The Coen brothers have three kinds of movies: comedies, crime, and character studies, some of which take a bizarre turn in the third act. I'm of the opinion their crime movies are the best.Originally Posted by GuitarGeek
As a Coen Bros. devotee, here's how I would break them down:
1984 - Blood Simple. Their best movie. If you like dramatic irony you'll love this; it's dripping with it. Frances McDormand's first movie. M. Emmet Walsh steals the movie as a slimy PI.
1987 - Raising Arizona. Great comedy. But you already know that.
1990 - Miller's Crossing. A great mobster movie (my favorite). Gabriel Byrne is excellent in it. Albert Finney's shoot out in the street is iconic... and funny.
1991 - Barton Fink. Not an easy movie to like as it's one of their character studies that takes a bizarre turn. Can't say I'm a fan. Still, John Turturro & John Goodman are both excellent in it.
1994 - The Hudsucker Proxy. A light comedy w/Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, & Jennifer Jason Leigh.
1996 - Fargo. A great movie with some of that Coen Bros humor (i.e. Steve Buscemi's argument with the parking lot attendant).
1998 - The Big Lebowski. Not a fan. Many love it, tho.
2000 - O Brother, Where Art Thou? For quite a while, this was my favorite Coen film. A retelling of the Homer classic, The Odyssey (or so I've read), it's a comedy, mostly... sorta... whatever. Lots of old time folk/country music in it, which is actually a good thing in this case; and I say that because I normally hate that kind of music. Such an entertaining movie. This should be next on your list.
2001 - The Man Who Wasn't There. Found it quite slow in the beginning and consequently fell asleep. Still feel I need to finish it. It's also in B&W.
2003 - Intolerable Cruelty. An underrated gem of a little comedy.
2004 - The Ladykillers. Another comedy but nothing special.
2007 - No Country for Old Men. Good crime movie. Great? You be the judge.
2008 - Burn After Reading. Another comedy. I think most people liked it more than I did.
2009 - A Serious Man. It's another of their character studies. It's kind of an odd movie and there's really nothing particularly special about it but I really liked it. I seem to recall a lot of Jewish humor in it. And, yeah, it takes a bit of an odd turn at the end but nothing like Barton Fink.
2010 - True Grit. Supposedly, much more faithful to the novel. Jeff Bridges really is great in it. It has a different tone than the '69 version w/John Wayne but I didn't think it improved on it. Good movie.
2013 - Inside Llewyn Davis. Another character study but without the odd turn. It's about a struggling Jewish folk singer in early '60s Greenwich Village. It's not bad but it isn't particularly great either, other than Oscar Isaac's performance. Some humor but not as much or as funny as A Serious Man.
2016 - Hail, Caesar! Progeezer really liked this movie. I must have missed something.
I have to say, tho, that all of their movies are worth at least one viewing. Even when the movie isn't that good, it's still better than most movies, which are all dreck in comparison.
Incidentally, the only other filmmaker I'd say that about is Stanley Kubrick, fwiw.
Saw it when it was first released and liked it... then. I still don't think it's a bad movie, aside from Jessica Lange's mediocre acting. Bridges' acting and Lange's wet, see-thru blouse are the highlights.Course, there was also King Kong, but maybe the less said about that, the better.
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