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Moriarty Spies On BURN AFTER READING!
Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Loved it.
Let’s just get that out of the way. Liked it a whoooole lot while I was watching it. Started really liking it as I drove home talking to Mr. Beaks about it. And I think I sort of love it now that it’s had a while to sink in.
I love the funny Coen Bros movies for the most part, which is why I am so saddened by my distaste for INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and THE LADYKILLERS. They both feel like epic stumbles to me, and I’ve tried watching them again. I like THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, but I haven’t felt compelled to rewatch it. I was one of the very first people to profess my undying love for THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and that film’s ever-expanding cult following pleases me endlessly. I wish some of that love got funneled over to THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, which deserves far better treatment than it got when it was released...
If the music cue at 2:35 in that clip doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what to tell you, man.
For me, my love affair with the Coens started with RAISING ARIZONA. I read a review of the film, and although the review was largely negative, the reviewer convinced me to hunt the movie down when he quoted what he claimed was an example of the “awful” dialogue: “Her insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.” The music of that line, even just written out on a page, made me interested in these guys and their worldview, and I ended up going to see RAISING ARIZONA. It was me, my girlfriend, and about three other people in that theater, and I was the only one laughing. Not just laughing, either, but gasping for air as I laughed, amazed by what I was seeing.
I have a feeling this is going to be another of those moments where some people are laughing, and other people are staring at them in the theatre wondering what, exactly, they are laughing at. BURN AFTER READING is wildly funny, but it’s also very sly and subversive as a piece of filmmaking, and it’s not an obvious comedy in any way. From the score to the cinematography to the overall mood, the film feels like something entirely different, and that’s part of why it makes me laugh so hard.
Carter Burwell’s always been one of the best collaborators for the Coens, a guy whose own warped sensibility is totally in synch with theirs. Try to imagine RAISING ARIZONA without his score. It’s impossible. Burwell’s music is the engine that drives that incredible pre-title sequence, as much as the language of it or Barry Sonnenfeld’s exceptional cartoon cinematography. That yodeling was so bizarre, such a wild choice, that it practically redefined for me how far you could push a score in service of a film. I’d never heard anything that sounded like that for a whole movie. And then to hear the quiet, meditative beauty of his work on MILLER’S CROSSING a few years later... it just shows you how rich Burwell’s imagination is. One of the reasons I think he isn’t quite as frequently name-checked by film nerds as guys like Elfman or Williams is because his work doesn’t have just one sound. He seems to be able to do almost anything, each time figuring out what the character of that film is, his work and his style bending to suit the picture instead of him trying to make everything sound the same way. Even when the Coens used no score at all for last year’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, with just one minimalist track at the end, that was a choice that Burwell was part of, and he got the same credit on the film he always does. I love what he did for BURN AFTER READING. It sounds like he got hired to write this for some giant-budget action-drama about the CIA, and Emmanuel Lubezki seems totally in on the joke as well. He shoots this in the same jittery hyperclarity he brought to ALI or Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. This isn’t shot like a “comedy” at all. Normally audiences take their cue from that obnoxious sunshiney overbright color in studio comedies. That’s what tells them that what they’re watching is “funny,” and it’s surprising just how much of an impact it has on audience expectation. They may not ever notice the cinematography or the score overtly... many audiences don’t. But it has a huge subliminal impact on what they think they’re watching versus what the film actually delivers, and that dissonance, part of the joke, may make some people very uncomfortable. The story is profoundly silly, a roundelay of morons bouncing off of each other in little fits and starts of stupidity. In some ways, there is no real story to the film. You keep waiting for everything to add up, and when it doesn’t, that also might frustrate audiences who expect certain sorts of narrative beats to occur every single time. The Coens have a habit of frustrating those expectations, though, and BURN AFTER READING is no exception.
The film starts with Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), a low-level CIA analyst, being called into his boss’s office to be demoted. He reacts badly, quitting instead of letting himself get moved, and when he tells his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), she takes it badly, too. She’s been having an affair, anyway, with the amiable doofus Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), and she’s ready to leave Osborne. Harry’s a bit of a cad, though, constantly cycling through encounters with women he meets on the Internet. Things would probably be bad enough with just these people in the mix, but then Osborne makes a few serious errors. First, he starts writing a book, a fiction based loosely on his experiences in the Agency and things he’s heard over the years. Then he leaves it on his computer, where Katie downloads it while trying to get his financial records. She gives it to her lawyer, who gives it to his secretary, who puts it on a disc that she takes with her to the gym where she works out. Hardbodies. It’s a cookie cutter chain of gyms, like a 24 Hour Fitness or a Bally’s, and when that disc gets lost, then discovered by the Hardbodies staff, it sets off a chain of events that is both breathtaking in its stupidity and hilarious because of how seriously these ridiculous people take all of this.
I think the Coens have always loved the characters they create. For a while, they got a reputation as being chilly, emotionless, clever without really meaning it. I think that’s unfair. ARIZONA is a film positively brimming over with love for its characters, and I think MILLER’S CROSSING is rich with eccentric humanity, as is LEBOWSKI. There are a few of their films where things tipped a bit to the smug “look at the dummies” side of things, but with this film, they once again have created a group of people absolutely ripe with faults and foibles who the Coens love because of their flaws, not in spite of them. Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) gradually emerges as the real center of the film. She’s one of the gym employees, constantly surrounded by people in pursuit of better bodies all day long, and she’s become determined that plastic surgery is the only way she’s going to move forward in life. Unfortunately, she can’t afford the surgeries she wants, and so she’s slowly drowning in self-pity. Like Harry, she spends her time on Internet dating sites, but she’s not just looking for sex; she’s looking for something lasting, some sort of real love.
Brad Pitt is... well, come on. You know by now whether you admire the kind of madness Pitt brings to his most interesting work. 12 MONKEYS. FIGHT CLUB. SE7EN. And, yes, this film. Chad Feldheimer is the new Greatest Coen Bros Character Ever. He’s not the main character in the movie. He has a few big sequences, but for the most part, he’s a supporting player. But in grand Coen Bros tradition, he kills every single moment he is onscreen. Just kills. He’s a personal trainer, constantly moving, constantly dancing to his own iPod soundtrack, helping out a friend simply because that’s what you do and it’s sort of exciting. He doesn’t really think he’s blackmailing anyone when he tries to get money from Cox. He’s just expecting a reward for doing the right thing. Like any decent person should expect. And when Cox won’t pay, things get ugly. And stupid. People make very, very bad decisions.
I think Clooney’s work is fascinating. I like his O BROTHER performance. It’s crazy, but it works. I’m less enchanted by the bland romantic comedy lead work in CRUELTY, a film that is what it aims to skewer, toothless. The concept has no follow-through. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR THE DAY does a better job of capturing the pulse of a genuine screwball comedy than CRUELTY does, and it’s a shame. It’s rare when Clooney doesn’t have a chemical spark with someone, but I think he was mismatched with Zeta-Jones. Honestly, this is my favorite Clooney performance since OUT OF SIGHT and THREE KINGS back to back. He’s a bundle of quirks in his early scenes, these big scripted conversational tics. He’s obsessed with people’s floors and exercising after sex. He’s paranoid. He’s phony. And as the film unfolds, the quirks become cumulatively funnier. Without ruining things, I’ll just say that I love the way the first half of the film plays like the third act of GOODFELLAS, with Clooney on edge, sure he’s being shadowed, waiting for the bullet he knows is coming. And then things change. And things happen. And the payoff for him is the best comic material in the film, I think. It’s another twist on the gentleman spy work he’s been doing now in films like CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND and SYRIANA. He’s able to make the sleaziest guy... and Harry’s certainly sleazy... somehow charming.
McDormand is, as always, best served by the Coens. Nobody writes more interesting roles for her, or offer her such deliciously twisted characters.
She’s the MIRROR MIRROR version of Margie Gunderson. Margie simply was a positive person, secure in her faith that good somehow sorts itself out in the universe. The events in FARGO test that belief, but she’s so decent that you have to believe that after that, she was still that same good person. Linda’s not a particularly good person. She’s very positive, but she’s also blind. She wants a man to love her, but she has no idea how much her boss Ted (the great great great Richard Jenkins) wants her, just as she is. He tells her. No hesitation. But she never registers it, just shrugs him off. She wants surgery, and she can’t understand why that’s nobody else’s problem. She seems to expect it. After all, she’s the one reinventing herself. She’s got faith that the world will give her what she deserves, and she doesn’t seem to care what she has to do to make it happen. She makes some truly horrific decisions in the film, and Chad’s the one who really takes the brunt of it, so determined to help her and so excited to be part of the “spy shit.”
I also really loved the stuff between David Rasche and J.K. Simmons as two C.I.A. officers, junior and senior, sort of serving as a Greek chorus to the various bits of insane bad behavior. These two could do a weekly show, just giving reports and reacting to them, and I’d watch it every single week. They’re that funny together.
I don’t think it’s the tidiest wrap-up, but that’s also sort of the point of this one, just as it was with LEBOWSKI. It’s more the collision of people like primal forces that interests the Coens, and it always has been. BURN AFTER READING may divide viewers at first, but I think it’s got a shot at being part of the pantheon for the Coens. I’ve been thinking about it constantly since seeing it. It’s the sort of Coen Bros. film I want to talk about with my friends who are also Coen Bros. fans, because I think there are about five or six moments that are immediate “Oh my god, did you see that?” moments, and two that are so remarkable you wish you could take the DVD home with you. It’s a whole different flavor than what is normally called “comedy” these days, and that alone makes it worth sampling. I suspect this one will be a grower, not a shower, and if it doesn’t really connect at the box-office, it’s no doubt because the guys once again zigged when anyone else would have zagged.
And really... if you love their work... would you have it any other way?
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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looking forward to this.
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Son, you got a panty on your head.
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Thanks, Mori.
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Great great great.
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... don't you even start. Do you realize how deep the library of Coen Bros. movies quotes really goes? It'd make that GHOSTBUSTERS talkback look like an AICN BOOKS talkback.
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... I'm starting a band called CLOONEY'S PURPLE FUCK PILLOW.
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Sep 07, 2008 5:35:46 AM CDT
I loved INTOLLERABLE CRUELTY and am seriously stoked for this
by col. tigh-fighter
Bring me some screwball Coens! And Mori, Intollerable ROCKS lol :)
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Endlessly entertaining flick. Definitely one of their best.
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Now it's my favorite comedy. I should give Intollerable Cruelty a watch though. Never seen it.
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from the first preview I saw where it looked like Pitt was sporting his Cool World hair style to the rest of the cast to this review it makes me so want to see thisI perfered The Ladykillers over Cruelty but I agree both seem...just off HOWEVER The Man That wasn't There is just strange, I like it but I think I would have liked it better if the Coens wuld have gone for a stright Hitchcock homage as opposed to the Hitchcock parody it feels like
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My family went on vacation to visit my mom's side of the family. My brother and I saw this with out cousins. They picked it, and hated it because they said it made people from Arizona look stupid.
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The first time I saw The Man Who Wasn't There I thought it was the saddest most pathetic thing I'd ever seen. The second time, I thought it was the funniest.
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- A reviewer thought that the 'my seed could find no purchase' line was 'awful'? And what would they consider a great line? "Look out. He wants to rear your child."? What a cocksucker.
- Carter Burwell has done fine work for the Coens, but, personally, I think his IN BRUGES score was phenomenal.
I'll definitely be seeing the film. Good review. -
It does feature the funniest accidental suicide in film history.
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sceptical on this... i really do hope its good, and not just a quirky comedy only funny for coen fans. i'm sure it'll be interesting at least
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...but weirdly I think that Oh Brother is sadly overlooked...I mean the movie, not the soundtrack. Ten thousand volts, chasing a rabbit through yours truly indeed.
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JENNIFER JASON LEIGH'S SWEET ASS IN PERIOD COSTUME!!!
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Asshole.Regardless, Mori's review is what I was waiting for on this one. I'm in. Pitt doesn't get nearly enough chances to be as hilariously funny as he's capable of, so this should be a blast.
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love, love, love the coens and cannot wait to see this one.
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tattoos were supposed to be the Roadrunner or Woody Woodpecker... and is their connection a literal or symbolic one?
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Watched it, loved it. My wife got home, I watched it again back-to- back. Do not understand the hate for the film. The opening credits alone are worth thr price of admission.
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Geeez, no Fargo love. To me, that is their best movie. At least that's the only one I own.Those guys are the last original filmmakers in hollywood.Keep making em Coens!
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and I'm very excited about BAR.
www.battleroyalewithcheese.com -
The clip Mori linked is classic... it almost makes the movie a blast all by itself...
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I can't wait to see it (october 23rd for me)
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That Raising Arizona screening sounds like one awesome date, Mori.
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...and liked The Ladykillers, actually. Looking so damn forward to this, especially after this review.
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I hate when people say that they view their characters with ironic distance, or coldly. The only people they mock are those that deserve mocking. Every film is a love letter to the protagonists and indictment of the antagonists. Marge is the kindest, most decent, hard working cop in film. H.I. and his wife are kindly but misguided people, very spiritual, and they only want what they truly believe is best for the child. I could go on. Them disliking the characters is a baseless claim I just don't understand.
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That's gotta be their most underrated. There are many reasons why I love it but the main one is just the depiction of a dude who doesn't talk very much, watching his face as he listens to everyone else blather on about nothing and clearly wishing they would shut the hell up. Then that scene where he starts to lose it and tries to explain his thoughts on cutting off people's hair and throwing it in the garbage. And the strangely sweet moment when he confesses to the murder and Tony Shalhoub thinks he's just coming up with a defense strategy but Frances McDormand looks kind of touched as she realizes her husband murdered somebody out of jealousy for her.
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His art films quickly fade, his "mainstream" films drop dead. His OCEAN'S movies are supported by bankable actors ("insurance") but even these films--though profitable--are hardly blockbusters. Clooney's visibility is accessible through the tabloids, not unlike a legion of p.r. parasites (Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, et al). Good actors/actresses (Amy Smart, Ali Larter, Julia Stiles) are ignored because they apply more of a precedent to their work than than the scandal sheet bullshit.
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with her kid. looked momsy
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In my opinion The Man Who Wasn't There is the best Coens film since Barton Fink. Very funny, and strangely moving in one of the best final moments of any of their films. Acting was all top-notch. Shalhoub should have been nommed, same with Billy Bob. And Deakins did black and white better than anyone in the last 25 years, including Janus Kaminski.
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For hours. On endless loop. You'll never smile at it again.
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what the fuck, seriously. unless he made it up and he's that much of an attention whore? here's hoping. big fuck you though, and why isn't the comment gone yet?
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I disliked it the one and only time I watched it. Intolerable Cruelty improved considerably with a second viewing. The Man Who Wasn't There is a fucking gem. Fantastic film. Ladykillers is the only truly weak Coen Brother film .
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that you dumped the girlfriend who didnt laugh at Raising Arizona, Moriarty.
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... just checked in. I'm banning DevilCat right now. Dude, you are a wet bag of frog cum, and I hope someone accidentally stabs you in the balls. YOU ARE OUTTA HERE!
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... he's gone. I eliminated all the "GET RID OF HIM!" posts, too, since we did. Sorry. I had an early morning screening today, or I would have caught his spoiler earlier. I apologize to anyone caught unawares. I worked very hard NOT to ruin it in the review.
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Sep 07, 2008 5:03:27 PM CDT
If Mori's banning DevilCat, his spoiler MUST be true
by nasty in the pasty
MotherFUCKER!
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with admitting Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty suck and fawning over Lebowski and Raising Arizona. Clooney gets a second chance!
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Thanks, man, but you might want to delete my previous post, too. Just saying.
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"I don't know what his damn jammies looked like... they had Yodas and shit on 'em!"
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...Hudsucker Proxy is right up there with Ladykillers and Cruelty. Do "agree" with you on The Man Who Wasn't There. I liked it sure, but never really gave it a second thought after seeing it. Brad Pitt looks like he's going to be utilised correctly in this. I really can't stand him as an actor, I think he's almost always "good enough" to not ruin a film and thats about it. You know somethings fishy when his best performance was about all of 3 minutes long in a tony scott film. I've really apprehensive about this flick, the trailers sort of selling it as being similar to Cruelty....Just hope its not.
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...Although it was surrounded by great big giant warnings as to the spoilerish potential of it. I always read spoilers. I've never understood why I feel no inclination to keep suprises for myself. Deakins was busy, yeah.
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actually one of my favorite comedies. And something I like to quote from time to time. Always liked it more than Big Lebowski. I think the difference is between those whose favorite passtime is getting high (lovers of Big Lebowski) and those whose favorite passtime is watching movies (particularly older flicks). But I could be wrong.
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Raising Arizona and Hudsucker Proxy are my litmus tests: If people don't find them funny, I don't have anything in common with those people.
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I haven't watched them but there's like 12 scenes from this up at Yahoo Movies. That seems like a lot for a film they have confidence in so I'm glad to hear you liked it, that's always a good sign.
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The spoiler wasn't just a prank. Oh well, still plenty to see in an entire movie.
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...the low profile of actual good actresses, but the three you name -- Amy Smart, Ali Larter, Julia Stiles -- are definitely NOT the cream of the crop in my book. Yawn-fest. Got something for blondes?
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I've seen Raising Arizona dozens of times, and I still tear up at the final dream sequence, when the voiceover cuts out just long enough to let you hear one woman gently say "Dad". And that's because the Coens want you to love them.
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I think it's the music, on top of everything else. Raising Arizona is what got me started on the Coens; after I saw Miller's Crossing, I was convinced that they were, in fact, geniuses at work. Loved Barton Fink, laughed my ass off at Hudsucker; Fargo and Big Lebowski grew on me over time. All I remember from Man Who Wasn't There is the scene where Thornton exclaims "Heavens to Betsy, Birdy!" as Scarlett Johanssen tries to give him head while he's driving; Intolerable Cruelty was a waste of time, and I liked Ladykillers but had no desire to see it again. No Country for Old Men was a masterpiece; and I can't wait for Burn After Reading. Oh, and one more thing: Yuz fancy pants, allayuz!
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Nasty in the pasty, maybe the word you're looking for is M. Emmet Walsh's "mother-scratcher" (Bill Parker)!
Usually it can get twee, but I love how those 3 movies are subtly related through Walsh's Hudsucker overralls and the boys' pomade. -
Came from a review Quint posted on Friday: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38197
Maybe Mori and Quint should have a talk. -
That's BILL PARKER, y'understand...an' he's got his SANDWICH in ONE hand, and the fuckin' HEAD in the OTHER! HEEheeheehee.....
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Shut the fuck up Donny! (Does anyone else think of this when you pass by an In-n-Out?)
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Gale and Evelle Snoats. John Goodman and William Forsythe. I could watch a film with just them in it, commenting on their twisted world-view. Raising Arizona. Barton Fink. The Big Lebowski. Brother Where Art Thou. I don't know why, but my favorite Coen Bros movies all have John Goodman in them. Mori is right about Coen movie quotes, I can remember about 10 good ones from Raising Arizona right off the top of my head. "We're usin' code names!", "Only if round is funny.", "Freeze or drop, which is it?","YOU NEVER LEAVE A MAN BEHIND!" etc...
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"Well, sometimes I get them menstrual cramps real hard."
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... why? The review that was run had a clearly designated spoiler section designed to give someone a chance to either read it or not. What DevilCat did was just plain fucked up and cruel. You don't ruin a film pre-release for people. And you certainly don't do what he did and post it as the subject line in a talkback. He was a troll. Pure and simple. And I'm telling you guys... talkback is gonna change, one way or another. I'm prepared to be even less tolerant of this kind of shit, and considering my already-obvious hair trigger, and considering how hard it's going to be to get a new account for you guys now, I'd take that warning seriously.
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how so?
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...was that you said you "worked very hard NOT to ruin it in the review." That implies you believe a review, even with a spoiler section, shouldn't include that particular information. But Quint let it go through in the other review. So, it would seem, you and Quint ought to discuss what sort of protocol should be used in the future. That's all.
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Hon, it was kinda horrifyin'...
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Sep 07, 2008 11:28:59 PM CDT
Quint's review had a spoiler warning, Mori's didn't
by nasty in the pasty
That's why Mori danced around the spoiler in question (I am still MIGHTY PISSED about that...).
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...if you're going to start policing the talkbacks maybe you should cut all the political spam/trolling that goes on here (see, for example, that Commander in Chief thread), not to mention the silly "articles" that start the trolling in the first place.
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...the need you guys (Harry, Herc, etc.) to turn into some sort of internet version of "crossfire." Are you guys that desperate for hits?
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Chairs you got a dinette set; no chairs you got dick! I ask my WIFE she's got more sense!
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Sep 07, 2008 11:56:13 PM CDT
Gotta do that, Hi! Ed's got her hands full with this little ange
by zeke25:17
What would Ed and Little Angel do if a TRUCK came along and splattered your BRAINS all over the INTERSTATE? Where wouldja be THEN?
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(Written on wall: FART) Say, howdja get that kid so darn fast? Me 'n' Dot went into adopt on accounta somethin went wrong with my semen; and they said I gotta wait FIVE YEARS for a healthy white baby! I say "Healthy white baby, five years...what ELSE ya got?" Said they got two Koreans, and a nigra born with his heart on the outside! Crazy world...
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DO WE HAVE TO GET THE OBLIGATORY 5 PARAGRAPH MEMOIR OF THE REVIEWERS' HISTORY WITH, AND TIMELINE OF, COEN BROS. FILMS???!!! EVERY TIME THEY RELEASE A MOVIE WE HAVE TO READ THIS CRAP ALL OVER AGAIN! REVIEW THE FILM AT HAND! YOU'RE LIVIN' IN THE PAST, MAN! YOU'RE HUNG UP ON SOME MOVIE FROM THE 80'S, MAN!
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as opposed to the shit that gets cranked out now. And if a person is inclined to read a book every now and then, he might get hung up on one or two from a century ago, imagine that! stories that aren't disposable waste. And also when reviewing a creative team that has had mixed success in the past it helps me if they qualify their shit so I know what their taste is like.
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... how about this? Don't tell me what I "imply," okay? I'll tell you again, I chose not to include a spoiler in MY review. The one I wrote. I don't really care if someone does or doesn't include one, as long as it's clearly labeled. As it was in the other one. Some people include spoilers in their reviews and, depending on the movie and the spoiler, I have as well. I just didn't in this case. That's not an overall site policy, so please stop telling me that I have to "talk to Quint." Just different reviewing styles. That's all.
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"...than a man chasing his hat." I still maintain that MILLER'S CROSSING is their best film.
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"Jesus, that's strange."
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"I don't say that. And I don't like people who do."
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"Holy Bible?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I think so. Anyway, I heard about it." -
... unless round is funny.
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Even when they're giving PRAISE the Coens sound like arrogant intellectuals. Them winning the Oscar for transcribing NCFOM into screenplay format was and is a joke. However, ignoring the missed chance NCFOM was, can't dispute that they make movies a cut above the mainstream, although that's getting easier and easier.
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i'm so excited to see this!
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Does NO-ONE have an answer to my Raising Arizona tattoo question?
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Its almost straight from the book. There Will Be Blood was a great big re-jig of the material.
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[off-screen] Don't forget his fingers, Ed.
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... Pitt and the Coens will reconsider making To The White Sea. God, I'd love to see that movie.
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and not just clever turns of phrases so you didn't have to type 'set visit' for the umpteenth time in a headline?
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...whatever cash ya got.
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Thank you thank you for patrolling the talkbacks. I hope your statement that talkbacks is gonna change is more than just election year politics. We want REAL change, Mori.
Also, I love O Brother and Ladykillers. -
AND TURNED HIM INTO A H-H-H-...HORNYTOAD!
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The best Coen Bros quotes are almost all from Gov Pappy O'Daniel?
"Hey I know, Pappy. We can git us a LITTLER man!" "whut? Look like a buncha Johnny Come Latelys if we git our own midget no matta how stumpy." "Maybe we should git us somma dat RE-form." "Oh sweet Jesus onna Cross, how we gonna git some RE-form if wes da god damn incumbents! GIMME MAH HAT!" -
Blood Simple? The expression on John Getz' face when he asks "Where the hell's my windbreaker?" The Dan Hedaya burial scene... both so creepy, but simultaneously hilarious... and M. Emmet Walsh... I knew when I saw that movie that the Bros. were a force to reckoned with....
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I also liked The Ladykillers, although I would agree it wasn't their best work.
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Love Hudsucker. I used the exact scene Moriarty posted in a test when I was teaching HS econ. The students had to find economic principles in the clip and explain them and their use.
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Sherry (from porn: Logjammin'on video) Ahh, you must be here to fix the cable. Maude: Lord you can imagine what happens from here. Dude: He fixes her cable? Maude: Don't be fatuos Jeffrey
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Ray (from Blood Simple) If you point a gun at someone, you'd better make sure you shoot him, and if you shoot him you'd better make sure he's dead, because if he isn't then he's gonna get up and try to kill you. How many movie characters lost their lives by not adhering to that rule, the mind boggles.
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Dude: These are, uh...
Brandt: Oh, those are Mr Lebowski's children, so to speak.
Dude: Different mothers, huh?
Brandt: No.
Dude: So racially he's, uhh pretty cool?
Brandt: [laughs] They're not literally his children. They're the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers - inner city children of promise but without the necessary means for a - necessary means for a higher education. So Mr Lebowski is committed to sending all of them to college.
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H.I.: Better hurry it up, I'm in dutch with the wife.
HI's Cellmate: ...and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand.
H.I.: You ate what?
Cellmate: We ate sand.
[pause]
H.I.: You ate SAND?
Cellmate: That's right!
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Ulysses Everett McGill: Well, there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, Pete, but the great Satan hisself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork. Ulysses Everett McGill: Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?
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To me, the Cohens are truly one of the greatest living writers of dialouge that spans from the dim, to the sublime, from the talky, to the subtly refrained. Some of their most memorable characters speak in an imbicilic Shakespeare prose that requires a sharp ear and a constant rewrind of the mind to replay and rethink about that which was just uttered. I know many who would say I am wrong, and that David Mammet wins that ward. But to me, they are far superior than Mammet, because their characters actually believe what they are saying, you can actually see their minds conjuring these phrases and thoughts as though it were the most natural thing in the world. With Mammet, even with the best character monolouges, there always reaches a point that these characters are merely repeating a well crafted speach, they are not living these words, merely regurgitating them. The Cohens write lines for existing characters who seem to be capable of only expressing themselves in a certain way. Mammet seems to write lines and then hand them off to his characters to further a point or a plot, with nary a second thought as to whether the line is truly appropriate to that characters true nature.
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What's the rumpus?
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Remaking Raising Arizona like they did last year. And I agree Hudsucker doesn't get much respect. Neither does evil John Goodman.
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Also, The Hudsucker Proxie is definitely in my top five. I could go on and on about why I like it. It is simply amazing.
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How'd you get the fat lip?
Old war wound. Acts up around morons. -
Woops, dude, I can't believe how dumb I am.Don't know why in the world I added the "H", I have a good friend who is a Cohen, not Coen, must be that I am used to writing "H".Wish I could clean up my earlier posts now, how stupid.
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I am a turd.
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... I'll make it easy for you. We will not be offering detailed rules, because no matter what, someone will always come up with some new reason or way to be a dick. And, yes, if you are a giant asshole about the site, you will be banned. There are plenty of talkbackers that disagree with us who never have a problem, but there's a line, and at some point, it becomes a personal attack, and I won't put up with it. You're going to remain very frustrated by this, and I'm telling you... at some point... you're going to have to just deal with that and either not use the forum or accept that that's how it is. You will NEVER get what you are looking for because of the way Harry set talkback up. Ever. Ever. Ever. Have I made that clear yet? Because I thought I did last time you brought it up, but yet you're still demanding things of me that you're not going to get.
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I love it when the site heads engage with us lowly plebes. Reminds me why I first came to this site many moons ago (under so many different names) because this was a site about conversations. Conversations about film. These days I suppose you could say a lot of the talkback is more arguments about politics, religion, race, sexual orientation, the usual. But these are also topics for film, so I think that is appropriate. At anyrate, I appreciate the involvement fellas, it definitely classes up these joints.
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