Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: Blood Simple

The amazing thing about this debut feature from the Coen Brothers, after the fact that it works so well, is how much of their cinematic language was in place from jump: The idiosyncratic dialogue, the low-angle shots, and the primary theme through their work: To wit, that nobody knows anything.

IYKYK

Even the title, "Blood Simple", refers to the confused state of the characters. (I had a Georgian friend who claimed that "blood simple" was a term for mental handicaps that resulted from inbreeding, and while I can't imagine why she'd make that up, I can't find any evidence for it.) When Julian (Dan Hedaya) hires a private detective (M. Emmet Walsh) to follow his wife Abby (Frances McDormand, in her film debut) and employee, Ray (John Getz), he discovers they are cheating on him.

The private detective has no name, by the way, which is no oversight. The only one who knows he exists is Julian, and so he moves through the story as a mysterious force leaving paranoia and misunderstanding in his wake.

Julian's slowly driven mad by the thought of Abby with Ray so once again he hires the PI (whom he openly despises) to kill them. But while he can hire the killer PI, he doesn't really know what the PI is up to, and before you know it, there's a kind of cat-and-mouse game going on where nobody knows who is the cat and who is the mouse.

The Coens shot this scene and showed it around to get funding.

The hidden PI's not the only one creating tension, either. Julian says something to Ray which makes him not just question Abby's perfectly innocent requests for clarification, but reuse to answer them, assuming she's just being coy. His refusal to address things makes Abby suspicious of him. And Ray's heroic act done out of love for Abby just ends up hiding things more and causing more stress.

It's a taut 96 minutes, which the Coens tightened later into a 93 minute "Director's Cut".

A Coen fan can watch it just for the references to their future works, and also certain techniques they quickly dropped. There's a shot lifted from Evil Dead, for example, which is something akin to a camera on a motorbike being used to zoom in to some action. They stopped using that and other showier techniques fairly early on.

Long before she became Minnesota cop-mom in Fargo, Frances was a snack.

The Coens were pretty hard on this film, at least before Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, and considered it their worst. I think it's a damn fine noir.

Film debut of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and composer Carter Burwell.

"No lightweight," as Walter Sobchak might say.

Lebowski fans may recall that "brother seamus" (Jon Polito) also drove a VW Bug when tailing The Dude. It's a wonderfully awful choice for someone trying to go unnoticed in 1984, much less 1991.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Light reading today!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 07:31 PM (asXVI)

2 Rookie error.

Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:33 PM (NcvvS)

3 I nooded.

Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:35 PM (NcvvS)

4 moviegique, I've only seen bits of the Coen Bros works, and they are tough for me to get into. Where should I start watching them?

Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:38 PM (NcvvS)

5 I felt that Blood Simple was Norm MacDonald shaggy dog story with Emmet deliving the punchline at the end with a demented cackle.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov, now, where does a war hero get some lubrication around here? at January 25, 2025 07:38 PM (wBaIH)

6 Frances was a snack.

I so love that.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 07:38 PM (fV+MH)

7 Trifecta, seriously?! C'mon everybody, movie thread is up!

Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:39 PM (NcvvS)

8 With a few notable exceptions, the Coen Bros. consistently deliver the goods in a cornucopia of genre, time periods, and geographies.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov, now, where does a war hero get some lubrication around here? at January 25, 2025 07:42 PM (wBaIH)

9 I have always had a crush on Frances McDormand. Even in "Almost Famous."

She's a handful.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Ready for Idaho at January 25, 2025 07:44 PM (Ad8y9)

10 My first exposure to the Coen Bros was 'Raising Arizona'. Nick Cage was brilliantly cast.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 25, 2025 07:44 PM (GTqXr)

11 I know I have watched 'Blood Simple' but it's been so long, I barely remember it. Fargo, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, I all really liked. O Brother Where Art Thou, it was ok. I really wanted to like it more, but I didn't. Loved the soundtrack, but that is a different thread.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 25, 2025 07:44 PM (Kdi1r)

12 “Blood simple” was apparently coined by Dashiell Hammet (of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man fame) for his novel Red Harvest,

Red Harvest and The Glass Key (also by Hammet) are cited as major influences in this film. (I haven’t seen it, but I have read Read Harvest, The Glass Key, and many of Hammet’s other works.)

Posted by: Lance McCormick at January 25, 2025 07:45 PM (soUkD)

13 One of my favorite Coen Bros.
They've had so many great films.
Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing are right up there. I enjoy them using the same cast in such disparate roles.
So many, so many
Blood Simple was my first and I think I've seen every one since

Posted by: kactus at January 25, 2025 07:46 PM (twS2i)

14 moviegique, I've only seen bits of the Coen Bros works, and they are tough for me to get into. Where should I start watching them?
Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:38 PM (NcvvS)
---

Depends on what you like. I believe "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is by far their biggest hit. "True Grit" is possibly their least idiosyncratic film, if you like Westerns.

Posted by: blake at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM (asXVI)

15 It's a wonderfully awful choice for someone trying to go unnoticed in 1984, much less 1991.

Especially if you don't want it to burn up on a PA pikeway in '86.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM (mlg/3)

16 I see now that there are several Coen Brothers movies I have not seen. Need to remedy that.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Ready for Idaho at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM (Ad8y9)

17 Blood Sample.

Posted by: Dexter at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM (i0F8b)

18 Great post on a fine movie. The web address for Roger Ebert's review of the film (four stars) is below.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blood-simple-1985

Posted by: Dagwood at January 25, 2025 07:48 PM (CC0N1)

19 Thanks, blake. Know of both, of course, have seen conversations about them here. Will get started on those. Thanks again, and good night, all.

Posted by: Nazdar at January 25, 2025 07:50 PM (NcvvS)

20 I loved this movie, particularly the PI's opening monologue and his final words. The opening monologue . . .

The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at January 25, 2025 07:51 PM (L/fGl)

21 Raising Arizona. Best movie Cohens ever made.

Posted by: Eromero at January 25, 2025 07:51 PM (LHPAg)

22 Good evening everyone

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 07:52 PM (fwDg9)

23 I love these posts. Thank you.

Posted by: Frasier Crane at January 25, 2025 07:54 PM (CWMF2)

24 I also loved Raising Arizona.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at January 25, 2025 07:54 PM (L/fGl)

25 Raising Arizona. Best movie Cohens ever made.
Posted by: Eromero

Agreed. Great casting all around.

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2025 07:56 PM (oaGWv)

26 21 Raising Arizona. Best movie Cohens ever made.

Posted by: Eromero at January 25, 2025 07:51 PM (LHPAg)

Without Fargo, we'd have no woodchipper memes...

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 25, 2025 08:02 PM (GTqXr)

27 Raising Arizona is such a fun idiosyncratic movie it's the one to start with.

It's pretty much got everything that makes the Coen Bros the Coen Bros in concentrated form.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 25, 2025 08:02 PM (iJfKG)

28 I'm not into ranking, it's art, so each film stands on its own.

Except The Ladykillers, I couldn't stand that one. Mostly due to Tom Hank.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:02 PM (QynZB)

29 *Blood simple” was apparently coined by Dashiell Hammet (of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man fame) for his novel Red Harvest.*

I have a shiny new grandson named Dashiell.

Kinda badass.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 25, 2025 08:03 PM (Jjj7V)

30 Watched Blood Simple probably 15 years ago. I really liked it; this makes me want to rewatch it.

Big Lebowski is my favorite Coen Brothers movie. Really like Miller’s Crossing and The Man Who Wasn’t There, too. Their later stuff (A Serious Man, Burn After Reading got to be too nihilistic for me.)

Their True Grit is good, but a little too full of itself. I saw it before the John Wayne version (heresy, I know!) but on subsequent rewatches of both I think the John Wayne version holds up better. I’ve read the book, too. Not as good as either movie, imho.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at January 25, 2025 08:04 PM (FC8SQ)

31 Im not a Coen Brothers fan. I liked Miller's Crossing and Bad Santa was okay. I liked the original True Grit better. And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.

Again that's just my subjective opinion and by their success I appear to be in the minority.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:06 PM (IOGah)

32 Depends on what you like. I believe "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is by far their biggest hit. "True Grit" is possibly their least idiosyncratic film, if you like Westerns.
Posted by: blake at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM (asXVI)

Hail Caesar is pretty easy to follow. The story is straightforward enough, and it takes a piss on old Hollywood. Including, basically having George Clooney play a version of himself, much to the joy of the viewer.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:06 PM (QynZB)

33 And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.

Same here.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:07 PM (mH6SG)

34 I am sure I seen Blood Simple but can't say remember much of it.

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 08:08 PM (fwDg9)

35 Thx moviegique. I saw Blood Simple in a lecture center when I was in college. Realized the Coen Bros were interesting then. Then I caught Raising Arizona and was hooked. My personal favorite , Miller's Crossing

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:09 PM (6v8aM)

36 Back in olden days, I saw a movie about a Harvard student who attempted to transport pot from Berkeley to Harvard for all his stoner friends to enjoy. It was entitled Dealing or the Berkeley to Boston Forty Brick Lost Bag Blues. I quite liked it in part because our hero, at one point, tells a corrupt cop to "eat shit," a level of profanity that was shocking. Anyway, I recently discovered that the novel that the movie was based on was written by one Michael Crichton (along with his brother). So he started with pot and worked his way up to dinosaurs.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at January 25, 2025 08:09 PM (L/fGl)

37 Im not a Coen Brothers fan. I liked Miller's Crossing and Bad Santa was okay. I liked the original True Grit better. And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.

Again that's just my subjective opinion and by their success I appear to be in the minority.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:06 PM (IOGah)

Some people hate dogs and are allergic to cats. I suppose we should feel sorry for them, because that's a horrible way to go through life.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:10 PM (p2iSj)

38 "True Grit" is possibly their least idiosyncratic film, if you like Westerns.

Posted by: blake at January 25, 2025 07:47 PM

If only they could have made it with John Wayne instead of Jeff Bridges.

Posted by: huerfano at January 25, 2025 08:10 PM (n2swS)

39 And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.
------
Same here.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:07 PM (mH6SG)

Communists. That's what you are. Plain and simple.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:11 PM (p2iSj)

40 M Emmett Walsh had a great career as a character actor. For Blood Simple and Blade Runner alone he had a great career but he was in a hundred more

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:12 PM (6v8aM)

41 Underrated Coen Bros movie IMHO, The Hudsucker Proxy

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:13 PM (6v8aM)

42
I have a shiny new grandson named Dashiell.

Kinda badass.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

The stuff that dreams are made of.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 25, 2025 08:15 PM (63Dwl)

43 The Big Lebowski was The Big Disappointment. It was lame. The trailer made it seem hilarious.

But it is meme worthy.

And that's ....like...my opinion, man.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:15 PM (fV+MH)

44 I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.
------
Same here.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:07 PM (mH6SG)

Communists. That's what you are. Plain and simple.

Nihilists. They believe in nothing!

Posted by: Josephistan at January 25, 2025 08:15 PM (+W5lj)

45 Imagine " The Birdcage " with Phillip Seymour Hoffman instead of Nathan Lane. That is the difference between the two "True Grits"

Posted by: Ben Had at January 25, 2025 08:15 PM (oT+t6)

46 "Brother" is a good one to start with.
I adored "Hail Caesar" for, well, everything- George Clooney as clueless star, all the pitch perfect movie shots, the identical twin dueling columnists, the 'fixer', the Commies, etc.

It's more fun if you have a good grounding in vintage cinema, but can be enjoyed without it.

Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 08:16 PM (f+FmA)

47 Communists. That's what you are. Plain and simple.

You're always right here at the HQ, so I guess I'm a commie. Sigh.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:16 PM (mH6SG)

48 Nihilists. They believe in nothing!
Posted by: Josephistan at January 25, 2025 08:15 PM (+W5lj)

Excellent! That's much better.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:17 PM (p2iSj)

49 And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.
------
Same here.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:07 PM (mH6SG)

You must be looking at as fiction. It's not. It's a documentary of a couple slices of life in LA.

Posted by: Gref at January 25, 2025 08:17 PM (aBgBM)

50 Underrated Coen Bros movie IMHO, The Hudsucker Proxy
Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:13 PM (6v8aM)

you reminded me of Paul Newman who was in one of the worst movies ever. Quintet.

From one of the all time best with Cool Hand Luke to the worst. That's quite a delta.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:17 PM (IOGah)

51 Underrated Coen Bros movie IMHO, The Hudsucker Proxy
Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:13 PM (6v8aM)

Damn, it must be, because I hadn't even thought of it.

I fell in love with J.J. Leigh in that one.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (p2iSj)

52 Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of International Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (L/fGl)

53 Of course Jennifer Aniston has been in the news. Anyone else see and really enjoy Along Came Polly?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (IOGah)

54 "Imagine " The Birdcage " with Phillip Seymour Hoffman instead of Nathan Lane. That is the difference between the two "True Grits"
Posted by: Ben Had"

Weirdest take ever. I have no idea what that means but I like it.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (fV+MH)

55 Good evening, one and all. I was on the road for about seven hours for the greyhound haul.

I have bourbon. I shall recover.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (lXCUP)

56 ***the low-angle shots, and the primary theme through their work:
---

UpSkirt?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at January 25, 2025 08:20 PM (Kq8pV)

57 And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.
------
Same here.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:07 PM (mH6SG)

=====

That's just, like, your opinion, man

Posted by: 2009Refugee at January 25, 2025 08:20 PM (lcx8p)

58 Have fun, folks. Maybe see y'all on the ONT.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 25, 2025 08:21 PM (mH6SG)

59 You must be looking at as fiction. It's not. It's a documentary of a couple slices of life in LA.
Posted by: Gref at January 25, 2025 08:17 PM (aBgBM)

That's a good description for Barton Fink too! First time I watched it I was put off by it.

But you have to view it, not as a linear story. Indeed, it's the story of not being able to write a story, a kind of nightmare for a writer that must have played out in this manner (not literally, of course) for many a poor sot.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:21 PM (p2iSj)

60 I read Dealing or the Berkeley to Boston Forty Brick Lost Bag Blues in Playboy magazine back in the 70s.

Posted by: davidt at January 25, 2025 08:22 PM (i0F8b)

61 The Big Lebowski draws all kinds of opinions . I thought it was hysterical but I can see other opinions. The meme of Sam Elliott saying " you're a special kind of stupid" is awesome as well as John Goodman saying repeatedly "shut up Donnie". Plus we know that Julianne Moore' s carpet matches the drapes

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:22 PM (6v8aM)

62 Imagine " The Birdcage " with Phillip Seymour Hoffman instead of Nathan Lane. That is the difference between the two "True Grits"
Posted by: Ben Had"

Weirdest take ever. I have no idea what that means but I like it.
Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (fV+MH)

Hah agree. Because Phillp Seymour plays a pretty good gay guy.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:22 PM (IOGah)

63 "Imagine " The Birdcage " with Phillip Seymour Hoffman instead of Nathan Lane. That is the difference between the two "True Grits"
Posted by: Ben Had"

Weirdest take ever. I have no idea what that means but I like it.
Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:19 PM (fV+MH)

The world is a worse place for never having this film be made.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (p2iSj)

64 Sebastion, started it and lasted 5 minutes

Posted by: Ben Had at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (oT+t6)

65 For me, "True Grit" is one of those 'the book is the book and the movie is the movie' kind of things.
I loved the book so much- read it when it came out- that any version could not live up to it.
That said, I think the Coen version captures the essence of the book much better.
Heresy, but I thought Bridges was a much better Rooster Cogburn than Wayne.

Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (f+FmA)

66 Holly Hunter was Elastigirl.

That butt.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (fV+MH)

67 "C.H.U.D." has a scene with Jon Polito as a very thin person. Probably the only scene like that. You can almost hear him thinking "I have to get more roundish if I want dialogue."

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 25, 2025 08:24 PM (CHHv1)

68 The Coen Brothers have their favorite actors, like Tuturro and Buscemi.

Posted by: davidt at January 25, 2025 08:26 PM (i0F8b)

69 @65 a rare movie where both versions are great. Jeff Bridges was closer to the book for Rooster, but John Wayne brought John Wayne to the role. I thought Matt Damon was better than Glenn Campbell, while Duvall was better than Brolin.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:27 PM (6v8aM)

70 I agree...Jeff Bridges was better than John Wayne.

I like the new version better than the old overall.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:29 PM (fV+MH)

71 Recently watched Seven Psychopaths with Sam Rockwell. Why didn't someone tell me about this movie before. Great cast and really good movie.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:29 PM (IOGah)

72 I agree "Hudsucker" is under-rated.

"A Serious Man" is actually my favorite Coen film. It explained everything. It is the Mentaculus to their entire catalogue, if you will, and made me want to go rewatch everything.

"True Grit" is perhaps somewhat contentious for a number of reasons. But there are reasonable arguments to be made on both sides for the quality of the film versus the original. It is worthy, is what I would say. You may like it more or less, but it is not an unworthy remake.

I get not getting "The Big Lebowski", but I actually went and caught the late show at the Nuart with my buddy last night, and it still makes me laugh to beat the band. It IS a documentary of L.A. in 1991. I've been to shows like that guy's dance cycle.

But it's also a perfect elevation of '40s noir to '90s L.A. Every element of that film is lifted from a classic and reinterpreted for the time, and that also makes it enjoyable. To say nothing of the soundtrack and the delightfully idiosyncratic Coen dialogue. Watch "The Big Sleep" and "Murder, My Sweet", then go back and watch "The Big Lebowski" and see if that doesn't increase your enjoyment.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:29 PM (asXVI)

73 That said, I think the Coen version captures the essence of the book much better.
Heresy, but I thought Bridges was a much better Rooster Cogburn than Wayne.
Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (f+FmA)

I thought the character of the girl was better done in the Coen version. Kim Darby seemed too... modern. Precocious in a cute way, whereas the Coens showed a girl who believed she was right all the time, partly due to her youth, and it cost her at times. Then at the end, we see the grown up version of herself hasn't softened any.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:30 PM (053ci)

74
I like Blood Simple. Not their best, but it's damned good.

Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:30 PM (MsrgL)

75 Speaking of John Wayne I caught The Shootist the other day. Damn good movie with a great bunch of older actors , plus Opie

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:30 PM (6v8aM)

76 It's a wonderfully awful choice for someone trying to go unnoticed in 1984, much less 1991.
---

As if you couldn't hear the flatulent clatter of a VW a mile away!

I've enjoyed every Coen Bros movie I've seen; some more than others, but there's always something cool to glean from it. I will even cop to liking the old general in "The Ladykillers".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:31 PM (kpS4V)

77 Of course Jennifer Aniston has been in the news. Anyone else see and really enjoy Along Came Polly?
---

Because of the Lebowski connection, I was talking to my buddy last night about "Along Came Polly". Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a great actor. He could act circles around Jack Black any day of the week.

BUT. The role he played in "Polly" was clearly written for Jack Black, and Jack Black is/was a "star", a "personality" and a guy who could be charming and gross at the same time.

So the Hoffman parts of "Polly" fall flat. It's kind of fascinating. That said, I find it sort of endearing overall.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:31 PM (asXVI)

78 "A Serious Man" is actually my favorite Coen film. It explained everything. It is the Mentaculus to their entire catalogue, if you will, and made me want to go rewatch everything.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:29 PM (asXVI)

Wow, another one I forgot about! I know I've seen it, but really can't remember anything.

I got some homework to do.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:33 PM (053ci)

79 Speaking of John Wayne I caught The Shootist the other day. Damn good movie with a great bunch of older actors , plus Opie
Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:30 PM (6v8aM)

His last movie and he went out on top.

Just like Bogie and his last movie, The Harder They Fall.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:33 PM (IOGah)

80 Horror movie week at the naturalfake abode:

1) "Smile 2" - if you liked "smile" you'll probably like S2. Adds some stuff to the mythology but in the end nothing is really new, you know what's going to happen so the surprise element is missing. Weird ending indicates that 10s 0f thousands may be infected by the Smile parasite. Not sure how that will be handled in S3.

2) "Grafted" - streaming on Shudder. Wants to be body horror and I suppose it is, but the budget is way too cheap to pull it off. Starts off pretty well but very very repetitive once the face swapping gets started.
Not really worth a watch.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 25, 2025 08:34 PM (iJfKG)

81 >>>The Coens were pretty hard on this film, at least before Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, and considered it their worst.

That surprises me. Blood Simple is easiestly my favorite of theirs. I wonder why they would judge it so harshly. OK, it was their first and they must have learned lessons, but still.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 25, 2025 08:34 PM (klJTj)

82 I caught "The Last Showgirl". Pamela Anderson was quite good as a dancer in a Follies review that's shutting down because it's a relic of another time, like her character. Very poignant, and more if a mood piece, with lots of Vegas verité. Doesn't need to be seen on the big screen, streaming would be fine.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (kpS4V)

83 I will even cop to liking the old general in "The Ladykillers".
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:31 PM (kpS4V)

I should probably give it another try. I just thought Tom Hank was phoning it in.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (053ci)

84 The real star of Blood Simple is the .38 S&W revolver. Hats off to the prop man who showed with a correct box of .38 S&W cartridges, and not .38 Specials.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (B5VDw)

85 Jack Black can't act any better than I could.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (fV+MH)

86 39 And I don't get the love for the Big Lebowski.
------
Same here.
Posted by: Notorious BFD
-----
Communists. That's what you are. Plain and simple.
Posted by: BurtTC

Nihilists.

Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (MsrgL)

87 I haven't seen all the Coen Brothers movies, but of those I have seen, I really only disliked Inside Llewyn Davis. Miller's Crossing was a favorite.

Fun fact, Bill Murray only took the gig for Garfield because he thought the writer Joel Cohen was Joel Coen.

Posted by: tankdemon at January 25, 2025 08:36 PM (mq091)

88 Communists. That's what you are. Plain and simple.
Posted by: BurtTC

Nihilists.
Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (MsrgL)

Yes, I have already, deservedly, been chastised and corrected.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:37 PM (053ci)

89 Jack Black's best role was in "The Jackal" where h we gets blown away

Posted by: Ben Had at January 25, 2025 08:37 PM (oT+t6)

90
Nihilists. They believe in nothing!

Posted by: Josephistan

I see now that you beat me to it. But did you say "Sponge" when you posted?

Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:37 PM (MsrgL)

91 86 Nihilists.
Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:35 PM (MsrgL)

===

It's not even an ethos, dude.

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 08:37 PM (GBKbO)

92 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (oiJGz)

93 I don't think Jack Black is a good actor but School of Rock had to be written with him in mind. He nailed it and I can't imagine another person in that role.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (IOGah)

94 67 "C.H.U.D." has a scene with Jon Polito as a very thin person. Probably the only scene like that. You can almost hear him thinking "I have to get more roundish if I want dialogue."
----
John Polito looked completely different thin. There are a few shows he was in and the Coens had seen him do, IDK, "Death of a Salesman" or something on stage and so they didn't want him for "Miller's Crossing".

He said, "No, no, you guys gotta see what I look like now" and the dude scored some primo parts. Acting is funny that way.

----
71 Recently watched Seven Psychopaths with Sam Rockwell. Why didn't someone tell me about this movie before. Great cast and really good movie.
----
I mean, I =tried= to tell you.

https://moviegique.com/2012/11/seven-psychopaths/

Man, I liked it when the McDonagh's were funny and not nihilists.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (asXVI)

95 Fun fact, Bill Murray only took the gig for Garfield because he thought the writer Joel Cohen was Joel Coen.
Posted by: tankdemon at January 25, 2025 08:36 PM (mq091)

That's pretty funny. I hope it's true. I'm willing to accept the lie, if it's not.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:39 PM (053ci)

96 But Raising Arizona was their best by far.

Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:39 PM (oiJGz)

97 Javaier Bardem does creepy very well.

Posted by: Ben Had at January 25, 2025 08:39 PM (oT+t6)

98 I gave up on Star Trek several series/movies ago, but I hear from a reliable source, a long-time friend who's been a Trek fanatic since childhood (and "childhood" for us corresponds to the original series) that the latest entry, Star Trek: Rule 34 (or something like that) is a hive of scum, villainy, woketardery, terrible writing, worse acting, lousy cinematography, shite special effects, and outright ripoffs from other films.

He didn't like it.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:40 PM (W5ArC)

99 "Javaier Bardem does creepy very well.
Posted by: Ben Had"

Hell yes he does.

That was a great movie.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:41 PM (fV+MH)

100 >>>Heresy, but I thought Bridges was a much better Rooster Cogburn than Wayne.
Posted by: sal
---

If he'd only learn to speak.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at January 25, 2025 08:41 PM (Kq8pV)

101 By the eighth time I watched Blood Simple, I still knew nothing.

Years before, my brother and I did a number of re-watches of Body Heat, and could never understand the ending. But then, I blamed the unfiltered Camels, the Iron City, and the backyard garden weed we consumed with each showing.

Posted by: M. Gaga at January 25, 2025 08:41 PM (KiBMU)

102 > 92 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (oiJGz)

I felt like I'd been ripped off at the end of that one, personally.

I don't demand that films close off all loose ends, by any means, but the way it ended left me vaguely angry.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:42 PM (W5ArC)

103 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (oiJGz)

This is why I can't rank them. How does one even compare No Country to Raising Arizona.

So different.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:42 PM (053ci)

104 Posted by: M. Gaga at January 25, 2025 08:41 PM (KiBMU)

you from Pittsburgh?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:42 PM (IOGah)

105 Yeah, you guys are missing the point about Jack Black. The point about Jack Black is that he's Jack Black and he sells Jack Black and even if he can act (and I think he can, actually) nobody wants him to, because they just want Jack Black. And if you don't like him, that's never gonna change.

---
92 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.
---
Yeah, I wasn't really doing a retro of their whole careers. Some movies, like "Fargo" and "O Brother" and "No Country" have just tons of exposure.

But I did have a debate with my buddy on NCfOM because my theory is that the whole point of the film is the basically tragic ending where the sheriff fails to confront evil.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (asXVI)

106 Oh yeah, watched Tarsem Singh's "The Fall", in which a silent movie stuntman in the hospital with a badly broken leg (and heart) weaves stories to enchant a little girl with a broken arm. It's not all kindness -- he's trying to get in her good graces so she'll steal drugs from the infirmary for him.

It has some of the most lush visuals of any movie I've seen.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (kpS4V)

107 I don't demand that films close off all loose ends, by any means, but the way it ended left me vaguely angry.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:42 PM (W5ArC)

I think it's supposed to.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (053ci)

108 Speaking of movies that don't make sense:

The Maltese Falcon.

I've watched that fucker and it don't make sense.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (fV+MH)

109 Haven't seen all the Coens' stuff, but I liked No Country for Old Men quite a bit. Blood Simple and Raising Arizona too. Ditto The Big Lebowski, though I probably couldn't explain why -- it's just so damn bizarre that it works for me. Of course, that's just my opinion, man.

And now back to movie-watching. For some reason, I decided it was time to revisit Kubrick's The Shining. So...

Have a good one, horde.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (q3u5l)

110 102 > 92 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (oiJGz)

I felt like I'd been ripped off at the end of that one, personally.

I don't demand that films close off all loose ends, by any means, but the way it ended left me vaguely angry.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

Yep, felt the same way.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (Kdi1r)

111 || That's pretty funny. I hope it's true. I'm willing to accept the lie, if it's not.

That's what Bill Murray has said for years. I think he's lying, but I don't really care.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (asXVI)

112 I read Dealing or the Berkeley to Boston Forty Brick Lost Bag Blues in Playboy magazine back in the 70s.
Posted by: davidt

Ehh, I only looked at the pictures.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (L/fGl)

113 105 Yeah, I wasn't really doing a retro of their whole careers.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (asXVI)

=====

I think I see your problem....

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 08:45 PM (GBKbO)

114 But I did have a debate with my buddy on NCfOM because my theory is that the whole point of the film is the basically tragic ending where the sheriff fails to confront evil.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (asXVI)

Yeah, it's in the title!

Almost like the Far Side comic, where the two grizzled dogs are sitting on the porch, and the cat comes by, delivering mail.

One dog says to the other "We're getting old, Jake."

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:46 PM (053ci)

115 I have a shiny new grandson named Dashiell.
Kinda badass.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

Congrats!

A little baby powder will dull the shine and allow for better pictures. (Commentary added for movie thread.)

Posted by: mikeski at January 25, 2025 08:46 PM (DgGvY)

116 Oh yeah, watched Tarsem Singh's "The Fall", in which a silent movie stuntman in the hospital with a badly broken leg (and heart) weaves stories to enchant a little girl with a broken arm.
---
Yeah! I covered that in October! I love that flick!

https://moviegique.com/2024/11/the-bad-and-the-beautiful/

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:46 PM (asXVI)

117 It's not even an ethos, dude.

Posted by: TJM's phone

“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.”
- Walter Sobchak

Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 08:46 PM (MsrgL)

118 > I think it's supposed to.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (053ci)

It succeeded. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in the theatre.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:47 PM (W5ArC)

119 im going on Tubi now to see if they have a movie that I can watch for more than 15 minutes before I stop and try to find another one. Thousands of movies but finding a good one is very hard.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:47 PM (IOGah)

120 116 Yeah! I covered that in October! I love that flick!

https://moviegique.com/2024/11/the-bad-and-the-beautiful/

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:46 PM (asXVI)

===

4k be coming. Imprint in Aus announced. Probably some American label soonish.

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 08:48 PM (GBKbO)

121 I think I see your problem....

---

I could, tho'.

Lord knows, I could.

Like, I can see here, a lot of people don't get NCfOM at all, which, ngl, I didn't get it either until I realized it's not a cat-and-mouse tale of Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem.

It all comes down to the scene where the Sheriff revisits the motel where Llewelyn was shot.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:48 PM (asXVI)

122 Saw this in the movies when it first came out. I was pregnant at the time, so was always hungry and thirsty.

On the way home hubby and I stopped at a bodega, we bought beer, and milk, and bottled water, and orange juice, most of which we would normally buy, but not sure about the water, maybe that was a pregnancy thing, can't remember.

We hauled all these liquids up our 5 story walk-up, all the time barely speaking. We got in the house, and again, not really talking, just started drinking them all. The beer, the water, the milk, the OJ. Passing them all back and forth. It was all very strange.

Finally hubby says to me: Gee, do you think that movie affected us much?

Posted by: jocon307 at January 25, 2025 08:49 PM (EuROc)

123 If it ain't in the pawn shop for a buck I haven't seen it.

Posted by: Ben Had at January 25, 2025 08:49 PM (oT+t6)

124 4k be coming. Imprint in Aus announced. Probably some American label soonish.
----
That was why they trotted out last fall: 4k. It's great.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 08:49 PM (asXVI)

125 I think it's supposed to.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (053ci)

It succeeded. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in the theatre.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:47 PM (W5ArC)

It's sorta like the opposite of Gone With the Wind. After all that, everything they've been through, it's over. There's no going back, but in her case, she's too damned stubborn to realize it's gone. With the wind.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:50 PM (053ci)

126 "Saw this in the movies when it first came out. I was pregnant at the time, so was always hungry and thirsty.

On the way home hubby and I stopped at a bodega, we bought beer, and milk, and bottled water, and orange juice, most of which we would normally buy, but not sure about the water, maybe that was a pregnancy thing, can't remember.

We hauled all these liquids up our 5 story walk-up, all the time barely speaking. We got in the house, and again, not really talking, just started drinking them all. The beer, the water, the milk, the OJ. Passing them all back and forth. It was all very strange.

Finally hubby says to me: Gee, do you think that movie affected us much?
Posted by: jocon307"

lol

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:51 PM (fV+MH)

127 98 I gave up on Star Trek several series/movies ago, but I hear from a reliable source, a long-time friend who's been a Trek fanatic since childhood (and "childhood" for us corresponds to the original series) that the latest entry, Star Trek: Rule 34 (or something like that) is a hive of scum, villainy, woketardery, terrible writing, worse acting, lousy cinematography, shite special effects, and outright ripoffs from other films.

He didn't like it.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 08:40 PM (W5ArC)
---

I too am a Trekhead from back in the day, and yes, Section 31 is the worst piece of shit to be peristaltically birthed from Kurtzman and company that I have ever seen. It has all the things I hate about Nu Trek: contemporary snark dialog, cussing, nonsensical action sequences, and garbage science.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:51 PM (kpS4V)

128 Dashiell is cool name for a kid.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:52 PM (fV+MH)

129 We cannot deport the Illegal Aliens because they pick the crops in the fields. We need SLAVES to pick our crops.......

Kinda sounds familiar with the Democrats ............

History repeating itself ?????

Posted by: Franklin Stein at January 25, 2025 08:53 PM (VDY1a)

130 3 movies on Tubi worth watching right now:

It Happened One Night
An American Werewolf In London
Memento

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 08:55 PM (GBKbO)

131 Which was done first? Memento or the backwards Seinfeld episode?

Posted by: davidt at January 25, 2025 08:56 PM (i0F8b)

132 Which was done first? Memento or the backwards Seinfeld episode?
Posted by: davidt at January 25, 2025 08:56 PM (i0F8b)

Whichever one you think was done last, that's the one that was first.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:57 PM (053ci)

133 History repeating itself ?????
Posted by: Franklin Stein at January 25, 2025 08:53 PM (VDY1a)

Lighten up, Franklin.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 08:58 PM (053ci)

134 The Critical Drinker said that Section 31 was the worst piece of crap in the history of Star Trek. He also said Kurtzman shouldn't be allowed to run a Starbucks let alone the Star Trek franchise

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (6v8aM)

135 One could guess even Star Trek in modern hands would be woky-poky

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (fwDg9)

136 Anyone looking forward to the Academy Awards telecast as much as I am?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (JkO4W)

137 That said, I think the Coen version captures the essence of the book much better. Heresy, but I thought Bridges was a much better Rooster Cogburn than Wayne. Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 08:23 PM (f+FmA)

I felt the same way about the DiCaprio Great Gatsby. Over the top and some anachronisms, but it felt more like the spirit of the Roaring Twenties than the Redford Gatsby did. The Redford Gatsby was a beautiful movie and probably a more accurate on-screen depiction of the book, but the DiCaprio Gatsby was more accurate in capturing the soul of the story.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at January 25, 2025 09:00 PM (r5tfK)

138 Anyone looking forward to the Academy Awards telecast as much as I am? Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (JkO4W)

Only if the tranny movie wins in every category.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at January 25, 2025 09:00 PM (r5tfK)

139 Anyone looking forward to the Academy Awards telecast as much as I am?
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (JkO4W)

I'm gonna tape it on my VCR!

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 09:01 PM (053ci)

140
There used to be a defined difference between sci-fi and fantasy that has sadly disappeared; that being that magical things happening had an explanation based on some premise that could be bullshit and improbable but not totally separated from a tortured plausibility.

Posted by: Auspex at January 25, 2025 09:02 PM (j4U/Z)

141 Just watched Conclave. Love Robert Harris books and liked the movie, though I figured out the ending.
Is there a better actor currently than Ralph Fiennes who works often?
(Daniel Day-Lewis excluded by working frequently).

Posted by: jimmymcnulty at January 25, 2025 09:02 PM (aFOm5)

142
Foreign film w/subtitles I enjoyed: Retfærdighedens Ryttere, or, Riders Of Justice.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:02 PM (eofpp)

143 The Critical Drinker said that Section 31 was the worst piece of crap in the history of Star Trek. He also said Kurtzman shouldn't be allowed to run a Starbucks let alone the Star Trek franchise
Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (6v8aM)
---
His review was brutal and savage, even by his own standards. Drinker did not pull any punches.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 25, 2025 09:03 PM (BpYfr)

144 Watched "The Opposite of Sex" last night. I enjoyed it.
Christina Ricci stars as your typically detached teen narrating her story in a way that challenges the audience (especially when you start to realize she's less-than-truthful). It could almost be a romantic comedy. Some might argue that it is. Lisa Kudrow does a nice turn as an uptight sister-in-law. Lyle Lovett is in it for the benefits of the Ettes..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at January 25, 2025 09:03 PM (bA75n)

145 *Blood simple” was apparently coined by Dashiell Hammet (of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man fame) for his novel Red Harvest.*
I have a shiny new grandson named Dashiell.
Kinda badass.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 25, 2025 08:03 PM (Jjj7V)

Blood Simple was used in Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammet. The Continental Op was using the term to refer, I think, to a situation where everything goes sideways and the only apparent option is to start killing, and keep killing.

Red Harvest is probably his best novel. Maltese Falcon was a better detective novel, but Red Harvest was like a cavalry charge.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2025 09:03 PM (D7oie)

146 106 Oh yeah, watched Tarsem Singh's "The Fall", in which a silent movie stuntman in the hospital with a badly broken leg (and heart) weaves stories to enchant a little girl with a broken arm. It's not all kindness -- he's trying to get in her good graces so she'll steal drugs from the infirmary for him.

It has some of the most lush visuals of any movie I've seen.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (kpS4V)

Not many movies out there with a 8 yo Gypsy girl as the lead, but she was fun to watch.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 25, 2025 09:04 PM (klJTj)

147 136 Anyone looking forward to the Academy Awards telecast as much as I am?
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 25, 2025 08:59 PM (JkO4W)
----

Haven't watched it in years. It got so political during the Dubya years I couldn't stand it. And now, the movies have to check diversity boxes or they won't be eligible for consideration.

Anybody seen the cartel tranny film?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 09:04 PM (kpS4V)

148
If you like WWII movies, In Harm's Way (1965) is excellent.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:04 PM (eofpp)

149
Tonight's *potential* movie might be Whiplash.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:05 PM (eofpp)

150 IMHO Dicaprio is a terrible actor.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 09:06 PM (fV+MH)

151 There used to be a defined difference between sci-fi and fantasy that has sadly disappeared; that being that magical things happening had an explanation based on some premise that could be bullshit and improbable but not totally separated from a tortured plausibility.
Posted by: Auspex at January 25, 2025 09:02 PM (j4U/Z)

Sci-fi pretends to try to obey the laws of thermodynamics

(Wen Spencer, however, turns that on its head which is why I am proud to describe her work as "Sci-Fey". Which might describe some of Sarah Hoyt's work too)

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2025 09:06 PM (D7oie)

152 It's a good one, sooth!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 09:06 PM (kpS4V)

153
I recently watched an odd "vampire" movie, Innocent Blood (1992), starring Robert Loggia.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:07 PM (eofpp)

154
Today I went to a musical production of "Beauty and the Beast" with a cast and chorus of nearly a hundred seventh graders and younger.

Impossible to describe how much better and emotionally engaging this was than any movie I've seen in the last 10 years or for that matter professional stage shows.

This and a week of Trump and I'm feeling hopeful again.

Posted by: Auspex at January 25, 2025 09:07 PM (j4U/Z)

155 150 IMHO Dicaprio is a terrible actor.
Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 09:06 PM (fV+MH)

----------

I liked him when he sank from view like a weighted wax dummy in Titanic.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 25, 2025 09:08 PM (JkO4W)

156 "I liked him when he sank from view like a weighted wax dummy in Titanic.
Posted by: Cicero"

He nailed it.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 09:09 PM (fV+MH)

157
Last night I tried re-watching Gladiator. It kinda sucks. Spartacus tv series is 100X better.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:09 PM (eofpp)

158 It has some of the most lush visuals of any movie I've seen.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 08:43 PM (kpS4V)

Not many movies out there with a 8 yo Gypsy girl as the lead, but she was fun to watch.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 25, 2025 09:04 PM (klJTj)

If you haven't seen The Florida Project, with a six year old girl as the main character... she is stunningly wonderful in the film.

And yeah, don't expect it to be cheerful.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 09:09 PM (jWUJk)

159 "I liked him when he sank from view like a weighted wax dummy in Titanic.
Posted by: Cicero"

He nailed it.
Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 09:09 PM (fV+MH)

If you want to see DeCrappio get nailed, watched The Revenant. If you want to see his character get what's coming to him, Django Unchained.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 25, 2025 09:11 PM (jWUJk)

160 Wax dummy is the perfect description of Leonardo Dicaprio.

Hah.

Scorsese ruined many a movie with that man love.

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 09:12 PM (fV+MH)

161
Oh!
You know what's a good film?
Clive Owen in Croupier.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:12 PM (eofpp)

162 Not seen Oscar's for years, no point in breaking that streak

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 09:12 PM (fwDg9)

163 Have not seen Blood Simple, and will need to fix that at some point. Fargo, No Country, Oh Brother, Miller's Crossing - I think I need to rewatch that one (chef's kiss)..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at January 25, 2025 09:13 PM (bA75n)

164
A film noir reviewer had a quip about the Coens that i always liked. He compared them to Kubrick, basically saying that they had a similarly cynical view about man's inhumanity to man, that they found it to be really really funny.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:14 PM (EIfC6)

165 I recently watched an odd "vampire" movie, Innocent Blood (1992), starring Robert Loggia.
---
I was just describing that film to someone. The only thing I remember is that Marianne Parillaud (IIRC) spends the first five minutes starkers.

---
If you haven't seen The Florida Project, with a six year old girl as the main character... she is stunningly wonderful in the film.

And yeah, don't expect it to be cheerful.
---
Sean...Baker? His movies are basically about people in the depths of depravity. In "Starlet", a girl enters pornography. In "Tangerine" the titular character is a tranny hooker. "The Florida Project" is about a girl whose mother is a drug addict, hooker, shoplifter, etc.

His latest, "Anora," would probably rightfully take home the trophies this year (relative to what the Academy will consider) but I wouldn't be surprised if he looses out to the trannies.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 09:17 PM (asXVI)

166 Perhaps my favorite movie with a child in the lead is Beasts of the Southern Wild. Not everyone liked that, but I thought it had some amazing depth and insight into how he marginal people who live in places like the that. Especially how they don’t like do-gooders coming in and messing with their lives to make things “better”.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 25, 2025 09:17 PM (GvJdg)

167
The phrase blood simple is also used in the greatest movie of all time, Evil Dead II, when Jake the redneck drags Ash into the cabin's basement.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:20 PM (EIfC6)

168 165 His latest, "Anora," would probably rightfully take home the trophies this year (relative to what the Academy will consider) but I wouldn't be surprised if he looses out to the trannies.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 09:17 PM (asXVI)

====

I think it'll be Wicked.

Lots of youthful support. Lots of vocal older support like from Spielberg.

Fits in with the Academy's recent efforts to be populist again, but with the added benefit of some perception of radicalism ( like Oliver Stone's comments).

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 09:20 PM (GBKbO)

169 154
Today I went to a musical production of "Beauty and the Beast" with a cast and chorus of nearly a hundred seventh graders and younger.

Impossible to describe how much better and emotionally engaging this was than any movie I've seen in the last 10 years or for that matter professional stage shows.

This and a week of Trump and I'm feeling hopeful again.
Posted by: Auspex at January 25, 2025 09:07 PM (j4U/Z)

I really love movies, but there's just something about live performances. Youth and HS theater may be over the top sometimes, but they never phone it in.
Working in those are some of my best memories.

Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 09:21 PM (f+FmA)

170 167
The phrase blood simple is also used in the greatest movie of all time, Evil Dead II, when Jake the redneck drags Ash into the cabin's basement.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:20 PM (EIfC6)

===

The Coen brothers and Raimi are very good friends. Roommates for a time. Raimi directed a sequence in The Hudsucker Proxy.

It's probably a friendly reference.

Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 09:21 PM (GBKbO)

171 >>>I don't demand that films close off all loose ends, by any means, but the way it ended left me vaguely angry.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia
---

I was a simple ending. Everything is fucked.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at January 25, 2025 09:24 PM (Kq8pV)

172 Working in those are some of my best memories.
Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 09:21 PM (f+FmA)

That's not clear- I was a costumer, so tech staff.

Posted by: sal at January 25, 2025 09:24 PM (f+FmA)

173
Yeah, Raimi's brother Sam is in Miller's Crossing.

You know, I think he's in that Innocent Blood movie I mentioned above.

(just checked: he is)

btw, that's a John Landis movie

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:24 PM (eofpp)

174 If Moviegique had TJM's pull Blood Simple would have been on TCM at 8pm

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 09:24 PM (fwDg9)

175
Another movie I watched recently was Burke & Hare (1972). Ho-leee shit, what a disturbing movie. I was kinda blindsided how dark it became, because it began as sort of quirky comedy.

Supposebly a true story.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:28 PM (eofpp)

176 Is it just my t.v. or do movies on TCM no longer have subtitles/closed captions? My other channels do. Mom is hard of hearing and really needs them.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 09:28 PM (kpS4V)

177 Speaking of movies that don't make sense:
The Maltese Falcon.
I've watched that fucker and it don't make sense.
Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 08:44 PM (fV+MH)

Sam Spade takes a case for his agency from someone he knows is a liar, his partner is killed, and he has a good idea of who did it, but he has to find out. His client gives money, a wild story, sex and eventually all the information on a criminal ring, who then try to bribe him to betray each other to get a hold of a treasure. To escape the criminals need a patsy, and Spade chooses his client, because she killed his partner, and he didn't really care about the treasure, but he was interested in figuring out just what was going on with them.
Half way through Spade gives a short example of how people might be jarred out of their lives, but drift back into them because that way is how they are true to their selves, and later talks about how he catches criminals, and that is pretty much what he does, and won't change

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2025 09:28 PM (D7oie)

178
The Coen brothers and Raimi are very good friends. Roommates for a time. Raimi directed a sequence in The Hudsucker Proxy.

It's probably a friendly reference.
Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 09:21 PM (GBKbO)

Yup. I think the Coens even did rewrites for the Evil Dead films. And Sam gets blasted with a tommy gun in Miller's Crossing.

Not only did they live together for a time, they had Holly Hunter, Kathy Bates and Frances McDormand sharing in the same house, because all of them were broke at the beginning of their careers.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:29 PM (EIfC6)

179 > 92 No one even mentioned "No Country For Old Men", the only Coen movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Posted by: Angel at January 25, 2025 08:38 PM (oiJGz)

I felt like I'd been ripped off at the end of that one, personally.

I don't demand that films close off all loose ends, by any means, but the way it ended left me vaguely angry.

The movie was true to the book. Cormac McCarthy is a Modern Intellectual. Things don't make sense, have morals, end in any traditional story way and that is the point. Never saw the movie but one of the most awful books I ever read was his " The Road". Just pointless misery, not explained, that eventually ends badly except for an unbelievable "happy ending" for the boy. Maybe. No Country is a good movie and a decent book mostly cause its a good period action story. Disappointment if you are looking for a moral statement or a life explanation. Coen Brothers are very very good at filming novels so you get the feel. Kind of
the opposite of the attempts at filming Dune which never get close to the feel of the novel whether you like the movie or not

Posted by: azjaeger at January 25, 2025 09:29 PM (3/XaG)

180 Godzilla’s burnin’ up Tokyo.

Posted by: Bulg at January 25, 2025 09:29 PM (77rzZ)

181 40 M Emmett Walsh had a great career as a character actor. For Blood Simple and Blade Runner alone he had a great career but he was in a hundred more

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 08:12 PM (6v8aM)

I re-watched Clean and Sober recently where he plays a sponsor to Micheal Keaton's character in rehab. Excellent flick, BTW.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at January 25, 2025 09:30 PM (DTX3h)

182
Is it just my t.v. or do movies on TCM no longer have subtitles/closed captions?
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I'm noticing a lot of movies are foregoing English subtitles when a foreign language is spoken. Is it because they don't want to elevate English above other languages?

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:31 PM (eofpp)

183 Not all of the Dashiell Hammett stories got put in anthologies. Hammett was in bad shape at the end of his life, and his girlfriend, Hellman, wasn't energetic in collecting them, or something.
If you go through online Black Mask editions, you can find some you never heard of.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2025 09:31 PM (D7oie)

184
Have you noticed all the drop-down menus for listing your country on an online form no longer put United States on top?

It's listed alphabetically, which is absurd!

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:32 PM (eofpp)

185 40
'M Emmett Walsh had a great career as a character actor. For Blood Simple and Blade Runner alone '

The Jerk
Raising Arizona

Posted by: Dr. Claw at January 25, 2025 09:32 PM (3wi/L)

186 I like Blood Simple much more than Ladykillers. Sure it's rough around the edges. But as a first effort, it stands up pretty well.

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at January 25, 2025 09:32 PM (sJHOI)

187 21 Raising Arizona. Best movie Cohens ever made.
Posted by: Eromero at January 25, 2025 07:51 PM (LHPAg)

Yeah, but H.I. McDunnough has a tattoo. 0/5 stars!!

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at January 25, 2025 09:33 PM (DTX3h)

188
DIE, GAS PUMPER!

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:33 PM (EIfC6)

189 Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 25, 2025 08:42 PM (IOGah)

You asked if I lived in Pittsburgh.

Was it the Iron City or the weed that tipped you off.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at January 25, 2025 09:33 PM (KiBMU)

190 Tinto Brass, director par par excellence. _ Monamour

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at January 25, 2025 09:34 PM (Kq8pV)

191 Great essay, as always, moviegique! I saw Blood Simple when it was originally released and became an instant Coen Brothers fan. Loving Raising Arizona scored me instant cheese points with, at the time, the future, Lovely and Brilliant Mrs. SuperRon. I have several faves, Hudsucker is probably my favorite (**You know…..For kids!**), and Miller’s Crossing is a close second. And honest to goodness, I laughed my a** off harder watching Burn After Reading, than I have laughed at any movie in recent years. Great essay, fantastic comments by All!

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Buffly Preparing For My Next Elected Conquest at January 25, 2025 09:35 PM (uPuFE)

192 Perhaps my favorite movie with a child in the lead is Beasts of the Southern Wild.
---
A lovely fable. Fairy tale? Post-apocalyptic allegory?

https://moviegique.com/2012/07/beasts-of-the-southern-wild/

---
Supposebly a true story.
----
Burke & Hare are the most famous body-snatchers in history, I think.

----
The Coen brothers and Raimi are very good friends. Roommates for a time. Raimi directed a sequence in The Hudsucker Proxy.
----
Ethan (?) Coen edited "The Evil Dead".

Sam Raimi directed "Crimewave", with a script by Joel & Ethan. It's apparently terrible, but it does get played around here from time-to-time so I do plan to catch it.

This would be their second film: Raimi's after "Evil Dead" and the Coens after "Blood Simple". And it may have been filmed before "Blood".

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 09:35 PM (asXVI)

193 "I liked him when he sank from view like a weighted wax dummy in Titanic.
Posted by: Cicero"
-----
He nailed it.
Posted by: eleven
-----
If you want to see DeCrappio get nailed, watched The Revenant. If you want to see his character get what's coming to him, Django Unchained.
Posted by: BurtTC

This has to be the tri-fecta of DiCaprio snuff scenes.

Posted by: BifBewalski at January 25, 2025 09:35 PM (MsrgL)

194 Kind of liked Innocent Blood probably because of Anne Parillaud, though Don Rickles was funny. Parillaud was great in the original La Femme Nikita

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 25, 2025 09:35 PM (6v8aM)

195 165: I recently watched an odd "vampire" movie, Innocent Blood (1992), starring Robert Loggia.
---
I was just describing that film to someone. The only thing I remember is that Marianne Parillaud (IIRC) spends the first five minutes starkers.

I vaguely recall that movie. I mostly remember it being filmed in Pittsburgh.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 25, 2025 09:36 PM (Kdi1r)

196 I don't know about closed caption if it's tv or channel. I would think your not having something on. I recently bought a new TV but haven't tried CC.on it.

Posted by: Skip at January 25, 2025 09:38 PM (fwDg9)

197
I like Blood Simple much more than Ladykillers. Sure it's rough around the edges. But as a first effort, it stands up pretty well.
Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at January 25, 2025 09:32 PM (sJHOI)

Ladykillers is kinda shit, the only thing really funny or good about the film is that all the criminals end up dead in the same trash dump. I haven't gotten around to watching the whole Ealing film to see if that was part of the original, although it feels that way.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:39 PM (EIfC6)

198 I think it'll be Wicked.

[. . . ]
Posted by: TJM's phone at January 25, 2025 09:20 PM (GBKbO)

My wife said she fell asleep in the theater watching it.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2025 09:40 PM (D7oie)

199 I'm no movie expert, but Blood Simple was a favorite of mine years ago. I had it on VHS and took it around to be viewed by friends and relatives. This is a good reminder that I'd probably enjoy watching it again. It's been a while.

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at January 25, 2025 09:42 PM (paSBy)

200
All you nerds in the Book Thread tomorrow can laugh at weirdo pervert Neil Gay-man getting Canceled.

Posted by: Soothsayer at January 25, 2025 09:42 PM (eofpp)

201 Speaking of M. Emmett Walsh, his final film, "Green and Gold", is in theaters next week.

"A struggling family farmer wagers everything on a high-stakes Championship bet, while his granddaughter's musical ambitions could be their ticket to a new beginning."

It has Charlie Berens!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 25, 2025 09:43 PM (kpS4V)

202 > I was a simple ending. Everything is fucked.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at January 25, 2025 09:24 PM (Kq8pV)

If I wanted to experience that, I'd just fantasize about what would have happened if Commie Lay had won.

Heh.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 25, 2025 09:45 PM (W5ArC)

203
The raft scene in Titanic is great. Rose kisses Leo and says "I'll never let you go".... then flings his body off the raft to sink. That's just quality entertainment for the whole family

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:46 PM (EIfC6)

204 Surprise ending for Leo in The Departed.

Posted by: davidt at January 25, 2025 09:47 PM (i0F8b)

205 I can't remember for sure, but I think I inadvertently lifted that Leo joke from someone else

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 25, 2025 09:48 PM (EIfC6)

206 The FISHMEN to really FEAR is the one who's in the MIRROR...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTHn2tHhcI

Three things Trump should unconditionally release
1. JFK Info
2. 72Hrs (yup! 72) of Bill Clinton making phone sex calls from AF1. Especially the Russian intercepted an poorly translated
3. EastCoast Drone Swarms and their Connection to the Cybertruck Bomber (Fishman#1)
4. The Pee Tape. Fair

Covers Every aspect of the BOTCHMEN-Legacy: Fair and Balanced
https://tinyurl.com/IceKingJOE-EvilNotMistaken

Posted by: MANFRED the Heat Seeking OBOE at January 25, 2025 09:50 PM (0ERhQ)

207 Re 'No Country For Old Men'. What I resented about the film was much more tangible...they smashed what looked to be a pristine '78 Olds Cutlass. Some things can't be forgiven. Short clip/scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqWnKcSyxMM

Posted by: Mike Hammer etc., etc. at January 25, 2025 09:52 PM (XeU6L)

208
Is it just my t.v. or do movies on TCM no longer have subtitles/closed captions?
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I watched Seance on a Wet Afternoon on TCM last week and HAD to use closed caption to understand what they were saying. British with mushy audio.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058557

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 25, 2025 09:53 PM (63Dwl)

209 "Blood Simple" is a quote/reference from Daishell Hammett's 'Red Harvest'.

In context, it means killing so much that it's making you numb or dumb.

Red Harvest is a bad ass novel, by the way.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at January 25, 2025 09:55 PM (xcxpd)

210 What I would like revealed is the list of deserters who fled to Canada during VN. Carter sealed it for (?) years.

Posted by: Mike Hammer etc., etc. at January 25, 2025 09:55 PM (XeU6L)

211 I think I enjoyed this movie thred better than any other.

Did not care for The Man who Wasn't There.

Posted by: Ette from tex at January 25, 2025 10:00 PM (SNf74)

212 "All you nerds in the Book Thread tomorrow can laugh at weirdo pervert Neil Gay-man getting Canceled.
Posted by: Soothsayer "

I'm a book nerd and I have no idea who Neil Gaiman is.

Can I laugh at him getting cancelled now?

Posted by: eleven at January 25, 2025 10:04 PM (fV+MH)

213 I'm a book nerd and I have no idea who Neil Gaiman is.

Didn't realize how fucked up he is.
Ugh.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at January 25, 2025 10:05 PM (ufFY8)

214 Did not care for The Man who Wasn't There.
---

Interestingly enough, while I love "A Serious Man," I hated "The Man Who Wasn't There" and they are, in fact, very similar.

I need to rewatch TMWWT with the understanding imparted by "A Serious Man," I think.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 10:13 PM (asXVI)

215 Thanks for the chat, guys!

Tons of fun. See you on February 15th for my "HOT LOVE MOVIE ROUNDUP!"

(No, not really.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 25, 2025 10:14 PM (asXVI)

216 One big difference is that I have the Arrow Video blue-ray of CHUD but own nothing by the Coens.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 25, 2025 10:56 PM (CHHv1)

217 M. Emmit Walsh:

Dr. Jellyfinger in Fletch (“two B’s? One: B-A-B-A-R. Thats’s two. Yeah, but not right next to each other; I thought that’s what you meant.”

- btw other than Blood Simple his best role ever!

The diving coach in Back to School (“Mellon - we need ya’”

Also the swim coach in Ordinary People.

Posted by: CTSPURSMAN at January 26, 2025 05:53 AM (Uy2Lz)

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