'Trading Places' is such an awesome movie. Just finished watching.
'Trading Places' is such an awesome movie. Just finished watching.
Last Flag Flying on amazon prime
Interesting comedy/drama by Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused, etc). More drama than comedy. It's basically a road trip movie featuring 3 former Vietnam vets and dealing with questions about war and the government and what not. I enjoyed it.
There were moments where it was great, but as a whole I am a bit disappointed.
1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - This was a fun take on western mythology and I enjoyed it very much.
2. Near Algodones - Enjoyed this one as well. "First time?"
3. Meal Ticket - Boring, hated it and nearly fell asleep.
4. All Gold Canyon - I was a bit lethargic from #3 so I wasn't taken with it at first, but by the end of it I really liked it. Tom Waits is a badass.
5. The Gal Who Got Rattled - In some moments it wasn't the most exciting, but by the end I enjoyed it and wished this one could have been fleshed out a little more in place of some of these other chapters.
6. The Mortal Remains - The Trapper was funny, but this was right with #3 as the worst.
If i'm gonna rank my favorite chapters: 1 = 2 > 4 = 5 >>>>>> 6 > 3
Overall too uneven for me. Has the Coen bros signature dialogue, black humor, bleak violence, but is just too boring in parts. Worth a watch of course, but could have cut down on some parts and made it a better movie.
I think I liked it because it was uneven, but there were no outright bad sequences. Some seem to end too soon, and others weren't quite as fleshed out as I had hoped. Still, the movie seemed like a reflection on the old west and those types of movies without ever forcing a happy ending to any one of the stories. Never felt myself bored with it though, so that may be a good warning to those who find the Cohen brothers a low dry and plodding at times.
The disappointing thing is I love just about everything the Coens have done! I appreciate the vignette idea and getting six different snapshots of life in the old west. The scenery in All Gold Canyon was gorgeous. Not a bad movie, just not up to par for what i'm used to seeing with the Coens. And i'm still waiting for them to make some film adaptation for a Flannery O'Conner story.
Rank the chapters!
1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (I could watch a whole movie with this character)
2. All Gold Canyon
3. The Gal Who Got Rattled
4. Near Algodones
5. The Mortal Remains
6. Meal Ticket
That being said while not up there with the Cohen brothers best, I like the fact that they can experiment with a little film like this on Netflix. Also noted even though The Mortal Remains is number 5 in my rankings I loved that one for some reason. Felt like a good section of a stage play. "PEOPLE ARE LIKE FERRETS!"
Where does it fit in your rankings of theirs?
Also - do you have letterboxd?
https://letterboxd.com/
Oh! For ALL Cohen Brothers movies these are my top 5:
1. Fargo
2. The Big Lebowski
3. No Country for Old Men
4. O' Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Raising Arizona/True Grit (TIE)
And no, I don't have letterboxd.
EDIT: I am now a member of Letterboxd. Kind of a pain in the ass but will be fun to fill in some reviews later.
Last edited by MasterShake; 11-25-2018 at 02:25 PM.
The Ballard of Buster Scruggs. I’ll give it a 6/10 because I liked two of the stories.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs. I refuse to rate the movie or rank the chapters. Bugger off Abe!
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