I started out watching Jim Jarmusch films in chronological order after somebody (I've forgotten who it was) told me that he peaked early and that none of his later films lived up to that early promise. Whoever that forgotten person was, they clearly had VERY different tastes to me! I found Stranger than Paradise and Down By Law to be incredibly frustrating experiences, Mystery Train and Night on Earth to be mixed bags, but from Dead Man and Ghost Dog…

This is a pretty baffling film that feels like an entertainingly goofy ultra low-budget film in a lot of ways - notably the godawful CGI and prominently featured close-up photographs where people have been badly photoshopped into, like, hotel rooms and stuff. Why not just go to a hotel room? But anyway, the endearing shitness of much of it is thrown into confusion by the surprisingly stacked cast, which makes the mediocre script harder to forgive.

That said, there are…

Murder, betrayal and corruption in Atlantic City! There's a lot of cliches here, but the energetic direction and performances carry it through with style... Nicolas Cage hits a nice mid-point between his wildest roles and the more subtle ones, as a corrupt-yet-loveable cop investigating a murder during a boxing match. Stan Shaw, as the defeated boxer, is particularly great - the deflated pride and pain in his eyes as he talks about losing his heavyweight belt feel really genuine, an…