Joel and Ethan Coen have built a reputation as two of the most visionary and idiosyncratic filmmakers working today. Dabbling in Film Noir to screwball comedy, from off-beat indies to big-budget studio pieces, their films are adored by critics and audiences alike.
Joel and Ethan Coen, supported by an extraordinarily complex performance from Oscar Isaac in the title role, craft a moving, thoughtful, and, in a peculiar way, stimulating film.
‘Bridge of Spies’ is Spielberg at his wonky best, aided by some first-rate cinematography and a predictably wonderful performance from Tom Hanks
It’s always a treat to hear what the Coen Brothers are up to. With their latest film Hail, Caesar! having just wrapped, it’s no surprise that the famous duo are looking for a new project. According to Deadline, the Coen Brothers are set to write and possibly direct an adaptation of Kenneth Millar’s crime novel Black Money …
Unbroken Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese & William Nicholson Directed by Angelina Jolie USA, 2014 An unrelentingly grim affair, Unbroken excels at its realistic portrayal of dehumanization, but fails to capture the indomitable spirit of its protagonist. Angelina Jolie’s film is an impressive technical achievement, and her hero’s journey is undeniably gripping, …
The dishonest suggestion of truth behind an uninspired movie is an easy means to attract a bigger audience. It is a double-edged sword, however, when said audience discovers that the majority of what they have seen is inaccurate and, on occasion, almost slanderous.
From the stage to the screen, the director’s chair to the writer’s room, real-life jack-of-all-trades John Turturro channels his versatility in his latest feature, Fading Gigolo. As Fioravante, a sensitive florist and handyman who turns to the world’s oldest profession to help out a cash-strapped friend, played by Woody Allen, Turturro puts a lighthearted spin …
Inside Llewyn Davis Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen USA, 2013 It takes only a few minutes of Inside Llewyn Davis for its title character to comfortably enter the pantheon of iconic characters created by Joel and Ethan Coen. There’s no point, granted, in comparing him directly to Barton Fink or Marge …
‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ is an emotional hand grenade of a film, where its uncommon power will come hours or even days after seeing it.
Poor Llewyn Davis is not at a good point in his life. In February of 1961, he is a struggling, bearded bohemian shivering through a frosty Greenwich Village, a folk musician seeking the next gig just to keep the wolf from the door. With few possessions other than the fraying clothes on his back and his trusty guitar, he relies on the charity of others to keep a temporary roof over his head, oscillating from staying with two wedded musical companions in the tight-knit folk scene, Jean (Carey Mulligan, deliciously spiteful) and Jim Berkey (Justin Timberlake, polished) and the middle-class Gorfiens , the wealthy, perky parents of Llewyn’s musical partner, revealed to have committed suicide a few months earlier. Davis is a man scorned, sneering at others and certain of his superior musical skills. He’s not the most likable sort, as his futile attempts to escape the confines of his self-imposed cage make for a colourfully arranged period crooner.
The Coen Brothers return with Inside Llewyn Davis, a caustic yet affectionate glimpse into a struggling artist’s life during the folk music scene of the early ‘60s. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac of Drive) is a temperamental musician in Greenwich Village whose poor decision-making and an inability to connect to others outside of selfish reasons have landed him with little more than the clothes on his back.
Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month to raving reviews, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The brother-filmmaking-team seems to only get better with age delivering some of their best work in recent years with True Grit, No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man. While you …
Fargo Directed by Joel Coen Written by Joel and Ethan Coen 1996, USA The Coen brothers are a breed of their own, seamlessly melding quiet, unrelenting humor with often brutal violence. Their films present wild irony, eccentricity, and post-modern takes on classic genre films. I have always been a huge fan, from Raising Arizona to …
Gambit Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Directed by Michael Hoffman USA, 2012 This loose remake of a 1966 film of the same name – that starred Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Herbert Lom – has had a curiously long journey to the screen for a comedy, spending fourteen years stranded in numerous stages …
[quote by=”Synopsis”] Joel and Ethan’s next movie will be working on a script based on the life of musician Dave van Ronk, who played a part in the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene that played a large part in the New York folk scene of the ’60s. Van Ronk, who passed away in 2002 at 66, …
Blood Simple Directed by Joel Coen Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen USA, 1984 Love them or loathe them, the Coen Brothers are indisputably an institution in Hollywood cinema, lone wolves of distinctive style and tone who continue to put out top standard films never as straightforward as they seemingly should do. The signature …
Tom Noonan as Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter (Michael Mann, 1986, USA): Noonan is absolutely incredible as a serial murderer in this underrated adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon. With all respect to the talented but miscast actors involved in Brett Ratner’s 2002 adaptation Red Dragon (USA), with the exception of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal …
Nicol Williamson as Merlin in Excalibur (John Boorman, 1981, UK): Turning in by far the best acting in Boorman’s epic, Williamson sets the bar for all other interpretations of the Merlin character. Best known as an acclaimed stage actor with a history of incredibly unprofessional behavior, this is Williamson’s most memorable film role and will …
Spoke Art, the team behind the recent Wes Anderson-themed Bad Dads exhibit in San Francisco is heading to New York for their next big film-themed art show titled Quentin vs. Coens. The exhibit will be open from April 7-April 9 at the Bold Hype Gallery in Manhattan and includes work from over 100 artists who …
True Grit surprisingly stands as the Coen brother’s biggest box-office success to date. The film opened wider than any Coen brothers film, across 3,047 venues, and yet earned a robust $8,402 per-theater average—a validation of the film’s strength in the marketplace. The film’s success could be attributed to several facts: The simple case of the …
True Grit is a wonderfully executed work of love, admiration and respect by the Coen brothers. It’s singular in genre—it is a complete and true western—which may seem odd at first because the Coens are masters of mixing the domains of the real with that of absurdity (The Big Lebowski), idiocy (Fargo), sheer insanity (Burn …
69 – A Serious Man (2009) Directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Genre: Drama, Dark Comedy Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, The Coen Brothers deliver their most intimate film yet. Expanding upon some of the themes they’ve played with in the past, the film deals with everything from man’s search for meaning, …
69 – A Serious Man (2009) Directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Genre: Drama, Dark Comedy Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, The Coen Brothers deliver their most intimate film yet. Expanding upon some of the themes they’ve played with in the past, the film deals with everything from man’s search for meaning, …