The Coen Brothers 'Hail Caesar' and 'A Serious Man'

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by The Panda, Jan 30, 2016.

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  1. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    I'm glad I stuck around for the credits as I usually do. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that "This motion picture contains no visual depiction of the godhead."

    Loved Francis McDormand in her brief scene.
     
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  2. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I thought it was OK but very uneven. Roger Deakins' photography was dynamite (as always), and his recreations of late-1940s/early-1950s period lighting was amazing. I think there was way too much with the Eddie Mannix story and not enough about everything else. I felt like they started off with a 3-hour picture, then cut out the wrong hour of material. However, what's there is pretty good, just not great. The guy who played the hillbilly cowboy was surprisingly good, and I laughed myself silly on the Channing Tatum sailor dance number.
     
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  3. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Already looking forward to the dvd with bonus material!
     
  4. mindblanking

    mindblanking The Bourbon King

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    What he said...
     
  5. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yeah, and I always enjoy the behind-the-scenes stuff. One thing that's absolutely right in the movie: the real-life Eddie Mannix at MGM -- the great Hollywood "fixer" who did a lot of dirty work to keep stars' names out of the scandal rags -- had a very interesting life. He was one of the inspirations for the Ray Donovan TV show.
     
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  6. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage

    Personally, I never go to a Coen brothers' movie to be entertained. I go to think. For me, Hail, Caesar! is another thinker, not a stinker. Herbert Marcuse, indeed!
     
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  7. It's a film about the making of classic films. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing but you need to have been in the biz to truly appreciate it to some degree. The Coen's essentially get to mimic a variety of interesting genres they've always wanted to do. Having said that, it's no tmuch of a film IMHO. Color me underwhelmed and disappointed.
     
  8. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    Well there's not much of a plot, but it's a fun sendup of the studio era. The attention to detail in recreating all the various Hollywood genres was great. It's a pleasant diversion that I'm glad I saw. I loved how over-the-top awesome the Hobie Doyle character was in his ropin' & ridin', but completely miscast in a tux.
     
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  9. I can't understand the high rating at rotten tomatoes.
     
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  10. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    ((Maybe people liked it))
     
  11. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I've yet to be disappointed in the Brothers!...looking forward to owning this.
     
  12. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Happened to like it a lot without loving it like "Fargo" or "Lebowski". There's something very "Meta" about a period recreation of "The Life Of Eddie Mannix" as it would be portrayed by the studio Eddie Mannix happened to be working for during its heyday. Everything in the movie is based on the principle lie that Eddie Mannix was a saint, when the opposite was true. But that's what Capitol Pictures treatment would look like anyway, so . . .

    On the other hand, a lot of jokes don't seem to have the right timing, a lot seems off, like something happened at the editing stage. Still, the most "fun" Coen Brothers movie in a long time.
     
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  13. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    Worth seeing just for the brief Frances McDormand scene.
     
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  14. Indeed that was a highlight. It just seemed like the whole movie should have been funnier.

    ...but did they truly like the movie because it was good or because it was an alternative to the other films out there (and because it's from the Coen's).

    In a famine a crust of bread seems like a banquet.
     
  15. TeacFan

    TeacFan Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Arcadia, Ca.
    Missed McDormand completely. Saw her name in the credits and figured it was a bit part. Did recognize the two scenes shot in the side patio of Union train station, downtown LA. Suppose to be the grounds around the studio. Film was a bit of a disappointment. Easy hamming money for Clooney.
     
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  16. That's kind of how I felt. It's not a bad movie just disappointing. To me the timing was often off.
     
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  17. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    There's something more going on here, IMO. There's way too much religious stuff and symbolism. I'm not saying it's "deep," or even that the Coens wanted us to think they're intellectuals, but IMO they're doing some satire on religion at some point. I don't think this will be considered one of their le4sser efforts, but yes, it will not be ranked as one of their top 5. They seem to having problems with comedy, they're better at drama with comedic touches thrown in.
     
  18. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    You mean like "Render onto Caesar" when Caesar appears to be Eddie Mannix? In any case, sanctimonious religious epics of the 1950's seem like target enough, if you ask me.
     
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  19. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    yea, he forgets what word as well? Hmmmm
    the shadow of the statue. The joke with the guy on the cross.
     
  20. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Faith. I suspect the religious subtexts of this movie have everything to do with loss of faith. And of course, this is the end of the line for the Hollywood System, thus the loss of faith.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2016
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  21. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Definitely less than the sum of its parts, those some of the parts are wonderful. One problem is the Coens seem to be suggesting insights about religion and belief as sardonically reflected in the studio system. But they never really plumb that idea, just sort of set the table and don't serve the dinner. Also Eddie Mannix is sort of passive - some of the problems, and the main one, sort themselves out or are resolved without much from him. Another problem is the inconsistent tone - Hobie's (funny) gyroscopic horse stunt doesn't belong in the same movie with the confession scenes. Hobie and Carolotta deserve their own movie.
     
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  22. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    My wife argues that's what faith is about. Eddie leaves some things to faith, why he turns down the job with Lockheed.
     
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  23. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Also, because Eddie not only represents Capitol Pictures' 'fixer', he also represents the studio system. Eddie clearly has faith. Believes in what he does. Baird Whitlock? Not quite as much . . .
     
  24. Indeed, it was the target of the film more than religion in general and, in particular, how Hollywood handled religion in their epic films while just treating religion as another business. The irony is that Eddie was a religious man of sorts and felt guilty about his own double dealings and hypocrisy in the biz as well as those of his cronies but kept going at it because, well, it's a business first but as with all period films it's really about today.

    There is a bit of contemporary commentary going on with things like The Passion of Christ and the latest film about Christ told from an "unexpected point of view" so it really ended up being a satire not of the period as much as about what we are seeing today and a bit ahead of its time as the OTHER film came out after.


    While,I felt it had some bite it is really for a small audmce of,filmgoers who grew it on those epics.

    It just didn't soar with their best work and seemed like they struggled with this film more than their others.
     
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  25. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I enjoyed this a lot. It seems to be almost disappearing from the pop culture bubble in a quick poof for some reason.

    One thing that surprised me was the angry responses to the movie on places like IMDB. A lot of really low ratings and people talking about walking out of the theater in protest. Some people are even calling it the worst movie ever made. Can't imagine that this movie would elicit such a violent reaction. Do you think people felt misled by the marketing?

    I also agree with some of the posts above that there is a great deal going on with the religious symbolism but i'm not sure it really clicks into place. I can't seem to get my head around it.

    This is probably a spoiler for anyone who has not seen it by now but...

    I thought revealing the specifics of the Whitlock scandal at the end fell kind of flat and was unnecessary. It was better left up to the audience's own imagination than being blurted out by the gossip columnist.

    As other people have mentioned, the whole movie was a bizarre Hollywood take on reality - Eddie Mannix was more like a gangster in real life than the troubled saint depicted here. The suspected communist screenwriters turn out to be serious Marxists who actually spend their downtime deep in debates about Marxist dialectics and help famous Hollywood stars defect to the Soviets. The corny boy scout cowboy star turns out to be the real life do gooder hero. The supposedly scandalous, Big Sleep-like illicit photo shoot the starlet is caught at in the beginning is laughingly innocent.

    I do think this is the kind of oddball movie that becomes a cult favorite down the road.
     
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