responding well to everything even though a lot of it should have been way over their heads. ¬†And of course there was plenty of adult-type humor to keep parents entertained. ¬†More than that though, there are a few adult type moments that the film handles brilliantly. ¬†The whole reason the film gets moving is because Mr. Fox wants to steal chickens. ¬†They make it apparent that he’s not stealing these chickens just to chill out with them- he is in fact planning to consume them. ¬†While the chicken killing doesn’t occur onscreen, I think the method they use is effective and kid safe while still demonstrating that your main character, as lovable and fuzzy he may be, is killing other animals for sustenance.

My bottom line advice on this flick is to check it out. ¬†I really enjoyed it but that being said, I had planned to really enjoy it. ¬†I would say my expectations were higher than normal and were simply met. ¬†And as I recommended in the opening paragraph, use your Wes Anderson barometer to determine your likelihood to enjoying the movie and I think you’ll be safe .

For those that haven’t seen it, Tootsie tells the story of Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) and the decision he makes to dress like a woman and star on a daytime soap.¬† The twist is that only Dorsey’s roommate (Bill Murray) and his casting agent (Sydney Pollack, pulling double duty as director) are aware of the ploy while the rest of the world and Dorsey’s co-stars fall for the farce.¬† Of course along the way people start getting mixed feelings about the woman he’s created, who he names Dorothy Michaels, leading to a lot of misunderstandings that play out in the third act.

What’s really surprising though is how all of this works and especially how well the film holds up so many years later.¬† I don’t seem to recall Mrs. Doubtfire making statements about women’s lib or, more specifically, how women are treated in the work place.¬† And although I’ve chose to not watch the Big Momma’s House franchise, I wouldn’t expect to see another female character bond with the “man-in-a-woman-suit” like Jessica Lange’s Julie does here.¬† The very fact that she nearly chooses to share a lesbian kiss with Dorothy is proof enough that the film is taking the premise seriously.

I’d say my main problem with the film, if any, is that the whole decision of Dorsey to don the wig and make up is a bit weak.¬† So let me get this straight- you’re an out of work actor and your friend misses out on audition for a frumpy, older woman on a daytime soap.¬† Down on your luck, you’re pushed by your acting agent to decide what you’re going to do and the first thing that comes to mind is to dress like a woman and audition for the same part your friend couldn’t get?¬† I can only imagine that the premise was heavily advertised and thus easier to swallow for those eager to see the film 27 years ago.¬† But at the same time, I knew the premise and I was still a bit shocked when we cut to Dorsey as Dorothy.

But even with that, I found myself enjoying the film.  I know I mentioned it before, but the film has really held up well and I can see why it was socially important at the time of its release.  Unless you have a strong aversion to men dressed in drag, I recommend checking it out should the opportunity come to you.

Retro Review is a weekly column written by Dustin and occasionally other authors from the Breach. ¬†Here we take a look at films from yesteryear. ¬†1989 and older to be exact. ¬†At times we’ll try and analyze how the film has influenced modern cinema, discuss the quality of the current release, or just do a traditional review of the damn thing and throw it up here. ¬†As always, requests for these reviews are welcomed.

The game is written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd and I honestly have no idea, and do not care what in the hell is going on.¬† I’m not even going to bother trying to detail the nonsense that Aykroyd and Ramis cooked up, but I will say it’s set in 1991 and is essentially a rehash of the first movie.¬† Aykroyd of course delivers on the pseudo-science, he’s got a real knack for that.¬† Is it as quotable as the first movie?¬† I don’t remember a single line.¬† Does it feel authentic and present the Ghostbusters license in a positive manner?¬† Absolutely.¬† From trapping ghosts to the sounds of the proton packs, it’s all done right and it feels good.

The love that went into paying attention to all the details is what keeps this game from total mediocrity.  The character dialogue is all fairly authentic and even had me laughing out loud a few times.  Unfortunately Bill Murray was asleep in the booth when he was slated to record his lines, but the rest of the cast sound great.  Throwing a proton beam and wrangling a ghost feels fucking awesome, and handles exactly like you think it should.  The game even completely recreated the firehouse that is the Ghostbusters headquarters which you can roam freely around in between missions.  Most of the stuff you can interact with is uninteresting except for the giant painting of Vigo the Carpathian.  The shit he says is some of the funniest stuff in the game.  The controls can be a bit wonky at times, mainly because the sprint button is also the evade button which is also the jump button.  There are times when that can prove to be a real fucking mess, but the rest of it is solid.

One of the best decisions the game made was having you be an unnamed character, a new Ghostbuster.¬† Being just a bystander is exactly what I wanted out of this, so I could just listen to the banter and enjoy watching them do what they do.¬† Look, this game is just fun.¬† I mean, Stay Puft, Slimer, the librarian ghost and every locale you give a shit about is here and you can destroy it all.¬† But, I have to suggest a rental on this one.¬† The single player campaign will only set you back about 6-8 hours and it does get a bit repetitive after awhile.¬† The multiplayer is fun, but I don’t think it’s strong enough to warrant throwing 60 bucks down on the game.

I played Ghostbusters on the Playstation 3 and I have to recommend that if you have the option to get this on the Xbox 360.¬† That would be the version to go with.¬† The PS3 version has some really shit textures compared to the 360 along with awful screen tearing and it runs natively in 960×540 resolution.¬† The 360 version runs 1280×720.¬† It’s pretty strange since the PS3 was the lead platform for development, but whatever.¬† Now you know not to rent the one that looks like dogshit.¬† Hey look at that, I went the whole review without another mention of another Ghostbusters movie.¬† Let me fix that.¬† How about Ghostbusters 3 with Alyssa Milano, Megan Fox, Eliza Dushku and…ok I’ll stop.