I don’t know if the trailer I’ve been watching ten times the last few days is new or old. I just know that I will watch this movie more times than one. Javier Bardem in that 16th century haircut is already King. There are so many brilliant lines in the trailer.
It’s amazing (and awesome) how much the cult of Lebowski has grown over the years. That movie did not have the greatest reputation at first, IIRC. I loved it from the start, but over the years my love has grown, moving not just to the top of my Coen Bros list (along with Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, and–sue me–Hudsucker Proxy…oh shit, and Raising Arizona!), but to one of my top 10 movies ever. It is just a miracle of a script and comic performances.
“I told that kraut a fucking thousand times I don’t roll on shabbas!”
/derail
can’t wait for the new film.
my short list… definitely not complete
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Miller’s Crossing
O Brother Where Art Thou
Fargo
Raising Arizona
Big Lebowski
Barton Fink
Blood Simple
Ladykillers
Intolerable Cruelty
Never saw Hudsucker Proxy.
Barton Fink.
O Brother would be nearly perfect without George Clooney, or him as a secondary character as John Goodman played . Although he did a pretty decent job in the role his “Clooney-ness” seems to overwhelm the southern atmosphere in many of his scenes.
My favorite Coen Brothers movie, as much for the visuals and atmosphere as anything.
I wait for the day when I can describe a game as having “very complicated, a lot of ins, a lot of outs, and a lot of what-have-yous.”
So true. There’s a “time passing” montage midway through O Brother that is absolutely stunning. Spanish moss hanging looming over a dirt road as a truck full of junk rattles on by. Or the two black boys with wet pant legs carrying home large blocks of ice on a rope. More so than any of their other work (except maybe Lebowski) it’s just a stunning, singular vision that nobody else could have or would have dreamed up.
But it’s not my only favorite. My framed poster of Fargo hanging over my PC should probably mean that one is. Or the 6 months I spent watching and rewatching and re-rewatching Blood Simple for a shot-by-shot analysis I did in college might mean that one gets dibs. Then again, the opening 8 minutes and late-arriving title with yodel in Raising Arizona is second to none. Not to mention the Huggies chase scene. Hell, I should probably have a different favorite Coen movie for every day of the week.
Yeehaw! I’m watching this tomorrow at 9 am. Super pumped!
Wait, what? How’d you swing that, you jerk? Can you bring a guest? If so, I didn’t mean that thing I said about you being a jerk and I happen to be free tomorrow at 9am.
-TomThe Toronto Film Fest comes through again. Tomorrow I’m watching No Country for Old Men, then The Assassination of Jesse James by the Really Long Movie Title and then Jason (Thank you for Smoking) Reitman’s new movie Juno. Gonna be a huge day.
And no, I can’t bring a guest. Sorry Tom.
All right, that’s it. You’re back to being a jerk. And a fucker. You’re a fucker/jerk for getting to see this before the rest of us.
-Tom
P.S. Let us know what you think!
P.P.S. Actually, never mind, I don’t want to hear any spoilers.
P.P.P.S. Who am I kidding, I’ve read the book. Let us know what you think.
As I’m sure most of you probably expected, its a brilliant movie. The fact that the Coens can go from making Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers to making a movie like this is testament to how amazing they are.
The whole construction of this movie from the acting, to the cinematography, to the total absence of music, just fits the right way. Bardem is viciously menacing, Brolin carries his role well, and Jones adds that bit of humour and sadness that a movie like this needs. I will say that I was expecting a somewhat wonky ending because I’d heard that the book has an odd ending. I do plan on reading the book shortly. For those curious, the ending is interesting, and upon further reflection it definitely fits well with the themes of mortality and fate in the movie.
PS. The Assassination of Jesse James is an odd movie, and Juno will be a big hit, mark my words.
Well, that, and the long string of amazing movies they had before that.
Well yeah… what I meant was that even after it seemed like they had lost there way a bit, they effortlessly got right back to being awesome.
Funkman pretty much confirms what I suspected all along. As does Adam @ Filmspotting. Looking forward to all three of those picks. Also looking forward to Cronenberg’s new one that filmspotting doesn’t seem to be so hot after.
Also looking forward to Cronenberg’s new one that filmspotting doesn’t seem to be so hot after.
Not to change the subject here, but I saw Eastern Promises already too and while it is still quite good it seemed to be lacking something. I will say that I liked A History of Violence more.
I’ve been re-reading the novel in the past day or so, and spent a bit of time trying to come to grips with Moss’s decision early on in the book. If you’ve read it, you know what I’m talking about.
It utterly confused me the first time around, but this time it clicked and actually changed my entire view of the book. I don’t know if I’m just slow and everyone else got it right away, but I’m curious to see how the movie will handle it, because it’s not exactly telegraphed in the novel.
I read the book but not sure what you’re telling me. Do you mean the agua?
Yes, that’s what I was referring to. I think I just read it too quickly the first time, but at that point I was having a lot of trouble understanding Moss’s motivation. It was much clearer to me the second time around.
I wasn’t sure what he was thinking at first, but eventually concluded it was part of his “fatal” flaw.
For me, this was the big theme of the book: the impotency of good in the face of evil. The scene you’re talking about, the good cop’s big reveal at the end, the way the bad guy remains so completely unrepentant and how his character arc becomes so obscure at the end.