where art though
zing
― goole, Monday, 22 August 2016 18:15 (seven years ago) link
TMWWT is underrated based on my recent rescreen
― Number None, Monday, 22 August 2016 18:41 (seven years ago) link
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).
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 August 2016 18:55 (seven years ago) link
toothless yokel knows his mirthless chuckle
― goole, Monday, 22 August 2016 18:56 (seven years ago) link
loved that shot of grotesquerie btw
― goole, Monday, 22 August 2016 18:57 (seven years ago) link
the sitdown with the religious panel near the start really bothered me. even giving leeway for laughs, those characters (esp rabbi) saying some of those blunt things in 1950 didnt make any sense, esp if they are regularly providing notes on scripts. comedy from character is funnier.
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 August 2016 19:04 (seven years ago) link
also Clooney spouting Marxist boilerplate to Brolin at the end was funnier when Josh Mostel did same to his family in Radio Days
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 August 2016 20:29 (seven years ago) link
i enjoyed projecting this, and timing the fade-up of the house lights at the end, because i took the final shot, swinging up and around to be swallowed by the light, to be a shot of me
i never developed a theory of its flitting parts, traces of themes, coy references, etc, so i never posted itt after seeing it cuz i didn't feel able to defend my faith that something was coherently going on in it and didn't want alfred to clown me
lots of stuff about labor, obv
looking forward to seeing it again sometime
― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Monday, 22 August 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
i didn't feel able to defend my faith that something was coherently going on in it and didn't want alfred to clown me
but you listen to me talk about Reagan
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 August 2016 20:54 (seven years ago) link
talking better electrically
― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Monday, 22 August 2016 20:56 (seven years ago) link
some echoes btw of sag-president RR in brolin's char's theological affinity for the bosses and their ideal frictionless system
― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Monday, 22 August 2016 21:15 (seven years ago) link
this was okay but did feel a little flimsy. my interpretation is that it's a fantasy of the studio system, from the point of view of the studio system; ie commies behind every bush, disposable/irresponsible/troublesome prima dona actors as constant annoyance, loyal studio fixer as hero, gossip columnists as parasitic harpies, etc. Feel like that was the general focus, which served as a convenient pretext for the various setpieces.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 August 2016 16:31 (seven years ago) link
loved the identical twin gossip columnists in this so much
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 29 August 2016 16:35 (seven years ago) link
one of the ushers at work made me laugh: asked if i'd liked anything we'd shown recently, i mentioned this, and she made a face and said "i wanted to be like, just SAY what you MEAN"
― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 11 September 2016 08:00 (seven years ago) link
After watching this I felt very much like "This was pleasant but pointless" and many similar things said in this thread. I like Outic's version a couple posts up, just wish it were more of a complete movie in the process of hitting those notes. Everybody is skin deep and so many things go undeveloped or just forgotten. The really laughable thing is the poster, which gives framed faces to Tatum, Clooney, Brolin, Johansson, and Hill, two of whom are two-scene characters and one of whom is literally on screen for maybe forty-five seconds, versus the banished singing cowboy Ehrenreich who is all over this thing. Obviously this reflects a hierarchy of stars and maybe that's another reflection of the studio system or something. I'd be pissed, though unless there really was a fully fleshed-out Jonah Hill subplot in some lost, four-hour road show cut of the film.
Fiennes was the funniest - perfect delivery. Johansson's story really was pointless, like they were like "what could be another crisis Brolin would have to deal with" and someone came up with a star being pregnant out of wedlock, and they just sort of threw that in without writing anything else around it. I did appreciate the "no dames!" song-and-dance number even if the "gay sailors" aspect of it seemed really lame. Just nice to see a long stretch of singing and dancing in the middle of a movie.
― dustalo springsteen (Doctor Casino), Friday, 11 November 2016 14:03 (seven years ago) link
pointless
is a bear pointless if it is a pleasant bear
a pleasant sandwich you would never call pointless
a pleasant person, that is a fine rarity indeed
why must your diversions be so pointy
― the kids are alt right (darraghmac), Friday, 11 November 2016 14:15 (seven years ago) link
http://www.cornel1801.com/1/t/THE-POINT-OBLIO/film4.jpg
― dustalo springsteen (Doctor Casino), Friday, 11 November 2016 15:01 (seven years ago) link
rewatched this last night and stand by my initial assessment of it: a fantasy of the studio system, from the point of view of the studio system; ie commies behind every bush, disposable/irresponsible/troublesome prima dona actors as constant annoyance, loyal studio fixer as hero, gossip columnists as parasitic harpies, etc.
but overall it's very slight/flimsy and it def feels padded w cameos and setpiece scenes - but then is that also intentional satire cuz of course a studio propaganda movie would be all surface and no depth and jammed w distracting baubles arggghhh
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 9 February 2017 22:18 (seven years ago) link
As time passes all I really remember is the ''would that it were so simple'' scene, and so consequently my opinion of the film keeps improving. Was surprised to reread my comments a couple posts up and find them so negative! But then if I imagine actually sitting through the Clooney-with-Marxists scenes again, or the Swinton twin reporter stuff, that's not so appealing.
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Friday, 10 February 2017 03:39 (seven years ago) link
I've been catching up on all the Coen Bros films that I haven't seen and watched this last night. It's like a rose-scented fart, pleasant enough but ephemeral and pointless. Maybe (probably) I'm missing something but it just seems like a lot of effort for very little on the screen. Best things were the Communist writers congratulating themselves for deftly inserting propaganda into their scripts (historical LOL) and everything L'il Han Solo did.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:27 (five years ago) link
But I also watched Miller's Crossing, which I somehow had never seen before, and want to watch it like 15 more times.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Thursday, 24 January 2019 14:29 (five years ago) link
well you are otm about millers crossing for sure anyway
i dunno i love that coens arent above a random, messy, showpiece of love like hail caesar. not all of it worked but most of it was done with plenty of mischief and style and panache and if it was only brolin, sailors dancing and fiennes/solo its a seven out of ten just on that
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:17 (five years ago) link
I would've liked that version a lot better!
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:44 (five years ago) link
I'll be watching The Hudsucker Proxy tonight btw
can't remember if thats underrated or not but imo its perfect
― topical mlady (darraghmac), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:46 (five years ago) link
Totally underrated. Took a critical beating at the time, along with an all around feeling of a flop; I think the studio (Warner?) was hoping it'd be the Coens mainstream breakthrough, but then Ace Ventura came out like a month before and, well, that was where American comedy was at now.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:51 (five years ago) link
I always have room for silly Tim Robbins, so I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I should just re-watch all of them, since I've only seen most of them once. I've seen Fargo, Raising Arizona and No Country twice each.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:51 (five years ago) link
Hudsucker is great. only wrong step is the "magical negro" bit imo
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:54 (five years ago) link
lol this was buried in the Inside Llewyn Davis thread
https://kottke.org/13/12/coen-brothers-next-film-set-in-ancient-rome
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 27 June 2019 22:22 (four years ago) link
Right now, the brothers are plainly excited about what they’re writing, which they proudly explain, is set in ancient Rome. It’s the allure of the unexpected, all over again.
“It’s like: Would you ever do a sandal movie?” laughs Joel. “It’s big,” says Ethan, grinning. “We’re interested in the big questions. And we don’t (expletive) around with subtext. This one especially.”
Though their movies usually revel in the absurdity of life’s predicaments, Ethan promises this film has answers: “It’s not like our piddly ‘A Serious Man.’” Chimes Joel: “That was a cop-out. We just totally chickened out on that one.”
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 27 June 2019 22:23 (four years ago) link
loool
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 27 June 2019 22:46 (four years ago) link
This movie is awesome.
― treeship., Friday, 15 May 2020 02:07 (four years ago) link
It really is. I don’t know why people don’t like it
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 15 May 2020 03:58 (four years ago) link
it's a series of set pieces with no character development and very little plot, so you either enjoy the comic bits and the callbacks to old movies or you find the whole apparatus too weak to be very satisfying.
― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 15 May 2020 04:06 (four years ago) link
i fear that i fall into the latter, i didnt really get it
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 May 2020 04:14 (four years ago) link
Good pastiches but the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
― COVID and the Gang (jim in vancouver), Friday, 15 May 2020 04:56 (four years ago) link
Which would be fine too! But the parts lose their charm right quick. Except whenever Channing Tatum dances.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 May 2020 10:46 (four years ago) link
it's a series of set pieces with no character development and very little plot
these are firstly subjective statements and secondly subjectively relevant to if a movie is good
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Friday, 15 May 2020 12:38 (four years ago) link
i liked this movie and completely forgot it existed until now
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Friday, 15 May 2020 12:42 (four years ago) link
huh?
xpost
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 May 2020 13:14 (four years ago) link
You're saying he should've added "imo"?
Imos pizza sux IMO
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Friday, 15 May 2020 13:41 (four years ago) link
nah mlud alf the imo is as always implicit
im saying that even iyo declaring that there are such tests that a movie must oerleap else fail is adding elements to appraisal that dont always (and need never) apply
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Friday, 15 May 2020 15:00 (four years ago) link
I really like this one and think theres a lot going on in it, its current rep as a a piece of lightweight pastiche hugely underrates it imo. I think about it a lot as a companion piece to A Serious Man
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Friday, 15 May 2020 15:03 (four years ago) link
yeah
and elements that are def of a piece with hudsucker, barton fink, inside lleywn davies, etc etc
the pastiche pieces are happening around a vv compelling central character/performance in brolin
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Friday, 15 May 2020 15:06 (four years ago) link
tbh i think the level the coens are working on now, I dont think they could do a "just" pastiche movie at this point even if they tried
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Friday, 15 May 2020 15:08 (four years ago) link
these are all lesser coens to me, especially the latter
― COVID and the Gang (jim in vancouver), Friday, 15 May 2020 16:52 (four years ago) link
brolin is good but there's not really a journey for the character
not every story is the odyssey
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Friday, 15 May 2020 17:01 (four years ago) link
some are the iliad.
― Louder Than Bach's Bottom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 15 May 2020 17:04 (four years ago) link