The Coen Brothers

[Mitch Henessey]

Joel and Ethan always give us high quality material. These two have won some Oscar gold, and they have had a ton of nominations over the years. But how good are The Coen Brothers?

Joel and Ethan are big names in Hollywood, and unlike a lot of the other big name directors, writers, and producers in Hollywood, they don't give us shit. They don't give us headaches with cheesy and over the top blockbusters, and they usually don't produce bad films. A Serious Man might not have been that great, but I don't consider it to be a bad film. The Coen Brothers have produced yet another film(True Grit) that will surely receive a good amount of Oscar nominations.

I'm a big fan of Joel and Ethan, because they have CONSTANTLY produced hits over the years. Their films always have A+ directing, and everything is well written. The dialogue in No Country For Old Men was priceless. The Coen Brothers' films always feature great characters. The Dude from The Big Lebowski and Barton Fink and Charlie Meadows are just a few. These two actually made me LIKE Nicholas Cage. I can't stand Cage, but even I can't deny how much I love Raising Arizona. Although, I really couldn't get into Intolerable Cruelty. It's not a bad film, but I'm not too crazy about romantic comedies, and this one just never clicked with me. I also need to watch The Hudsucker Proxy again, because it's been a long time.

What do you think about Joel and Ethan Coen? Are they as good as I'm making them out to be?

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Now that I've got that out of the way, I want to know what your favorite Coen Brothers' film is? Just in case some of you are not familiar with The Bros, here's a list of some of their more popular and recognizable films:

True Grit
No Country For Old Men
Barton Fink
The Big Lebowski
Fargo​

It's very tough, but I would have to pick The Big Lebowski as my favorite Coen Brothers' film. This film is a great comedy. Jeff Bridges was awesome as The Dude, and John Goodman was hilarious. The Big Lebowski is one of the very few comedies that I can watch over and over again and still laugh.

What is your favorite Coen Brothers' film?

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

True Grit has yet to hit theatres here, but I am highly anticipating it's release. Of the movies that I've seen by the Coens, my personal favourite is probably O Brother, Where Art' Thou? The film is essentially a retelling of Homer's Odyssey complete with a Cyclops (of sorts) played by John Goodman. The three principle characters are played by George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nielsen and they are all terrific in there individual roles as well as being together as the Soggy Bottom Boys. The Coen's script and direction really brings the whole thing together to create one of the funniest movies I've ever seen and what I think is still George Clooney's best ever performance.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I think I'm hit and miss with them. The Big Lebowski has to be my favorite from them. The movie is so odd, yet so mesmorizing. I just have to keep watching it to see what happens next. Not to mention, it's also a very quotable movie (which is always entertaining for me) because of some of the odd things that come out of people's mouth. Plus, how funny is it to just say, "I'm...The Dude."

I do like Fargo a lot though. The only thing that bugs me about the movie, and I guess it helps make it a good movie in an essence, is how could one man, William H. Macy's character, be so stupid? I mean, to go to those means to try to get some money for an investment. It just baffles me.

 

[INDYjon22]

Brilliant filmmakers. I am a huge fan of all their work. I definitely think the films they made during the 90's were the pinnacle of their careers though. Not that their newer films aren't good, but I loved the lower budget films and great acting they got out of their actors in films like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, and Millers Crossing. Their newer work, while still having the same themes, just don't usually have the Coen Brother feel accompanying them. The closest the Coens have gotten to their 90's style films was A Serious Man.

As for my favorite Coen brother movie, that would be The Big Lebowski. I know a lot of movie posters on WZ find Lebowski to be an overrated film but I adore it. It has great dialogue, great quotes, and some brilliant acting. John Goodman and Jeff Bridges were born to play the roles of Walter and The Dude. Steve Buscemi was great in his small role of Donnie. John Turturro was funny, and Julian Moore didn't annoy the piss out of me. The dialogue was also great and the film is packed with quotes. The Big Lebowski isn't just my favorite Coen brothers film but one of my favorite movies of all time. It was just something completely different then I had ever seen and it remains amazing to this day.