The Dead Don't Die

Volunteered to be the unofficial chaperone of the visiting Spanish group who were in Bristol for the day. Ate my breakfast while planning a nice little route we could all do, complete with lunch breaks and cafe stops along all the great sight-seeing bits. That all went right out the window after the first thing they all said to me was 'We all need the toilet.' All 24 of them. Honestly, it was like herding cats for the first hour or so, ever now and then someone wanted a photograph, someone was walking too slow, someone wanted to put on sun cream. All I could do was laugh it off. Eventually the groups splintered off and I was left with a core group of 8 who were keen to do my cool itinerary. We did St Nicks food market, Cabot Tower, Park Street, Pinkmans and a ferry tour - basically a Bristol greatest hits record that I've played for several visitors but it always goes down a treat. They loved it all too, the icing on the cake was a massive environmental protest which was so Bristol it hurt, really helped the Spanish get the vibe of the city and my core group really gelled with it.

Had a chance to quickly wharf down a Tesco sandwich before heading to the cinema to see The Dead Don't Die with a handful of friends and I'm sad to say that I wasn't a fan. Not witty enough to be a comedy and not post-modern enough to be interesting, the film just ends up existing, usually that's a compliment when attached to Jim Jarmusch films but I mean that in a sadly negative way. It seemed content to be a pastiche of Romero zombie films but never daring enough to add anything unique to a genre that's dying to be reanimated with original ideas. As soon as the final act drew to a close, it was clear that the joke was on me, despite a promising set up, it turned out to be a shaggy dog story of a movie. Certainly not for me, but you might find some charm in it.