yeah c'mon
― Sufjan Grafton, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
ehhhh i dunno, there are some great scenes and bits and moments, but it really didn't hang together for me. the late introduction of clooney's motivation re: his wife and family felt like a misstep - either weave that into the plot, or plant your flag firmly on it being an episodic, picaresque ramble where nothing has to add up to a real conclusion. i also felt like the racial politics were clumsily-handled, or at the least that they seemed a little too at-ease deploying the KKK as alternately a legit source of terror and a bunch of comic buffoons.
― ✓ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:23 (seven years ago) link
yeah, it's really uneven, as is the whole '90s for me
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:26 (seven years ago) link
the best sorta-straightup comedy they made post-Arizona is Intolerable Cruelty.
(i don't consider ASM to be that, quite)
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:28 (seven years ago) link
No Country, with Fargo a close second.The only Coen Brothers films I didn't care for altogether were The Hudsucker Proxy and The Man Who Wasn’t There. Never saw The Ladykillers.
― Jazzbo, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:28 (seven years ago) link
pretty much hate all the Clooney movies at this point
― Number None, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:32 (seven years ago) link
Voted for O Brother. I think all their films I've seen are uneven, but O Brother has the usual amount of great scenes + that amazing digital cinematography that still seemed really fresh in 2000, but felt tired and dull in Llewyn Davis for instance.
― Frederik B, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:33 (seven years ago) link
only seen three of those
no country was...not good
first half of inside llewyn davis was good, but i liked it more for personal reasons. as a whole, compared to other movies, i don't think it would do well
true grit was really good (haven't seen the original though)
― i n f i n i t y (∞), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:37 (seven years ago) link
Well that's one vote for True Grit then.
― insidious assymetrical weapons (Eric H.), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:40 (seven years ago) link
I'm pretty sure I voted Miller's Crossing in the previous poll. The last six are a great run, but I'll stick with my original vote.
― 20-lol pileup (WilliamC), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:41 (seven years ago) link
i'm not voting because i haven't seen enough of their movies
i usually watch a movie more than once if i really like it
weirdly enough i never got around to watching true grit a second time
― i n f i n i t y (∞), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:46 (seven years ago) link
alfred otm, that's an incredible run, so focused and furious and funny all the way through, same themes of duty and desire and pointlessness chipped away from so many different directions (i still haven't seen the folk music one)
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:52 (seven years ago) link
something in Burn After Reading pops into my head most weeks, easy vote, although tt keeps telling me ILD is the best one (not seen)
― imago, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:53 (seven years ago) link
and I don't even like every one of those movies. I used to wince when friends in the '90s insisted on their genius, but lately they've relaxed (or I've learned to enjoy hem): in the last decade these films have been accomplished distallation of their obsessions.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 May 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
i think this is miller's xing tho. the best example of their best and curiously under-commented-upon quality, intense focus on language and the frustrations of communicating.
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
BAR is the best movie about america at war under bush
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:56 (seven years ago) link
so v otm. i've still never seen O Brother, Ladykillers or Caesar. i don't feel like i'm missing a whole lot?
O Brother has fans (not me) but Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty are the only ones with no redeeming qualities. Hail Caesar is not their best, but it's fun and has a few showstoppers; tonally it's Intolerable Cruelty done right (ie. deliberately frothy and star-powered). Also the jokes are better.
Voted Miller's Crossing - I don't think it puts a foot wrong, whereas Serious Man looses some oomph in the last half hour (although not the last five minutes). Watched Fargo recently and it felt duller and crueller than I remember.
Burn After Reading has the amazing cock bicycle.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 15 May 2017 16:59 (seven years ago) link
i though intolerable cruelty was great
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:01 (seven years ago) link
Should rewatch, I've seen it defended on here a few times!
Saw it on a date, no laughs, felt awkward.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:04 (seven years ago) link
man never go on a movie date
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:05 (seven years ago) link
Rex Rexroth: Have you sat before her before?Miles Massey: No. No, the judge sits first. Then we sit.Rex Rexroth: Well, have you sat after her before?Wrigley: Sat after her before? You mean, have we argued before her before?Miles Massey: The judge sits in judgment. The counsel argues before the judge.Rex Rexroth: So, have you argued before her before?Wrigley: Before her before, or before she sat before?Rex Rexroth: Before her before. I said, before her before.Wrigley: No, you said before she sat before.Rex Rexroth: I did at first, but...Miles Massey: Look, don't argue.Rex Rexroth: I'm not. I'm...Wrigley: No, you don't argue. We argue.Miles Massey: Counsel argues.Wrigley: You appear.Miles Massey: The judge sits.Wrigley: Then you sit.Miles Massey: Or you stand in contempt.Wrigley: And then we argue.Miles Massey: The counsel argues.Rex Rexroth: Which you've done before.Miles Massey: Which we've done before.Rex Rexroth: Ah.Wrigley: But not before her.
they produced and marketed this as a straightahead romcom. you have to admire to the troll.
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:06 (seven years ago) link
otm, their best Sturges by far.
― devvvine, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:08 (seven years ago) link
yeah Fargo was worth the watch but always felt strangely overrated. looking back I don't believe i saw IC, either. that whole post-Lebowski, pre-No Country is blind spot for me
certainly willing to give O Brother a shot. i think at the time i might have just put off by everybody and their great aunt obsessing over it and the soundtrack.
― constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:09 (seven years ago) link
Hail Caesar worth it just for the gloss and color, and the Fiennes/Ehrenreich scene imho. Plenty of it doesn't land, but as a Kentucky Fried Movie style assemblage of strung-together sketches, it's got a decent hit/miss ratio.
― ✓ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:15 (seven years ago) link
https://s30.postimg.org/61cjao7v5/aseriousman298.jpg
― devvvine, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:22 (seven years ago) link
It's a shame Stuhlbarg's first lead role will be the best he ever gets
― Number None, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:25 (seven years ago) link
lol @ that still
― Οὖτις, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
srs man, so good
its the equal of fargo + lebowski imo, difficult to choose among those 3
― johnny crunch, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
I'm torn between A Serious Man, Lebowski, Miller's Crossing and Inside Llewyn Davis
― Οὖτις, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:35 (seven years ago) link
Only one of those films has Sy Ableman in it.
― devvvine, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:37 (seven years ago) link
I missed A SERIOUS MAN when it came out, but I've seen lots of ppl cite that as the best of their 21st century work, if not their best ever. Still need to see it. Voted BLOOD SIMPLE in its place. Sweet, simple, small movie with so many of their tics already on display.
― flappy bird, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:38 (seven years ago) link
serious man and lebowski
I think the coens hit their peaks when they get to tell shaggy dog stories
― iatee, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:41 (seven years ago) link
yeah, women tend not to like ruthless comedy
(oh boy, now i'm in fer it)
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:42 (seven years ago) link
Almost impossible to choose, good 6 or 7 which I could vote for. I hope there's some love for Hudsucker Proxy if only for the jobs board scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfw1WfpYzJ4
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:45 (seven years ago) link
no country is still my choice
― Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:47 (seven years ago) link
wtf morbs?
― ✓ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 15 May 2017 18:00 (seven years ago) link
I love Hudsucker Proxy but don't think it's their best
― Οὖτις, Monday, 15 May 2017 18:01 (seven years ago) link
intolerable cruelty and o brother are both sturges efforts imo
o brother is classic simply as a lyrical effort, in the same way that tennyson doesnt need to mean anything greater than the sounds of the words fitting together the way they do
intolerable cruelty is tight, neat, spot on
― spud called maris (darraghmac), Monday, 15 May 2017 18:14 (seven years ago) link
immediately voted serious man
like everyone is saying their run from 2008 is just terrific. i don't like no country very much tho, despite brolin and jones both being v good. feels like a leaden fargo retread with a much less interesting approach to evil. i blame this on the reliably hokey mccarthy.
hail caesar is not so much underrated as underinterpreted -- it's not just a grab-bag. and i love the hollywood diptych it forms w barton fink. a miserable prewar leftist --> a fulfilled postwar authoritarian. at capital pictures of course. feel like the structuring absence in the middle of this trilogy is a movie about reagan with the first motion picture unit.
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 15 May 2017 18:19 (seven years ago) link
well yeah, I think the movie that literally takes its title from Sturges might be in some way indebted to him
Clooney is no Joel McCrea though
― Number None, Monday, 15 May 2017 18:20 (seven years ago) link
oh caesar totally has themes and stuff, i just think as a viewing experience it lives and dies on a string of incidents and situations that brolin encounters, and some of those are brilliant and others are just kinda there or feel like "aha, and here's (actor), ladies and gentlemen!" just imo.
― ✓ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 15 May 2017 18:32 (seven years ago) link
xp ah here now
― spud called maris (darraghmac), Monday, 15 May 2017 18:40 (seven years ago) link
DLH was looking at me.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 May 2017 19:01 (seven years ago) link
Rex Rexroth: Have you sat before her before?
for some reason the witness in this scene ("mais, bien sur!" "no maybes") is the baron kurtz from the third man. they even have him say "a man must live" to make it definite. it's v random.
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 15 May 2017 19:19 (seven years ago) link
Definitely harder than last time. What a body of work.
Would it be weird to vote for The Man Who Wasn't There?
― chap, Monday, 15 May 2017 19:31 (seven years ago) link
yes, but I think it's underrated
― Number None, Monday, 15 May 2017 19:33 (seven years ago) link
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 15, 2017 9:01 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
so many opportunities right? so much meta without having to force it. the warehouse-sized scale model of japan. reagan driving around in full uniform, saluting stagehands, getting flipped off. the liberation of auschwitz.
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 15 May 2017 19:38 (seven years ago) link
You could make the case for many of these, but I think Fargo is as close to a perfect film as they'll ever make, for reasons Ebert outlined in his No Country review:
Many of the scenes in "No Country for Old Men" are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was "Fargo." To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another.
― Evan R, Monday, 15 May 2017 20:28 (seven years ago) link
I really love The Man Who Wasn't There, despite thinking it goes off the rails somewhere near the end. I couldn't make an argument for it being their best.
― I don't really like any of these albums (Dan Peterson), Monday, 15 May 2017 20:44 (seven years ago) link
that might be my least favorite? at least, it made no emotional mark on me at all. i saw it in the theater and never revisited.
― goole, Monday, 15 May 2017 21:06 (seven years ago) link
Though I was raised religious and Gen-x is not far from that generation to be fair.
― o. nate, Saturday, 24 February 2024 02:18 (three months ago) link
I think I mentioned this once or twice, but I used to know their cousin, who once told me that if you knew their family growing up, everything about all their movies makes so much sense.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 February 2024 02:24 (three months ago) link
Anyway, having seen Drive-Away Dolls, a fun fillip. (84 minutes! I was well inclined for that alone!) My sis and her crew of friends will absolutely love the shit out of it and I told her as much.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 February 2024 17:27 (three months ago) link
Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing are still their best work IMO. Maybe I'm old.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 24 February 2024 19:28 (three months ago) link
I only saw Barton Fink for the first time a few years ago, one of the last of their films I hadn't seen, and was blown away. Possibly even their best, which is crazy that it took me so many years to get to, but I guess with them you never know what will click
― Vinnie, Saturday, 24 February 2024 22:04 (three months ago) link
Loved Barton Fink. Which makes it odd to me that A Serious Man felt flat. And I'm Jewish, though not from the Midwest or lived in that era.
Miller's Crossing was also incredible but very different in tone and setting than much of their other films. It's not "iconic" like so many others so it gets lost in the weeds. Need to watch it again!
― octobeard, Saturday, 24 February 2024 23:00 (three months ago) link
I grew up around Minneapolis in the early 70s and my dad went to high school in the town where A Serious Man takes place (St. Louis Park), so it definitely worked for me in personal ways (same with Fargo and The Hold Steady).― paisley got boring (Eazy)
― paisley got boring (Eazy)
I grew up in SLP (though I am not Jewish, half of my friend group was), graduated from Park having studied cinema with the guy who also taught the Coens, and even the names of certain characters in ASM made me laugh hard because of town lore, etc. Plus I can find my friend Avrom being an extra in the temple scenes. My mom and her siblings also went to Park, which class was your dad in, Eazy?
ASM, Fargo both favourites of mine. Loved Barton Fink when it came out, but like others, it’s been a while since I watched it.
― steely flan (suzy), Saturday, 24 February 2024 23:20 (three months ago) link
I saw Barton Fink way late in the game too, and it didn’t exactly click all that often but John Goodman’s fiery rampage did sear itself
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Sunday, 25 February 2024 17:42 (three months ago) link
Plus I can find my friend Avrom being an extra in the temple scenes. My mom and her siblings also went to Park, which class was your dad in, Eazy?
(belated reply!)
'55 or '56? He then joined the Peace Corps in the early 60s and lived abroad for almost a decade before returning with my pregnant mom...and then I was born in St. Louis Park (but grew up in Burnsville).
― paisley got boring (Eazy), Saturday, 16 March 2024 19:07 (two months ago) link
Also (to suzy) the Red Owl scene in A Serious Man was the one that most connected with my early-70s memories there, though I did go with my parents once to their marriage counselor who was in a strip mall at Excelsior and Hwy 100.
― paisley got boring (Eazy), Saturday, 16 March 2024 19:09 (two months ago) link