HAIL, CAESAR! A '50s Hollywood comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen

I think someone needs to cast Alden Ehrenreich as the lead in THE BILLY MACKENZIE STORY pronto.

Wow, the Coen Bros beat these guys to the punch. Just in time for Easter:

http://www.patheos.com/Entertainment/Movie-Club/Risen/RISEN-About-the-Movie-01-27-2016

RISEN is the epic Biblical story of the Resurrection, as told through the eyes of a non-believer. Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), a powerful Roman military tribune, and his aide, Lucius (Tom Felton), are tasked with solving the mystery of what happened to Jesus (referred to by the Hebrew name Yeshua in the film) in the weeks following the crucifixion, in order to disprove the rumors of a risen Messiah and prevent an uprising in Jerusalem.

RISEN stars Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Peter Firth (The Hunt for Red October; MI-5), and Cliff Curtis (Fear the Walking Dead).

Columbia Pictures and LD Entertainment present in association with AFFIRM Films, a Liddell Entertainment and Patrick Aiello production, RISEN, directed by Kevin Reynolds. Screenplay by Kevin Reynolds and Paul Aiello, and story by Paul Aiello. Mickey Liddell, Patrick Aiello, and Pete Shilaimon produced. Executive producers are Robert Huberman and Scott Holroyd. Director of Photography is Lorenzo Senatore. Production designer is Stefano Maria Ortolani. Steven Mirkovich, ACE is the editor. Costume designer is Maurizio Millenotti. Rafa Solórzano is the visual effects supervisor. Music is composed by Roque Baños. John Hubbard and Ros Hubbard did casting.

RISEN is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for the following reasons: biblical violence including some disturbing images

The running time is 1 hour and 48 minutes.

Tom Felton playing a character sharing the name of the elder Malfoy, in a film with another Fiennes brother.

Oh wait, this already came out.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=risen.htm

Made a little money, I'm guessing

Still playing in Tupelo. (They've settled in to having 2-3 xtian movies playing on the 18 screens there at all times.)

I guess if it keeps the punters packing in?

Sure, the market and the marketers know each other intimately.

speaking of which, is that "miracles from heaven" movie being advertised on TV an example of a studio making a crypto-xian movie?

nothing crypto about it

Joseph Fiennes does some weird shit these days.

This was great. No criticism in this thread is valid. Gits.

"great" is a point of view

Agreed!

I liked the message, such as it were (usually I'm with Bob Dylan circa 1965 when it comes to messages)--belongs with Sullivan's Travels and Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy and I don't know what else. "Would that it were so simple" was great. I thought the casual dinner-time flirtation between the singing cowboy and "Carlotta Valdez" was sweet.

After that, not much else. Don't know that I've ever liked George Clooney or Josh Brolin less.

Reading back over the thread, I somehow missed that that was Frances McDormand. I did enjoy picking out a couple of Mad Men guys: Allan Havey (Lou Avery) and the always strange Patrick Fischler (Jimmy Barrett).

I like that McDormand's scene served as a PSA about the dangers of wearing scarves around film machinery and not, say, smoking in a room full of film stock.

http://brightlightsfilm.com/camping-out-in-hollywood-the-coen-brothers-hail-caesar/#.VvmT3GM4nq0

Saw it again.

Better again.

Very rare in that it could and should be thirty mins longer maybe.

I saw this on a long-haul flight. diverting, enjoyable, but just very, very slight.

(psued-alert) made me think of jameson:

Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter

Their worst since *at least* The Ladykillers.

Did you at least like Channing Tatum's homoerotic song-and-dance bit?

meh

Alden Ehrenreich much funnier

but gen too much "lol Old Hollywood so STUPID"

no wonder darraghmac shared in the contempt

I wasnt a fan of it but "lol Old Hollywood so STUPID" wasnt what they were aiming for imo

often seemed so

Totally missing where you're getting that morbs

And most of my fave movies are old hollywood. More than a few recommended by you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVQ0JFzXMgY

anyway ledge otm on the whole dull, pointless kidnapping plot

just join the Navy, Alfred

I watched it for the second time recently, it isn't peak Coen but it made me laugh a lot and feel happy even on the second viewing, which is more than I can say for most movies.

also the only movie i've ever seen where communists talk like communists

― goole, Wednesday, February 10, 2016 6:07 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is very otm

what about Reds?

we must know different communists

"why don't you look around and see how agitated you get?"

a Strictly Come Dancing-like performance from Tatum

This seems a little harsh.

Overall I thought this was a trifle, but entertaining enough not to feel slim - unlike, say, Intolerable Cruelty. Every scene has gems. Ehrenreich's scenes with the Carmen Miranda-type were really charming. Overall it's very broad but not as forced as anything in their awkward phase (O Brother through The Ladykillers).

The reason for the kidnapping seems pretty clear - aren't they looking for a famous figurehead?

I kind of agree with David Edelstein's review - the movie might have been more interesting with Clooney and Brolin swapping roles.

I'm looking for the point of the Coens doing the kidnapping plot.

Intolerable Cruelty is a weirdly maligned near-gem.

Agreed!

Clooney doing "screwball" makes my stomach turn

otm

I can't remember a single thing about Intolerable Cruelty, except that everything seemed to fall flat, Catherine Zeta-Jones can't do comedy, and coming out of the cinema with a "what did I just watch?" feeling. Maybe worth rewatching though?

Clooney's good in Burn After Reading.

Intolerable Cruelty is very funny, with romcom lighting and cinematography rather than a "Coen-y" visual style. Not inappropriately, as it was them taking over a commercial project, but I think the look goes a long way towards distracting people that it was a step up out of their post-maternal-passing malaise.

Clooney doing "earnest" makes my stomach turn

eg the Murrow CBS movie

only thing i remember from intolerable cruelty is "what god hath joined let n.o.m.a.n. put asunder"

i really enjoyed intolerable cruelty when i "rescreened" it recently, would definitely rank it the best of their films in the early 2000s. though o brother where art though, the man who wasn't there, and the lady killers aren't particularly hard to top.

thou, damn autocorrect

where art though

zing

TMWWT is underrated based on my recent rescreen

ScarJo's honking NY accent was pretty good.

One of the better things about the Audie Murphy cowboy character was that he's not stupid (he seems to know what a mirthless chuckle is, as bad as the execution is).

toothless yokel knows his mirthless chuckle