cult film freak: coen brothers

Showing posts with label coen brothers. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 11/16/2018 / No comments / 2018 , action , anthology , coen brothers , grace lesueur , james franco , liam neeson , netflix , new , stephen root , tom waits , western

COENS' WESTERN ANTHOLOGY 'THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 2018</u></td></tr>
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A more fitting title for The Coen Brothers' Western Anthology <u>THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS</u> would be <i>Six Ways to Die in the West</i>. Not only is each vignette about death, but the misleading title refers to the first story and that's it. Maybe if Tim Blake Nelson's singing cowboy was the blanket narrator it would make more sense...<br>
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Then again, he's so annoying, maybe not. In fact, SCRUGGS is one of several of the main characters that doesn't only die but deserves death: The hybrid of a THREE AMIGOS style gussied-up Amigo, Pinhead from FREAKS, Jim Varney's Ernest and Kermit the Frog, the entire point of a surprisingly lethal crooner <i>who only looks nerdy</i> steps upon the second story featuring James Franco as a scruffy bank robber, titled <u>NEAR ALGODONES</u>. In this case, Franco's outlaw loner only <i>seems</i> more resilient than a timid and chubby bank teller played by nerd's nerd Stephen Root. There's some potential in the sparse-shot, Spaghetti Western tableau, but like the first story, it ends before it really begins (and concludes with an absolutely gorgeous actress, Grace LeSueur, in a quick but very important cameo)... <br>

2018, action, anthology, coen brothers, grace lesueur, james franco, liam neeson, netflix, new, stephen root, tom waits, western

COENS' WESTERN ANTHOLOGY 'THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS'

Year of Release: 2018 A more fitting title for The Coen Brothers' Western Anthology THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS would be Six Ways ...

GEORGE CLOONEY DIRECTS MATT DAMON IN SUBURBICON

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR OF RELEASE: 2017</u></td></tr>
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It may have seemed logical before, but now there's genuine proof that a Coen Brothers movie has to be both written <i>and directed</i> by Joel and Ethan so that the dark comedy seems genuine, palpable, and not one bit contrived...<br>
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But their own personal Cary Grant in George Clooney, the star of a few less inspired installments after the bro's last true classic, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, has, as director and co-writer, made his very own "Coen Brothers" experience taking place in a 1950's Suburban community called, simply enough, SUBURBICON, a misleading paradise with postcard-perfect houses and manicured lawns belonging to one-dimensional neighbors, all of them white... Save for the black family that just moved in... a husband, wife and child suffering through chanting protests right outside their living room window, and for absolutely zero reason plot-wise except to further prove how hypnotically racist, soulless and Stepford-like Caucasians were back then (as if we hadn't learned by now, again and again and again)...<br>
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2017, coen brothers, crime, fifties-era, george clooney, julianne moore, matt damon, neo noir, new, oscar issac

GEORGE CLOONEY DIRECTS MATT DAMON IN SUBURBICON

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2017 It may have seemed logical before, but now there's genuine proof that a Coen Brothers movie has to be both wri...

COENS WITH CLOONEY IN HAIL, CAESAR

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>George Clooney in HAIL, CAESAR</u><br></td></tr>
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No matter the talent of the actor or actress, there are a few things mighty hard if impossible to sell. Like a twenty-something Jack Nicholson playing a virgin in the beginning of CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. Or when William Redfield points out that Charles Bronson's original DEATH WISH character is a bleeding-heart liberal, and was a conscientious objector in the Korean war before becoming an urban vigilante. Or especially when Jane Fonda, in COMING HOME, slowly figures out that Vietnam isn't so great. And in the case of the latest Coen Brothers/George Clooney quirky collaboration, HAIL, CAESAR!, Clooney's A-list though bad acting Baird Whitlock is cast in a big budget time-period movie (titled HAIL, CAESAR!) that shouldn't be made despite being made, or something, and on his first day of shooting is kidnapped by a group of outsiders who are never<i> NOT</i> part of anything concerning the 50's... those being, Communists...<br>
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2015, coen brothers, george clooney, quirky

COENS WITH CLOONEY IN HAIL, CAESAR

George Clooney in HAIL, CAESAR No matter the talent of the actor or actress, there are a few things mighty hard if impossible to sell. L...

CRITERION DELVES INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover to the Criterion Edition of INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS</td></tr>
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Popular movie blogs that get much more hits than the wordy, passionate Cult Film Freak will merely promote particular covers of genre Blu Rays, DVDs, and even VHS covers, and while The Coen's comeback (at least to some of us who have been dying since THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE) titled <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/12/inside-llewyn-davis.html">INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS</a>, taking place in 1961, before Bob Dylan both made and broke the Folk genre in New York's Greenwich Village, centering on the most flawed of flawed anti-heroes in Oscar Issac's stubborn and selfish folk singer who, as we begin with him crashed hungover at a friend's house, which he winds up doing anywhere and everywhere, after an egg breakfast sleepily walks out the door when the family cat scrams outside along with him, wherein a desperate Lewis quickly grabs the feline in the outside hallway and, since the front door is locked, the orange tabby and the title character takes off to the Village via subway car, where our lonely misadventure begins. Actually the movie starts with what might have been the night before with Issac playing a lovely standard before getting punched-out, outside in the club's alleyway, for a mysterious reason learned later on. And the man of the hour, Oscar Issac, an actor who has yet to make it as big as he deserves, sings and plays guitar himself; he's the real deal, very rare and adding something incredible and palpable to a movie that came and went in the box office. But Cult Film Freak first bought a cheap DVD, then a slightly pricey Blu Ray, with the same boring cover. And, as happens with Criterion, they emerge outta nowhere with an incredible cover, and this one is, amongst a long list of incredible artwork from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/11/love-streams.html">LOVE STREAMS </a>to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2015/12/in-cold-capote.html">IN COLD BLOOD</a> (purchased after the original standard yet cool blu ray cover got signed by Scott Wilson) to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2011/04/repo-man.html">REPO MAN</a> to our tribute to David Bowie in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/01/bowie-MCML.html">MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE</a>... by far, in this reviewer/collector's opinion, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/11/pop-culture-2.html">INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS</a> is the very best of the eclectic series. In the movie itself, two future (and now, present) <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/01/jedi-rambles.html">STAR WARS FORCE AWAKENS</a> actors appear in the film. The new X-Wing Ace, filling the boots of Wedge Antilles, is the star of DAVIS while the new galactic villain, Adam Driver, plays a low-voiced singer named Al Cody, equally a failure in the folk music business, and in one great scene, so very Coen Brothers in their usually silent-hilarious fashion, has Llewyn crashing at Driver's pad, carrying a box of left-over albums... There's no room to place the box under a table where there's another box, which happens to be full of Al Cody's non-sold misfire LP's of his own.<br>

adam driver, coen brothers, oscar issac, tribute

CRITERION DELVES INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Cover to the Criterion Edition of INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Popular movie blogs that get much more hits than the wordy, passionate Cult Film F...

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS BY JOEL AND ETHAN COEN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 rating: ****</td></tr>
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Having reached the end of your rope, at least there’s not enough left for a noose… This could be the theme of the Coen Brother’s latest, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, about an unlucky early-1960's folk singer whose career isn’t exactly panning out...<br />
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The film begins with Llewyn waking up at someone else’s pad. As he exits the apartment, the owner’s orange tabby escapes and the day goes progressively downhill… <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsV_GNbUUjrJEqiWKZXBwRli6HwFyZcMDZuAcBf0Irq0_KlpYka9mXa6Ta5uAgtj4GMyZBtKnxOyq543ODPuAZTC2cmAsAdNvIRTPk1HI5zFpljCOEJxXSAiF-MYu-aHTgaI7ZrytSzs/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsV_GNbUUjrJEqiWKZXBwRli6HwFyZcMDZuAcBf0Irq0_KlpYka9mXa6Ta5uAgtj4GMyZBtKnxOyq543ODPuAZTC2cmAsAdNvIRTPk1HI5zFpljCOEJxXSAiF-MYu-aHTgaI7ZrytSzs/s1600/Picture+1.png" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Davis with Tabby</td></tr>
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Like a grungy coin rolled down the street, a hapless, bearded Davis visits the places and people making up (and shaking up) his dreary life: From the local tavern where he performs to a very special girl he accidentally knocked up, we exist through the eyes of a title character who isn’t particularly nice... In that, the Coens have created a new sort of unapologetic, selfish anti-hero. Thus the best moments involve Davis’s smug reactions to the world around him, surpassing the pivotal Kerouacian road trip with a motor-mouthed John Goodman, providing more of a break than a purpose.<br />
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Throughout this punctuating turmoil, set mostly in the cold New York/Greenwich Village wintertime, the one thing Llewyn can do is sing… Having lost his duo partner, he’s an un-discoverable solo act although his music, delivered beautifully by Oscar Issac himself, is heartfelt and world-weary, especially compared to an intentionally campy tune that will stick in your head longer than the good stuff. Perhaps this is intentional. If INSIDE has one purpose it’s to show a character with genuine talent, much too personal and private for the mainstream – an isolated curse befitting both the man and his music.

2013, coen brothers, john goodman, music, oscar issac, quirky

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS BY JOEL AND ETHAN COEN

year: 2013 rating: **** Having reached the end of your rope, at least there’s not enough left for a noose… This could be the theme of th...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/29/2011 / No comments / 2009 , coen brothers , counter culture , dark comedy , george wyner , michael stuhlbarg , zeroes

THE COENS DIRECT 'A SERIOUS MAN' AND RETURN TO THE SUBTLE

2009, coen brothers, counter culture, dark comedy, george wyner, michael stuhlbarg, zeroes

THE COENS DIRECT 'A SERIOUS MAN' AND RETURN TO THE SUBTLE

year: 2009 rating: ***1/2 Gotta hand it to the Coen Brothers: after a decade of casting Hollywood bigshots like George Clooney, Brad Pit...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/12/2011 / 2 Comments / adaptation , coen brothers , jeff bridges , josh brolin , matt damon , remake , tens , western

TRUE GRIT (2010)

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-mINTW3jDy2hDLfXmYQW7he4VY79GCctAj7Z9HhsPjFJrNXNo6OVEpv900aAl74fHnLapyu2wk8SNMQ1tPDdRVDjY2IYWdMWcnz_BWscBLpVNQIw99atLEUaVC6HOR0ITto5O0ByRnhM/s1600/True-Grit-image-10392.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561557498061922450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-mINTW3jDy2hDLfXmYQW7he4VY79GCctAj7Z9HhsPjFJrNXNo6OVEpv900aAl74fHnLapyu2wk8SNMQ1tPDdRVDjY2IYWdMWcnz_BWscBLpVNQIw99atLEUaVC6HOR0ITto5O0ByRnhM/s200/True-Grit-image-10392.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 183px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>TRUE GRIT<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2010<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> *<br />
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The Coen Brothers claim this is <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> a remake, but rather, a brand new vehicle more faithful to the source novel. But with the exception of a few scenes, it's a pale imitation of the John Wayne classic. The plot has an assertive fourteen-year old girl who, in order to track her father's killer, hires a violent U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The entire first act, setting up the three leads... also including Matt Damon as an uptight Texas Ranger with aims of his own... never settles into any worthwhile communication. By the time the search is underway, we hardly know the characters: each at odds but without seeming genuinely motivated. The villains are an afterthought, and antihero Jeff Bridges, as the legendary tough guy, is more a sloppy town drunk slurring tales that, if visualized (and comprehended), might make a more interesting film. At attempting to make an arthouse Western, the Coens failed twice: it's not intelligent nor involving or exciting. And the beautiful scenery feels condensed and wasted throughout.

adaptation, coen brothers, jeff bridges, josh brolin, matt damon, remake, tens, western