Tom Waits In the Coen Brothers’ New Movie, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by hbbfam, Jul 26, 2018.

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  1. Somewhat Damaged

    Somewhat Damaged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    RE: Ken_McAlinden's spoiler for the last story.

    I considered that (mainly due to the horseman who won't stop and the fake looking set at the end) but I dismissed it as too obvious and hacky. I think the Coens are too clever and inventive for something as trite as that. Perhaps I'm giving them too much credit. Would that mean the bounty hunters are dead as well?
     
  2. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    Hadn't seen Tom Waits' name mentioned in relation to this movie 'til I saw this thread just now. Does he have a big role?

    Also, anyone know what happened to the Hulu tv show 'Citizen' that he was supposed to be starring in? It sounded pretty interesting..."Citizen" - New Show on Hulu (Tom Waits to star)
     
  3. He's the lead in one of the segments.
     
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  4. daglesj

    daglesj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    Watched it last night.

    It was...okay.

    Not exactly uplifting.
     
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  5. daglesj

    daglesj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    I was expecting a really good sour twist at the end of Meal Ticket but it didn't happen.

    Oh well.
     
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  6. Spitfire

    Spitfire Senior Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    It was just okay. Story 5 was the best
     
  7. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Lol
     
  8. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Every watched it again last night and enjoyed it even more. I think I’ll re-rank them.

    I like 1, 5, 3, 4, 2, 6

    I still like the homicidal cowboy for fun. Even though I get bored during parts of the girl who got rattled it’s a good little mini movie (Even though there is a major directorial blunder surrounding the surprise ending, they really needed a reaction shot from the girl before the surprise ) At first I hated meal ticket but this time around I saw it as tragic as it was and I’m rating it much higher For it’s pure balls— It’s kind of their version of the grunting revenant. Although there is not a lot going on in “gold canyon” I really enjoyed the Cohen brothers pean to naturalistic filmmaking I think it’s a really nice little peace about a man alone in the wilderness. The James Franco episode was fun to although it’s a little loose so it Move down. And I think the stage coach piece just doesn’t work.
     
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  9. Spitfire

    Spitfire Senior Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    I thought 1 was pretty good until the end. Not much of an ending if you ask me.
     
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  10. englishbob

    englishbob has left the SH Forums...19/05/2023

    Location:
    Kent, England
    I loved all of it, great stuff. Not going to bother grading parts of it. See it as a whole.
     
  11. Captain Groovy

    Captain Groovy Senior Member

    Location:
    Freedonia, USA
    LOVED it, loved the whole thing.

    Only "complaint" was there was so much to think about after each segment, the impact for me was "I have to rewatch this one its own" again.

    I thought Buster was going be our narrator - not his own story - but as poster mentioned above it was like an insane cartoon in a way. Great first part.

    I agree with everyone else pretty much that upon first pass - yes, story 5 is... yes, the "best". Not the most fun, but as a stand-alone, its a must see just for that episode.

    I especially enjoyed #2, and thought it had plenty to say and the zippiness and seeming pointlessness of it all was the point. That's rough justice for ya. The interpretation of the Bill of Rights back then as the Coens lay it out.

    I think this film wins big time - I am so glad they made this. Obvious why they left Part 6 as the last one - because that's the one where we're all going to come to different conclusions on - and that's likely how they wanted it.

    I also LOVE the made-up Yiddish "going nowhere" short on top of A Serious Man. Buster Scruggs more than lived up to what I hoped for.

    I should have just seen it in the theater on the big screen - I DID watch on a large TV in 5.1, despite Netflix fighting me on my download speed and telling me I had to watch in stereo - I worked it.

    Upon first pass - my guess on Number 6 (and I'm not sure there IS a right answer):

    The guys were indeed soul collectors - a different kind of "Bounty Hunter" - in fact not sure that the guys ever say they are bounty hunters - another character says it I believe and they say something like "Sort of".

    Likely hunting the wicked - and the final line of the book does say its The Trapper who lays down, never speaking a word again...

    My assumption is Tyne Daly was destroyed by her own philosophies, things she likely did that did not jive with who she wanted the world to see her as - and the doubt about love - it all killed her right there, internally, but she was REVIVED.

    The smile, the smack of the hat - I think Saul Rubenek (French guy) was the only one to get away clean after the night was over.

    Jeff
     
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  12. chumlie

    chumlie Forum Resident

  13. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Gee, we had a lot of fun watching all six segments, only one we thought was weak was the one joke one (#2). Look up the song the guy sings to the "Marty Robbins" tune in the last one in wikipedia, I was surprised to learn of its origins.
     
  14. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    i've never been totally sold on tom waits as a straight-up movie actor, but i think he is truly excellent in this. i believed him as that character.

    can't say the same for franco. man he's a bad actor.
     
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  15. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Tom Waits is one of the three bank robbers with Jeff Bridges in "Bad Times At The El Royale" movie.
     
  16. GeetarFreek

    GeetarFreek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    I watched it last nite, I really enjoyed it! Just nice and wacky but dark, typical Coens.

    My order of preference

    4,5, 3,2,1,6
     
  17. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    [​IMG]
    Mr. Waits as "The Prospector".
     
  18. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    Love the Coen Brothers. Watched it on Netflix. It's a series of western themed vignettes, but nothing else to tie it all together. A weak effort.
    The first segment with Tim Blake Nelson was surreal farce, with a twist. The second segment with James Franco kept the theme going, with a dark, gag ending. The Tom Waits segment was the best, visually beautiful enough to be interesting. The Liam Neeson segment was too drawn out. The last two were stylistically reminicent of their excellent remake of Rooster Cogburn, but did not hold my interest through to the end. I fast-forwarded halfway through both segments, and would not watch it again.
     
  19. englishbob

    englishbob has left the SH Forums...19/05/2023

    Location:
    Kent, England
    Yes

    No
     
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  20. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    damn, I thought so. I said to the wife, "Man, that guy sure looked like Tom"
     
  21. 93curr

    93curr Senior Member

    Couldn't disagree more - I think that would have ruined it. We got the scene earlier where she was arguing for an ambiguous approach to life instead of the pointless certaintly she had been brought up with and that worked brilliantly as foreshadowing of her motivation. To actually watch her take action would not only have robbed the audience of connecting those dots themselves, it also would have dulled the shock of the reveal.

    By the fifth story, the audience was already prepared for death to be introduced so, prety much as soon as she was propesed to, we knew that at least one of them wasn't much longer for this world - it was just a question of who would give up the ghost (as someone whose only response to "will you marry me?" was "do you engage in divine worship?" would probably like it to be put).
     
  22. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    Why go to the theater ? It's showing on Netflix!
     
  23. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I know. Theater aren't that GREAT anymore at multiplexes, and ever since TVs got HUGE. Who cares about a theater vs a 60" or so TV? One the story starts, I forget all about the damn screen.
     
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  24. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    At home, it's more comfortable, no chattering, no cell phones, no people munching on food...the list is endless.
     
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  25. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    I believe it was in theater first. We started it last night and are 3/4 of the way
     
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