Hail Caesar! [new Coens]

[Garam]

Coens in madcap kidnapping mode again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqeoW3XRa0

Four-time Oscar®-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Fargo) write and direct Hail, Caesar!, an all-star comedy set during the latter years of Hollywood's Golden Age. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum, Hail, Caesar! follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.


well-trod ground but i love it when Coens do kidnapping stories so whatever. Also they're good at period pieces, you can't fault them for that.

Would be nice for them to do something out of their range a bit though, like that silent Cold War set film they planned on doing for a while...

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It does look a little like Burn After Reading filtered through Barton Fink, but no less enjoyable for that.

[Steven]

Sounds like it's going to be one of their 'wacky' comedies which usually aren't very good, they are much better when they try to play the story straight and the comedy comes from the characters' interactions rather than set-up crazy moments. Their wacky and less decent movies include Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy (includes Magic Negro for free), O Brother Where Art Though (Though I can go light on this as it's a musical, but the miming is shocking), Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers (Oh fuck!), Burn After Reading, Gambit.

[Old Nehamkin]

Sounds like it's going to be one of their 'wacky' comedies which usually aren't very good, they are much better when they try to play the story straight and the comedy comes from the characters' interactions rather than set-up crazy moments. Their wacky and less decent movies include Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy (includes Magic Negro for free), O Brother Where Art Though (Though I can go light on this as it's a musical, but the miming is shocking), Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers (Oh fuck!), Burn After Reading, Gambit.

I really like all of those with the exception of IC and The Ladykillers (I'm not counting Gambit since they didn't direct it) although I completely understand how the style of their more overtly comedic films might be incredibly grating to some tastes[nb]see also: the films of Wes Anderson.[/nb]. Raising Arizona though? Come on mate. Come on.

This looks like it could be quite good. Probably not as good as Llewyn Davis though. That was special.

[Steven]

I really like all of those with the exception of IC and The Ladykillers (I'm not counting Gambit since they didn't direct it) although I completely understand how the style of their more overtly comedic films might be incredibly grating to some tastes[nb]see also: the films of Wes Anderson.[/nb]. Raising Arizona though? Come on mate. Come on.

Not saying their other stuff is bad, but the forced oddness of the situations sticks out like a sore thumb and is quite grating, The Big Lebowsky sort of treads that line too but the neo noir-ness sort of puts the sting off it. The Hudsucker Proxy is a very weird one and almost their attempt at Gilliam, the Amy Archer character is another jab at noir, but it's all just a bit too silly for me. Only watched Raising Arizona for the second time a few days ago since I saw it on TV when I was a kid and still am not too enamoured with it, come on you can see stuff like 'putting the baby chair on the car roof' joke coming from the womb!

This looks like it could be quite good. Probably not as good as Llewyn Davis though. That was special.

Yeah, I like Inside Llewyn Davis a lot, it really helps that they had the music performed live as well. Though I was introduced to Dave Van Ronk's stuff when I was a kid by my Dad and after working out a lot of his various arrangements by ear it was really annoying after it came out to go to a folk club and suddenly young kids were getting up and playing his stuff from the film, which aren't arranged the same way Van Ronk did them! I still haven't worked out what the cat being called Ulysesse has to do with anything though, it's sort of a reference to O Brother Where Art Thou, but I suppose it going off on a journey and coming home is implied too, as with Llewyn himself. And I don't know why they called him Llewyn when it's not a Welsh name, it's actually more Jewish such as Lewin, or Levine, and they'd know this as they had Llewellyn Moss as a character in No Country For Old Men, I guess it's just the case of a lot of their stuff is taken from fact and just twisted a bit like the old hick lady on stage at the Gaslight being sort of June Carter and a sort of Johnny Cash bashing Llewyn outside for heckling her.

[Glebe]

Looks like classic Coen stuff, great cast and beautifully shot; trailer seems to give a lot away, mind.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Amy Archer is pure His Girl Friday/screwball comedy homage.

[Hank Venture]

This looks like a self-congratulatory "Hollywood is great" thing. No thanks.

[Steven]

This looks like a self-congratulatory "Hollywood is great" thing. No thanks.

Yeah, but it does look like it's sort of touching on the whole `Hollywood was completely controlled by the Mafia' dynamic, which is true. The amount of money laundering and covert shenanigans that go on under the guise of movie-making is astounding.

[Glebe]

*bump*

New trailer.

Funny.

By the way, sorry for being a hog (as usual)... this is the fifth Deeper Into Movies thread I've posted in this last couple hours, cuh.

[samadriel]

Variety's review. Probably some spoilers, I forget:
http://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/hail-caesar-review-coen-brothers-1201693485/

Certainly looking forward to this.

[Noodle Lizard]

I might off and see this today.

[Steven]

I might off and see this today.

Looks like one of the Coen's more wackier efforts which I'm not too fond of, seems very close to The Hudsucker Proxy in tone, expect loads of Amy Archer 1940s cod-dialogue vamping etc..

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The sheer level of smug self-satisfaction and knowingness in the trailer really put me off. It's on the backburner for me.

[Noodle Lizard]

Looks like one of the Coen's more wackier efforts which I'm not too fond of, seems very close to The Hudsucker Proxy in tone, expect loads of Amy Archer 1940s cod-dialogue vamping etc..

I'm a big fan of O Brother Where Art Thou?, moreso than their more sombre efforts like No Country For Old Men.  But then you remember The Ladykillers ...

[Steven]

I'm a big fan of O Brother Where Art Thou?, moreso than their more sombre efforts like No Country For Old Men.  But then you remember The Ladykillers ...

Fuck, ain't seen that still or Gambit or Intolerable Cruelty, cos of the wackiness of them, Gambit might be worth a punt these days cos of Rickman's death.. fuck knows.

O Brother Where Art Though? is alright, but the soundtrack and miming is a bit shite.. you want to hear Oh Death done properly? Not a fan of Clooney which they keep using too, No Country For Old Men I do like a lot, it's just got a constant anxiety about the whole thing, and the ending is weird.. I like weird endings. Always fucked off why the main character has a Welsh name.. Llewellyn Moss.. then they went with Llewyn in the Van Ronk movie, and says his name's Welsh.. it's not.. they made the name up! Went down that route from Bob Dylan/Dylan Thomas I reckon.. they do research the basis of their stuff.. The Coens like regurgitating life in a slightly off-kilter manner..  change the odd element.

[Steven]

This is a beautiful one from the O Brother Where Art Though? soundtrack though.. Chris Thomas King - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues. And a live one by him, magical, very strange tuning on that too, couldn't get my head round it.

[Noodle Lizard]

Well, first impressions are that it is shit.  Just not satisfying whatsoever.  It felt like a bunch of leftover ideas they had badly thrown together, tenuously connected by a pretty uninspired plot and weak characters (which is usually their strongest suit, even if the plot's not up to much).  The "Old Hollywood" gags were really disappointing, only really eliciting a sort of "ah ..." acknowledgement of recognition.

In fact, almost all the humour fell completely flat for me, including a particularly painful scene early on where "the dumb actor can't get his lines right!" which is a mediocre gag to begin with, stretched out forever.  The all-star cast list are about as useful as the set-dressing, the vast majority of them only having one or two scenes[nb]even Clooney really only has about 3 proper scenes[/nb]; mostly inconsequential cameos, but a factor which I think also contributes to some scenes feeling far more drawn-out than they needed to be.  So you've got this weird dichotomy in which good actors are underused for way too long.

I'm willing to accept I might be wrong; I don't know if I've fully "got" any Coen Bros movie on first viewing except maybe for Fargo.  But with movies like A Serious Man or The Big Lebowski, I always recognised there was something more to it that I hadn't fully appreciated it yet, whereas this one feels uncharacteristically superficial (for the Coens) and I'm really not sure there is all that much to "get" save for some truly piss-warm musings about religion and capitalism.  I think it'd take some serious convincing for me to watch it again.

[Steven]

Dunno what it is about the Coens, when they try to write `comedy' they're just pants.. when they write stuff that's seriously delivered.. but comically situational it is very fucking funny.. it's very strange. It reminds me of Bruce Robinson opining how you can overhear two old cunts drolling on in a pub and it's unintentionally the most funniest shite you could imagine, dialogue you could never come up with.. but if you wrote it all down and briefed them on why it's funny and gave them direction it'd die on its arse. That's sort of the metaphor it reminds me of.

[Milverton]

Dunno what it is about the Coens, when they try to write `comedy' they're just pants.. when they write stuff that's seriously delivered.. but comically situational it is very fucking funny.. it's very strange.

I agree. An out and out Coen comedy can be a very difficult beast, and the trailer for their latest seems to indicate that won't change.

I've had a mini Coen marathon this week. No Country For Old Men and the hugely underrated but excellent True Grit remake both turned up on the television this week, and I watched what I consider to be their masterpiece The Man Who Wasn't There last night.

[Wet Blanket]

Box office stinker according to the Graun.

The trailer for this hasn't set me on fire. I like them better in 'serious' mode, with the exceptions of Lebowski and O Brother. And maybe Raising Arizona.

[Jake Thingray]

John Bluthal is in it though, which means I'll probably go to see it.

[Mister Six]

Saw this today and it's... all right? It looks beautiful, the pastiches are spot-on and the cast are fantastic, but it feels utterly insubstantial. I get the feeling that the Coens wanted to have a crack at some old-school musical spots, and put together the rest of the script to justify them. It just sort of meanders around for a bit, then just as all the pieces seem to be cohering into some kind of sensible narrative, the problem gets sorted out and the movie ends. There's a tiny attempt to give Brolin's character a little development, but on the whole it feels like someone condensed a treatment for a miniseries into a film rather than a properly developed story.

It's not bad or anything - there are plenty of funny gags and lovely characters that deserve more time - but given how much effort goes into making a movie (and how much effort clearly went into making this one) I don't understand how the Coens could have mustered up the enthusiasm to actually film the thing. The script doesn't feel worthy of this much attention.

[zomgmouse]

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was hilarious all the way through and had a nice mix of nostalgia and anti-nostalgia. The performances were fun - I know lots of people thought the big names were underused but that just added to the atmosphere of the "big studio" that had so many famous people working in them. And while most people felt ripped off by the ending I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It felt right. Like Brolin's character said in the film,

Spoiler alert

"It'll sort itself out."

[close]

A total joy of a film.

[Bored of Canada]

What Zomgmouse said basically. Loved it. Gleeful.
Giggly and daft. Great fun.

The sequence with

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Laurentz and Hobie working through that scene

[close]

and the pay off in the

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Edit suite

[close]

was amazing. I was so in love.

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Hobie stole the show for me. Such a great performance.

[close]

[Head Gardener]

I

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didn't like it at all

[close]

, I barely

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chuckled

[close]

and

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couldn't even be arsed to follow the half a dozen folk who walked out

[close]

even as it just

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went nowhere, slowly.

[close]

There were a few

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good scenes

[close]

but it has less laughs than

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Zoolander 2

[close]

and it
really tries too hard to

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balance clever, funny and entertaining at the same time

[close]

, Scarlett Johansson is

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underused

[close]

,
Clooney spends too much

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time mugging to camera

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rather than

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actually saying anything funny

[close]

and overall
I was

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disappointed

[close]

and it's

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not

[close]

one of the Cohens' best.
I've loved most of their movies, Oh Brother is one of my fave movies but

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ffs this is utter, utter, arse

[close]

.

Spoiler alert

bring on the neg reps!

[close]

[Wet Blanket]

I expected it to be gash but really liked it. It's a very dry, very Coensy film that has probably put-off the kind of audiences who would like it best by being advertised misleadingly as a zany caper, when in fact it's a load of old Hollywood anecdotes strung together with some (excellent) pastiches of 50s musical extravaganzas. The tone is arch, rather than laugh-out-loud funny.

Anyway It certainly left at least half the sparse audience I saw it with totally mystified, especially the two teenage girls who had laughed uproariously at the trailers for Bad Neighbours 2 and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, only to quickly become restless and talkative during the main feature, walking out after about half an hour.

[Head Gardener]

Anyway It certainly left at least half the sparse audience I saw it with totally mystified, especially the two teenage girls who had laughed uproariously at the trailers for Bad Neighbours 2 and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, only to quickly become restless and talkative during the main feature, walking out after about half an hour.

OMG they may be soul-mates!

[marquis_de_sad]

I can see why some people might enjoy this but the script is really quite witless. It doesn't help that — musical pastiches aside — the film is edited like a comedy, with pauses for very, very weak jokes that generated mild chuckles from the audience (perhaps someone will tell me that the big pauses are of course a very clever homage to the Marx brothers). This film is for fans of classic Hollywood to force performative laughs of recognition. [nb]The did used to make grandiose Bible pictures! There did used to be commies in Hollywood! They did used to make campy musicals! Scarlett Johansson does have nice tits![/nb] Everyone else could easily skip it. I feel bad for thinking the Revenant was ultimately about nothing, because at least that film had thrilling and gripping moments. If Hail, Caeser! is a satire it's a very toothless one. If it's a comedy its mostly laugh-free one full of quirky performances by non-comic actors hamming it up. As a crime caper it is entirely free of tension and intrigue. As a pastiche it is very, very competent. But who cares?

I sound like I hate it, but really it was ok. Just fluff. Nice looking, well made fluff.

[St_Eddie]

This looks excellent.  I particularly have a soft spot for films about Hollywood and filmmaking in general[nb]At this point, I should like to recommend the excellent low budget comedy film 'Living in Oblivion', for those who haven't seen it.  It's stars Steve Buscemi and it even has an early appearance by Peter Dinklage.  What's not to love?[/nb].  Also, the Coen Brothers are usually reliable, to say the least.