Rating: Summary: Please, simply masterful. Review: This is a two hour long video for a masterfully raw Neil Young guitar solo. An extremely well written, directed, acted and photographed black comedy. Intelligent and continously funny.
Rating: Summary: Not happening Review: The appeal of this movie has always puzzled me. "Dead Man" looks more like MTV videos and television commercials than like a good movie. I experienced its strangeness, "dreaminess" and slowness as contrived and superficial, not rooted in the story or theme but tacked on for the sake of style. I would, however, recommend this movie to anyone who thinks Northern Exposure was as good as Twin Peaks.
Rating: Summary: Twilight of the Wild West Review: I first saw Jarmusch's Dead Man in New York at a movie house with a sputtering, broken sound system. This left a bad impression and I was slow to return to the film until I saw it on Czech television (without commercial interruption). By then I was infatuated and have since purchased the DVD to study the terms and conditions of its claim on my imagination. The sometimes scorching, oftimes lyrical Neil Young score is so intertwined now with my appreciation of the film that its first aborted attempt to lay claim to my interest has receded. Jarmusch has found the great idiomatic middle ground of art by intonation - i.e., the making of a film that hardly requires dialog at all. The freakish elements of the narrative (the occasional gruesomeness) seem almost outtakes, and it may well be simply a gesture at pure surreality for Jarmusch to include the pathetic to compensate for the intense pain of the black-and-white odyssey towards death made by William Blake (Johnny Depp), ne'er do well and waif shipwrecked in the bleak and sinister twilight of the Wild West. Gary Farmer as Nobody, Blakes' Indian guide to the edge of the other side, is both a hoot and a well-crafted play on the noble savage. (As reprise, the same character turns up in Jarmusch's Ghost Dog.) Anyway, once you know the story you could simply disappear into the visuality of the film and never return.
Rating: Summary: The best film of the 90s Review: Dead man was hands down the best film of the 90s. Enigmatic. beautiful. haunting. Tom Keogh should revise his review after WATCHING this movie. Turn out the lights and just pay attention. This movie has humor, but it is far fromthe 'endless schtick' that he claims it to be. I long for a world where reviewers would be required to undrstand something before they trash it. if you understand it and hate it, fine. But it's just not right to be so negative about something you just didn't get. This is a perfect piece of art. As close as a movie can get to the beauty of a novel.
Rating: Summary: A gorgeous enigma Review: Many people I know find "Dead Man" boring: I have been mesmerized (mesmerized is the right word) by it ever since I saw it four years ago, and I know it now as well as the back of my hand. Even the soundtrack by Neil Young, a musician I usually don't like, seems to me perfect. Like "Ghost Dog, The Way Of The Samurai", Jim Jarmush's next movie, Dead Man is an enigma and one of the strangest movies I have ever seen, but a gorgeous one. In my opinion, Jim Jarmush, always a good director, with "Dead Man" has made a quantum leap ahead to the point where he is another, different and better artist. If you have seen either "Dead Man" or "Ghost Dog" and didn't like it, don't bother watching the other movie: stylistically they are very close. But if you did, rejoice: Jim has somehow managed to do it again.
Rating: Summary: As Creative as any Spaghetti Western Review: Johnny Depp has become the new Robert De Niro. He is similar in that his heart throb role takes a back seat to his great acting abilities. I also cannot believe the lousy review given to his movie. It is filmed in black and white and that is supposed to signify that it is an art movie. The music score, although contemporary, is very much like that of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. Nope. No way. This movie is not bad. This movie is great.
Rating: Summary: THE ZEN OF DIRECTING Review: ARE THERE ANY "INDIE" DIRECTORS" THAT DON'T EVENTUALLY SELL OUT? ONLY JIM JARMUSCH.HE CONTINUES TO MAKE MOVIES FOR HIMSELF AND THOSE WHO HAVE "WALKED BAREFOOT" OVER HOT COALS...OR MAYBE JUST DO A LITTLE TOOOO... MUCH "ACID AND MEDITATION".I DON'T DO NEITHER BUT I THINK HIS MOVIES ARE TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL!JUST LAY BACK.WAY, WAY,BACK AND LET JIM DO THE DRIVING!
Rating: Summary: Jarmusch digs Depp with Dead Man Review: A little different than your normal western, but with the dreamy soundtrack and visuals, Jarmusch gives you another perspective to the old west. With a cast of characters that really seem to be from the 1800's, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thorton, Steve Buscemi, and Gary Farmer. The stark reality and crispness of an era unknown to most of us, is enhanced with the film being shot in black & white. With Neil Young creating an eery soundtrack, this movie rates as "One of My Fav's". Rent it before you buy it, but know it's one you'll want in your collection, so buy it now.
Rating: Summary: Strange, even for Jarmusch Review: I'm used to Jarmusch's leisurely directing style and in fact, I rather enjoy it. This time around it seemed to go beyond leisurely. In fact, the rhythm of the film was a little hard to get into until the moment when Depp's character, William Blake, became a dead man. Perhaps that was intentional; certainly, the story revolves around death and what it means to be dead. The characterizations here are little gems in almost every case, and it's always surprising to me how Jarmusch can tell so much about characters with so little screen time. And here, again, the pacing works. It becomes not so much leisurely but stately, so by the end of the film I was perfectly certain there was something mythic happening. Well worth your time, but be prepared 1) to be patient and 2) to pay attention. This isn't only because the tale is told in the small things, but because the sound, at least on the print I saw, was pretty uneven. I hated the Neil Young soundtrack; it was loud and intrusive, though I suspect that might have been the intention. Hard to say.
Rating: Summary: One of my most-favorite movies Review: Dead Man has been one of my favorite western movies since the first time I watched it! Johnny Depp is an excellent actor and Neil Young has always been one of my favorite artists. I have always believed that Neil Young has had a deep feeling and respect for the pioneer days, cowboys & Indians and the old west. The whole movie in fact reflects this sentiment. Never boring, always moving and changing. I agree with the other reviews that state how artisticly the cinematography is.
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