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Gonna yay this,but after having two absolutely beautiful trailers, the end result of this film feels oddly muted. Each individual scene is luscious, but there's a case of too much going on so that characters don't get much of a chance to sustain their impression after first appearing.
Still, Swinton's super-fun, the Future captures the madcap thrill of Barton Fink's appeal, and the Fiennes and Ehrenreich material remains gold.
Hopefully it'll tie together a bit more on a second viewing later in the year.
I want the Coens to make a feature-length version of No Dames.
Yep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. McGibblets
I have also been walking around the house all weekend saying, "would that it were so simple."
And just cause:
1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. A Serious Man
3. Fargo
4. The Big Lebowski
5. Barton Fink
6. Miller's Crossing
7. No Country for Old Men
8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
9. Hail, Caesar!
10. Raising Arizona
11. The Man Who Wasn't There
12. The Hudsucker Proxy
13. Blood Simple
14. True Grit
15. Burn After Reading
16. Intolerable Cruelty
17. The Ladykillers
While it's nice to see someone else who doesn't hold Blood Simple in the same esteem almost everyone else does, I cannot relate with counting A Serious Man among the Coens' best. Really didn't get much out of that one at all.
I consider The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty, Raising Arizona, and O Brother Where Art Thou? to be their four worst, and I think The Big Lebowski is amazingly overrated....so I'm not holding out much hope for this one.
Yeah, I'll agree. There's a lot of great stuff in it, but muted is a good word for the overall effect (or at least my reaction to it). I liked what I got, but it certainly left me wanting a whole lot more than I got. Some characters barely have enough time to even make much of an impression.Quote:
Originally Posted by dreamdead
If a typical Coen Brothers movie is off-beat, then this was off-off-beat. The moments I loved, I really, really loved (Ralph Fiennes, Dames musical number, Clooney's big moments). But something seemed off about the whole rhythm of the thing. I usually get a sense of exhilarating forward momentum in a Coen Brothers comedy. This one was more of a meandering, although not an unpleasant one. Just ... different. There are a couple of scenes for the ages, but will I be eager to pull this one out and watch it all the way through multiple times like Raising Arizona or O Brother Where Art Thou? I'm not so sure.
I freakin' loved this. This is not lightweight at all. There's no such thing as a "light" Coens film. This is the Coens at their Coeniest. There is a lot to unpack for this film of how the Coens view movies as a theological center with each genre and movie star resembling its own religion. The scene with all the religious leaders is an all time Coen classic.
1. Raising Arizona
2. A Serious Man
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. No Country for Old Men
5. Barton Fink
6. Hail Caesar!
7. The Big Lebowski
8. Miller's Crossing
9. Fargo
10. The Hudsucker Proxy
11. O Brother Where Art Thou
12. Burn After Reading
13. True Grit
14. Blood Simple
15. The Man Who Wasn't There*
16. The Ladykillers
17. Intolerable Cruelty
*needs a serious rewatch
1. Miller's Crossing
2. Blood Simple
3. Fargo
4. The Hudsucker Proxy
5. A Serious Man
6. Everything else (<70/100)
Third to last: Raising Arizona
Second-to-Last: The Ladykillers
Last: Intolerable Cruelty
1. Raising Arizona
2. Fargo
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Barton Fink
6. True Grit
7. Blood Simple
8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
9. Burn After Reading
10. The Hudsucker Proxy
11. Miller's Crossing
12. A Serious Man
13. The Big Lebowski
14. Hail Caesar! (for now...might go up w/ a rewatch)
Haven't Seen: Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers
Fell Asleep: The Man Who Wasn't There
This was amazing. Wats said it right: not lightweight at all, though "understated" is apt - and ironic given its madcap trappings. Richly suggestive thematic interlacing and wonderful character work from Brolin (plus all the ancillary pleasures expected of the bros by now), I'd rank this in their top tier.
I agree with those who said it feels oddly rudderless and unable to establish a groove between scenes (even if it finds them within them), and I'm not sure after they've managed many home-runs in recent years this will stack up as leaving as much of an impression as anything else in their last ten years, but when it's at its best (the sequences pretty much already mentioned, though I'll throw even more praise to anything Ehrenreich is involved in) it's really, genuinely delightful. I just don't think it comes together half as well as it needs to. I was all for the dangling threads doing just that if they eventually trickled down to touch a similar platform, but I feel like I left a lot of them are still hanging up there back at the theatre. The last scene in particular just doesn't work for me, and not just because of the kinda crappy-looking effect throwing to the credits.
I had the passing thought recently about how P.T. Anderson and Cohen films have seem to fill in the tonal and stylistic blanks between each other recently, and this is especially Inherent Vice-y when it wants to be. Made me want to jump back into that also-divisive L.A. period movie with kidnappings, secret societies, and Josh Brolin roughing people up and making angry phone calls at home.
And having finally seen it makes that recent SNL monologue Jonah Hill did (which according to the internet was an episode only I enjoyed) even funnier to me. "I recently starred in Hail, Caesar!..'s trailer."
I'm definitely really glad I saw it, I just wish it had felt a little more remarkable.
Amazing film. The Coens have a way of subtly enveloping an audience with their stories so as to soften the effect how thematically heavy their scripts can be. Like Wats says, I found the religious scene not only Coens comedy gold, but a subtle commentary about their approach to different genres. I loved that we never saw the face of the actor who plays Jesus. I also loved the precise casting even for tiny roles - Christopher Lambert as the German director was inspired.
As some of you might already know, the brothers are my favorite directors alive after Scorsese and I find it remarkable how their craft never gets stale or how they manage to talk about their favorite themes and write their unique brand of humor and yet deliver a completely different film everytime.
And because I want to be one with the cool kids:
1. The Big Lebowski (might not be the absolute best one but it's the one I love the most)
2. The Man Who Wasn't There
3. The Hudsucker Proxy
4. Barton Fink
5. Miller's Crossing
6. Inside Llewyn Davis
7. A Serious Man
8. Fargo
9. Hail, Caesar!
10. Raising Arizona
11. O Brother Where Art Thou?
12. No Country for Old Men
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13. True Grit
14. Burn After Reading
15. Blood Simple
16. Intolerable Cruelty
17. The Ladykillers
The dotted line is where they stop being fucking masterpieces.
Easily bottom three Coens, alongside Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. May even be the worst, but I have no interest in revisiting any of those three ever again. Just a bunch of cameos in search of a plot, or a laugh, or even something thought-provoking. It's a big, broad, mirthless mess.
Pure waste of time, energy, and talent. Even the good stuff (like the Channing Tatum dance number) is overwritten and driven into the ground.
Every scene played like a deleted extra on a Blu-ray SE. At first you wonder why they cut it, then you realize it serves no purpose.
Edit: Also, these dudes seriously need to stop hiring Ellen Chenoweth to do their casting.
What? Regardless of your general feelings towards the film, the casting is nothing short of perfect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish