Doomsday's Andrei Tarkovsky Love Fest

Usually my opinion on art is that if you didn't care for it, it says more about you than the art itself.

I enjoyed Burn After Reading quite a bit when I saw it. Then again, I'm a fan of almost all of their comedies. The more mean spirited it is, the more I'll probably like it.

Great write-up. I'm a huge fan of this film.

That scene where Larry just screams in utter confusion,"What the hell is going on?!", just encapsulates so much about life. It had me in stitches.

Sorry Doomsday

True Grit (2010)

View count: Four or five times
John Wayne version: Hundreds



I was raised on 1969's True Grit, the western that earned John Wayne an Academy Award for his iconic performance of Rooster Cogburn. I always considered John Wayne to be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, movie star of all time. He might not have been in the best movies nor was he really that good of an actor but he's one of the few who's probably just as famous or even more famous after his death. I bet each person reading this has a dad, uncle, cousin or close friend who is 'the John Wayne fan,' the guy with dozens of VHS tapes or DVDs of every John Wayne movie you can think of. Add to that the fact that he still holds the record for most lead roles for an American actor and you can safely say that he has a pretty solid place in film history. I'm not a fanatic by any stretch of the imagination however I'm very familiar with his movies and I have a deep appreciation for the movies he starred in that actually are important, quality films like Stagecoach and The Searchers among others. That's why I was a little perplexed when I learned not only that it was being remade but it was going to be written and helmed by The Coens with Steven Spielberg as executive producer. Not McG, not Roland Emmerich but the Coens, legitimately good filmmakers.

The Coens retell the story of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a young girl whose father is killed by the 'coward' Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), one of the hired hands. Chainy has escaped into Indian territory so Mattie hires the drunken U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to give chase. Also on Chaney's trail is LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), a Texas Marshall who teams up with Cogburn to bring Chaney in alive. Mattie is the central focus and narration of the film and her performance isn't as annoying as it could have been which was a good change from the original. She plays the headstrong yet naive character very well and hits all the right beats when appropriate. It's even more apparent when she finds herself captured by Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and talks to him like a businesswoman rather than the child she is. Her character is very consistent and she brings it out well. Although the accolades for this movie went mostly to Bridges, Steinfeld warrants a good portion of that praise.

Of all the Coen films, this is one of the most straight-forward. It's a remake of a popular western that offers its own take without being a shot-for-shot rehash. I haven't read the source material but like No Country I remember reading how the Coens tried to stick to it very, very closely. Personally it's hard for me not to compare the original True Grit with the Coen version but I think it would be appropriate as the positive comparisons far outweigh the negatives. John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn was made larger than life which is how Wayne is portrayed in all his movies. He was a tough as nails Marshall who also happens to be silly and drink in a couple scenes. Otherwise it's not unlike most other Wayne performances. Jeff Bridges played Rooster very differently and I imagine more appropriately for the story. The first time Rooster is on screen we don't even see him, we hear him talking while he's using the outhouse. Bridges' Rooster is much more of a drunkard and scoundrel than the previous incarnation which keeps the movie centered on Mattie who is really the main character. The ending is also more somber, not the happy ending from the original that John Wayne fans are used to seeing. For western fans it really boils down to what kind of movie you prefer, an easy, fun and generic western or a more melancholic, dramatic and character driven movie that might not be as cheery but takes itself more seriously.

True Grit is a good, solid western. Even though at first glance it seems that the western is all but dead we still get plenty of them and this movie fortunately sits among the good ones. While it's not the most thematically rich or thought-provoking movie the Coens have made it's a good effort for their first foray into the time period.

You and Unforgiven, it's like Doomsday and Christopher Nolan.

No one in my family really cares for John Wayne either. I'm actually probably the biggest fan of him in the family, which isn't saying much. Anyway, regarding True Grit, I think the Coens remake is superior to the original in every way. The original is fine, I suppose, but it came out when the traditional Western was largely dying and you can see that in the film. It just feels tired and old, particularly when you think the same year it was released also offered Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Wild Bunch. The remake is a lot more substantial and, like Dooms, I love the slightly somber tone.

Just watched, that was very good.  I found A Serious Man on Amazon for $5 so I'll watch it again sometime this week with those ideas in mind.  Good find!

I have literally no interest in anything Eastwood has ever directed. 

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

View count: Few times



Inside Llewyn Davis was one of my favorite movies of 2013. Although I'm not a musician nor am I in any way interested in folk music, it's a movie that's quite relatable for me and I'm sure for many others trying to find their way and their place. As is common with Coen films, it's a step in a new direction both thematically and in terms of setting. It's not quite a musical but has musical numbers. It's a character study but moreso a breakdown of a person's decisions rather than their life story. Llewyn Davis takes us on a funny and sorrowful journey as we see him go through life trying to figure out where to go and what to do next.

Llewyn Davis is the main character in a movie that, like A Serious Man, isn't so much of a story as much as it is a collection of events at a particular point in time. Maybe I shouldn't say particular, I could use 'random' just as well. The events are there to gives us a sense as to what kind of person Llewyn is and that all depends on how you relate to him. On the one hand Llewyn can be seen as a struggling, down on his luck musician just trying to get by any way he can. On the other hand he's a selfish, destructive person who takes advantage of those around him while his mistakes weigh on him even more heavily. There's enough for you to feel invested in him and at the same time there's enough for you to wake up and realize that his problems and his station are his own doing. Llewyn's whole existence is grounded in bad decision making and paying for his mistakes in one way or another. Sometimes these decisions cost money, sometimes they cost relationships. He's constantly fixing things in his life while struggling to move forward. Whether that makes Llewyn a sympathetic person or pathetic person is up to you. The ending of the movie might leave you scratching your head and to me is symbolic of how Llewyn and people like Llewyn are constantly on this unending loop, trying to do something and get somewhere while never doing anything or getting anywhere. Sometimes those factors are outside of our control, most of the time they're within our control. I think we've all felt like that at one point or another.

From a filmmaking perspective it's still a standout film. We have some Coen aces like John Goodman making appearances and the Coens successfully highlight the dank, dirty lifestyle of the struggling artist. Personally I'm well-acquainted with the couch hopping methods employed by those of us who've had to live as nomads for a time (12-packs of beer helped me establish a solid couch network throughout Los Angeles back in the day). Even rewatching it I found myself expecting certain things to happen like having the manager offer him a deal or him pulling over to see the kid he didn't know he had, neither of which happened but both of which fit his character. Llewyn isn't the kind of person who would step into his child's life nor would he be the guy to hit it big. He's the person that none of us want to be but many are relegated to becoming, the person who keeps going around.

After watching Inside Llewyn Davis and comparing it to other Coen films it has become apparent that many of their films have very effective personal and philosophical themes. I also think that if I were to watch it again I could come away with something entirely different. I know I keep sounding mushy after these Coen reviews but there's just so much you can take away from them (most of them anyway). Not to sound desperate but I'd be interested in hearing what other people thought of this film in particular and how it sits with them. Me, I think it's an engaging movie that can tell you a lot about yourself if you look at it a certain way.

I SURE AS SHIT DON'T FUCKING ROLL.


I love ILD too.

I like that he's a bit of an unsympathetic dick. It helps you accept the circular nature of the film at the end. You don't really care he's stuck in an infinite loop of eternal recurrence because he's no Jeff Lebowski and he kinda deserves it.

BTW Doomsday I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time in several years recently. Still my favourite scene, handle the jazz music...is that from the film or added on YouTube? I can't even tell!



Who the fuck are the Knutsens?

shut the fuck up donny

So what have I personally picked up from going through the list of Coen films? For starters, there were some fantastic films that I was able to discover (The Man Who Wasn't There) and rediscover (A Serious Man). I saw just how masterful the Coen Bros. are at adapting their style to particular genres and time periods and can't think of any other filmmakers off the top of my head who are able to do the same so well. I always considered them to be among the best in the business today and although I won't say anyone is the best at anything you could make a strong case that the Coen Bros. are at the top. The Coens have a style and technique that is wholly their own and tackle each genre almost with perfection. Although there were low points as with any filmmaker, their heights are great films that range from cult classics (The Big Lebowski) to Academy Award winners (Fargo, No Country for Old Men).

Although I don't have the longest or most in-depth reviews, hopefully you guys were able to enjoy reading and contributing a little. And in case anyone is wonder, I do plan on doing another filmography run-through with another filmmaker. I have the person in mind already however if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations and would perhaps like to do it with me that would be welcome.