Yeah, it was certainly groundbreaking, and if I hadn't been like 6 when it came out, I'm sure I would like it much more than I do. Also, it's very important to note that if the Coen's made the movie again right now, it would be infinitely better.

You picked the wrong movie in your top 3 to drop. Both of the other two would be a better choice.

You definitely need to rewatch Hudsucker Proxy next, because it's much better than Barton Fink, and is easily a top 3 Coen movie.

Nah. I've seen Hudsucker a few times. JJL is good, but just cannot stand Tim Robbins.

Dropping fargo would not be a better choice.


I think you and me and this r/l friend of mine are in the absolute minority of Hudsucker devotee's

agree to disagree.




That's because the other people are retarded.

I ranked it third behind No Country and Lebowski, although I think it's in a lower tier than those two.

Has anyone else seen A Serious Man?

When I saw it I liked it, but the longer I think about it, the more I like it.

I didn't even know it was out yet.

This forum is the only place I've seen anything about it.

How the hell have you seen it already? It won't be in Iowa for another couple weeks.

Also... all Coen brothers movies get better with time. I can't think of a single movie they've made, that that doesn't apply to.

I live in LA, and saw it at an early screening. It hit theaters October 9th.

Coen Brothers memory for me? I saw O Brother when I was out of the country, the film was still in English, with foreign subtitles. The theater was packed, the audience was enjoying things, and then there was a joke about being tarred and feathered.

The audience was silent, and you could hear the five Americans in the theater cracking up. I knew jazz, baseball, and Mormonism were American--who knew being tarred and feathered was also American?

This is a good point. I saw the big lebowski in the theatre, and I didn't quite get it the first time I saw it. I thought it was funny, but I didn't think it was sheer genius. Then I saw it again in college and it just slayed me but also blew me away.

I think part of understanding just how good the Coen's are is related to how much you know/understand of their source material. Sure, they write most of their own stuff, etc, but they borrow liberally from a number of genres. Big Lebowski, for example, is very much framed as a Film Noir. NCFOM is like the anti-hero Western. O Brother si a combo screwball comedy/musical. Point is, knowing this kind of stuff makes the viewing experience that much richer. Same goes for some other directors, but let's stick with the Coen's...

[insert a picture that Joey would love]

Here's one:

exactly what I was thinking.

I was wondering if anyone had seen it yet...It's only showing in the small indy-theatres in Boston, which I'm too lazy to go to. The trailer is amazing and I want to go see it, but I'm so god damned lazy. Maybe I'll make the effort this weekend into the city. It's tough when all their films are better enjoyed in multiple viewings; why spend the dough to see it the first time and not understand it fully?

Today, Encore Mystery showed Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, and No Country. Love it.

indeed. indubitably indeedy do.

Miller's Crossing is awfully good.

this looks promising:

http://screencrave.com/2009-10-26/matt-dam...join-true-grit/

Barton Fink 2

Blood Simple Remake in Chinese

UPDATED LIST! (I've seen Miller's crossing, Blood Simple, Burn After Reading and A Serious Man since the OP)





I've only seen A Serious Man one time, so it's almost certainly getting an unfair rating. I've now seen Miller's Crossing three times, and it's pretty high on my list. Blood Simple seems like the Coen's first movie, not in a good way.

Watched No Country this weekend, getting ready for True Grit.

What a fantastic, fantastic movie. I love all of it. I love the scenery, how big the environment feels. I loved Tommy Lee Jones' face, all craggy and personality and just t-h-e-r-e. I love the small bits of humor, as well as the horror that Bell (Jones) has for violence and killing.

Yes, Anton Chigurh is as catchy as a pop song, catchy as Satan, but this movie didn't let me forget the toll all of this blood and loss was going to take.

Serious Man and True Grit

Serious Man really held up for me. I know the Coens get knocked sometimes for excessive character torture--but I felt a general affection for Larry Gopnik. He has a terrible time of it, but the character keeps struggling toward hope and understanding, and still has friends and family at the end of the movie.

True Grit

I really, really liked it. I think it'll be in my top five of the year. general structure, but no plot This is definitely the most straightforward of any Coen Brothers movie I can think of. I mean, have you ever tried to describe the plot of Lebowski? True Grit has a beginning, a middle and an end. It's verse-chorus-verse, and I mean that as a compliment. They managed to make a movie that probably has the standard page 17 conflict, but is still beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, and has all the fantastic language that lets me know I'm in another time and place.

True Grit will be one of the very few movies I will see in the theater this year and I'm trying to avoid any and all information about the movie. I guess it's kind of silly for me to view this thread before I watch the movie.

So thanks for the spoiler but it's very tempting to highlight and read the text.

New order:


1 Big Lebowski
2 Fargo (this is almost tied for first)
3 NCFOM
4 Barton Fink
5 Miller's Crossing
6 Hudsucker Proxy
7 O Brother Where Art Thou?
8 A Serious Man
9 Raising Arizona
10 Blood Simple

Honorable mention: The Man Who Wasn't There

Watched True Grit last night and it's well worth the price of admission. NCFOM and Fargo are the top two of my Coen brothers lists but I'm not sure where True Grit would fall.

Das Frau's spoilered post is well put as always. I found myself paying close attention to the dialog and syntax. When I realized none of the characters were using contractions I started looking for them to the point of distraction.

I'm guessing the commercials for this movie showed some of the funnier moments since people in the theater seemed to be looking to laugh. That was annoying but whatever.

I successfully avoided all information about the movie besides general shooting locations so the entire movie was as fresh as possible. I don't remember the original and don't know how much of this movie resembled the first movie besides the general western theme, revenge motive, the character name Rooster Cogburn and the young girl on the trail with a grizzled old man. Mom's was a huge John Wayne fan so I know I've seen the original multiple times as a kid but all the John Wayne westerns kind of blur together in my memory.

I'm quite certain I'll be watching this movie again.

does he? i'm not sure we saw the same ending. i saw a lot of despair coming at the end of that movie.

Is that cos maybe you were incredibly high at college?!

I find it really hard to order them; it's easier to just put them in tiers.

Top Tier
NCFOM
Lebowski

2nd Tier
True Grit
Hudsucker
O Brother
Burn After Reading

3rd Tier
Miller's Crossing
A Serious Man

4th Tier
Fargo (yeah, I know)
Raising Arizona

Meh Tier
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Ladykillers



I wasn't looking to laugh, but I still did a lot of it. Not like belly laughs, but just an amusement of the dialogue. I love the way they write dialogue, like the scenes with the girl and the horse trader. There's plenty to laugh about in there.

Jeff Bridges and the girl were both really great. I didn't like Matt Damon as much. One area where the Coens really shine is their casting; they almost always pick the perfect person for the role, but Damon was just a little off. Good, but not Coens' good if that makes sense.

Skel Jell: I like your list. But we disagree on your third tier. I'd move both 'Miller's Crossing' and 'A Serious Man' up into tier two; and I'd move 'Burn After' and 'O Brother' down below them. Haven't seen True Grit yet, hoping to soon. And Fargo should be up there behind Lebowski. I'd also put 'Blood Simple' into the bottom of tier 2, maybe top of tier three.

I've only seen those movies once, but I've seen all the ones above it multiple times (except True Grit). It's possible the ordering could change after additional viewings. Or just change based on my mood. My Pixar tiers change all the time based on my mood.

Have you seen Barton Fink? It is noticeably missing from your list.

The (yeah, I know) should be behind Raising Arizona.

Also, I agree about Damon. Glen Campbell in the first True Grit was much better in that role, and he wasn't even an actor.

...

Don't make me start disrespecting you Tim.

I should be sleeping but here's the real tiers. I haven't decided yet on True Grit


Top of the Pops: "No Country for Old Men", "The Big Lebowski", "Fargo", ("True Grit")

Top Ten List: ("True Grit"), "A Serious Man", "Blood Simple", "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Five Questions: "Raising Arizona", "Miller's Crossing", "Barton Fink", "The Hudsucker Proxy"

Come on Man: "The Man Who Wasn't There"

Total Request Live: "Burn After Reading", "Intolerable Cruelty", "The Lady Killers"

Edit: I figured it out. Before I didn't know what you were talking about.

No, but I plan on it.

I've been planning on it for a long time though.

Blood Simple too.

This here is a pretty terrible ranking order.

Let me do you a HUGE favor. Blood Simple sucks. It's easily one of the worst Coen movies. It's obvious it's their first real movie, and doesn't have a good payoff. People remember it nostalgically, because in 1984 it was solid, but it's definitely nothing special now.

Now go watch it. You're welcome.

True Grit audience laughter first annoying moment: The three men were on the gallows giving their final words. (I thought this was going to be a Jesus thing but it wasn't.) The first man waxes poetic about his failures and warns the crowd to not end up like him or whatever. The second man shows no remorse and just wants to get it over with. As the third man, who I think we are to assume is Indian (it seemed a little ambiguous-he was brown) is about to give his final words but because he's brown, the deputy (I assume) places the death hood over his head before he can speak. This brought on a type audience guffaws I associate with slap stick. While this was intentionally humorous, it wasn't guffaw worthy. I mean, it's not even laugh at funny. There's plenty of humor in this movie but I'm either too slow to get the haha out loud jokes, I have a poorly developed sense of humor for haha out loud jokes (well sure), the audience was quick to laugh from what I assume was the marketing of this movie, or something else. I mean, sure the negotiations between Maggie and the livery owner was funny but haha funny?

Ah crap, I just started listing moments I found funny in a, "that's funny", thinking to myself kind of way kind of way but the list kept growing and got impossibly long.

Whatever, I've decided I need to see True Grit again and I'm not sure if I'll be able to wait for the dvd release.


I want to pay closer attention to the dialog and there's a scene that's been bugging me. After Rooster pulls Mattie up the mine shaft with the help of LeBouff. Rooster is about to ride off with Mattie to get help from a doctor. Was LeBouff staying behind to collect the dead men for the bounties or what? Didn't Rooster say something to LeBouff like, stay here and I'll send someone back? I need this nagging loose end tied up in a neat pretty red bow. I totally missed something big here.



Those of you who didn't dig Fargo or have it low on your best of Coen list should give it another shot.

I don't know what this is in reference to.


I've seen Fargo twice. There were some quality scenes, but I just couldn't get into it for whatever reason.


Edit: Or your picture.

I think I'm going to pass on getting into explicit detail, but let's just say I didn't like his initial paragraph, and I'm glad he's watching it again. SINCE IT SEEMS HE MISSED THE WHOLE MOVIE.

i really, really dislike you.

I don't know, I watched it a few months ago and enjoyed it. I'm not sure you're doing him a favor by telling him not to watch it. It's not one of their best movies, but it's certainly more coherent and enjoyable than Man Who Wasn't There.

Barton Fink is definitely a great watch though, SJ needs to see that.

He didn't say not to watch it. In fact, he specifically said, "Now go watch it." He was just trying to lower my expectations.

yeah, but dude, next year xXx 3D* comes out, with Vin returning the the franchise. SO SUCK IT






*i don't really know that it's going to be 3D, but since it's the 3rd of the xXx, I think 3D is a safe bet. Though I don't know if the world is ready for that kind of XTREME, in your face attitude in 3D**





** the world might not be ready, but I sure as **** am.