Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a Netflix Original Film and was adapted from a book of short stories about the Wild West. Before I watched it I was hoping it would make up for the Coen brothers previous films, Suburbicon and Hail, Cesar! Like those films, this one fell flat. It was practically 6 short films pushed into one film with no real tie to each other other than the era it was set in and the fact that there was a death in each one. Most of the stories were semi-entertaining, specifically the initial one about Buster Scruggs and the second one from the end, The Gal who got Rattled. Still, they weren’t anything to write home about. The best part about it was the cast, which I can say about most Coen Brother films. I was excited to see Tim Blake Nelson (Oh Brother Where Art Thou) featured as Buster Scruggs. It was also cool to see Harry Melling, who plays Dudley Dursley, outside of the Harry Potter films. Overall, this film was only nominated for three minor categories and for good reasons. It’s up for Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design and Original Song. It will not win anything.
Now I’m very vocal about my distaste for sequels. Do we really need a Jurassic World 4? Yeah Tom Holland’s great and all but we already have like 30 Spider-Man movies. The only exception to my rule other than Toy Story 2 is A Star is Born. I love the idea of each movie representing the generation it’s in. What is more 70's than Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand? Every movie is great in its own way and that can definitely be said about Bradley Cooper's directorial debut. It’s up for Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Sam Elliot, Best Actress for Lady Gaga, Best Actor for Bradley Cooper and Best Picture. The only award that it has a real chance in is for Sound Mixing. The mixture of the musical performances, the cheers from crowds and the dialogue was great. The only competition it’ll have for that award is Bohemian Rhapsody. Unfortunately, even though all of the Actors and Actresses deserves their nominations, none of them are strong enough to beat their contenders. Also, the cinematography didn’t grab me while watching the film. Now I loved the movie. I’m counting down the days until the Blu Ray release so I can own it. It’s just not something that I can look back on as being THE BEST movie of the year.
Now onto a category that is a little more light hearted, Best Animated Film. Incredibles 2 was extremely over hyped in my opinion. Pixar always seems to leave their films open ended, like the last scene in Monsters Inc where Boo's shadow appears and you hear “Kitty?” The end of The Incredibles really left it open for a great story about the “Under Miner” who appears at the very last scene of the film. Instead, it was about a villain that takes over the world with mind control. It had interesting themes that are relevant to today, like standing up against the law if you know it is corrupt and wrong. It was cute and I enjoyed watching it but I don’t see it as a clear winner for the category.
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