Xixax Film Forum

The Director's Chair => The Director's Chair => Topic started by: Satcho9 on January 09, 2003, 03:50:07 PM

Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on January 09, 2003, 03:50:07 PM
My personal fav. is The Big Lebowski, but I truly do love all of their movies like my own bastardized children.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Xixax on January 09, 2003, 03:52:37 PM
Each of them have their own little charm. It's hard to know which I prefer more than others.

I do think my least favorite is "Man Who Wasn't There". I was expecting something more after the greatness of OBWAT...
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on January 09, 2003, 03:57:52 PM
"Fargo" followed very closely by "Blood Simple." Least fave (although still good): "O Brother..." And "Hudsucker" is an underrated gem.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Tommy Both on January 09, 2003, 04:01:03 PM
"or El Duderino if you're not into that whole brevity thing..."
BIG LEBOWSKI FOR PRESIDENT!!

:P
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: picolas on January 09, 2003, 05:48:22 PM
my favourites

i really liked The Man Who Wasn't There. it had a very nice, rambling-monology story. Ed Crane is one of their best characters. Fargo's just really sweet movie making. funny, tragic, and i can feel (feel, feee-eel) Macy's burning regret every time i watch it. Hudsucker is gooold. the most cartoony Coen film...Blood Simple's one of the most gruesome films i've ever seen, but it's truly great wondering what happens after it's over. damn. the last time i watched the Big Lebowski i finally came to the realization that it's a perfect movie. really, there's absolutely nothing in it short of fantasmical anywhere.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Xixax on January 09, 2003, 06:35:15 PM
Quote from: picolasthere's absolutely nothing in it short of fantasmical anywhere.
What was the deal with Jesus? He had no purpose. Comic relief, maybe.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: picolas on January 09, 2003, 06:42:51 PM
Quote from: Michael Wilson
What was the deal with Jesus? He had no purpose. Comic relief, maybe.

he filled the derangedbowlingalleygoer/sexoffender-shaped hole in the movie, thus making him essential!
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ElPandaRoyal on January 09, 2003, 07:01:30 PM
The Biiiig Lebowski is my absolute favourite Coen Brothers movie and one of my favourite movies ever. There are scenes there I can watch so many times, so many fucking times and never get bored. Jeff Bridges is perfect casting, John Goodman gave one of my favourite performances in movie history (yeah, I said it!!), then there are Julianne Moore, Bez Gazzara, Steve Buscemi (whose performance I find funnier every time I see it) and an also unbelieveble Philip Seymour Hoffman as Brandt (there's this laugh he gives after Bunny says "I'll suck your cock for a thousand dollars that just cracks me up).....

Well, that said, I guess the only movie from them that I really didn't LOVE (which doesn't necessarily make it a bad movie) is "O Brother..."
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: life_boy on January 09, 2003, 09:22:41 PM
I love 'Barton Fink'.  Beautiful cinematography and a great performance by one of the most under-utilized actors, John Turturro.  I liked the slower pacing too.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on January 10, 2003, 12:21:19 AM
I love Barton Fink, it's a shame I have to watch it on shitty VHS...Any plans to release this on DVD?
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: life_boy on January 10, 2003, 04:33:24 AM
I've heard of plans for a DVD release but I don't know of any dates.  All I've heard is the talk.

They mention it at this site (along with 'Miller's Crossing' and SE 'Raising Arizona'); go down to the date 6/25/02.   There's another mention of it more recently in a long list of titles on 12/4/02.   http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html

I know its not much at all, but I like to check this site every once in a while to see what's cooking.  At least it's being talked about.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: phil marlowe on January 10, 2003, 07:55:22 AM
That IS a huge bunny.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: RegularKarate on January 10, 2003, 11:16:59 AM
My favorite is Lebowski ("Your name's Lebowski Lebowski")

For Christmas, my wife gave me Big Lebowski on DVD, a bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Kahlua and yes, I watched it and drank white russians that night and it was awesome.

My least favorite is probably Barton Fink.  Just cuz.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Newtron on January 10, 2003, 11:21:08 AM
Raising Arizona before Lebowski.

Now I'm glad that the dude abides.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Pwaybloe on January 10, 2003, 11:32:14 AM
Quote from: Phil MarloweThat IS a huge bunny.

Sorry to break the train of thought around here, but I've been thinking the same damn thing.  It's not just some petstore rabbit that has been overfed, it's an actual giant.  Look at its head!

There's not much sport in hunting those things, cause you'd never miss.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: bob on January 10, 2003, 02:32:12 PM
that's the same type of bunny they use on the teletubbies.  did you know the teletubbies are like 9 feet tall?

o brother is the best coen.  hands down
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on January 10, 2003, 10:38:14 PM
Quote from: MacGuffinLeast fave (although still good): "O Brother..."

Yeah, I never really liked that movie actually. Fargo is great, but my favorite might have to be The Man Who Wasn't There. I just love that movie so much.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: sphinx on January 11, 2003, 02:20:14 PM
mogwai, i think i speak on behalf of world when i say 'thank you for changing your avatar'.   :wink:

(this aggression will not stand)
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on January 12, 2003, 09:11:29 PM
Quote from: PawbloeSorry to break the train of thought around here, but I've been thinking the same damn thing.  It's not just some petstore rabbit that has been overfed, it's an actual giant.  Look at its head!

I agwee. That is one big wabbit.  :splat:

Nice to have you back Pawbloe.*

*I'm still a communist, and there's nothing you can do about it! Hahahahahaha!
Title: I love them all!
Post by: Sigur Rós on January 17, 2003, 05:00:05 AM
I love all of the movies! But The Big Lebowski is possibly the worlds funniest "thing shown on a screen"!!!
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: budgie on January 17, 2003, 10:03:13 AM
For drama and ideas, The Man Who Wasn't There. For comedy, The Big Lebowski, which if I ever see showing in a cinema I will run to. Both are so visually breathtaking, every frame of The Man, and the shots of BBT's face, knock me out. Similarly the fantasy bowling scene in Lebowski.

I love O Brother. What's wrong with it?

Least favourite (of the ones I've seen) is Miller's Crossing. Blah.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Duck Sauce on January 17, 2003, 01:09:20 PM
Quote from: budgie

Least favourite (of the ones I've seen) is Miller's Crossing. Blah.

I second the Blah
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: sphinx on January 17, 2003, 10:19:05 PM
anybody seen raising arizona?  i haven't found it in a video store ever, but i have heard rumors of a super-duper SE.  fargo rumors were smelled miles away from the mill about a year ago, apparently the cover art was going be that hysterically funny teaser poster than has the knitted landscape with blood on it.  this SE has since been put on the backburner and i don't think we'll see it for a while
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Redlum on January 18, 2003, 05:18:21 AM
The Fargo SE is out Region 2 on march 31st from MGM.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.playserver4.com%2Fcovers%2F2100m.jpg&hash=6083367e3cfb8bf7999a5ad76ac2ed564e0d429d)

*Special Features To Be Confirmed...
New Documentary: 'Minnesota Nice' - an insight into the peculiarities of the region
Interview with the Coen brothers
Audio Commentary 1 with Producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Audio Commentary 2 with Director of Photography Roger Deakins
The Coen brothers repertory company - interactive guide focusing on regular collaborators Turturro, Goodman, and McDormand
Photo Galleries with rare pictures from the set
Trivia Tracks
American Cinematographer article with detailed behind the scenes insights
Trailers & TV Spots
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: sphinx on January 18, 2003, 12:05:00 PM
grumbumbumble.....two commentary tracks, neither of them from the brothers themselves, even when they opted to do one for tmwwt and had a great time doing it.  oh well, an SE is better than nothing.  I suppose it'll work it's way to region 1 sometime soon after...
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on January 18, 2003, 03:36:29 PM
On IMDB.com there is a documentary called Minnesotta Nice (sic) and it stars the Coen Bros. and the whole cast of Fargo. I was wondering if this was going to be put on a DVD or what. It just seems like it would be an interesting watch.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on January 18, 2003, 04:28:22 PM
Quote from: Satcho9On IMDB.com there is a documentary called Minnesotta Nice (sic) and it stars the Coen Bros. and the whole cast of Fargo. I was wondering if this was going to be put on a DVD or what. It just seems like it would be an interesting watch.

Go back up to redlum's post and this time read it.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on January 18, 2003, 07:07:06 PM
Oh, sorry, no need for a redirect.
Title: Raising Arizona
Post by: Tommy Both on January 19, 2003, 03:29:09 PM
Raising Arizona: Rented it at me library and it BLEW me away. Didn't know it was THAT good. This film definetely entered my Coens top 3 last night. Only big lebowski and fargo toppin' it, of course Barton Fink and Blood simple were great too, I guess they round out my top 5.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2F6305499128.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg&hash=15315badb4ef58953f4cf0d1de8a334ffc60eec2)
Title: coens mom
Post by: pappys defender on January 26, 2003, 02:25:26 AM
i am w. lee o'daniels great grandson. i have just seen o' brother. i am mad. the misrepresentation by the coen "visionary" makes me want to turn into a litigous toad. my name is sean devereaux wrather. i needed to vent, and if i ever see a coen i'm going to make what goodman did to those three look tame.................i will be in l.a for three weeks starting feb. 14 so it might be a good idea to take a vacation otherwise he and i will talk. maybe i'll just make up stuff about those creeps relatives that can't defend themselves
Title: Re: coens mom
Post by: sphinx on January 26, 2003, 02:47:13 AM
Quote from: pappys defenderi am w. lee o'daniels great grandson. i have just seen o' brother. i am mad. the misrepresentation by the coen "visionary" makes me want to turn into a litigous toad. my name is sean devereaux wrather. i needed to vent, and if i ever see a coen i'm going to make what goodman did to those three look tame.................i will be in l.a for three weeks starting feb. 14 so it might be a good idea to take a vacation otherwise he and i will talk. maybe i'll just make up stuff about those creeps relatives that can't defend themselves

you can't hide from the ip police, bickle
Title: Re: coens mom
Post by: picolas on January 26, 2003, 02:09:31 PM
Quote from: sphinxyou can't hide from the ip police, bickle

that wasn't very sporting...two secrets given away today...
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: sphinx on January 26, 2003, 02:16:51 PM
actually, my above post isn't true.  find out more in the place with the secrets...
Title: ...
Post by: Kaldhaedni on February 07, 2003, 11:58:34 AM
Blood Simple and the Man Who wasn´t there are my fav's but I think Fargo kind of doesn´t get the atention it deserves anymore.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SHAFTR on February 07, 2003, 12:05:33 PM
I like The Big Lewbowski, Fargo and Raising Arizona.  In that order.

I really didn't like O Brother Where Art Thou, so much that the I never got thru it.  I own the Man Who Wasn't There (won it) and I watched it once, liked it but haven't got around to watching it again.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Raikus on February 07, 2003, 12:08:47 PM
I'm going to have to say Raising Arizona is my favorite. It was the first Coen Brothers movie I saw and has always had that special place in my heart. Next would be Fargo, followed by Man Who Wasn't There, followed by Big Lewbowski.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Duck Sauce on February 07, 2003, 12:14:56 PM
My least favorite are Barton Fink, Millers Crossing and Blood Simple.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Pedro on February 14, 2003, 12:01:11 AM
A tie between The Man Who Wasn't There and Fargo...it's hard to choose from that.  I must admit, however, and I will get shit for this...the Big Lebowski is my least favorite Coen Brothers film.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Cecil on February 14, 2003, 12:03:33 AM
wait until rk sees that. you are in a world of pain, mister
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Ghostboy on February 14, 2003, 12:36:23 AM
I love all their films, but Miller's Crossing and Big Lebowski are my least favorite. My top three would have to be Fargo, Raising Arizona and Barton Fink, but it's really hard to play favorites with any pieces of their oveure. Truly brilliant, those boys are. I was heartbroken when their adaptation of To The White Sea with Brad Pitt fell through...that book is so good, and it would have been such a great film for them to make.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: RegularKarate on February 14, 2003, 12:28:55 PM
Quote from: Pedro the Wombat...the Big Lebowski is my least favorite Coen Brothers film.

You must not have a soul... or a sense of humor... or taste.

Those are things you should get, then see the movie again.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: oakmanc234 on February 16, 2003, 01:52:12 AM
'O Brother Where Art Thou' would have to be my favourite. So damn entertaining. I love 'The Big Lebowski' though. Bridges was perfect and Goodman cracks me up everytime ('Shut the f*** up Donny!', 'Do you see what happens Larry when you f*** a stranger in the ass!!!') and 'Fargo' was pure brilliance (Buscemi was excellent) but 'O Brother' tops my list. 'Man Who Wasn't There' is a very fine film but I wouldn't watch that film a billion times like I do with 'Brother' 'Lebowski' and 'Fargo' (I couldn't even sit through 'Man' once).
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Ernie on February 19, 2003, 10:09:29 PM
I love Lebowski, O Brother, and Raising Arizona. Those are definitely my favorites. They never will get old for me, I just love them.

I also really like Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There, and Blood Simple.

I hate Fargo.

I haven't seen Miller's Crossing or The Hudsucker Proxy.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: BonBon85 on February 19, 2003, 10:17:14 PM
I know this probably sounds weird, but Hudsucker Proxy's probably my favorite. My least favorite is O Brother, but I haven't watched it in a while and I think it deserves a second chance.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Recce on February 20, 2003, 05:35:21 PM
I'd have to say "Fargo", but I also really enjoyed "Oh, Brother, Where art thou"
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ReelHotGames on February 22, 2003, 04:24:43 PM
I have to step in with Fargo, for the woodchipper alone it has my vote, but this is one of Buscemi's best plus Macy and McDormand and you have a beaut of a trifecta

But all their work is so damn fine it's hard to choose, Barton Fink is a masterstroke as well  :?:
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: picolas on February 22, 2003, 05:37:16 PM
Quote from: michael alessandroBarton Fink is a masterstroke as well  :?:

:?:
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: dufresne on March 10, 2003, 11:05:14 PM
such a tough fucking decision but i say Miller's Crossing.

and Roger Deakins is the fuckin' man.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: children with angels on March 11, 2003, 06:39:48 AM
I'd have to go with the Fink: it feels to me like their most personal work, and it's the one I can connect with most (probably because I like to fool myself into thinking I can write). It also has one of the greatest last images of a movie ever.

Though: The Big Lebowski is the funniest film ever made.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on March 11, 2003, 01:27:31 PM
I just watched Hudsucker Proxy again last night for the fist time in a while.

One Word: Brilliant.

I love this movie, not as much as Lebowski. But this is a tour de force of directorial skills. Very well done.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Ernie on March 11, 2003, 08:32:41 PM
Quote from: Satcho9I just watched Hudsucker Proxy again last night for the fist time in a while.

One Word: Brilliant.

I love this movie, not as much as Lebowski. But this is a tour de force of directorial skills. Very well done.

I'll be seeing Hudsucker for the first time Saturday on IFC, can't wait. It looks so awesome. I fucking love Jennifer Jason Leigh. Lebowski is my favorite as of now.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: bonanzataz on March 11, 2003, 08:36:42 PM
I used to love Hudsucker when I was a little kid. It was one of my favorites. I haven't seen it in years and years and years.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Him on March 14, 2003, 08:42:25 AM
dude, you should check it out again, there are loads of little things which i've been picking up recently. actually, it's been the most fun picking out their influences from the movies of the thirties, forties and fifties.

for example the newspaper gal setting up barnes for a fall is obviously mr. deeds goes to town, but...

the character of amy archer is based more on rosalind russell's character from 'his girl friday' hence her being a 'fast talking' career gal - howard hawks famously sped up all the dialogue in his movie. also the bit where she barks out answers to a crossword devisor is taken from this movie.

in the sweet smell of success, burt lancaster's character is called j.j. hunsecker - not only an inspiration for mussburger (although obviously his name goes to hudsucker - who's middle initial, by the way, is j.) but also for j. jonah jameson in spider-man, which was invented about six or seven years later.

'sure sure' is a line used by clark gable's editor in 'it happened one night' as is such and such '...is the bunk' which is a phrase used by a heavy working for claudette colbert's dad.

there are countless other references, a couple of which escape me right now. oh yeah...

the movie starting with norville up on the top of a building about to jump off is from another movie with gary cooper in it, but i can't for the life of me remember what it is.

and of course the super-natural aspect of it is very capra-esque, like the snow.

almost forgot this one...what was the name of that early paul newman character? hud? could this explain why the board chant 'long live the hud?' - even after hudsucker has thrown himself out of the window?

here's another little tidbit - according to joel silver, uncredited producer on the movie, ethan coen wanted to play tim robbin's part, tested for it, failed, and sulked to the extent that he mouthed tim's lines as he was acting them on set!

oh yeah, i recently found out that sam raimi was the second unit director on the film, but i didn't find out by checking the credits. watch the scene where norville's taking the blue letter up to mussburger, and the receptionist, on seeing it, screams. the camera crashes in on her screaming face, and then on norville's panicked mug.  knowing that sam had a hand in writing it, i said to mum 'if sam raimi didn't direct that shot, i'll eat my shoe.' anyone who's seen the evil dead movies will realise this is sam's speciality shot.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Him on March 14, 2003, 08:58:16 AM
with regards to my favourite coen brothers film, i have to say it's probably either miller's crossing or the hudsucker proxy. i didn't find fargo as funny as maybe i should have (actually i found blood simple funnier) and thus it left me a little cold (snarf!). and whilst the big lebowski is really funny, i almost felt it was a piss-take of the private eye genre (although they probably didn't mean it as a piss-take, more a reverential send-up), a genre i hold in such high regard that again, i just didn't enjoy it as much as perhaps i wanted to. but miller's crossing is meaty, complex, utterly compelling and despite it being overtly a gangster film, i think it could pass as a private eye movie as well.

and as you've probably guessed, i'm a bit of a golden age nut, so hudsucker, with it's reverential (more so than big lebowski) tone and unabashed sentimental optimism combined with broad humour gets my vote as well.

a thought has just occurred to me. are the coen bros. the slyest spoof makers of all time? a lot of their back catalogue (with the exception of, i guess, raising arizona and maybe fargo) is based firmly in the past and it's all very referential. whilst they're obviously more talented and intellectual than the makers of scary movie 2, there's a case which could be made...who wants to answer it?
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Satcho9 on March 14, 2003, 12:23:23 PM
Quote from: The Walking Clichehere's another little tidbit - according to joel silver, uncredited producer on the movie, ethan coen wanted to play tim robbin's part, tested for it, failed, and sulked to the extent that he mouthed tim's lines as he was acting them on set!

What!? I cannot imagine this movie with Ethan playing the role of Norville Barnes. Its something new everyday that blows my mind. I wonder if thats for real or just a joke??
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ShanghaiOrange on March 28, 2003, 08:48:30 PM
The Big Lewbowski definately, followed by Barton Fink if only for the (highlight for spoiler) apocalyptic ending. I love every movie they've made.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Sigur Rós on March 29, 2003, 05:13:28 AM
I've  got to say The Big Lebowski i'm simply in love with the The Dude, Walter, The Jesus, Donnie etc. I saw it yesterday and damn it's was even better then the million other times i've seen it! :-D

Oh! And goddamn is love those nihilists!
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: cine on April 01, 2003, 09:44:05 AM
Everybody has good choices but did a lot of you miss "Fargo" when it was released?? That's my favourite Coen Bros. film with "Blood Simple" in second place. I'm not surprised at the cult status of "Lebowski" or some of his other ones, but I mean "Fargo" didn't rack up 7 big Oscar nods and 2 wins (Best Actress and Best Writing) for nothing.. All favourites aside as well, the best Coen Bros. film is "Fargo" anyway.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: chainsmoking insomniac on April 30, 2003, 11:00:13 AM
Lebowski, Fargo
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Derek237 on May 07, 2003, 05:14:06 PM
I kinda liked O Brother the best. But then again I've only seen 3 Coen brothers movies.  :roll:
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 08, 2003, 09:43:46 PM
I think my favorite is Barton Fink... but I have a soft spot for The Hudsucker Proxy, probably because it's the most maligned of all their stuff, which is too bad because I think it's absolutely hilarious, especially Leigh.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: i/o on May 10, 2003, 12:50:02 AM
I'm extremely impressed with O' Brother and The Man Who Wasn't there. But I think that their best for me will remain Fargo.
Is it just me or do the Coen Brothers make the best movies to see in a theater? It's just a different experience all together, film wise.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: meatwad on May 10, 2003, 07:33:39 AM
Quote from: i/oI'm extremely impressed with O' Brother and The Man Who Wasn't there. But I think that their best for me will remain Fargo.
Is it just me or do the Coen Brothers make the best movies to see in a theater? It's just a different experience all together, film wise.

could not agree with you more. I saw the Big Lebowski in theaters, and although it is still a great movie, that first experience will never be matched





//www.thestate22.com
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: USTopGun47 on May 18, 2003, 04:00:46 PM
1) Fargo
2) Hudsucker Proxy
3) Miller's Crossing
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: AlguienEstolamiPantalones on May 18, 2003, 04:11:54 PM
i cant decide but i will say that the man who wasnt there blew nuts

since fargo they were on a roll lebowski and o brother were both fucking great

hudsucker was ok kinda not something i want to watch much
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Holden Pike on May 18, 2003, 04:59:44 PM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.moviemeter.nl%2Fcovers%2Fimg00633.jpg&hash=c48c5dc582ce4306cde00106aed882d6f2619498)
"Nobody knows anyone. Not that well."

1. Miller's Crossing[/b][/size][/color]
GRADE, A++
2. Barton Fink[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A+
3. Raising Arizona[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A
4. The Big Lebowski[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A
6. The Hudsucker Proxy[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A
7. Fargo[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A-
8. The Man Who Wasn't There[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, A-
9. Blood Simple[/b][/color][/size]
GRADE, B+
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: chainsmoking insomniac on May 19, 2003, 09:52:48 AM
Goddamn Pikey, that quote fucking rocks!!!!  :P
Just saw Barton last night.
1) Barton Fink
2) Lewbowski
3)Fargo
4)The Man Who Wasn't There
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: abbey road on May 19, 2003, 03:22:51 PM
i'd have to say FARGO, but i pretty much like all the coen's films, except OBWAT, that one just through me, it was to comercial, but it was still good i guess, i also like MWWT, and miller's crossing i thought was preactically stolen from in road to perdition in terms of style.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: AlguienEstolamiPantalones on May 19, 2003, 03:29:15 PM
ya see i think obwat is one their best films

it has a lot of heart and it works


hudsucker was meant to look like a capra film but it does not really connect the way it should

but OBWAT works, it does feel like a old film

i love it
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on May 25, 2003, 11:48:33 PM
so tough for me...

1. RAISING ARIZONA
2. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
3. BARTON FINK
4. THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE
5. FARGO
6. BLOOD SIMPLE
7. MILLERS CROSSING
8. O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU
9. HUDSUCKER PROXY

edit: just rewatched all their movies and completely changed list except for top 2.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 26, 2003, 01:18:25 AM
Quote from: themodernage02so tough for me...

1. RAISING ARIZONA
2. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
3. FARGO
4. BARTON FINK
5. THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE
6. HUDSUCKER PROXY
7. MILLERS CROSSING
8. BLOOD SIMPLE
9. O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU

Your bottom two are the same as my bottom two, but transposed. However, the DVD commentary on Blood Simple is one of the best things the Coens have ever done.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on May 26, 2003, 12:26:52 PM
honestly, the only reason BLOOD SIMPLE is so low, is because i only saw it once and it was 8 or 9 years ago.  i have seen all the other Coens since then but really only have a hazy memory of that one.  i am probably going to get all their movies pretty soon with FARGO coming out in the fall, so i am looking forward to seeing this one again.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on May 27, 2003, 12:39:35 AM
Quote from: godardianYour bottom two are the same as my bottom two, but transposed.

What don't you like about "Blood Simple"?

Quote from: themodernage02honestly, the only reason BLOOD SIMPLE is so low, is because i only saw it once and it was 8 or 9 years ago.

It's time for another viewing...quick.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ShanghaiOrange on May 27, 2003, 04:02:12 PM
Blood Simple is genius. The commentary on it is genius. The Coens are so genius it makes me happy. :(
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Sick Boy on May 27, 2003, 09:35:27 PM
I've read through this thread 3 or 4 times now.  This question hurts my head when I think about it.  But as it stands right now it looks like this:

1. The Big Lebowski
2. O Brother Where Art Thou
3. Raising Arizona
4. Fargo
5. Miller's Crossing
6. Barton Fink
7. Blood Simple
8. The Man Who Wasn't There
9. Hudsucker Proxy

There isn't a single one that I don't like, but if being forced.....
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: children with angels on May 28, 2003, 06:15:19 AM
I've tried to keep out of doing lists in threads, but - having resisted for a long time - this one is just too much fun not to consider. I'll try to give some explanation...

1)Barton Fink - It feels to me their most personal, and is certainly the most personal to me as a writer. The final image and the build up to it are miraculous, so beautiful.

2)Big Lebowski - Probably the film that makes me laugh most in the world. Every scene works to its full comic potential. Fuck the nonsensical plot.

3)Fargo - I think it's their finest film for character: you don't often feel too much with the characters in Coen movies (as discussed in the Emotional Attatchments thread), but you're with Jerry and Marge all the way.

4)The Man Who Wasn't There - Visually the most beautiful. Perfectly filmed. Very funny - not quite as moving as it could've been maybe.

5)Raising Arizona - Just because I watched it again the other day and it made me cry. I liked it a lot better than I remebered.

6)Millers Crossing - Another very beautiful film, wonderful score too. The only reason it's so low is it just isn't as much fun to watch as others, something I pretty much demand in a Coen movie.

7)Hudsucker Proxy - Goddamn: another beautiful one. Very silly, very funny - wonderful Capra and His Girl Friday style referencing. Maybe just too silly to be higher on the list, and the plot is very forced.

8)Oh Brother - I don't enjoy watching it as a whole too much - it works wonderfully in parts. It's beautiful (once more) and intermittantly hilarious, but feels like a very similar - and less funny - dynamic as TBL.

9)Blood Simple - This is only so low because I haven't watched it for ages: I need to do so again soon. I remember thinking it was lacking in that Coen look, but I may be wrong...

Phew. That was fun. Now I have to go watch them again.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on May 28, 2003, 10:22:24 AM
Quote from: children with angels9)Blood Simple - This is only so low because I haven't watched it for ages: I need to do so again soon. I remember thinking it was lacking in that Coen look, but I may be wrong.

You're wrong. The shafts of light that come through the wall at the end, the entire sequence of shots when Ray kills and buries Julian, the opening. Hell, the quick, sped-up, tracking shot (best known in "Raising Arizona" when the camera climbs the ladder up to the mother's screaming mouth) was introduced in this film.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: dufresne on May 28, 2003, 04:17:30 PM
01) Miller's Crossing
02) Raising Arizona
03) Fargo
04) The Big Lebowski
05) The Man Who Wasn't There
06) Barton Fink
07) Blood Simple
08) O Brother Where Art Thou
09) The Hudsucker Proxy
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 28, 2003, 04:27:26 PM
I just re-watched Miller's Crossing last night. It's muted, definitely a change of pace for the Coens... I think it may be their most sedate work. Is that why everyone's so enamored of it? I mean, it's an excellent film, but so many other Coen efforts sparkle so much more to me.

My favorite, like Children's, is Barton Fink. Miller's doesn't have "Are you in pictures?" "Don't be silly." Which always just makes my jaw drop from the audacity of it. That's what I associate with the Coens and what I think makes them great- their playfulness and simultaneous love of and irreverence toward cinema history, tradition, and convention. I love The Hudsucker Proxy, too... that's probably my second favorite. But I don't think they've made a bad film yet.

The commentary on Blood Simple is pure comic genius for cinephiles.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SoNowThen on May 28, 2003, 04:30:53 PM
I'm a huge fan of noir, but I've never seen Blood Simple. Should I be buying it?

Oh, my fav Coens are: Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There.

But I haven't seen Raising Arizona yet, so I don't know where to put that.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 28, 2003, 04:34:53 PM
Quote from: SoNowThenI'm a huge fan of noir, but I've never seen Blood Simple. Should I be buying it?

Oh, my fav Coens are: Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There.

But I haven't seen Raising Arizona yet, so I don't know where to put that.

You have got to see Raising Arizona. The package isn't lying when it calls it "a comedy beyond belief." Cage and Hunter are hysterical. It's really laugh-out-loud funny, and so lively and well-done. See it ASAP; you'll be glad you did.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on May 28, 2003, 04:45:41 PM
Quote from: SoNowThenI'm a huge fan of noir, but I've never seen Blood Simple. Should I be buying it?

Yes.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 28, 2003, 04:48:14 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin
Quote from: SoNowThenI'm a huge fan of noir, but I've never seen Blood Simple. Should I be buying it?

Yes.

Even if only for the commentary, which- I can't repeat it enough- is super, super swell. Anyone who has the DVD but hasn't watched the commentary, do so at your earliest convenience. It's fantastic.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on May 28, 2003, 05:10:22 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin took godardian's words and Even if only for the commentary movie, which- I can't repeat it enough- is super, super swell incredible. Anyone who has the DVD but hasn't watched the commentary movie, do so at your earliest convenience. It's fantastic.

SoNowThen, please don't watch it just for the commentary.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on May 28, 2003, 05:34:00 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin
Quote from: MacGuffin took godardian's words and Even if only for the commentary movie, which- I can't repeat it enough- is super, super swell incredible. Anyone who has the DVD but hasn't watched the commentary movie, do so at your earliest convenience. It's fantastic.

SoNowThen, please don't watch it just for the commentary.

Well, by all means, watch the movie first, but please, please don't miss that commentary!
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SoNowThen on May 29, 2003, 08:50:56 AM
Alrighty, boys. I will pick it up at the next buying frenzy (which is gonna include Adventures Of Antoine Doinel and Blow Out!!).
Title: Za Bigge Leebooski
Post by: Blood on the Granite on May 30, 2003, 07:02:37 AM
The Big Lebowski,

Its a Bob Dylan song in the movie medium, pure poetry.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SoNowThen on June 05, 2003, 10:56:18 AM
So, I finally saw Blood Simple, now I can make my list.

1. Big Lebowski
2. Barton Fink
3. Blood Simple
4. The Man Who Wasn't There
5. O Brother Where Art Thou
6. Miller's Crossing
7. Fargo
8. Hudsucker Proxy


I put Fargo low even though I recognize it is a brilliant movie, and I love the acting, and the look... I just got more and more annoyed with it rather than enjoying it. I will watch it again one day, but for now I respond to the others so much more. Also, I think once I finish reading the Odessey, I will like O Brother more.

And judging by the trailer for Raising Arizon...well... I don't think I wanna see that....
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: children with angels on June 05, 2003, 11:01:14 AM
Give it a try definitely - it's a lot better than it looks. If you love the surreal humour of Big Lebowski (and I guess you do, since it's at the top of your list) you'll probably really dig it. It's also quite weirdly moving.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on June 06, 2003, 03:10:51 PM
Quote from: SoNowThenAnd judging by the trailer for Raising Arizon...well... I don't think I wanna see that....

eww. are you serious?
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SoNowThen on June 06, 2003, 03:12:57 PM
It just looks fucking ridiculous... but not in a Coen Bros cool kinda way. With the baby being stolen, and shit sped up, and that guy who looks like he's outta Mad Max. I dunno...
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on June 06, 2003, 03:35:53 PM
see it. if ONLY for the Cage performance. :wink:
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: chainsmoking insomniac on June 07, 2003, 10:52:39 AM
Raising Arizona is one of my favorite Coen Brothers movies!  It's got some of the subtlest humor I've seen in any movie, period!!! :-D
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on June 07, 2003, 11:31:13 AM
Quote from: themodernage02so tough for me...

1. RAISING ARIZONA
2. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
3. FARGO
4. BARTON FINK
5. THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE
6. HUDSUCKER PROXY
7. MILLERS CROSSING
8. BLOOD SIMPLE
9. O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU

ditto.
Title: lebowski
Post by: Alexandro on June 11, 2003, 10:49:58 AM
THE BIG LEBOWSKI, by far
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Ghostboy on June 11, 2003, 11:21:24 AM
I think Raising Arizona is probably my favorite film of theirs. It is PERFECT.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on June 11, 2003, 07:39:16 PM
Quote from: SoNowThenIt just looks fucking ridiculous... but not in a Coen Bros cool kinda way. With the baby being stolen, and shit sped up, and that guy who looks like he's outta Mad Max. I dunno...

Raising Arizona was the first Coen Bros. movie I saw. It's really, really good. It's very funny. It is ridiculous, but it is very recognizably the Coen Bros. They display the same semiotic genius they brought to forties Hollywood (w/ the Louis Mayer and George S. Kaufman figures) and Depression-era South (what with the Dapper Dan).
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SoNowThen on June 11, 2003, 07:45:11 PM
Yeah, I trust you guys. I'm gonna rent it soon.

But they really cut a bad trailer. Oh well.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Just Withnail on June 13, 2003, 02:59:58 AM
Damn you all for forcing me to choose!


...actually I kinda enjoy listing stuff...don't mind me.


1. The Big Lebowski
2. Raising Arizona
3. Fargo
4. Barton Fink
5. The Hudsucker Proxy
6. The Man Who Wasn't there
7. Miller's Crossing
8. O' Brother where art thou
9. Blood Simple
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: godardian on June 13, 2003, 06:07:24 PM
Quote from: SoNowThenYeah, I trust you guys. I'm gonna rent it soon.

But they really cut a bad trailer. Oh well.

Not before you watch Blood Simple w/ commentary, though.

I swear, I'm completely wild about it. It's fucking hysterical.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. movie
Post by: Mr. Joshua on July 12, 2003, 04:25:02 PM
Raising Arizona come on, just, come on now.

"Well, sometimes, I be getting the menstrual cramps real hard."
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Derek on July 18, 2003, 10:57:16 AM
"Son, you got a panty on your head."
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Dr. Duke on August 02, 2003, 12:15:28 PM
I think that Barton Fink is there best film, folowed by Fargo and then THe Man who Wasn't There. Fink is a hilarious film, but also- in my opinion- strangely moving. The surrealism in it adds this nice level of mystery that brings me back again and again. I'm so glad that they released this movie on DVD because my VHS version has pretty much worn out.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: modage on August 02, 2003, 08:17:44 PM
interesting that your name is lebowski, when its not even in your top 3.  curious.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Dr. Duke on August 02, 2003, 09:26:23 PM
Quote from: themodernage02interesting that your name is lebowski, when its not even in your top 3.  curious.

I like the movie, but I like the name better
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: NEON MERCURY on January 11, 2004, 08:18:02 PM
i saw ......barton fink....ffor the first time ..and i was connfused.....

someone check the meanning ...for me.....

SPOILERS

...is the whole film about barton gets job to write a wrestling script-----barton has trouble writing script--barton meets goodman-----barton falls ffor  judy davis----barton sleeps with her---barton wakes up slaps mosquito--judy davis bleeds from under her back which makes her KO'ed------barton is scared and still has to write the wrasl'n film------barton stares at a picture of a lady staring at the ocean----bartonns apartment sucks---goodman gives barton a present---barton finds out that goodman is really  a badmann---goodman sets fire to the hotel----barton is freed by goodmann---goodman goes back to his apartment---barton walks to the beach and stares at the lady who is staring at the sea that barton was staring earlier while staring at the pictrure in the apartment------THE END

two questionns

1..whats in the box

2...whats the poitn of the final scene(s)......


and as always if you donn't know the annnswers ..feel free to repond witgh a smartass post...(pretend you are on def comedy jam).....
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: kotte on January 11, 2004, 08:23:27 PM
No one knows what's in the box but it's probably the her head.
* She lacks a head.
* Goodman is the one who gives it to him. A madman gives him a box with something in it.

There are several interpretations of the final scene but some say it represents his state of mind...how he's been set free or something. I'm not sure. Knowing the Coens it's probably just a guy on a beach with a box.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on January 11, 2004, 08:27:29 PM
Quote from: NEON MERCURYtwo questionns

1..whats in the box

2...whats the poitn of the final scene(s)......

and as always if you donn't know the annnswers ..feel free to repond witgh a smartass post...(pretend you are on def comedy jam).....

1. A MacGuffin

2. If they weren't there, you'd still be watching the movie, as would I from when it first was released.

I'm not def, nor do I jam, sorry.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Gamblour. on January 12, 2004, 02:11:13 AM
I think I heard or read that Coens described the movie as a guy who ends up on a beach with a head in a box.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Sleepless on January 12, 2004, 12:35:52 PM
I really really really love every film the Coens have done. It's strange, but each of their movies are so completely different, but they're all definately Coen films. O Brother and TMWWT are opposite ends of the spectrum, but they made one straight after the other.

Personally I think Miller's Crossing is my favourite Coen film. Although I really can't choose. It's not fair. Everyone of their films has something really good going for it. I think Intolerable Cruelty is prob their weakest film, but then there were reasons for that... I think Fargo and Big Lebowski are probably the most definitive Coen movies though.

But they are all awesome.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: fulty on January 18, 2004, 02:18:00 PM
Quote from: NEON MERCURYtwo questionns
1..whats in the box
2...whats the poitn of the final scene(s)......
Just saw the movie, very interesting, I really enjoyed it.
My guesses:
1. I think it's the "fear" of her head in the box.
2. And the final scenes confirm that Charlie is the devil and Barton really is in hell.

The hints:
Barton checks in to the hotel, the bell doesn't stop ringing until Chet crawls out of the ground.  The ringing was like nails on a chalkboard..!!
He takes the "EL"evator.  Everything he does turns sour.  He has writers block, and the person he sees typing a hundred words a minute is just uncreative secretary stuff.  The shoes = souls.?  The Bible in the nightstand was not a Bible.  When he squishes the mosquito, it's like killing one of God's children.?

Sorry, I am facinated.
I just didn't get what Barton did to go to hell.
Sell out to Hollywood.?

I think this is worth purchasing the DVD.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: jwebb202 on March 30, 2004, 12:21:58 AM
lewbowski

then
barton fink
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ElPandaRoyal on March 30, 2004, 04:20:17 AM
Any Lebowski friend is a friend of mine. And by Lebowski, I mean The Dude.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: El Duderino on March 30, 2004, 05:09:36 PM
yeah, Lebowski, by far, then Fargo, then Barton Fink. I really didnt like The Man Who Wasn't There very much, except for James Gandolfini and Scarlett.

and i've never seen Blood Simple.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: ElPandaRoyal on March 31, 2004, 04:47:18 AM
Quote from: El DuderinoI really didnt like The Man Who Wasn't There very much

I'd say it's my second favourite.
Title: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: SiliasRuby on April 05, 2004, 12:11:47 AM
For me my top three are these
1. The Big Lebowski
2. Fargo
And a tie for 3rd it's Raising Arizona and Barton Fink
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on June 02, 2013, 01:57:09 PM
A rare TV documentary — The Coen Brothers (2000). During the promotional campaign for O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 1999, the BBC showed a 50 minute documentary about the Coen brothers. It was mainly concerned with the Coen's past and featured interviews with many of the actors that have worked with the Coens along with family, friends and crew members.

Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Cloudy on December 15, 2013, 12:03:31 AM
^That was really great. I haven't seen a film director as obviously stoned in an interview before as Joel was in this.

Might as well, in the spirit of ILD release, for the ones I've watched repeatedly:

1. Big Lebowski
2. A Serious Man
2. Miller's Crossing
2. Barton Fink
3. No country
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Reel on December 15, 2013, 06:13:18 AM
my favorite coen's goes:


No Country For Old Men
Fargo
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Big Lebowski
Blood Simple

and that's all I have to add to this thread
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: MacGuffin on May 16, 2014, 02:40:42 PM
Coen Brothers' Next Film: 'Hail Caesar' A Fixer In 1950s Hollywood
   
EXCLUSIVE: Joel and Ethan Coen are putting together their next film, and it's about a fixer in Hollywood circa 1950s who works for the studios to protect the stars of the day. Entitled Hail Caesar, the comical yarn centers on a man named Eddie Mannix who sounds a lot like the Fred Otash of his day — the famed 1950s private investigator who worked for Confidential magazine and was the muckraker of the time using wiretaps to spy on movie stars and gather dirt. Otash was a former lifeguard who became a cop, then helped operate a call girl ring and lost his job as a cop and became a private eye who wiretapped. The project is being put together now. It's not clear if the Eddie Mannix in the script is based on the man of the same who was a MGM vp, for those of you wondering.
It was not unusual during the time for studios' internal security to protect their assets to construct and manage the squeaky clean image of their stars. The big stars of the day were under contracts for a certain number of pictures so the powerful studios had their own go-to guys (and sometimes hired outside investigators) to deep-six scandalous stories, whether it be romantic dalliances, drug use, DUIs, arrests, you name it. For the more serious threats, the fixers used pay-outs, strong-arming, and took care of "problems" (real or perceived) by any means necessary. It was the day of the old Hollywood star system.

A man I knew very well, Milton Ebbins, who was like my second father and was the liaison between Hollywood and the Kennedy White House, took care of the Rat Pack in a similar fashion, cleaning up behind the scenes for the boys. I would hear story after story about Old Hollywood and this kind of behavior. Pay-offs, a trip to Hawaii for a girl who witnessed something she shouldn't have, money carried in envelopes or brown paper bags, and threats to make problems go away were not unusual. That behavior among Hollywood's elite — illegal wiretapping, threats and a corruption of the Los Angeles' legal system — continued up until 2002 when the current Hollywood fixer, Anthony Pellicano, was arrested and thrown into prison (after threatening my life and illegally wiretapping my phones).

Hail Caesar follows the Coen brothers' critically acclaimed Inside Llewyn Davis which was set in New York's folk music community and starred Oscar Isaac. The Coens won Best Picture, Directing and Writing Oscars for No Country For Old Men and won for best writing for Fargo, which has been spun off now as a event TV series on FX. They are repped by UTA.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on August 05, 2015, 11:45:56 PM
Coen Brothers To Adapt, Possibly Direct Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer Crime Novel 'Black Money'
via The Playlist

Perhaps you've been wondering what the Coen Brothers have been doing since "Inside Llewyn Davis"? Rather a lot! They've got a movie in the can coming out in February of 2016, the Hollywood comedy "Hail, Caesar!" starring George Clooney, Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. They've also been doing a lot of writing, penning Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" screenplay and Steven Spielberg's upcoming "Bridge of Spies" (they also wrote the "Gambit" remake in 2012). One more writing assignment is coming down the pipeline, and they also could direct the project.

Los Bros Coen are going to write an adaptation of Ross MacDonald's crime novel "Black Money." If that sounds vaguely familiar, that's because a movie was already adapted from the book: the same lead character was played by Paul Newman in the very underrated crime thrillers "Harper" (1966) and "The Drowning Pool" (1975). Both look terrific, since they were shot by Conrad L. Hall and Gordon Willis, respectively. But neither movie is based on MacDonald's "Black Money" —the connection is simply the same gumshoe lead character. The Coen brothers could direct, but a film directed by the pair and produced by Joel Silver would be the first as such in a long time (he produced "The Hudsucker Proxy" way back in the day).

The plot centers on a spurned lover who hires private investigator Lew Archer to expose the suave Frenchman who has run off with his client's girlfriend. Archer follows a trail that leads to a deep conspiracy, as the mysterious paramour is connected to a seven-year-old suicide and a ton of gambling debts.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on October 25, 2015, 05:29:32 PM
George Clooney To Direct Coen Bros Crime Noir Drama 'Suburbicon' At TriStar
via Deadline

George Clooney is in talks to direct Suburbicon, a script by Joel and Ethan Coen that will be produced by Joel Silver. It's a noir drama in the vein of the Coens' breakout film Blood Simple, with this one being a small crime drama set in the 1950s.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From The Playlist:

Nearly a decade ago, word first surfaced that George Clooney would take the helm of "Suburbicon," a screenplay penned by the Coens that they had originally planned to direct, with the actor slated to star. "They offered me a part in 'Suburbicon' a long time ago, and since then decided they have other projects they want to work on," Clooney said in 2005. "So I called them up and said 'How about me taking a spin at it?' Because it's a really interesting, really funny, very dark comedy."
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: OpO1832 on October 26, 2015, 08:15:00 PM
The new Coen Bros movie looks great makes me think of some of the great moments in the deer park but thats me
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on December 08, 2015, 11:05:00 PM
Matt Damon, Julianne Moore And Josh Brolin To Star In George Clooney's Coens Penned 'Suburbicon'
via The Playlist

Deadline reports that Clooney pals Matt Damon ("Ocean's Eleven" trilogy, "The Monuments Men," "Syriana," the Clooney directed "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind"), Julianne Moore (the Clooney co-produced "Far From Heaven"), and Josh Brolin ("Hail, Caesar!") are lining up roles in the movie. However, even as the pieces are coming together, the plot details remain under wraps, though it's described as  a '50s set crime drama in the vein of "Blood Simple."

The wait will be a while for this one, with production not slated to begin until October 2016, which likely means a festival bow sometime in 2017.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on February 04, 2016, 04:18:09 PM
Coen Brothers Talk 'Barton Fink' Sequel 'Old Fink' And #OscarsSoWhite Controversy
via The Playlist

When it came to this weekend's "Hail, Caesar!," it was a project that was mentioned on and off for years, and then, was finally made. Could the same happen for "Old Fink"? To bring you to speed, it's the proposed sequel to "Barton Fink" that the Coens have been tossing around forever, calling it perhaps at their most optimistic, "more a thought experiment than a movie." However, it's a thought they can't shake.

"We're going to do a 'Barton Fink' sequel at some point," Ethan Coen told Variety, with his brother Joel Coen adding: "That's the one movie that we thought deserved a sequel, called 'Old Fink.' But we don't want to do it until Turturro is quite old. He's getting there."

Asked if they had actually written anything yet, Ethan dryly quipped: "No, but there's a huge groundswell of demand for it." So yeah, maybe don't hold your breath for it.

He's certainly not incorrect that most audiences probably couldn't care one way or another for another "Barton Fink" movie, however, there's been a lot of excitement about John Turturro's proposed "Big Lebowski" spinoff centering on Jesus Quintana, at one time working with a proposed title of "100 Minutes Of Jesus." And back in 2014, the actor was quite gung ho saying, "If I can get the permission I need, I'd like to return to that role," and wanted to direct the movie himself in 2015. That didn't happen. And when asked by the trade about the possibility of that movie ever getting made Ethan was quite clear: "No."

And Joel added that there won't be any followups to "The Big Lebowski" either. "Tara Reid likes to announce that just like Clooney likes to announce 'Hail, Caesar!' In this case, I don't think we'll oblige," he quipped, referring to the actress' announcement of the sequel in 2011.

Meanwhile, the directors have waded into the waters of #OscarsSoWhite in an interview with The Daily Beast, and they try to separate the issue from the actual show. "[That's] assigning way too much importance to the awards," Joel said of the controversy. "By making such a big deal, you're assuming that these things really matter. I don't think they even matter much from an economic point of view. So yes, it's true — and it's also true that it's escalating the whole subject to a level it doesn't actually deserve."

"Diversity's important. The Oscars are not that important," he added.

And the pair said that diversity doesn't just mean shoehorning various ethnicities into a script. "It's important to tell the story you're telling in the right way, which might involve black people or people of whatever heritage or ethnicity — or it might not," Ethan said.

"It's an absolute, absurd misunderstanding of how things get made to single out any particular story and say, 'Why aren't there this, that, or the other thing?'" Joel added. "It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how stories are written."
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: Ravi on January 10, 2017, 06:45:03 PM
http://variety.com/2017/film/news/the-coen-brothers-the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-1201941064/

Coen Brothers to Write and Direct Their First-Ever TV Series, 'Buster Scruggs' (EXCLUSIVE)
Film Reporter
Justin Kroll
Film Reporter @krolljvar   
January 10, 2017 | 04:26PM PT

Joel and Ethan Coen are the latest auteurs moving into television, with a new event anthology set in the Old West.

Annapurna Television is partnering with the Coen brothers on a limited series Western called "The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs." Sources tell Variety that Annapurna intends to pursue an innovative approach that could combine television and theatrical.

Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the script from an original idea and will direct the project.

The Coens will produce "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" through their Mike Zoss Productions label. Megan Ellison and Annapurna Television's president of television, Sue Naegle, will serve as executive producers.

"We are very excited to be working with Megan and Sue on this project," the Coen brothers said in a statement to Variety.

It's still unclear how theatrical distribution could play a part in the project, but the intent is to shoot "Buster Scruggs" as a miniseries. According to sources, the scope of the project seemed too challenging to be covered in one feature film.

The idea is similar to Imagine Entertainment's adaptation of the "The Dark Tower" series. Imagine Partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard had planned to do something over both theatrical and television, but ended up sticking with one feature film, which Sony will release later this year.

Plot details of "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" are unknown, though it will intertwine six different story lines. The brothers are no strangers to the genre, with "True Grit" and "No Country for Old Men" on their resume.

The brothers join a list of elite directors who have crossed over to television to further develop stories that could not make it to the big screen. Among many others, David O'Russell is currently working on a series for Amazon starring Julianne Moore and Robert De Niro, and J.J. Abrams is writing and directing a limited series with Meryl Streep that is currently being shopped.

The Coens most recently wrote and directed "Hail, Caesar!" and also penned the script for George Clooney's next directorial effort, "Suburbicon." They are repped by UTA.

After making a mark in the film industry, Annapurna is now making strides in television and is in pre-production on a limited series adaptation of the novel "Today Will Be Different" by Maria Semple, with Julia Roberts attached to star.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: PinkTeeth on August 04, 2020, 04:11:12 PM
https://teamdeakins.libsyn.com/joel-coen-director

Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wrongright on August 03, 2021, 02:20:29 PM
R.I.P. Coen Bros.?

https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1422610807003795464
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: PinkTeeth on August 03, 2021, 07:04:51 PM
I'll miss em dearly, but The Future is Books!
His poems and shorts stories have been longing to stretch out, and I felt terrible using "Almost An Evening (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6404767-almost-an-evening)" as a bookmark for "Antkind" at one point.

Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: PinkTeeth on August 17, 2021, 05:33:46 PM

I've been wanting to see this for years...


Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilberfan on August 17, 2021, 06:45:30 PM
Just finished the cinematography section.  Didn't realize Spike was on the Nerd Spectrum...  :yabbse-wink:
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on April 01, 2022, 10:49:17 PM
Ethan Coen Goes Solo, Will Direct Road Trip Movie for Focus, Working Title
The Hollywood Reporter

After his brother Joel Coen went out on his own to direct a movie, last year's Oscar-nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth, Ethan Coen is also planning a solo trip.

Ethan Coen, half of the acclaimed sibling partnership known simply as the Coen brothers, has teamed up with Focus Features and Working Title for the feature project, which is currently untitled.

Coen will direct the film, which is eyeing a shoot this summer, and wrote the script with his wife, Tricia Cooke. The two are also producing with Robert Graf and Working Title principals Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

Focus and Working Title are keeping mum on the project, but sources indicate that the untitled feature is a lesbian road trip project that Coen and Cooke initially wrote in the mid-2000s.

The Russ Meyer-inspired action sex comedy was initially to have been directed by Allison Anders, who made the 1992 indie hit Gas Food Lodging. The story centers on a party girl who takes a trip from Philadelphia to Miami with her buttoned-up friend. Along the way they cruise the bars and encounter, among other obstacles, a severed head in a hatbox, a bitter ex-girlfriend, a mystery briefcase and an evil senator.

"The sensibility is exploitive but innocent," Coen told the Los Angeles Times in January 2007, adding that he was going for the tone of early '70s exploitation romps he saw as a teenager, only with more sincerity. Selma Blair, Holly Hunter, Christina Applegate and Chloe Sevigny were among those attached to star at various early points.

Coen was just producing at that time, but now, 15 years later, it looks like he's got gas in the tank and is ready to take the wheel himself, with the script having evolved since then.

The Coen brothers have been making movies together — writing, directing and producing  — since the 1980s. They shared Oscars for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, and the last movie they worked on together was 2018's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on May 21, 2022, 06:35:39 PM
Ethan Coen on his Jerry Lee Lewis doc and filmmaking return
By Jake Coyle
Associated Press

CANNES, France (AP) — Most in the film industry thought Ethan Coen was done with making movies. Ethan did, too.

But on Sunday, Coen will premiere his first documentary, "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind," at the Cannes Film Festival, a movie that was unknown until last month's festival lineup announcement. The film, which A24 will distribute later this year, is a blistering portrait of the rock 'n' roll and country legend, made almost entirely with archival footage, with riveting extended performances instead of talking heads.

It's Coen's first film without his brother Joel, with whom he for three decades formed one of the movies' most cohesive and unshakable partnerships. But they have lately gone separate ways; last year, Joel made "The Tragedy of Macbeth," a movie he suggested his brother would never have been interested in. Ethan is now also prepping with his wife, the editor Tricia Cooke (who cut many of the Coens' films as well as "Trouble in Mind"), a lesbian road-trip sex comedy they wrote together 15 years ago.

"Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind" started with their longtime collaborator T-Bone Burnett, who in 2019 recorded a gospel album with the 86-year-old Lewis. The film, as Coen and Cooke noted in an interview ahead of their Cannes premiere, touches on some of the more complicated parts of Lewis's legacy. (He married his 13-year-old cousin in his early 20s, Lewis' then third marriage.) But it mostly brings alive the staggering force of the musical dynamo behind "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Great Balls of Fire" and "Me and Bobby McGee."

AP: Many thought you, Ethan, were no longer interested in moviemaking. What changed?

COEN: What changed is I started getting bored. I was with Trish in New York at the beginning of the lockdown. So, you know, it was all a little scary and claustrophobic. And T-Bone Burnett, our friend of many years, approached us — actually, more Trish than me — to ask if we wanted to make this movie basically on archival footage. We could do it at home.

COOKE: It was like a home movie project. We're both huge fans of his music. I had some issues with other parts of Jerry Lee's life. I was like, "I don't know if I want to touch that." But it ended up being a lot of fun. Honestly, T-Bone came to us like two weeks into the pandemic, so it was a life saver.

AP: Ethan, what was it that had sapped your desire to make movies?

COEN: Oh, nothing happened, certainly nothing dramatic. You start out when you're a kid and you want to make a movie. Everything's enthusiasm and gung-ho, let's go make a movie. And the first movie is just loads of fun. And then the second movie is loads of fun, almost as much fun as the first. And after 30 years, not that it's no fun, but it's more of a job than it had been. Joel kind of felt the same way but not to the extent that I did. It's an inevitable by-product of aging. And the last two movies we made, me and Joel together, were really difficult in terms of production. I mean, really difficult. So if you don't have to do it, you go at a certain point: Why am I doing this?

COOKE: Too many Westerns.

COEN: It was just getting a little old and difficult.

AP: When you say "difficult," did it have to do with the ecosystem of the industry?

COEN: Not at all, though that's obviously changed from beyond recognition from where we started at. But, no, it was the production experience and having been doing it for — I don't know how many years, maybe 35 years. It was the experience of making a movie. More of a grind and less fun.

AP: Has something switched back for you then, since you're preparing to make a film together this summer?

COEN: Again, it's all kind of circumstance. We finished this one quite a while ago and we were still sitting around. We had this old script and we thought, "Oh, we should do that. That would be fun." That's the movie we're preparing.

COOKE: I don't want to speak for Ethan, but I know for myself, at some point, I stopped cutting, pretty much, because my priorities changed. And now our kids are grown and we still get along and have fun making things together. Joel and Ethan, we had written a few of these things, and they were always like, "We'll put them in a drawer. The kids will find them one day." Now we're here like, OK, let's do that. Let's open up that drawer and see if someone wants to make this movie.

AP: Do you expect, Ethan, that you and Joel will continue to go your separate ways in moviemaking?

COEN: Oh, I don't know. Going our own separate ways sounds like it suggests it might be final. But none of this stuff happened definitively. None of the decisions are definitive. We might make another movie. I don't know what my next movie is going to be after this. The pandemic happened. I turned into a big baby and got bored and quit, and then the pandemic happened. Then other stuff happens and who knows?

AP: Did you always conceive of "Trouble in Mind" as archival-based, no talking heads?

COEN: The movie has a history preceding our involvement. It was originally conceived as being more on the gospel session T-Bone produced with Jerry Lee in 2019. Along the way, they compiled a lot of archival footage. The archival footage kept piling up. It seemed to make more sense to make it about Jerry Lee than this particular session. We pushed it maybe even further that way.

COOKE: When T-Bone brought it to us initially he described what he wanted as a tone poem. I don't think we did that. (laughs)

COEN: Yeah, that sounds a little fruity.

COOKE: But we did from the beginning not want just a bunch of talking heads, especially if they weren't Jerry Lee's.

COEN: T-Bone was explicit about wanting the movie to start with that performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" of "She Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye." And he wanted it to finish with "Another Place, Another Time." And we went "Oh (expletive), that's great." He said the whole performances. We said, "Oh, great. So you're talking about, like, a good movie."

AP: You each have worked overwhelmingly in fiction film. Had you often pondered making a documentary? Do you watch a lot of docs?

COOKE: I had made a short documentary years ago called "Where the Girls Are" on the Dinah Shore golf tournament. In general, we both love documentaries. Frederick Wiseman and the Maysles and Pennebaker and Barbara Kopple. All of those older documentarians.

COEN: Why are they all old?

COOKE: We're old.

COEN: Did you see the Beatles documentary? That was fantastic. Goddamn.

AP: The more distance we get from the films and music of mid-century America, the more it seems to me that was such a fertile period of creation that will never be repeated. Like: Wherever Jerry Lee Lewis came from is not a place anyone comes from anymore.

COEN: I totally agree. It's like, yeah, it's all gone now.

COOKE: Things aren't discovered the same way. For Jerry Lee, when he was young, going to a blues club was nothing he had access to before and it became this incredible passion. Everything now is so large, so global — not that that's necessarily a bad thing — but it doesn't feel like it has the same passion as it did in the '30s, '40s, '50s.

AP: When you see him performing, his arms going up and down like pistons, he's such a dynamo that you can't help wondering where that energy came from.

COEN: Musicians are freaks. I mean it in the best possible way.

COOKE: He talks about the Pentecostal Church. It's almost like he's overcome with this passion for playing. I just remember being mesmerized when we first started watching the footage.

COEN: Sifting through the archival footage was a once-in-a-lifetime blessing but also a curse. Because he did his share of (expletive) stuff, too.

AP: What's your personal thresholds in the behavior of an artist and the art they make? "Trouble in Mind" pointedly doesn't seek to cast judgment.

COEN: If it's a good movie, that's why it's good. What are we supposed to make of that? Right. That's a permitted question. That's what makes the movie interesting. How do you put that magnetic performer together with that flawed person? It's kind of like — I mean none of the Beatles married their 13-year-old cousin — but it's kind of like the Beatles movie and why it's so thrilling. You go: Wow. These are both huge cultural figures and smaller-than-life human beings. That's what's mind blowing.

Jerry Lee is much the same. I don't think any sane person is going to ask to embargo the music because his character had certain flaws. Who imposes that choice? All glory to T-Bone for presenting us with the opportunity and saying that it's going to be about Jerry Lee, about this musician, and it's not going to be about talking heads telling us what to think about Jerry Lee or about us editorializing, telling the audience what to think about Jerry Lee. All of those things are not recipes for making a good movie and no service to Jerry.
Title: Re: Favorite Coen Bros. Movie?
Post by: wilder on July 07, 2023, 04:28:21 PM
Joel and Ethan Coen to Reunite for New Film
The Film Stage

While Joel and Ethan Coen worked on two more features together after Inside Llewyn Davis, many (such as Mia Hansen-Løve) thought the story of an artist trying to find his way after the loss of his partner portended the eventual parting of ways for the brothers. Following Hail, Caesar! and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel Coen went solo directing The Tragedy of Macbeth while Ethan Coen helmed a Jerry Lee Lewis documentary and the forthcoming Drive-Away Dolls. Thankfully, it looks the brothers will now reunite for a new project.

As revealed in the current issue of Empire Magazine (via /Film), Ethan Coen said that he's already working with Joel Coen on developing a new script. He also noted he very much hasn't "gone solo" as his wife Tricia Cooke not only co-wrote the script for Drive-Away Dolls but also co-directed the film with him, though the Directors Guild of America's strict rules prevented her from being credited. As for when we can expect more updates: while Ethan Coen and Tricia Cook recently revealed plans to make a trilogy of lesbian B-movies, Ethan said his new project with Joel may take precedence.

Unfortunately, Ethan was tight-lipped about what the new film may be, but the Coens have a vast handful of unrealized projects they could mine from, including adaptations of Ross Macdonald's crime mystery novels The Zebra-Striped Hearse and Black Money, Michael Chabon's detective novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, James Dickey's WWII thriller To the White Sea, plus a dark web film about Silk Road, a Barton Fink sequel, and more. Knowing the inventiveness of the duo, we wouldn't be entirely surprised if it was something entirely new.