Any thoughts about The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ?
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
I liked it, a lot ā¦ though two of the middle stories are weaker than the rest.
Original, funny ā¦ taking and twisting so many western film clichĆ©s and genuinely surprising this viewer.
The acting is generally superb, though Liam Neeson throws in a very provocative and divisive song from Northern Ireland, which no one outside the country will know or care about - Liamās little joke, which really isnāt funny ā¦ he also referenced it before in the movie āNellā (1994) Itās a song called, āThe Sash my Father Woreā, which is the key theme for a large group of protestant bigots. Itās basically a hatemongering victory over Catholics tune. Neeson maybe bringing it to the film as an ironic gesture, as he was raised a Catholic ā¦ but itās a song associated with so much hatred that it made me cringe - Iām certain the Coenās had no knowledge of the controversial nature, and thereās no explanation in the film ā¦ itās just dressing for a scene.
Apart from that I loved the movie and will watch it again soon - there are a few sequences which are just incredible ā¦ and will amuse as well as impress we hardcore western film fans.
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I liked it. I (generally) love the Coens anyway and I think the western is a terrific genre for anthologies; itās a shame we donāt see more of them, imo. It was a bit uneven though. I thought that the strongest tales by some margin were āThe Ballad of Buster Scruggsā, āNear Algodonesā and āAll Gold Canyonā which went first, second and fourth in the order respectively, so Iād like to have seen those spread a little more evenly through the movie. Of course, tastes are subjective so maybe this wasnāt an issue for others. But it was never less than interesting.
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I hadnāt heard about Buster Scruggs until I saw it pop on Netflix & was very interested as I love the Coens films.
Personally though, I was disappointed to see its a collection of shorts. I generally do not like shorts in any forms - written or film. Those horror collections featuring the great directors are always automatic skips for me - I just canāt get into stuff in short form as it doesnāt ever have time to develop ideas fully. Although perhaps I should reconsider this way of thinking, as Iāve grown more and more towards an appreciation for ātrashā which never really has any fleshed out ideas at all, but somehow manages to capture a more true spirit than big budget hollywood ever can.
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LOL ā¦ long live trash! - plus, stick to what you enjoy, not what Hollywood dictates.
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The Terminal Man (1974)(Der Killer im Kopf (1974) - IMDb)
I read this book by Micheal Crichton as a kid and loved it then - Iām surprised I didnāt track this movie down yet - or maybe I did and forgot about it. I didnāt have much appreciation for these slow burners as a youngster.
The story is about some scientists/doctors that implant electrodes into a manās brain to control his mental problems through electrical impulses. Crichton is one of those scifi writers that was way ahead of his time, and this is a story that is very relevant to modern times as current scientific research is experimenting with doing just this kind of thing in various ways, direct attempts at manipulating brain functions with technology, including electrical stimulation.
I hate to quote a source as commonplace as wikipedia, but this bit is great info on the film:
The Terminal Man, though not released in the UK, was successful in Japan and, according to Hodges, it was dumped when it came to US screenings. "We had one terrible preview. They projected it without sound for the first 10 minutes, which was excruciating. American audiences found the film too uncompromising, too tough to take. The reviews were dire. "I think people had a problem accepting George Segal in the lead role. At that time he was known as a light comedian, but I wanted him for the film. I liked the fact that it was unusual casting. He is terribly good in it and, now that his career is not too top heavy with comedy, you can see him purely as an actor - and a good one.ā [4]
Nora Sayre gave the film a negative review in The New York Times , describing it as dull and slow: āGeorge Segalās resilience, humor, and versatility have redeemed quite a few bad scripts. But this role gives him little chance to act, beyond making like a Zombie and rolling his eyeballs backā¦ā[5]
Stanley Kubrick was also a Hodgesā admirer ā āAny actor who sees Get Carter will want to work with him.ā
When Mike Kaplan, a Warner Bros international marketing executive, attempted to override Warner Bros decision not to release the film in Britain, he sought Kubrickās help. After explaining the situation, and how the film required a different marketing campaign, Kubrick interrupted with, āIāve already seen it and itās terrific.ā
The director Terrence Malick wrote to Hodges expressing how much he loved watching The Terminal Man , saying āI have just come from seeing āThe Terminal Manā and want you to know what a magnificent, overwhelming picture it is. You achieve moods that Iāve never experienced in the movies before, though itās only in hope of finding them that I keep going. Your images make me understand what an image is, not a pretty picture but something that should pierce on through like an arrow and speak in a language all its own.ā
I can certainly see why Kubrick would appreciate the film, as at times it is very similar to Kubrickās style & shares some themes explored in Kubrickās works.
As a plus, the film features Glenn Gouldās Goldberg Variations, which I consider maybe the best piano renditions of Bach Iāve ever heard.
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Pleased to say for the most part Iāve been watching alot of good stuff lately.
Cinema Paradiso - (Tornatore, 1988) - 5/5
The Night of the Hunter - (Laughton,1955) - 5/5
Ossessione - (Visconti, 1943) - 4/5
Shoeshine - (De Sica, 1946) - 4.5/5
The 400 Blows - (Truffaut, 1959) - 4.5/5
La Grande Illusion - (Renoir, 1937) - 5/5
Harakiri - (Kobayashi, 1962) - 5/5
Tokyo Story - (Ozu, 1953) - 4/5
Late Spring - (Ozu, 1949) - 4/5
Man with a Movie Camera - (Vertov, 1929) - 4/5
The Seventh Seal - (Bergman, 1957) - 4.5/5
Hamlet - (Brannagh, 1996) - 4.5/5
Bicycle Thieves - De Sica, 1948) - 5/5
The Lady from Shanghai - (Welles, 1947) - 4/5
Captains Courageous - (Fleming, 1937) - 5/5
Treasure Island - (Fleming, 1934) - 4/5
A Guy Named Joe - (Fleming, 1943) - 3.5/5
12 Angry Men - (Lumet, 1957) - 5/5
Persona - (Bergman, 1966) - 3/5
Eraserhead - (Lynch, 1977) - 3/5
Schindlers List - (Spielberg, 1993) - 4/5
The Tenant - (Polanski, 1976) - 4/5
Room 237 - (Ascher, 1012) - 2/5
Scream - (Craven, 1996) - 4/5
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Great list of classic movies. Though 3/5 for Eraserhead is a heresy!
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Youāre right, 3 is too generous 
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Eraserhead is the only Lynch film I still havenāt watched, curious being that its probably the most closely related to genres I watch the most. I guess Iām saving it for a special occasion or something.
Somewhat related in style, last night I watched Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010). I really wanted to love this film with its subject matter & beautiful dark, psychedelic imagery and excellent electronic soundtrack - stuff like this is right up my alley & particularly with exploring the dark side of psychedelic new age shit, it should have easily been a new favorite. Unfortunately the director just spends too much time on visual shots and never really provides much else, and the film felt rather like a boring chore to sit through.
I know @Mickey13 didnāt think much of Mandy (2018) but I loved it, and although Iāve had Black Rainbow shelved since it was released, I just now got round to viewing and had watched Mandy first & was expecting something equally as good. Black Rainbow felt like it was a practice run for making Mandy, which was a much more developed film. I can understand @Mickey13ās complaints about Mandy, but for me it was a beautiful film that succeeded in going to that dark psychedelic space where Black Rainbow failed, and Iād actually apply @Mickey13ās criticisms of pretentiousness to Black Rainbow rather than Mandy.
Simplistic,modern, and predictable. ( If anything they should have made a sequel to Halloween 2) The soundtrack was excellent, but I felt as though this film has already been made. 7/10.
I tried to watch it several times, but none of my efforts was successful. Itās just one of those movies that donāt do anything for me. I donāt think itās that bad, or that good, or that awful, or anything, it just leaves me cold
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Do you generally like Lynchās other work or do you feel the same about Lynch overall?
Edit: I guess thatās a bit too broad. Lynchās work varies quite a bit and can be divided into different kinds of films, although certainly he is known for the more abstract stuff, which is what I was mainly asking about
Ice Cream Man (1995) - Terrible.
I think Iām going to take a note from @Dean on the good stuff and begin a course of viewing several Kurosawa and Orson Welles films - some that I have yet to watch, and a few favorites I havenāt seen in a while.
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Dialogue, awkward pause, dialogue, awkward pause.
Eraserhead in a nutshell.
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No, I like some of his movies, in particular Blue Velvet, other movies I enjoyed were Mulholland Drive, The Elephant Man and Wild at Heart, the rest of his work doesnāt mean that much to me
Theyāll Love Me When Iām Dead (2018)
New documentary on Netflix about the uncompleted Orson Welles film, The Other Side of the Wind. Fascinating and also heart breaking look at Welles in the last part of his career/life, in relation to various struggles in making this film. Edited in a style which seems to be an homage to Welles, particularly F for Fake, making the doc extremely engaging viewing.
I will now have to followup with The Other Side of the Wind, now released also by Netflix, but I donāt know anything as to how this came about.
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Blue Velvet is his best for me. I think Eraserhead can be fun but you have to be in the mood for it. I prefer it to many of his others. The only other ones I like are The Elephant Man and The Straight Story. Lost Highway is in the āokayā category but it could have been a lot better. Wild at Heart started out okay but ended up pretty daft. It feels like Lynch starts out with good ideas but never knows how to finish them, so he leaves them unfinished. I thought Mulholland Drive was dreadful, especially that pointless scene with the two men discussing a nightmare one of them had and that dumb blacked-up bag lady (or whatever itās supposed to be) gives him the fright of his life. It felt like a student film.
Nobody seems to talk about Lynchās Inland Empire (including The Rabbits sequence). Iāve only watched once, and liked it. -All about Laura Dernās creeping insanity as she investigates the murders surrounding an old Polish film.