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Post by Sneelock on Sept 22, 2020 19:36:45 GMT
guy in Esquire makes his case. guess what? YOU get an opinion too!!!
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Sept 22, 2020 19:40:47 GMT
It's refreshing to read someone praise a Coen brothers' film that isn't the fucking Big Lebowski (how many memes has that film spawned? how many lazy references?) or Fargo
and YES I only saw it last year for the first time, but was really wowed by it. So I voted 'yes'. It's a spectacular film with so much going on, wonderfully plotted and scripted and acted.
'Interestingly' I read something somewhere recently singing the praises of Inside Llewyn Davis, something 'high end', too. I enjoyed that one but it falls a long way short of the others I've mentioned.
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Post by DarknessFish on Sept 22, 2020 20:39:56 GMT
It's probably my favourite film ever, or at least it's my default answer to the question "What's your favourite film?" It has a strange cartoony hard-boiled noir atmosphere, both in dialogue and action (such as Leo's 'Danny Boy' escape from attempted assassination), yet some of the violence is also actually brutal and hard-hitting in a way that many films never manage, particuarly the climactic scene with Tom, The Dane, and Johnny Caspar.
How many gangster films have a homosexual love-triangle as part of the main plot? I also find it really weird that there's no swearing in an 18 rated gangster film, but I guess that's part of being faithful to the look and feel of the source material.
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toomanyhatz
god
I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,241
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Post by toomanyhatz on Sept 22, 2020 21:37:21 GMT
A Serious Man is pretty great too.
Don't know if it's their best, but it's probably their most underrated.
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Post by Sneelock on Sept 22, 2020 22:33:15 GMT
well, it does my heart good to see (as of now) three people think so. For years I cited M.Crossing as their "best" and B.Fink as my favorite. they've racked up a lot of films since then but, like with music, the loves you've had the longest can run the deepest. I'm not sure why I used to make a distinction between "best" & "favorite". I mean, if it's my favorite then I must think it's the best, right? I guess I grew up reading too much David Denby or something. While I love B.Fink I can see why people don't get it. the same way I can see why somebody doesn't want to smoke a bowl and listen to "Eskimo" I saw "Miller's Crossing" in a multi-plex and it was poorly attended. I got my video store job that I talk about too much around this time. everybody who worked there had seen it. Me and one other guy loved it. we could talk about it for hours. I saw a lot of Nick Ray's "Party Girl" and Corman's "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" in it. He saw a lot of "Big Sleep" and "the Conformist". I enjoyed the "movie-magpie" talk, I still do. this doesn't detract from my finding it a mature and personal film. I don't think it's derivative - like I was saying about Scorcese earlier - I think the influences are flourishes.  But, when it's all said and done. I think I like "No Country for Old Men" every bit as much. Paul Newman may have been the star of "Hud" but Melvyn Douglas was it's dramatic center. No Country strikes me as a very similar thing to Hud. T.L. Jones isn't the star but he's the center of the movie. His job and his world has changed gradually but dramatically. He really just can't wrap his head around it any more. His time is passing and he's more or less cool with that. It's easy to sort their movies - fun ones, serious ones and OTHER ones. I think Miller's Crossing & No Country are serious ones and it's nice seeing them both taken seriously. |
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Post by Sneelock on May 23, 2022 15:52:33 GMT
rayge's post about EC's Jerry Lee Lewis movie is certainly good news. BUT it reminded me that you need to read this. rather than hijack HIS thread I'll put this here. Ethan Coen's review of Joel Coen's "Tragedy of Macbeth"
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rayge
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Post by rayge on May 23, 2022 16:37:01 GMT
rayge's post about EC's Jerry Lee Lewis movie is certainly good news. BUT it reminded me that you need to read this. rather than hijack HIS thread I'll put this here. Ethan Coen's review of Joel Coen's "Tragedy of Macbeth"
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Post by A.R. Parsons on May 24, 2022 8:13:06 GMT
No interest in reading the article but I'd say it's up there with their best, though I haven't watched any of their films since that pointless 'True Grit' remake.
Overall I'd rather watch 'Barton Fink' or 'Blood Simple' again.
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Post by DarknessFish on May 24, 2022 8:34:03 GMT
No interest in reading the article but I'd say it's up there with their best, though I haven't watched any of their films since that pointless 'True Grit' remake. Overall I'd rather watch 'Barton Fink' or 'Blood Simple' again. There was a point when I'd have considered myself something of a Coen's fan, but it seems to be a law of diminishing returns after those first few films. After O Brother... (which I do rate), I simply can't be bothered really, they seemed to lose something. There are still moments of style, moments of dialogue, but I just find it difficult to be interested. |
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Post by A.R. Parsons on May 24, 2022 15:10:37 GMT
I really enjoyed 'No Country for Old Men' at the time, moreso than 'O Brother...', but I'm just not much interested in any modern film these days.
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Post by Sneelock on May 26, 2022 15:20:38 GMT
don't worry. there's one thing you can count on - nothing is modern for long.
I liked "True Grit". I like the original too but it has a Disney-esque "Family Film" quality. I think remakes need to have a different sensibility to work for me and that one certainly does. you can practically smell the tobacco and the urine.
my choice for "remake that didn't need to be made" would be "the Ladykillers"
As much as I like "True Grit" I think I like "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (despite the title) even better. This one's not a remake per-se but it sure feels to me like "How the West was Won" Cohen Brothers style.
I was surprised how much I liked that one. like Miller's Crossing it gets in pretty deep. deeper than you expect from a couple of well known movie nerds.
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Post by Sneelock on Apr 2, 2024 17:10:56 GMT
'Interestingly' I read something somewhere recently singing the praises of Inside Llewyn Davis, something 'high end', too. I enjoyed that one but it falls a long way short of the others I've mentioned. I watched it last night. i've given it a couple of false starts. it was nice to finally sit down with it under the full glare of my undivided attention.
I thought it was very good. I'm glad that it seems to be highly regarded because it's pretty tricky. the main character is extremely unsympathetic. we work up some reserved good will to him but it's a pretty slow process. what I really liked about it was how this really is the story. Llewyn Davis is a pretty good folk singer but he's really not sure what motivates him and neither are we.
He's selfish in a bad way but we see that he's not necessarily a BAD person - not irredeemably anyway. He mainly hurts himself. others are willing to forgive him. His reasons for doing what he does really don't seem to have his best interest at heart.
SPOILERS: I really like the beat-down. he richly deserves it and the ending of the film really seems to be that he realizes this. I'm of two minds about the way it is featured both at the beginning and the end of the film.
one way to take it is like Bertolucci's "1900" where you have violence open the film then by the end, when the beginning plays out again - you feel completely different about what you are seeing because of what you've spent a couple of hours watching - it has context. well, that feels right but on another level it feels like a "Groundhog Day" sort of thing. Llewyn is stuck. he seems resigned to it.
this isn't the sort of guy you are accustomed to watching at the center of a movie. it's different. Issac is good precisely because he projects how resigned Llewyn is to his fate. He's an asshole. he's not patient. he hates the folk music scene. He's really not into the folks even as he avails himself of their hospitality. does Llewyn realize he's selling himself short? I think we certainly do. he might not really give a shit about his Dad but at least he makes sure somebody knows he needs help. He feels responsible, even if only intermittently for the cats and for the situation he's put the women in his life in.
I think it is Groundhog Day and Lloyd IS stuck. I don't think he'll get a lucky career break any more than F. Murray Abraham does. here's what I really like about it. Even though I DON'T expect him to get his shit together, I sort of hope that he does. his fellow folkies maybe know him better than he knows himself.
on the other hand, maybe he looks out for the cats and feels guilt about them because he identifies with them. after all, he is behaving like a cat in a whole lot of ways.
I don't really feel any of these things VERY strongly but I feel them all up to a point. I think it's a very unique and human sort of film.
MINOR GRIPES: I respect that almost all of the music is represented from beginning to end but I can't say I really enjoyed most of it. it sets the scene well enough but Nolan Strong and the Diablos whazzes all over the folk stuff IMO.
anyhow, I'd still give it a good solid 9 out of 10 possible bummed cigarettes. Oh, the driving poet and Goodman's junkie jazz player go right to top of the Cohen Brothers major minor character honor roll. Goodman especially.
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Post by Sneelock on Apr 2, 2024 17:14:27 GMT
A Serious Man is pretty great too. Don't know if it's their best, but it's probably their most underrated. that's next up. this one will bring me up to date.( except "Intolerable Cruelty" now that I think about it. I've looked at it but I can't really say I've watched it. ) I can't just sit down and watch a movie anymore. I need to wait for the planets to line up so I can give one my attention. I'm tired of fixating on how HARD this is to do and trying to concentrate on how much it is WORTH Doing. hopefully in the next couple of nights. I can tell it's right up my alley. I promise I'll right a big, long, boring update once I do. I make no promises concerning "Intolerable Cruelty" although I might give in when it's the only Cohen Brothers Movie left. You can tell from others that they've honed some Howard Hawks type chops. |
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Post by davey on Apr 3, 2024 6:54:52 GMT
I remember liking Miller’s Crossing a lot when it came out, but I haven’t seen it since. At this point all I remember vividly is Albert Finney in his bathrobe with a big shit-eating grin shooting off a Tommy Gun (or was it two). Maybe that’s enough to make it their best.
I’m really hit and miss with the Coens, and often the ones I like the least (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Blood Simple, Hail Caesar, O Brother Where Art Thou) are other people’s favorites. Meanwhile my favorites (A Serious Man, The Hudsucker Proxy, Burn After Reading) are often a lot less loved. I DO pretty much go along with the notion that No Country For Old Men is probably their “best,” and Fargo and Lebowski almost as good.
I’d be interested in seeing how Miller’s Crossing sits now. You couldn’t pay me to sit through Barton Fink again.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Apr 3, 2024 8:18:29 GMT
I loved 'Hail Caesar' - very funny and a gorgeous looking film.
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