Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Although I’ve enjoyed most of the films of Joel and Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis, True Grit), there are occasional films, usually their comedies, in which I find little to connect with. The Ladykillers is a primary...
Tagged: Joel Coen
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Set starting in 1957, in the midst of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Tom Hanks (Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips) stars as New York-based insurance lawyer James B. Donovan, a...
Raising Arizona (1987)
Joel and Ethan Coen follow up their neo-noir breakthrough, Blood Simple, with an entirely different but no less satisfying follow-up, Raising Arizona, which plays out like a somewhat broad and inherently silly farce, but with a...
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Though set in the late 1950s, this comic fantasy concoction by the Coen Brothers (Barton Fink, Blood Simple), as well as co-screenwriter Sam Raimi (Darkman, Spider-Man 3), owes much more to the screwball comedies of the...
Blood Simple (1984)
Blood Simple is most notable for being the first film by the Coen Brothers (Barton Fink, Fargo), and also an example of the noir revival in the 1980s (though Chinatownstill reigns for all-time best), culminating in the...
The Ladykillers (2004)
Perhaps the lesser of all of the Coen Brothers’ films, their remake of the 1955 film, The Ladykillers, proves to be just too disjointed to fully enjoy in its totality. Blame miscasting of the supporting...
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Although it will probably be seen as the least “Coen” of the Coen brothers’ films, Intolerable Cruelty is still unmistakably theirs. Like many of their previous films (Hudsucker Proxy, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The...
Barton Fink (1991)
Barton Fink isn’t the first film about writer’s block, but it may be the best. Reportedly, the story was inspired by the difficulties of crafting Miller’s Crossing and with 20th Century Fox’s constant niggling about their script...
Fargo (1996)
Although the blurb at the beginning states that Fargo is based on a true story, it’s actually not. Oh, those wacky Coen brothers are an odd couple, aren’t they? The film starts off with William...
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
In my opinion a return to form for the Coen brothers, after my two least favorite films in their careers, The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou. The Man Who Wasn’t There is the Coen homage to...