John wrote:
> since you didn't mention them, I'm sure you don't
feel the same
> affection for
> RAISING ARIZONA or THE BIG LEBOWSKI, both crime
films by the bros
> Coen,
> albeit more stylized and comical ones. both
brilliant exercises,
> where I come
> from
Oh, I like them fine. And in fact, THE BIG LEBOWSKI in
particular shares much of the sensibility of Ethan's stories;
a sort of pulp- through-the-fun-house mirror angle that I
really go for.
And Dave wrote:
> I agree about The Lookout, a small but very well
made movie. I don't
> why, but Before the Devil Knows You're Dead left me
cold. It should've
> been a movie I liked, it had all the ingredients for
it, but the
> ending just didn't work for me.
>
> Btw. I agree about Big Lebowski--it's one of my
favorite movies, but
> then again, I've loved most of the Coen Brother
movies--Barton Fink
> next in line after Big Lebowski. Very cool what they
did with their
> homage films to Cain, Hammett, Chandler and
Thompson. The only movie
> of theirs I didn't like was No Country. That one
left me wondering why
> I wasted the time and money.,
I'm sorry you didn't like NO COUNTRY. But if you think that's
the Coens' worst film, for God's sake stay away from their
version of THE LADYKILLERS.
I'm with you, though, on BEFORE THE DEVIL. All the parts were
there, but it didn't gel at all for me. And it really should
have.
But there was no fire -- it all seemed curiously flat. One of
the most tired, dispassionate movies about passion I've ever
seen, like 60 MINUTES doing a by-rote report on the events
depicted in BODY HEAT or THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.
Maybe Hoffman was tired. He was only in 437 movies last year.
Which left the thespian heavy lifting to Ethan Hawke.
But it was more than just the acting. It was the approach to
the story itself that felt off. There was a sense of
exhaustion to it before it even began. Maybe that was the
intent, but it didn't work for me...
Kevin
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