 |
originally printed 04.28.05 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
The Coen Brothers Debate
Durant: Between 1996 and 2000, there were probably no better filmmakers than Joel and Ethan Coen. "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski" and "O'brother Where Art Thou?" set a trend that only two guys with the same parents were taken seriously in Hollywood.
But now the brothers are on the verge of overstaying their Hollywood welcome. It's like when Willie McCovey played for the Padres, or Karl Malone played for the Lakers, just to milk those last few years. Since "O'brother" they've made "The movie that wasn't there," seriously I've seen the movie twice and can't remember what it was about - some type of crappy love story with Mrs. Michael Douglas and a remake of some British movie starring Tom Hanks. C'mon guys we loved the stories YOU guys came up with, not some Euro who has no sense of humor.
I'm calling you out, either make something like your older stuff or hang up the light meter and stop teasing your fans by putting the Coen brothers label on crap!
Faulk: Hold up, Durango. I admit the Coen brothers may have peaked early with "Raising Arizona," but by no means have their powers diminished. "The Man Who Wasn't There" is a damn good movie and "Ladykillers" is better with a second viewing. While there seemed to be a lack of chemistry between the brothers and Tom Hanks, who seemed to be doing the obligatory Coen Brothers flick without any real affection for the story, the movie has grown with subsequent viewings.
I had the same experience with "The Big Lebowski." At first it didnt match my expectations and that ruined it for me, but after watching it on video, the classic humor revealed itself - "Shut up, Donny!" For my money, "Fargo" was the best movie of its decade and I can't believe the duo's imaginative power fled with the previous millennium.
It will only be a matter of time before the brothers concoct some new silliness to make the stoners of the world guffaw all over again.
DVD
Hotel Rwanda
Durant: I didn't pay close attention to who produced this movie, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Rwandan National Tourism Office. Why do we pick movies that we really can't get something funny out of? Here's one thing that was funny, Nick Nolte as a Canadian U.N. colonel. I just kept seeing him like he looked in his mugshot for that (alleged) DUI he got. Um, let me think of something else that was funny.... Um....Um..., nope that's it.
If you don't like violence or stomach-turning real-world issues in your movies, just do what the rest of the world did to Rwanda when this happened and don't watch.
Rating: XL
Faulk: Genocide sucks. Dying people aren't funny. Bodies aren't funny. The U.N. in this movie is slightly funny, but only because they suck about as much as genocide.
Don Cheadle, who first earned my respect in "Boogie Nights," lets loose with a wonderful performance. The Academy did not select him as the year's best actor, and that's about as bad as the West's ignoring of the Rwandan genocide. So the Academy sucks, too. Bill Clinton, you suck for not stepping in. Belgium, you suck for creating divisions where none existed. About the only thing that does not suck is this movie, but how I feel after watching it sucks.
It occurred to Chris and I after watching it that liquor plays a huge role in the film. It would make a great drinking game - to drink when characters imbibe - but doing so, when combined with the subject matter, might lead to some very dark places. That would also suck.
Rating: XXL
8:00 AM
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|