True Grit

This is not John Wayne’s Rooster. True Grit is a film that is completely Coen. This is the reason that films get made. It is a pristine example of all that is wonderful and inspiring with the art and craft of film.

Like I said, this is not a John Wayne movie; though both of the True Grit films are based off the same source material the Coen’s version is like a rouge wave washing away the softer edges and homey feel of the classic. This film is rough, gritty, dirty and tough – much like what I imagine the reality of that day was. Mattie Ross is determined to get justice for the death of her father, and Rooster is the tool that she uses. It’s a wild world, and definitely not a safe one.

Unlike the original, in this film Mattie Ross is played at her true age – 14. Taking the mantle this time is newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and I have to say the power of this performance reminds me very much of Anna Paquin’s burst into the acting scene with The Piano. For such a young talent, the maturity of her skill is evident and startling. Steinfeld holds her own against Damon, Brolin & Bridges, usually stealing the scene and is undoubtedly the most memorable character in the film.

If I had a vote in the Oscar nominations I’d throw my hat in for Jeff Bridges again. I know he won last year for a fantastic performance in Crazy Heart but I have to say that his turn as Rooster Cogburn is one of my favorite performances of the year. This Cogburn is rough, anti-social and has a wicked sense of humor. Bridges & the Coen’s bring out the changes in Cogburn very subtly as he goes from grumpy old marshall who cares about no one, to the man willing to risk anything to help Mattie.

There’s really nothing I didn’t like about this movie. With every Coen film that comes out I can see their talent growing – something that shouldn’t be possible for two people that are already some of the finest artists working today. True Grit is a masterpiece.



Directors: The Brothers Coen


Mattie Ross: You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.

Blood Simple

One of my favorite young directors tweeted once that “Memento is a pretty goddamn humbling movie” and he’s right. Well, I just watched Blood Simple for the first time and I have to say that what the Coen’s did is pretty damn humbling as well. While the film may have “simple” in the title, the film is anything but; Blood Simple is a stark noir, filled with characters we can’t trust and is a downright exercise in minimalism.

I know that the Coen’s got Blood Simple made because of sheer determination. I’ve heard stories of where they showed clips of test footage in people’s living rooms as fund raisers, taped Frances McDormand into camera rigging for special shots, and just generally did everything short of selling their souls for their first feature.

The effort paid off.

I watch Blood Simple and I miss the days when independent film wasn’t its own market. When determination, style and talent could get your farther than a budget and a known cast. While that’s not completely gone from the indy market of today, the indy market is much more main stream now than it is independent. Watching Blood Simple reminds me of a much more pure way of making your passion films.

The single thing that characterizes Blood Simple more than anything else is how stark the film is. The setting are bleak, empty and harsh as is the situation they are all thrown into. While the plot may revolve around Abby having left her husband Marty, we never wonder which one of the two is more at fault for their rift – Abby is the adultrus wife, but Marty is the crazed, abusive husband and no one around them is clean.

It’s plain and simple to see watching this film how the Coen’s turned into Oscar winners. Their imagination and vision has always been unique and different. They are filmmakers that from the very start had great stories to tell.

Directors & Writers: Joel & Ethan Coen
Ray: John Getz
Abby: Frances McDormand
Marty: Dan Hedaya
Private Detective: M. Emmet Walsh

Private Detective:The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.

The Big Lebowski

All Hail The Big Lebowski
Originally uploaded by cote

The Big Lebowski is exactly what the brothers Coen do best – a quirky film about morons. And what is The Dude if not a loveable moron? Set during the Golf War, The Big Lebowski is started by a tale of mistaken identity, that leads our main character into the role of armature gumshoe when the “big” Lebowski’s wife disappears and all The Dude wants is to get paid and bowl.

Robert Altman may have made movies that were about nothing in the sense that they were a slice of his characters life, but the it’s the Coen’s that have truly mastered the art of making films about nothing and The Big Lebowski is a classic example of this. A great many things occur in The Big Lebowski and yet a traditional, filmic plot never appears; in fact, evey event that should be a ground breaking plot point simply fizzles out and turns out to be less than important to the film as a whole. It’s beautiful, brilliant, hilarious and surprisingly hard to do well.

In a career or brilliant films and characters, Jeff Bridges fits The Dude perfectly. He is a joy to watch and after seeing him at awards shows for Crazy Heart I am pretty sure that one of the reasons The Dude seems so authentic is because Bridges is really that laid back and relaxed.

As amazing as The Dude is, for me Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) stole the show. Walter is The Dude’s best friend and a Vietnam War vet who wants to relate everything back to his time in Nam. He is loud, bostrious, angry and everything that you want a crazy Coen character to be. The only reason Goodman doesn’t steal Bridges’s scenes is because the Coen’s manage to raise the two consistently to the level of the other, playing off each other beautifully to create part of the magic of the world of The Big Lebowski.

Along with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, The Big Lebowski might hold some of my favorite narration in a film – ever. For no apparent reason the film is narrated by a cowboy patron of the bar at the bowling alley in the film, and he’s a narrator that looses his train of thought and admires The Dude for no other reason than he admires his style. It’s a fantastic way to open and close the film, rivaling the FBI officials in Burn After Reading.

The Big Lebowski is a cult classic for a reason. If like me, you’re a Coen fan that hasn’t seen it I highly recommend changing that. I did.

Directed & Written By: Joel & Ethan Coen
Jeffrey Lebowski/The Dude: Jeff Bridges
Walter Sobchak: John Goodman
Maude Lebowski: Julianne Moore
Donny: Steve Buscemi
Jeffrey Lebowski/The Big LEbowski: David Huddleston
Brandt: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Bunny Lebowski: Tara Reid

The Dude: And, you know, he's got emotional problems, man.
Walter Sobchak: You mean... beyond pacifism?

A Serious Man

a serious man
Originally uploaded by mueredecine

Physics professor Larry Gopnik is blindsided by his life; his teenage children want nothing out of him unless it’s the fix the television antenna or kick his brother out of the bathroom, a student is trying to bribe him for a passing grade and his wife has just informed him that she wants a divorce so she can marry their friend Sy Ableman. Confused and overwhelmed Larry turns to his three Rabbi’s hoping that they can shed some light on why all of this is happening in his life.

Joel & Ethan Coen make movies unlike anyone else, A Serious Man is by far one of the most unique cinematic experiences released in 2009. In fact, A Serious Man is a film that can’t simply be watched in one viewing and understood – I am still not sure if I completely understood the film. After watching the Coen’s latest best picture nominee I completely understand why it garnered as much recognition as it did, though it is definitely not a film that appeals to the mass audience.

Part of what I enjoyed so much about A Serious Man was the sense of humor behind it. This is not an obvious comedy, but as with anything the Coen’s make there is a sense of humor running throughout it; it’s unique, a bit twisted and more than anything very personalized to the world of their film. The humor in this film comes from the fact that Larry Gopnik is the victim of a tragic comedy and he is completely unaware of it.

There are many themes running through A Serious Man one of the biggest being action & reaction – parallels in lives and situations. Larry & Sy both wanting to be with Larry’s wife, Larry’s son getting to talk to Rabbi Marshak when Larry is never allowed entry to Marshak’s presence, Larry & Sy’s accidents coinciding on the same day, etc. but this is not the only pattern hidden in the film. This film is filled to the brim with symbolism, reference and the mundane and sorting through it will be something film scholars do for generations yet only the Coens will ever know what the meaning behind A Serious Man truly is.

Directors & Writers: Ethan & Joel Coen
Larry Gopnik: Michael Shuhlbarg
Uncle Arthur: Richard Kind
Sy Ableman: Fred Melamed
Judith Gopnik: Sari Lennick
Danny Gopnik: Aaron Wolff
Sarah Gopnik: Jessica McManus

Larry Gopnik: You understand the dead cat? But... you... you can't really understand the physics without understanding the math. The math tells how it really works. That's the real thing; the stories I give you in class are just illustrative; they're like, fables, say, to help give you a picture. An imperfect model. I mean - even I don't understand the dead cat. The math is how it really works.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Bob Wilton is a small time journalist whose wife has just left him. Distraught he goes to Iraq at the start of the Gulf War hoping to get permission to cover the war; however, what he finds is much better – Lyn Cassady, who claims to be a former member of the Army’s psychic spy unit and on a mission to find his former commanding officer Bill Django. Together Lyn & Bob journey across the Iraq desert and encounter civilians, terrorists and independent contractors as Bob slowly draws from Lyn what the unit he belonged to was like.

What drew me to The Men Who Stare at Goats was the quirky concept and the cast. The cast delivers, the concept stops just short of doing so.

This film is helmed by remarkable actors: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges & Kevin Spacey. These are leading men that will be looked back at one day as the standout, true movie stars of our generation. They are as talented as they are charismatic and having them all on screen together is an amazing thing. None of these actors can do any wrong on their own, so put them all together and you have acting gold.

The downside to The Men Who Stare at Goats was that it’s a genuinely quirky film, which I am normally fine with but I couldn’t help but feel that director Grant Heslov was trying to emulate the style of something like Burn After Reading and he missed. This genuinely felt like a Coen brother’s film that was lacking the spirit and presence of the Coen brothers. As I watched The Men Who Stare at Goats and I wondered what the film would have been like if they were helming it, something I am sure was aided not just by the quirky concept but the fact that the film is starring one of their leading men – George Clooney.

What genuinely kept me laughing the entire film was all of the references to the psychic spies as Jedi warriors. This is funny on a geek level alone, but it’s made absolutely hysterical by the fact that Ewan McGregor played Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels – I am 100% sure this was brought up many times on set.

The Men Who Stare at Goats is an entertaining movie. It’s only issue is that for those of us out there that have a bit of a broader understanding of the genre we know what the film could be instead of what it is. It’s definitely worth watching, it’s just not necessarily a movie you will want to watch over and over again. If you’re really looking for a quirky spy film I would recommend Burn After Reading, you’ll even get George Clooney in that one and Brad Pitt in perhaps his most memorable role ever.

Director: Grant Heslov
Writer: Peter Straughan
Lyn Cassady: George Clooney
Bob Wilton: Ewan McGregor
Bill Django: Jeff Bridges
Larry Hooper: Kevin Spacey
Brigader General Hopgood: Stephen Lang
Todd Nixon: Robert Patrick
Gus Lacey: Stephen Root

Bob Wilton: So what do you use to remote view?
Lyn Cassady: I drink. And I find classic rock helps.
Bob Wilton: Any music in particular?
Lyn Cassady: Boston. Boston usually works.

The Hudsucker Proxy

Paul Newman, 1925-2008
Originally uploaded by The Everlasting Jamie S Rich

I grew up watching the Coen’s films before they were Oscar winners, when the world at large didn’t know who they were and a bizarre comic slant affected everything they made. The Coen’s make movies that make me happy; they may not be normal, they may not be logical, but the films are always spectacular and memorable. The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the Coen’s earlier films that I just had the pleasure of watching for the first time.

Old Mr. Hudsucker, founder of Hudsucker Industries decides to take a swan dive out of the board room window when the company is at its most profitable; the problem for Sidney Mussburger and the remainder of the Hudsucker board is that Mr. Hudsucker didn’t have a will, so all of his shares will go up for public sale in the new year and the board will lose all control of the company and profits if they lose those shares. The board hatches a plan, they will chose the worst president they can, let the stocks take a dive as public confidence fails and then they will buy up Hudsucker’s shares themselves at insanely low prices. Luckily for Mussburger Norville Barnes has just arrived in the mail room and is eager to rise to high places. When Norville accidently causes an accident that almost causes Mussburger to plummet to his death as well Nussburger and the board decide he might just be the bumbling idiot to lead Hudsucker in the direction they wish to go.

I am going to be honest when I say that I am not sure I fully understood The Hudsucker Proxy, even for the Coen’s it’s pretty far out there, but I loved it just the same. It’s an insane romp of imagination, business ethics and the spirit of invention wrapped in a comedy by people that know how to entertain an audience – why wouldn’t that be enjoyable?

Watching this movie reminded me of how much I love Paul Newman. Newman played Sidney Mussburger, the most unscrupulous character in the film who would so anything he can to get ahead financially and he is the tormenting figure only Newman could play while still inserting class and style into the comedy.

The single best character in the film for me is Norville Barnes. Norville is an absolutely inexperienced character, fresh off the bus from middle America ready to make his mark in the bustling city of New York, New York, where dreams are made. His insistence from start to finish that his simple sketch that’s “you know, for kids” will revolutionize Hudsucker is both endearing and memorable. He’s the kind of character you get to root for and scorn through the process of the film as his ego gets too big and then is redeemed. Tim Robbins plays Barnes as a innocent, almost child-like character that is in the city without a protector and gets caught up in the ultimate game of “be careful what you wish for”.

However, what truly makes the Hudsucker Proxy a Coen film is the denouement. No one crafts an ending quite like Joel & Ethan. The ending to Burn After Reading may still be my favorite but The Hudsucker Proxy is classic Coen and should be seen. If you’ve never experienced the Coen’s movies before No Country for Old Men you need to correct that and correct it quickly. The Coen’s movies are too good to be missed.

Director: Joel Coen
Writers>: Joel & Ethan Coen
Norville Barnes: Tim Robbins
Amy Archer: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sidney J. Mussburger: Paul Newman
Waring Hudsucker: Charles Durning
Moses: Bill Cobbs
Smitty: Bruce Campbell

Amy Archer: I used to think you were a swell guy. Well, to be honest, I thought you were an imbecile. But then I figured out you WERE a swell guy... A little slow, maybe, but a swell guy. Well, maybe you're not so slow, But you're not so swell either. And it looks like you're an imbecile after all!

Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading Movie Photos (26)
Originally uploaded by divxplanet

Burn After Reading is the latest in the long line or quirky and original films made by the Coen brothers, and hot off their Oscar win for No Country for Old Men. To call Burn After Reading a spy movie does not properly define it, but to call the film simply a comedy undersells it. Like most of the Coen brothers movies there is no simple way to categorize Burn After Reading.

The film begins with Osbourne, a CIA analyst who is told he is being demoted and therefore quits, his wife Katie reacts adversely to this news and chalks up another reason for divorce. Meanwhile, Harry is a ladies’ man who hides his many girlfriends from his wife, and is a paranoid US Marshall who thinks he is being watched. In another section of Washington D.C. Linda and Chad work at Hard Bodies gym; Linda is obsessed with changing her life by getting plastic surgery to change her body, and Chad is blissfully Chad. At the gym one day Chad & Linda stumble on a CD of Osbourne’s memoirs and financial info and make the mistaken assumption that it is “secret intelligence shit” and decide to offer it up to Osbourne thinking that they will get a good Samaritan reward. However, this backfires and they instead try blackmailing Osbourne which is where the plot gets even more complex than it already was.

Hands down the best thing about this movie is Chad played by Brad Pitt. He steals the show. Chad is just so blissfully Chad that is almost beyond description, he exists in his own world. I really can’t describe him to justice – just go see the movie.

However, some of the best lines in the film are given to a more minor character, the CIA supervisor played by JK Simmons. At at least two points in the movie Osbourne’s former boss must go to the supervisor to report on the oddities they’ve noticed since Osbourne quit – namely that Linda and Chad contacted Osbourne and then went to the Russian embassy. No one at the CIA can figure out what is going on or how this random group of people is involved and JK is the voice of that confusion.

If some of the Coen’s audience is new and jumped into their movies at No Country for Old Men they will be surprised by Burn After Reading, this movie is the old school, traditional Coen’s where the Oscar winning film is the mature side of the Coen’s. However, no matter how different their films may be they are all worth watching.

Director’s & Writer’s: Joel & Ethan Coen
Harry: George Clooney
Linda: Frances McDormand
Chad: Brad Pitt
Osbourne: John Malkovitch
Katie: Tilda Swinton
CIA Supervisor: JK Simmons

CIA Superior: What did we learn?
CIA Officer: Uh...
CIA Superior: Not to do it again. I don't know what the fuck it is we *did*, but...