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Coen Brothers Films

Had sort of a Coen Brothers fest lately--probably because the stations have been running so many of them because of the DVD release of Burn After Reading.

Just watched it. It was funny, but I have to agree with the critics that this was not their best. Some of the expressions from Clooney and Pitt are priceless--that play upon the meta-of Clooney and Pitt being somewhat unattractive, schlubs--and the final coming together of the stories delightful.

My favorites remain "O, Brother" and "Barton Fink." I have not seen "The Ladykillers" because the original is so priceless and perfect with Alec Guinness that I kind of think a remake is a travesty. I absolutely do not get "The Big Lebowski" and quite frankly, having recently seen "No Country," I didn't get that either. I did miss the first 15 minutes or so of that and so perhaps my perception is skewed. I thought it okay, but I found none of the special qualities that make a Coen Bros. film and couldn't quite understand all of the praise that was heaped upon it.

On the second tier would be Intolerable Cruelty (fluff but so funny--second in what Clooney calls their trilogy of Clooney as idiot characters), The Man Who Wasn't There--very subtle for them, Fargo--of course, doncha know, Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing.

I only saw Raising Arizona a couple of weeks ago (amazing but true) and I laughed quite a bit, but it seemed oddly forced after their recent stuff. I always forget that Hudsucker is theirs and I haven't seen the short pieces that they did recently.

Burn After Reading (2008)
Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007) (segment "World Cinema") ... aka Chacun son cinéma (France: short title) ... aka To Each His Cinema (International: English title)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Paris, je t'aime (2006) (segment "Tuileries") ... aka Paris, I Love You (Hong Kong: English title)
The Ladykillers (2004)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) ... aka O' Brother (France)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Fargo (1996)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) ... aka Hudsucker - Der große Sprung (Germany)
Barton Fink (1991)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Blood Simple. (1984)

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