Would love to hear from hubbers about these gentlemen.
:D
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Would love to hear from hubbers about these gentlemen.
:D
Blood Simple - 3/5
Miller's crossings - 4/5
Fargo -5/5
The Big Lebowski -5/5
NCFOM -5/5
Have not seen others. Cannot get beyond 30 minutes of OBWAT :oops: But the brothers are darn good 8-)
Intolerable Cruelty
Fun movie :-)
I have seen only NCFOM, Fargo, Intolerable cruelty and Burn after reading. I know i am missing a lot of their filmography :oops:
Wow you already watched "Burn After Reading"? Lucky!!!
I've only seen Fargo and No Country for Old Men, I'll admit their LadyKillers...I didn't even watch fully...I liked the original with Peter Sellers much better.
No one has watched Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
Yeah, this last sunday night :).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Querida
Fargo.
What a lovely film :clap:
Yeah this last friday i got a chance to watch it too!Quote:
Originally Posted by ajithfederer
Hilarious! As expected the Coen's little gore inclusion, Brad Pitt kept in character...the first time i've seen him act like such a dunce (remember he was the ideal alter-ego in fight club for edward)...ok i will be fair they are all dunces in the movie....
the ineptness of the CIA is :shock: :x
John of course can still channel the look of utter confusion from his "of mice and men" character
and Swinton...she always was good at being cold...so very ironic when you know what her occupation is! :wink:
Among their films, am yet to watch Miller's Crossing and Burn After Reading
Loved/Liked almost all their other films, with "Intolerable Cruelty" and "Hudsucker Proxy" being the least favorite ones...
The undoubted favorite is without doubt TBL :notworthy:
Fargo and TBL are very close contenders. The one I like least is Blood Simple. Never came round to understanding what the movie was about :(Quote:
Originally Posted by crajkumar_be
I will also say that I liked Ladykillers. IMO, it was one of Tom Hank's best performances. Absolutely entertaining.
Yet to watch NCFOM and BAR (BTW, the exchange between Malkovich and Clooney about lactose allegy reminded me of Simmon's health condition in Ladykillers. What a weird fascination!!)
:exactly:Quote:
Originally Posted by kannannn
The weird wacky humor in their films is so arresting
In fact the opening conversation between Steve Buscemi and Bill Macy in the cafe/restaurant in Fargo is a case in point.
"I'm not gonna debate you, Jerry. I'm not gonna sit here and debate." Dunno about others but to me that was :rotfl:
This one guy constantly cutting the other off with utter disdain can also be seen in TBL :lol:
Watched O Brother where art thou on TV last night. The key here is to get past the first few minutes. To rephrase, getting used to the slang/setting/situation. The coens have a very weird sense of humour and it worked big time with me. The second half was incredibly funny
Damn we are in a tight spot.
I thought you was a toad
Do NOT seek the treasure
:rotfl: :thumbsup:
How is Burn after Reading? :)
Watchin it tomorrow... :P
Have you seen their Raising Arizona as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by crajkumar_be
Raising Arizona is a must-watch. It's simply the purest Coen's film. The critics didn't take it kindly because it subverted the general "tropes" of filmmaking, at least the ones existent around the time. It was also seen as "butchering" the styles of earlier films from hollywood studios, "disrespect" even. But I find it a thoroughly entertaining humorous film with lot of in-your-face symbolism. Nic Cage's acting is starkly different from any other roles he has done.
Thanks. Its in my watch list for quite some time :)
Guys
Is blood simple a B-grade movie. I was reading through wiki's pages for a B-movie and I was shocked to see Blood simple there :roll:
ajithfederer: Blood Simple was made on a ridiculously low budget (I've heard in the less than 10,000 $ range) so the aesthetics are definitely B movie. Like Tarantino, the Coens also allegedly (havent seen the movie so I am forced to use this word) were heavily influenced by B movies in the making of this movie. To quote Pauline Kael from the New Yorker:
""Blood Simple” has no sense of what we normally think of as “reality,” and it has no connections with “experience.” It’s not a great exercise in style, either. It derives from pop sources—from movies such as “Diabolique” and grubby B pictures and hardboiled steamy fiction such as that of James M. Cain. It’s so derivative that it isn’t a thriller—it’s a crude, ghoulish comedy on thriller themes..........At moments, the awkwardness of the line readings is reminiscent of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” but “Blood Simple” doesn’t have the genuine creepiness of the Romero film. And though the dialogue is much sharper and smarter than Romero’s dialogue, the actors talk so slowly it’s as if the script were written in cement on Hollywood Boulevard. The picture is overcalculated—pulpy yet art-conscious. "
The movie however went on to earn cult status much like its sources. "B movie" I guess is used more as a reflection of the stylisation than as an indicator of an inherent lack of quality (though Kael seemed to think it did significantly lack in quality).
Thanks complicateur :)
Coens made "Blood simple", and they redefined their style, form, content, and story in their subsequent films, but pretty much revolved around the same themes that they first started out with BS. And thanks to complicateur, this particular line "it’s a crude, ghoulish comedy on thriller themes." applies to most Coen films, and almost always it works. As for BS,. it looks and feels a B grade movie, but at the time of its release, it was seen as a milestone in independent low-budget films.
Personally, I liked the film inspite of its bloody simplicity. It feels like an academia film by Coen's before they started out to more serious filmmaking. But as I said, it has everything you'd expect from a Coen brothers' films - infidelity, failed scheme, a mandatory evil figurehead, distrust, dumb characters, or what have you. And of course, I hear they have limited perception of Southerners in their films. And yeah, it makes sense. None more so than in "Blood Simple". But they have improved in their later films. Tommy Lee Jones in NCFOM for example.
Finally got a chance to watch Burn After Reading. An intelligent film on a bunch of morons. The film does not have a central character like The Dude but all of them do exceptionally well. Brad Pitt was the most hilarious followed by Malkovich and Clooney. Loved Clooney's state of paranoia in the Brad Pitt-Closet scene and in his final scene :rotfl: Found Frances McDormand very good - awesome acting. And the CIA superior's "Jesus, What a Cluster****!" comment at the end sums the whole movie up. A must watch 8-)
Dark Knight and now this from Thalaivargal....
:curse:
Thilak,
inga release pannuvaingala? Eppo?
Naanga dhan sonnom'la :smokesmirk:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nerd
Bala, Not much chance of a release. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by crajkumar_be
Raising Arizona :lol: :lol: :lol:
Fun Movie. Must watch 8-)
:exactly:
Holly Hunter was good too :).
Quote:
Originally Posted by thilak4life
The stunts were equally :lol: Absolutely B-grade stuff. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by ajithfederer
But they were very unique, IMO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thilak4life
Burn After Reading - Absolutely enjoyed it. Not in the league of Fargo or TBL, but good nonetheless. John Malkovich and Frances McDormand were both superb as usual. ('Drinking problem? You are a Mormon. Compared to you everyone has a drinking problem' :lol: ).
Is it just me, or do Coen brothers have a tendency to side with their women? In this one, the plot is essentially set in motion by the women, but it is they who emerge unscathed. While all the male characters' lives are changed forever, the female characters get to move on with their lives as if nothing ever happened!! Neat, very neat :D.
Interesting point! I never considered it because I thought they were fairly unsympathetic towards Tilda Swinton's character. My take was that the more innocent and well meaning the person is the more certain they are to get trampled over.Quote:
Originally Posted by kannannn
Yes Complicateur!! I agree :D. That's what makes it dark. The Coens seem to have trampled (as you put it) with glee upon the innocent, letting the more deserving characters get away with lesser punishment.Quote:
Originally Posted by complicateur
As for the Katie Cox character, being the b*itch she is, she shouldn't find it hard to get on with her life. In fact, all the female characters embody a degree of cunningness and manipulativeness not apparent at the first instance.
BTW, thaks for reminding about Tilda Swinton. She had me spellbound whenever she appeared on screen :notworthy: . I don't think there is anyone else who could have played Katie Cox with such ease. Two scenes deserve mention - at bed with Clooney, she is taken aback with indignation when Clooney refuses to acknowledge the same about his wife after badmouthing John Malkovich, her husband and the one at her office, where is threatening the kid in front of his mother, very much contradicting the image of a paediatrician.
She first caught my eye in a movie called Female Perversions. She plays a cold lawyer with masochist inclinations and I remember being completely haunted by her paleness and angular features. And then when they literally cast her as an ice-queen in the Narnia movie I couldnt help thinking that there couldn't be a more perfect casting choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by kannannn
But then I happened to catch 2 movies one called Thumbsucker where she plays an insecure housewife obsessed with an actor and Michael Clayton (She is quite evil in the movie but it at least seemed like the character had a conscience). It is simply lovely to watch an actress with her range.
Watched Raising Arizona on TV. An 80s masala with the usual Coen ingredients. The script has some loose ends and guess this one's definitely not from the Coens' top shelf. Worth a watch nevertheless. Kannan's theory fails w.r.to this movie I think. Holly Hunter was the worst affected at the end of it all :P
AppO theory rejeeted :lol: . I have watched Raising Arizona only in bits and pieces. With Thilak raving about it and you not being very sympathetic, I am a bit torn now.
The truth is somewhere in between... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by kannannn
Watched "Burn after reading". Certainly not one of Coen's best films (ala Fargo say). This is certainly not a conventional comedy, but there are genuine moments of :lol:
I'm in agreement with Kannannn about the film's male-female predestine in Coens' world.
The three women in the film (Katie, Linda, Sandy) are all self-absorbed. Sandy and Katie are both guilty of infidelity, and behind their husbands back, approach divorce firms to get rid of them (relationship). Linda, a gym instructor/worker, not exactly guilty, but equally disruptive for her selfish interests. She forces her hardbodies manager (ex-priest), and Chad to enter Ozzie's house, and things turn ugly. She shows some dangerous mor(m)onic nature in taking the tape to Russian embassy too. This female persuasion and infidelity(in both the marriages) pivots the male characters and provides the twist. Coens doesn't show a slight bit of empathy to the men. :lol:
[spoilers]
The simpletons (Chad), benignant (Ted) are not spared, for breaking the Osbourne house, or IOW, acting for Linda. Ozzie is coarse on the outside, but for his straightforward and honest inclinations, turns all his anger to Ted ("Oh yes. You see, you're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life. My whole fucking life. But guess what. Today I win.." with whiskey in his hand) Coens in return, were sympathetic enough to award Ozzie a lifelong Coma. Womanizer Harry (with an excellent turn by George Clooney) is spared by Coens..but he is just romantically "broken" (and quivered). Most generously awarded for being the least deserving man (of the bunch). :lol:
[/spoilers]
//dig
Hey thilak wats ur disp pic? and whr's ur quote from?
/end dig/
The moment (Display pic) is narrated by Sandy Bates (Woody allen) in the film Stardust memories. Woody Allen's "8 1/2". The quote is part of what he narrates.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sid_316
The full quote is,
"Just a little while back, just before I died in fact. I was on the operating table and I was searching to try to find something to hang onto, you know, cause when you're dying your life really does become very authentic and I was reaching for something to give my life meaning and a memory flashed through my mind:
It was one of those great spring days, it was Sunday, and you knew summer would be coming soon. And I remember that morning Dorrie and I had gone for a walk in the park and come back to the apartment. We were just sort of sitting around and I put on a record of Louie Armstrong which was music I grew up with and it was very, very pretty, and I happened to glance over and I saw Dorrie sitting there. And I remember thinking to myself how terrific she was and how much I loved her.
And I don't know, I guess it was a combination of everything, the sound of the music, and the breeze, and how beautiful Dorrie looked to me and for one brief moment everything just seemed to come together perfectly and I felt happy, almost indestructible in a way. It's funny, that simple little moment of contact moved me in a very, very profound way."
Dorrie is the lady in picture, she looks great in this scene, arguably one of the beautiful moments ever captured in film. :P
that brief moment of contact - an instant of indestructible blitheness (As he put it), and I sort of related to its profoundness after watching that scene and the movie.
Louis Armstrong's Star Dust playing in the background adds greatly to the effect. Btw, the reactions of the audience follows this recollection by Allen. It ranges thus: "Cop-out artist!", "That was so beautiful." "Why do all comedians turn out to be sentimental bores?", Contrasting reactions.
The film is not an answer from a filmmaker, but an elucidation of his works in context of his personal life (From upbringing, parents, siblings, to the relationships), and non-personal inspirations - influence of Fellini, the impact of a friend's "death" (His shift to serious drama from slapstick comedy), religious inclinations, and of course, that mandatory Wild strawberries dream (hence, influence of Bergman), surrealism, etc. It encompasses stereotyped reactions of critics, and fans - which came off as sincere humour, and not arrogant in any form. Through this character, Allen canvasses himself (as a "filmmaker" foremost, the only time he ever did so to this effect).
I heard the film is regarded as one of his personal best (That is, the one that comes closest to what he set out for).
Watched 'Burn After Reading' - Good one from the brothers.
NCFOM again :clap: