The first part has a chipper Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) who turns out to be a deadly gunslinger. Nelson is such an odd choice for a gunman which only highlights the comedic surrealism of the Coens. It sets a great tone for the rest of the movie.
A nameless cowboy (James Franco) gets caught in a bank robbery. He's strung up to hang when the posse is massacred by Indians. He's left to die when he is rescued by a cowboy leading some cattle. This seems to be the most obviously funny. Franco does some sly humor.
An Impresario (Liam Neeson) takes his armless, legless charge from settlement to settlement as a sideshow where he reads from the classics. This one is kinda boring and repetitive. The actual act is kinda boring, too.
A prospector (Tom Waits) arrives at a remote creek. He's alone in a place without people. He finds gold flakes in the creek bank. I love the beauty and isolation of this natural setting. There is a zen to his digging and the climatic event starts with an intriguing shadow.
Alice Longabaugh (Zoe Kazan) is with her older brother on a westward bound wagon train. It's a tough journey that culminates with a desperate fight against an Indian war party. This section starts rather bland. It seems like it's going for a slow romance when it suddenly turns into a old-fashion fight against the Indians. The fight is tense but it does reek of old westerns where the Indians are nameless savages.
A stagecoach is carrying five passenger and a dead body. The set is static. This one is the least compelling. With no background, the dialogue is meaningless. It's almost background noise. I don't care about these characters and the reveal has no shock value.
The Coen brothers are doing an anthology western. The movie flips through a book where each chapter is presented as a vignette. The last vignette is the most problematic and perplexing. It has few action beats. I can see the guys loving the dark quirkiness but it's not the one to close with. I'd probably close with The Gal Who Got Rattled and its shootout ending.
A nameless cowboy (James Franco) gets caught in a bank robbery. He's strung up to hang when the posse is massacred by Indians. He's left to die when he is rescued by a cowboy leading some cattle. This seems to be the most obviously funny. Franco does some sly humor.
An Impresario (Liam Neeson) takes his armless, legless charge from settlement to settlement as a sideshow where he reads from the classics. This one is kinda boring and repetitive. The actual act is kinda boring, too.
A prospector (Tom Waits) arrives at a remote creek. He's alone in a place without people. He finds gold flakes in the creek bank. I love the beauty and isolation of this natural setting. There is a zen to his digging and the climatic event starts with an intriguing shadow.
Alice Longabaugh (Zoe Kazan) is with her older brother on a westward bound wagon train. It's a tough journey that culminates with a desperate fight against an Indian war party. This section starts rather bland. It seems like it's going for a slow romance when it suddenly turns into a old-fashion fight against the Indians. The fight is tense but it does reek of old westerns where the Indians are nameless savages.
A stagecoach is carrying five passenger and a dead body. The set is static. This one is the least compelling. With no background, the dialogue is meaningless. It's almost background noise. I don't care about these characters and the reveal has no shock value.
The Coen brothers are doing an anthology western. The movie flips through a book where each chapter is presented as a vignette. The last vignette is the most problematic and perplexing. It has few action beats. I can see the guys loving the dark quirkiness but it's not the one to close with. I'd probably close with The Gal Who Got Rattled and its shootout ending.