https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM
Six different stories, got to be one or two gems in there surely.
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 14 September 2018 18:56 (five years ago) link
I'm into it
been in a super-western mood lately, myself
― Οὖτις, Friday, 14 September 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
Very excited for this, don't care if some of them are dumb
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 14 September 2018 19:05 (five years ago) link
excellent cast, as would be expected
― Οὖτις, Friday, 14 September 2018 19:08 (five years ago) link
with the exception of the Kazan story, this all felt totally inconsequential
― devvvine, Friday, 16 November 2018 21:04 (five years ago) link
that was my inkling
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 16 November 2018 22:25 (five years ago) link
much of it looks really ugly as well, really horrible colouring/contrast
― devvvine, Friday, 16 November 2018 22:33 (five years ago) link
It’s absolutely terrible. Like a joke they decided to play on Netflix.
― Chris L, Saturday, 17 November 2018 02:47 (five years ago) link
I kind of loved it
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, 17 November 2018 04:56 (five years ago) link
what does that mean?
― brokenshire (jed_), Saturday, 17 November 2018 04:59 (five years ago) link
you're too smart to make a post like that, Simon.
― brokenshire (jed_), Saturday, 17 November 2018 05:03 (five years ago) link
I'm through the first three tales right now and will resume later this weekend, but I... love it too?
I'm dumb I guess.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 17 November 2018 05:10 (five years ago) link
I assure you I'm not too smart for anything!
I found it had a cumulative effect that I don't want to get too deeply into before more people have a chance to watch. I do recommend Adam Nayman's piece for The Ringer, though.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, 17 November 2018 05:20 (five years ago) link
Also, I think the bros made the right move cramming these stories into one 130-minute movie rather than lavishing all of them with 45 to 60 minutes apiece. I have to imagine at least a few would have dragged considerably.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, 17 November 2018 06:10 (five years ago) link
That said, I think this will be the most common reaction for most audiences:
Report: Holy Shit, There Still 50 Minutes Left In Movie https://t.co/yU7eUVHY5N pic.twitter.com/yCwEVJnz5d— The Onion (@TheOnion) November 17, 2018
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, 17 November 2018 06:37 (five years ago) link
I had to go an hour and a half into the suburbs to get to the one cinema showing it here, but it turns out once you get that far, all tickets are $4 (or $5.50 for 3D)
fucking loved it, would definitely recommend taking a break after the third or fourth if you're watching it on Netflix though
yeah, at the very least the four middle pieces would have benefited from being shot on film, even if still graded as intensely (O Brother is fine by me). the bookends each have such a deliberate artificial tone that it's not necessarily a detriment. and the setting of the final piece may have been easier to shoot with what seemed to be smaller crappier camera? idk
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Saturday, 17 November 2018 08:54 (five years ago) link
can understand others getting more out of this tone of coens but people saying this is their best looking film is mind boggling
― devvvine, Saturday, 17 November 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link
the digital look didn't bug me, it was clear they were going for a "constructed" look rather than the more classical western vibe of say True Grit
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, 17 November 2018 15:22 (five years ago) link
Garbage
― F# A# (∞), Monday, 19 November 2018 02:09 (five years ago) link
I thought this was fun, though I was in and out of the room so I really only watched Ballad, the Tom Waits gold bit, and the last part with the carriage o'doom. I wasnt looking to be all Comic Book Guy about the film stock though, so ... eh.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 19 November 2018 05:27 (five years ago) link
summary of opinions expressed so far:
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 19 November 2018 05:42 (five years ago) link
I missed the longest middle drawn out sombre stories so may have had less of a positivwe take if I'd sat thru the whole thing. The whole YOU HAVE DIED OF DYSENTERY oregon trail bit I did tap out on tbrh.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 19 November 2018 05:49 (five years ago) link
Plenny a good westernsThis aint one ovvum yahear
― F# A# (∞), Monday, 19 November 2018 05:54 (five years ago) link
but was it good enough to be entertaining?
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 19 November 2018 05:58 (five years ago) link
it's ~entertaining~, but it's six longish short films that are all about death, and how everything we do on earth is striving pointlessly to fill our time and find some diversion and fulfillment during the eyeblink of time that we spend here. a couple of them are comedies.
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Monday, 19 November 2018 06:28 (five years ago) link
this is brilliant. get fucked, ilx
― . (Michael B), Monday, 19 November 2018 09:46 (five years ago) link
I'm not sure I like the Coen bros very much, but liked this quite a lot. The short story format means everything has to get to the point, means there's a lot of things to think about. I'm not sure it adds up to anything more than some fairly boring points about life and death and frontier existence.
― Frederik B, Monday, 19 November 2018 13:00 (five years ago) link
this made me realize I want to see a movie with Tom Waits and Nick Nolte as long-retired PIs chasing down one last case.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 19 November 2018 14:19 (five years ago) link
This thread has not yet dampened my anticipation for existential Coen westernisms in the comfort of my home.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 19 November 2018 14:23 (five years ago) link
The Western tropes and the goofiness of the opening/titular segment disguise the fact that this has much more in common tonally and thematically with A Serious Man than with any of their other Westerns or comedies, imo
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 19 November 2018 14:26 (five years ago) link
Will watch Tom Waits part and then remove from list.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 November 2018 14:34 (five years ago) link
Stick around for the following episode, you will not regret it.
I enjoyed all of these, except for Meal Ticket, which took its sweet time getting to a very obvious point.
― oder doch?, Monday, 19 November 2018 14:55 (five years ago) link
I guess I took it as less "obvious" than "inevitable," the natural result of the simple, ruthless everyday calculus. But I found it affecting nonetheless.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 19 November 2018 14:58 (five years ago) link
the bookends each have such a deliberate artificial tone that it's not necessarily a detriment
rewatched most of it on TV and the day-for-"night" section of the last story looks like dogshit
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 07:07 (five years ago) link
I've had the Surly Joe song stuck in my head for the last two days :(
― paolo, Tuesday, 20 November 2018 09:43 (five years ago) link
I thought the first story was some brilliant genre satire, and the last one an unnerving meta-commentary on the whole thing, and the four stories in between varying degrees of good to very good. The digital photography bothered me until it didn't, and the Waits story was beautifully shot (the day-for-night stuff in the finale looked phoney, sure, but in a silent movie way that I kind of admired). I didn't even recognize Waits, but I'd get behind a Best Supporting Actor campaign if he's eligible (still not sure how the whole Netflix thing works re: awards). Also, James Franco's best performance either since Freaks and Geeks or ever, for whatever that's worth.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Thursday, 22 November 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
I didn't even recognize Franco or a full minute or two because he didn't look like an underfed stringbean. Dude should keep some meat on his bones.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 22 November 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
I'm sure I've said this somewhere before, but as much as everyone hates to admit it, Franco is a pretty consistently strong actor
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Thursday, 22 November 2018 20:43 (five years ago) link
i didn't quite bust my scruggs to this but it was a diverting 2 hours and change.
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 22 November 2018 20:58 (five years ago) link
I liked Franco's bit. "First time?" made me lol.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Friday, 23 November 2018 00:29 (five years ago) link
He's good at doing that bewildered "wtf is going on" thing.
I’m sure Franco’s been in loads of rubbish, but he’s capable to v good in the things I’ve seen him inthe next film I saw in the cinema after Scruggs was Addams Family Values (for the first time), lol at the range of unexpected Krumholtzery in the pair
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Friday, 23 November 2018 08:58 (five years ago) link
this was so good
― iatee, Saturday, 24 November 2018 04:41 (five years ago) link
I also loved it. Giving owl looks to the haters.
― Tom: I do all the bills. (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 24 November 2018 07:25 (five years ago) link
This is excellent. My fave Cohens since "A Serious Man".
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 24 November 2018 13:55 (five years ago) link
The Kazan one kind of dragged for me. And there was a missed opportunity not showing the Arthur character attempt to deliver the bad news without making it seem like HE did it to keep Billy as an employee... and yes that may or may not be the “obvious” consequence teased in the closing scene but I imagine most people assume it is just meant to imply “Arthur is dreading giving his buddy the sad news”.
Everything leading up to that moment felt a little slow watching them think through how she will negotiate her financial issue, and then the proposal conversation... Maybe I just wasn’t detecting enough chemistry? idk
― Evan, Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:09 (five years ago) link
I kind of liked the anti-romantic nature of their courtship
― Number None, Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link
I don't think the possible consequence Evn mentions is supported by what we know about those characters.
For me that segment works for the ambiguity of Arthur's level of engagement with the situation (until the climax), the herky-jerky rhythms of Billy and Alice's courtship, and of course the Coens' facility for building a little nested comic tragedy of tiny errors and massive consequences out of not much of anything.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
buster being a live action looney tunes character was unexpected and ridiculous
― mh, Saturday, 24 November 2018 19:42 (five years ago) link
― paolo, Tuesday, November 20, 2018 4:43 AM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Likewise. The soundtrack is on Spotify, but I just found that "Surly Joe" doesn't play nearly as well out of context. Carter Burwell's score is (typically) beautiful, though.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Sunday, 25 November 2018 19:58 (five years ago) link
I thought the total work looked good and moved swiftly (at least compared to The Sisters Brothers, another modern revisionist Western). Do contemporary audiences even recognize the genre conventions the "Buster Scruggs" installment so thoroughly subverts?
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Sunday, 25 November 2018 20:14 (five years ago) link
My guess would be no, although it depends what you mean by "modern audiences." I only barely know who Gene Autry and Roy Rogers because of my grandparents and my weird interests in old things as a kid, though I suspect that my parents (who are probably roughly the Coens' age) would at least retain a vague cultural memory of the figure.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:04 (five years ago) link
I loved this! Obviously rather grim but there was a lot of good whistling-past-the-graveyard humor tge Coens excel at imo. I will rep for the Zoe Kazan oregon trail story, I thought it was excellent & really well studied. (Sidebar I am a big Donner Party nerd & am a sucker for stories of all those insane pioneer journeys to the west) I found it to be quite romantic, though to clarify: the courting was “romantic” for the time period & circumstances. Those wagon train folks had hard lives full of day to day if not hourly tragedies & loss, and owing to piety & social constraints were pragmatic to a fault, so it would be unlikely for them to achieve anything like our current standards of modern romance, yknow: heartfelt emotions & such. And the Tom Waits story was so good - again, very of that time, and the single-focus mindset of the prospector was so well done. Felt like it could’ve gone down in the Sierra foothills not far from Sacramento. GOODNIGHT MISTER POCKET. inconclusion, people are like ferrets
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 26 November 2018 18:56 (five years ago) link
I liked that the echoing chorus in Buster's "Cool Water" were actual echoes in the canyons.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, 26 November 2018 19:04 (five years ago) link
the use of place was excellent and somewhat inverted, in a way -- the Buster Scruggs story was definitely parodying material that would have been filmed on a backlot or soundstage and they used multiple real locations, and the closer was a more contemporary dramatic rumination and was mostly soundstage
location shoots were more varied in the middle but the wagon train sequence being shot in northwest Nebraska was a good pick. all of the scrubland you can handle
― mh, Monday, 26 November 2018 19:46 (five years ago) link
i loved that line about the prairie being like the ocean
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 26 November 2018 20:09 (five years ago) link
already been noted but Franco delivering the "first time?" line made me crack up, too
― mh, Monday, 26 November 2018 20:13 (five years ago) link
To revisit yesterday's question about singing cowboys, I was talking about this film today with some of the MA students in my program (so, age 23 or thereabouts?), and I asked them if they got what the Buster Scruggs segment was spoofing, to which one answered "Roy Rogers, right?" That surprised me.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 03:47 (five years ago) link
haven't watched this yet but saw it get some flack for an apparent almost complete disregard of the existence of native americans (something that is true for True Grit as well)
― akm, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 05:59 (five years ago) link
Well, they were there. Just not very friendly.
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 13:03 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I thought about that as well. In a way it's not ok? It's six stories, and they should hopefully add up to saying something about what it was like living in that part of the world in that time, and none of the stories are from the people who had lived there the longest? Forget just questions about inclusion and political correctness, if you wanted to say something about what living in the west was like, wouldn't it make the art stronger if you included that different viewpoint as a contrast? What does it say about the Coens, and by implication their audience including me, that this is not something they want to do?
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 13:16 (five years ago) link
I mean, it's a huge issue but I don't particularly care what the Coens have to say about it. The onus should be on Netflix, with its literal thirteen billion dollar production budget for original content *just for 2018*, to help address representational issues by forking over opportunities to a more diverse set of filmmakers, not on hoping that 60-something filmmakers who have written like two parts for POCs ever are about to behave any differently all of a sudden.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 13:24 (five years ago) link
Well, they were there. Just not very friendly.― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, November 27, 2018 8:03 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, November 27, 2018 8:03 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
They were dehumanized and demonized perils, existing to drive the plot. I note that per IMDB one segment was based on a Jack London story, and another "inspired by" Stewart Edward White (1873–1946). (Presumably the other installations were original to the Coen Brothers, but based on the tropes and clichés endemic to fiction writers in the Western genre of this period?)
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 14:07 (five years ago) link
I don't know, isn't it also a bit of a copout to just say that the Coen brothers wouldn't be able to make a good segment featuring native americans? They could hire collaborators who knew stuff they didn't know. In a way it's just about making the best film as possible, and if you want to take a multifaceted look at an issue, ignoring this viewpoint is kinda glaring. That it's so utterly expectable and explainable sorta only makes it worse.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 15:17 (five years ago) link
I dunno, they're part of a huge, *huge* number of established filmmakers for whom that's just not a dimension of life they tend to engage with. I'm sure there are a couple counter-examples, but generally speaking those old(er) dogs aren't about to pick up new tricks. The answer is to fork over dough to more Dee Rees-es and fewer Scorseses, not hoping the latter will suddenly privilege the experiences of [insert marginalized group here].
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 15:39 (five years ago) link
I'm really not interested in excusing/pardoning them but it feels like a useless expenditure of energy to be upset with them in particular I guess
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 15:40 (five years ago) link
if you want to take a multifaceted look at an issue
kinda took the "issue" here to be the death-drive of settler colonialism, fwiw. not sure a native american led segment contributes to that.
― ryan, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 15:43 (five years ago) link
Dunno, neither Buster Scruggs nor the prospector nor James Franco seemed like settlers to me?
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
the movie's also not really set in "the west" anyway, it's set in our collective imagination of decades of movies/tv/dime novels etc. their depiction of native americans was certainly backwards but also true to the source material. i think it was a dumb choice to not change anything about that source material but they're working from a template here and not trying to say something about 19th century america so much as about our collective interpretation of it.
― oiocha, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 16:31 (five years ago) link
were you guys also bothered by how buster scruggs managed to be such an amazing shot, and how the chicken could do math
guys this is a genre exercise not an attempt at creating a realistic portrayal of that era in history
xp
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
well i was wondering if liam neeson knew there was a trick and bought the trick, or if he just bought the chicken and was destined for despair.
― Toss another shrimpl air on the bbqbbq (ledge), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 16:40 (five years ago) link
Despair either way.
I think it's a waste of energy to criticize the Coens for not being woke. They've spent decades pursuing their very narrow and idiosyncratic interests (movies, genre tropes, white ppl, human stupidity, Jews) and that doesn't seem particularly like to change now.
I agree that Netflix should throw money at new voices who are, say, interested in flipping existing genres to highlight historically ignored perspectives. Find the next Coen bros etc.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:29 (five years ago) link
Btw I still have two of these to go but I've been enjoying them as bleak little Coen-y fables.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:30 (five years ago) link
― Frederik B, Tuesday, November 27, 2018 8:01 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
professor of american studies at the university of aarhus has spoken
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:40 (five years ago) link
jfc
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:49 (five years ago) link
Do u know what a settler is
― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:51 (five years ago) link
apparently not
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 17:57 (five years ago) link
I thought this was great! I'm surprised so many of yall are down on it. Way, way better than Hail Caesar--low bar, I know
― Dan I., Tuesday, 27 November 2018 18:26 (five years ago) link
I liked Hail Caesar too :(
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
I was gonna say!
― sleeve, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 18:31 (five years ago) link
I liked Hail Caesar a lot but it's one of their four worst
I thought this was great! I'm surprised so many of yall are down on it.
updating this:
summary of opinions expressed so far: inconsequential terrible kind of loved it love it? fucking loved it garbage funso, one can see a consensus starting to emerge here, if one stands across the room, is drunk, and squints very hard
inconsequential terrible kind of loved it love it? fucking loved it garbage fun
so, one can see a consensus starting to emerge here, if one stands across the room, is drunk, and squints very hard
• this is brilliant. • liked this quite a lot.• This thread has not yet dampened my anticipation • I enjoyed all of these, except for Meal Ticket• I've had the Surly Joe song stuck in my head for the last two days • brilliant genre satire [...] unnerving meta-commentary [...] varying degrees of good to very good. [...] beautifully shot • diverting • this was so good• I also loved it. Giving owl looks to the haters.• This is excellent. My fave Cohens since "A Serious Man".• [1/6th of the film] kind of dragged for me. • looked good and moved swiftly • I loved this! [...] a lot of good whistling-past-the-graveyard humor [...] excellent & really well studied. [...] so good • the use of place was excellent • (genre "Indians") were dehumanized and demonized perils, existing to drive the plot. • I've been enjoying them as bleak little Coen-y fables.• You thought this was great!
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 19:32 (five years ago) link
I didn't really like the bookending segments, which were too glib and inscrutable*, respectively. Other than that they were all great, particulary the freakshow/prospector/wagon train triptych.
*Glibness and inscrutability being qualities I've forgiven the bros for many times in the past.
― chap, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 19:43 (five years ago) link
the final one scrutes a lot better on second viewing
― Bing The Mighty Seat (sic), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 19:56 (five years ago) link
I liked all of these except the freak show one, which spun its wheels for what seemed like a good ten minutes
― sleeve, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 20:00 (five years ago) link
...to haunting effect, I felt.
― chap, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 21:39 (five years ago) link
that's fair, it was beautifully shot
― sleeve, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 22:00 (five years ago) link
i liked the freakshow one mostly because it sparked my curiosity so much with so much unsaid, ie the relationship backstory btw neeson & dudley dursley characters — the nature of his talents & whether he is able to speak conversationally ie is he too afraid of neeson to speak or does he only know these rote speeches & that’s all etc
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 00:23 (five years ago) link
I just posted this on fb, but I'll throw it to the wolves here too.
In 'All Gold Canyon,' the stranger/claim jumper who shot Tom Waits' prospector in the back was actually a leprechaun protecting his "pot o' gold," y/n?
He's wearing all green, he's appears out of nowhere, and he doesn't act with any urgency to collect the gold Waits found. He, instead, smokes a cigarette calmly and sits down like "got another one."
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 01:15 (five years ago) link
Interesting! That was the segment based on a Jack London story (which I haven't read, but now want to) so it'll be interesting (though not necessarily conclusive) to see how that all plays out in the source material.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 01:19 (five years ago) link
I didn't bring it up before because my thinking was "oh, that's so obvious that no one's even bothering to talk about it," but then a week went by and no one even mentioned it as even a tossed off theory. So I just watched that segment for the second time and I'm absolutely sure of it.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 01:27 (five years ago) link
I know that Jack London story and it is excellent, especially his portrayal of the psychology of the lone prospector and the methodical way he proceeds to work the hillside to locate the pocket.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 01:27 (five years ago) link
I just skimmed the text of the Jack London story. They really stuck close to the source material, but I still think they added an extra twist between the lines where they were allowed the room to do so.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 01:40 (five years ago) link
uh huh...
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 02:47 (five years ago) link
Did you rewatch it yet?? You're a hard sell.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 02:50 (five years ago) link
i’m all for magical realism but this isn’t that imoif a leprechaun makes sense to you then ok, you do you, but for me this story is a+ sans lep i don’t buy that the coens, excellent writers in their own right, would take this dark & simple *jack london* story & say, you know what this needs? a leprechaun.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 04:04 (five years ago) link
Are people defending “a meal ticket”? Because that was bottom-barrel for them.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 05:23 (five years ago) link
a fucking leprechaun. Words fail me
― Number None, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 07:57 (five years ago) link
it is not a leprechaun
― Clay, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 08:02 (five years ago) link
hahahaha
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 17:20 (five years ago) link
sleep, that's where I'm a leprechaun (very crafty and gold-loving, not an actual leprechaun)
“a meal ticket”? Because that was bottom-barrel for them.
bold call for filmmakers that have a remake of The Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks in a facemerkin on their resume, plus Crimewave
― sans lep (sic), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 20:28 (five years ago) link
Kid was wearing green, hence leprechaun.
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 21:30 (five years ago) link
leprechauns roll their own
― Death comes sweeping through the hallway. Thank you, Death. (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 21:44 (five years ago) link
So how do you explain the colorful marshmallows he kept finding in the stream?
― Evan, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 22:37 (five years ago) link
...?
― sans lep (sic), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 23:21 (five years ago) link
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/66e3fc3d-32ef-41b4-9aa3-2852b3c17f19_1.f19a53b164c8a56d749fb11670983422.jpeg
― sleeve, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 23:24 (five years ago) link
sorry for huge image
Kid was wearing green
Just appeared, and did so immediately after gold had been found.
If it hadn't been a gold story, I probably wouldn't have even thought much about the fact his entire wardrobe was deep, dark green and that his hat was also green with a gold band on it. But it is and those things are.
Anyway, I'm not gonna evangelize about this theory, but the Coens have done FAR cornier things.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 November 2018 00:28 (five years ago) link
FP'd sleeve, Evan, and the USA as a whole
upvoting Johnny Fever because it would be hilarious if true
― sans lep (sic), Thursday, 29 November 2018 01:21 (five years ago) link
lol I accept your FP with apologies
― sleeve, Thursday, 29 November 2018 01:30 (five years ago) link
I was just being goofy I don’t actually have strong feelings about leprechaun theories
― Evan, Thursday, 29 November 2018 02:34 (five years ago) link
i rest my case
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 29 November 2018 04:45 (five years ago) link
Watched this hungover on the couch the weekend it was released and was consistently surprised, entertained, and depressed. Came away with “Yeah, that was pretty solid.”But tbh I’ve been thinking about one or more of these stories almost every day since then. It’s haunted me. Need a rewatch, but rolling around in my brain it’s the best thing they’ve done since A Serious Man.
― circa1916, Thursday, 29 November 2018 05:04 (five years ago) link
i feel the same way
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 29 November 2018 06:03 (five years ago) link
I wonder if there’s something more intimate and weird (and therefore memorable) about experiencing this Coen movie at home rather than in the cinema
Obvs I don’t think it would’ve made The Ladykillers better. But the combination of big US landscapes + my small TV was unsettling rather than lessening.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 29 November 2018 14:39 (five years ago) link
loved this
― Mordy, Thursday, 6 December 2018 04:16 (five years ago) link
i think the chicken did math w/ the bell they'd ring it probably when it was near the right number or something like that - counting animals are all over vaudeville + side show history
― Mordy, Thursday, 6 December 2018 04:25 (five years ago) link
1. the gal who got rattled 2. meal ticket 3. the ballad of buster scruggs 4. all gold canyon5. near algodones 6. the mortal remainsoverall thought this was ok. it looked really nice and had some good acting but it didn't really hit me.
― na (NA), Thursday, 6 December 2018 13:06 (five years ago) link
this felt so thin and nothingy. some of the photography and scenery was really beautiful, but the stories were really inconsequential
― single bed mentality (||||||||), Thursday, 6 December 2018 13:08 (five years ago) link
i agree - a few got by on pathos or novelty but the rest felt thin
― na (NA), Thursday, 6 December 2018 13:22 (five years ago) link
near algodones felt like they came up with the "first time?" line and worked backwards (though stephen root was funny)
― na (NA), Thursday, 6 December 2018 13:24 (five years ago) link
I don't think these were "nothingy" at all. Felt maybe similarly during watching like "just ending with that huh" and then you're right on to the next one, but they sit well in memory and have more meat on their bones than might be immediately apparent.
― circa1916, Thursday, 6 December 2018 13:34 (five years ago) link
That guy sure looked like a leprechaun to me
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 8 December 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
1. Leprechauns are little men. It's kind of their defining characteristic2. Leprechauns do not wield guns3. Leprechauns are creatures of Irish myth. Why would you put one in a film dealing with classic Western tropes?
― Number None, Saturday, 8 December 2018 18:34 (five years ago) link
Gold
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 8 December 2018 18:36 (five years ago) link
THANK YOU
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 8 December 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
Yeah I'm down with the leprechaun notion.
― WmC, Saturday, 8 December 2018 18:52 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I can't tell who's serious anymore but I'm with VG and Number None on this one.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Saturday, 8 December 2018 19:11 (five years ago) link
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51bqXhuBwpL.jpg
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 9 December 2018 15:36 (five years ago) link
Loved Conrad Hilton’s tedious speechifying in the final segment
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 9 December 2018 16:32 (five years ago) link
It's too long ago to remember it exactly but there's a pause in his speech and then someone asks him a question and the looks on everyone's faces really got me.
― ryan, Sunday, 9 December 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
I was too distracted/delighted by the presence of Saul Rubinek to notice that this was that guy!
― resident hack (Simon H.), Sunday, 9 December 2018 17:12 (five years ago) link
he was great
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 9 December 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
The more i think about this overall, the more I like it
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 9 December 2018 19:01 (five years ago) link
I like the final segment a lot. It's funny and it's nice to have one that's all dialogue, since the others are filled with characters who either don't talk much or are having one-sided conversations.
― change display name (Jordan), Sunday, 9 December 2018 19:22 (five years ago) link
this was a lot better than i had expected. still somewhat half-assed in execution and obviously "a minor work" as you'd expect for a netflix orig, but imo the episodic structure is a good venue for that. the violence was fun
― flopson, Monday, 10 December 2018 03:00 (five years ago) link
I just read the Jack London story that the Tom Waits segment is based on. Nothing about a leprechaun in there (although we can't dismiss the possibility of the Coens taking some artistic license)
― Number None, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 21:39 (five years ago) link
each segment should've ended in a freeze frame that morphs into a comic book page. then the crypt keeper comes on and makes some wacky macabre pun about the ordeal.
― andrew m., Tuesday, 11 December 2018 22:35 (five years ago) link
plus cackling
― andrew m., Tuesday, 11 December 2018 22:37 (five years ago) link
although we can't dismiss the possibility of the Coens taking some artistic license
That's my thinking. I mean, why wouldn't they?
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:13 (five years ago) link
I shared the leprechaun theory with a colleague at my department Christmas party last night, and he laughed for a solid minute.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:22 (five years ago) link
I'ma die on this hill I guess.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:25 (five years ago) link
the funny thing is it's the kind of detail that's open to interpretation (imo) and also totally inconsequential to the general tenor of the story
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:26 (five years ago) link
Yeah. It's in no way important to the story itself. It's completely a creation of the costume designer and maybe/maybe not the Coens being silly.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:28 (five years ago) link
there is a supernatural air to this passage from the story tbf
He did not spring up nor look around. He did not move. He was considering the nature of the premonition he had received, trying to locate the source of the mysterious force that had warned him, striving to sense the imperative presence of the unseen thing that threatened him. There is an aura of things hostile, made manifest by messengers refined for the senses to know; and this aura he felt, but knew not how he felt it. His was the feeling as when a cloud passes over the sun. It seemed that between him and life had passed something dark and smothering and menacing; a gloom, as it were, that swallowed up life and made for death—his death.Every force of his being impelled him to spring up and confront the unseen danger, but his soul dominated the panic, and he remained squatting on his heels, in his hands a chunk of gold. He did not dare to look around, but he knew by now that there was something behind him and above him. He made believe to be interested in the gold in his hand. He examined it critically, turned it over and over, and rubbed the dirt from it. And all the time he knew that something behind him was looking at the gold over his shoulder. Still feigning interest in the chunk of gold in his hand, he listened intently and he heard the breathing of the thing behind him. Possibly it was a leprechaun of some kind.
Every force of his being impelled him to spring up and confront the unseen danger, but his soul dominated the panic, and he remained squatting on his heels, in his hands a chunk of gold. He did not dare to look around, but he knew by now that there was something behind him and above him. He made believe to be interested in the gold in his hand. He examined it critically, turned it over and over, and rubbed the dirt from it. And all the time he knew that something behind him was looking at the gold over his shoulder. Still feigning interest in the chunk of gold in his hand, he listened intently and he heard the breathing of the thing behind him. Possibly it was a leprechaun of some kind.
― Number None, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:33 (five years ago) link
lol
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:42 (five years ago) link
impeccable timing
― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:44 (five years ago) link
https://i.makeagif.com/media/2-24-2017/Q7r-nN.gif
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 23:45 (five years ago) link
HAHAHA
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 01:03 (five years ago) link
excellent
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 01:20 (five years ago) link
I need to rewatch, but I totally think it's possible the Coens saw the Leprechaun parallels and played into it a bit without literally trying to say the dude was a Leprechaun.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 01:28 (five years ago) link
Leprechauns? That's where the Coens are Vikings!
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 02:23 (five years ago) link
Leprechaun Returns out today fyi
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 02:52 (five years ago) link
n 'All Gold Canyon,' the stranger/claim jumper who shot Tom Waits' prospector in the back was actually a leprechaun protecting his "pot o' gold," y/n?He's wearing all green, he's appears out of nowhere, and he doesn't act with any urgency to collect the gold Waits found. He, instead, smokes a cigarette calmly and sits down like "got another one."
When I first read this, I thought you were literally saying that the character is a leprechaun and this is a salient part of the plot, which seemed far-fetched. If the idea is more that the costume designer was drawing on leprechaun-like archetypes in the character's outfit, as a sort of joke, without it necessarily making the character a leprechaun in any substantive way that would matter to the story, that does seem more plausible.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 03:51 (five years ago) link
what if leprechauns were just a mythical representation of claim jumpers the whole time? always hoarding gold, just out of our reach
― mh, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 03:53 (five years ago) link
In the original Jack London story, the fact that the gold does NOT belong to the claim jumper is absolutely essential to the story. Even hinting that this was in some way a legitimate act, protecting the murderer's legitimate rights to the gold turns the entire story on its head.
But such a reversal of roles makes zero sense. The deeper moral outrage of the story is predicated on the idea that, not only does the stranger murder the prospector for the gold, but he purposely waits around before killing him, so the prospector would do all the hard physical work for him. He not just greedy and violent, he's lazy, too.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:01 (five years ago) link
did anyone imply the claim jumper was ever in the right
― mh, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:12 (five years ago) link
I mean, it would be implied if he was a leprechaun...
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:13 (five years ago) link
so mythical beings have property rights now? pshaw
― mh, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:19 (five years ago) link
ersatz pshaw. I'm not buying it.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:32 (five years ago) link
― circa1916, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 8:28 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Thank you! Seriously...
― Evan, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 04:47 (five years ago) link
Just what are the property rights of leprechauns, this needs to be sorted out
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 05:22 (five years ago) link
They own this shit over here, ok?
https://media.fromthegrapevine.com/assets/images/2017/2/rainbow-israel-0208.jpg.480x0_q71_crop-scale.jpg
― Evan, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 05:42 (five years ago) link
Aimless otm“claim jumper is a leprechaun” makes the whole story so on the nose as to be pointless. leave Johnny Fever to his lucky charms fanfic, i beg you all
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 06:31 (five years ago) link
hmmm, you eat lucky charms from a cereal bowl
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 07:15 (five years ago) link
I started watching this. First 2 segments are solid gold. 3rd is weird but kind of interesting. 4th is kinda boring so far.
― o. nate, Saturday, 15 December 2018 03:47 (five years ago) link
I generally liked this! No outright bad episodes -- though the most promising, with Zoe Kazan and Bill Heck, is where I overdosed on the cruelty -- and several ace ones, including the Tom Waits prospector and "The Meal Ticket."
I am familiar with counting chickens in sideshows.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 05:36 (five years ago) link
Yeah, “Meal Ticket” and “The Prospector” are def the two that have stayed with me the most, I still think about them a lot. also where do you stand on ‘claimjumper is a leprechaun’
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 December 2018 05:48 (five years ago) link
hadn't occurred to me, sure n' begorrah
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 11:37 (five years ago) link
I'm willing to accept the guy as a leprechaun because it's not the only, or even the most, unrealistic thing in the episode. The prospector gets shot in the back and just carries on like nbd? They're both supernatural beings!
― WmC, Thursday, 20 December 2018 13:46 (five years ago) link
I honestly thought that happens all the time in the US tbh.
― calzino, Thursday, 20 December 2018 13:52 (five years ago) link
"Hyper-resilient old prospector" makes more sense to me in the context of a Western homage than "gun-wielding, smoking, human-sized leprechaun stopping by from Celtic myths to protect a pocket of gold".
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Thursday, 20 December 2018 14:31 (five years ago) link
Tbf I never said he WAS a leprechaun, I said he LOOKED like a leprechaun
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 20 December 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
― Evan, Thursday, 20 December 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
"Hyper-resilient old prospector" makes more sense to me in the context of a Western homage than "gun-wielding, smoking, human-sized leprechaun stopping by from Celtic myths to protect a pocket of gold".― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Thursday, December 20, 2018 9:31 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Thursday, December 20, 2018 9:31 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Coen Brothers, meet Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Gaiman, meet the Coen Brothers.
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Thursday, 20 December 2018 15:59 (five years ago) link
The prospector gets shot in the back and just carries on like nbd?
IT DINT HIT NOTHIN' IMPORTANT
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 17:25 (five years ago) link
Johnny Fever originated the leprechaun theory, and as far as I can tell he did mean a literal leprechaun
― Number None, Thursday, 20 December 2018 17:26 (five years ago) link
yeah, well
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 20 December 2018 17:28 (five years ago) link
btw Nelson, Kazan and Bill Heck did a Q&A after the screening at MoMA last night. Nelson said he first saw a script or treatment for his segment in 2002, I think?
Kazan said she prepared by re-reading Willa Cather. Not the history ("I'd done a shit-ton of research for Meek's Cutoff" -- which i'd forgotten she was in).
The digitalness of the imagery was distracting at times, like in the opening scene, where I doubt TB Nelson was anywhere near Monument Valley.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 17:30 (five years ago) link
The whole YOU HAVE DIED OF DYSENTERY oregon trail bit I did tap out on tbrh
cholera, i'm pretty sure
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
this was def the hottest i've seen Franco looking in years... but Bill Heck tops him (heh heh)
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 21:17 (five years ago) link
I not only found Franco attractive in the film (which is rare) but I actually enjoyed his performance (which is even rarer).
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Thursday, 20 December 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
I feel like there was some kind of deliberate cross-reference between "PAN SHOT" and "PRAIRIE DOG" or whatever the wagon train guy yelled
― sleeve, Thursday, 20 December 2018 21:53 (five years ago) link
the first episode is an extended Singing Cowboy joke... it's hard to believe how many singing cowboys on film there were in the '30s and '40s. Roy Rogers was the only one who endured.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:22 (five years ago) link
I was trying to think of a name of another one besides Roy while watching it and sadly drew a blank
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:26 (five years ago) link
Gene Autry was the only other one I'm really familiar with
Yeah gene autry has endured. His Xmas songs get a lot of play
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:28 (five years ago) link
I watched a Ken Maynard one the other night for lols and it was weird as hell.
― WmC, Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:29 (five years ago) link
Yes, Autry def #2 (and possibly richer!) but have you ever seen any of his films? My God, there are 97 on Letterboxd; I wonder how many exceed 55 minutes, or weren't serials.
Check out the plot of this one:
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-phantom-empire-1935/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:33 (five years ago) link
sounds right up my alley
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 20 December 2018 22:48 (five years ago) link
Yeah I wasn't responding to circa or Shakey.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Thursday, 20 December 2018 23:56 (five years ago) link
I'm on team leprechaun, you guys don't deserve JF.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 04:26 (five years ago) link
rmde
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 04:27 (five years ago) link
Leprechaun lies in the eyes of the beholder imo
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 04:29 (five years ago) link
You can think any damn thing you like. Just don't pester me with your sad delusions.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 04:34 (five years ago) link
^ not new board description
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 04:45 (five years ago) link