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A Serious Man: Seriously Hard To Wrap Your Head Around

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:00:10 -0700

I like the Coen brothers. I loved No Country For Old Men, I still enjoy quoting Frances McDormand lines from Fargo - I even appreciated their most recent project, Burn After Reading despite lukewarm reviews. So I went into A Serious Man with high expectations. Perhaps a bit too high.

The Coens go incredibly dark and thought-provoking this time around, and unfortunately without any big-named stars attached like Clooney a la Reading or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, A Serious Man probably won't live on as one of their more memorable films for viewers. In fact, many people will probably feel put off by it. To see what I mean, read more

A Serious Man opens like a horror movie, which isn't surprising given the Coen's propensity for heavy themes (and often a few stab wounds) in their stories. The music is a big player, creating tension that doesn't let up for the audience even when the screen goes to black. But the antagonizing score fits well within the nightmare existence of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor and devoted family man in '60s suburbia. First, his wife announces that she's leaving him for a touchy-feely close-talker; his unemployed brother spends entire 24-hour periods in his bathroom; and one of his foreign students is threatening to sue him. Really, the only thrill Gopnik ever gets in life is when his neighbor Mrs. Samsky sunbathes nude.

Poor Gopnik is a wound-up guy, and you feel for him and with him. (It's true; I had to decompress after this movie.) His world is spiraling out of control, so he seeks out three rabbis for a solution. Does Gopnik get the enlightenment he seeks? Not exactly, and neither do we as the audience.

There's not a single bad thing I can say about any of the actors. Each one was believable and charmingly offbeat in their role. The Coens are brilliant with character nuances - even some of the small two-minute parts managed to get laughs - but the larger picture just seemed murky from the get-go. The first five minutes of the film starts with a man in a village who accidentally invites a ghost home for dinner. It's all in Yiddish with subtitles, and it's almost like watching a stand-alone play, but I'm still not sure what it had to do with the rest of the plot, other than the Jewish religion and setting a dismal tone. So right away I felt semiconfused, but entertained nonetheless - which is pretty much how the duration of it went for me.

The film does have some great scenes - I loved the interaction between Gopnik and his foreign student, and his wife's new boyfriend Si is particularly funny - but trying to piece it together is a bit like banging your head against the wall (just like in the movie's trailer). I get that Gopnik's life sucks, but other than that, it's hard to tell exactly what we're supposed to glean from the story. I think that was sort of the point the Coens were trying to make - Gopnik doesn't get the answers he seeks, and neither do we.

Go see it if you're a hardcore Coenaholic, and enjoy the funny scenes without trying to analyze it too much. But if you prefer to dissect your movies, I'd say rent this one at home, because you may need to watch it twice.

What movies are you seeing this weekend? Review them in our Movie Review Group!

Photos courtesy of Focus Features

Movie Preview: A Serious Man by the Coen Brothers

BuzzSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:30:40 -0700

Seeing as this one minute, 40-second teaser trailer for the Coen brothers' latest film, A Serious Man, is like a little short film in itself, I can say with certainty that I'll be eagerly waiting in line for this one come October. The synopsis: "A black comedy set in 1967 and centered on Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother (Richard Kind) won't move out of the house." Seeking some kind of balance, Larry approaches three different rabbis for advice.

In the trailer, the sounds of destruction, confusion, and desperation in this man's life weave together to make a mesmerizing kind of music. It looks dark and weird and funny - everything we've come to expect from the Coens. A Serious Man opens in limited release Oct. 2. To check out the trailer, read more.

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:45:38 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Burn After Reading
The Coen brothers do criminals well and in this film they got an impressive group of actors to play "accidental" criminals in a very funny way. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad and Linda, two gym employees who find a CD in the locker room that contains data belonging to a former CIA analyst. Assuming that someone will pay big bucks for the return of the sensitive info, they attempt to blackmail the analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). But old Ozzy is far more concerned about his recent unemployment and impending divorce from his wife (Tilda Swinton), who's having an affair with a pinhead womanizer played by George Clooney.

The whole thing ends up feeling like kids playing a spy game but the laughs are smart and result is solid entertainment.

DVD featurettes include: "DC Insiders Run Amock - An all-star cast creates the world of Washington, DC," and "Welcome Back, George" described as a comedy piece featuring Mr. Clooney as he returns for his third collaboration with Ethan and Joel.

Two more up next so read more.

Hamlet 2
Note: For some reason, this title was released on Dec. 21. Go figure. Anyway, it's still pretty newly on DVD!

This little comedy was all the rage at last year's Sundance Film Festival and then kind of fizzled its way through the theaters without too much notice from audiences. But I think it's the kind of flick destined to have a cult following, so now that it's on DVD it can spread through college dorm rooms and 20-somethings' apartments.

The movie stars Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener and Amy Poehler, and follows a teacher who is trying to save the drama department by writing a sequel to Hamlet. One of the co-writers is Pam Brady, who has written lots of funny stuff like the South Park movie, Team America, and Hot Rod.

Special features include deleted scenes and a sing-along.

The Women
This remake of George Cukor's 1939 classic stars Meg Ryan as Mary Haines, whose fabulous life comes to a screeching halt when she finds out (thanks to her gossipy manicurist, played by Debi Mazar) that her husband is having an affair with the Saks perfume "spritzer girl" (Eva Mendes). Things only get more complicated when her tight group of girlfriends (played by Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Debra Messing) try to help her put the pieces back together.

Special features include additional scenes, a visit with the cast and crew, and a look at the evolution of the story from 1936 stage success to classic 1939 movie to this contemporary update.

Burn After Reading: A Smart and Sinister Spy Comedy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:31:51 -0700

As the opening credits of Burn After Reading blip across a satellite image of Washington, DC, viewers may find themselves wondering if they've wandered into the wrong movie - a Bourne Identity type thriller filled with high-tech secrets and evil intentions. But for every spook with high-security clearance in DC, there is a goofball at Jamba Juice, waiting for his afternoon smoothie. And when that iPod-wearing dude wanders into the tropes of a spy movie, the results are wonderfully absurd and fraught with a different sort of intelligence.

The Coen brothers have given us stories of bumbling criminals time and time again, but with Burn After Reading, the filmmakers approach the familiar theme in an entirely fresh way. The "criminals" in this case are more accidental than bumbling, their deceptions adorably mundane against an ominous, thundering soundtrack and spy-camera cinematography. For all the details, read more.

Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad and Linda, two gym employees who find a CD in the locker room that contains data belonging to a former CIA analyst. Assuming that someone will pay big bucks for the return of the sensitive info, they attempt, with childlike naivete, to blackmail the analyst, a Princeton man named Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). But old Ozzy is far more concerned about his recent unemployment and impending divorce from his wife (Tilda Swinton), who's having an affair with a pinhead womanizer played by George Clooney.

When Cox doesn't bite on the blackmail, Chad and Linda attempt to sell the secrets to the Russians, inadvertently setting off a series of plot twists that entangle everyone and provide plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. At one point, a CIA boss (played by JK Simmons) is briefed on the case - and utterly baffled: "Just report back to me when - I don't know. When it makes sense."

The way the story unfolds makes perfect sense, and at the same time, it's entirely senseless. Like kids playing spy games, the characters talk like actors trying to up the drama while waiting for something to happen. But when things happen - and believe me, some serious stuff happens - it is simply real, without cinematic spectacle, and more powerful as a result. Where other filmmakers hold might back in the name of mystery or add a cheeky twist, the Coen brothers just give us mundane reality at its most absurd.

Photos Courtesy of Focus Features

Buzz News Roundup, 8/20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:30:14 -0700

Sadly, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore died Tuesday at age 46 from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in June. - AP
Universal wants to increase Labor Day weekend grosses for Mamma Mia! by presenting Mamma Mia! The Sing-Along Edition in select theaters. - Billboard
ABC is actually going to move forward this Fall with that male-oriented spinoff of Supernanny, titled Supermanny. - Hollywood Reporter
Peter Jackson will collaborate with director Guillermo del Toro to write The Hobbit and its sequel. - Variety
The Coen brothers have hired Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Kind to star as brothers in their 1960s period black comedy, The Serious Man. - ComingSoon
Grey's Anatomy and ER are receiving criticism by a leading Italian medical group for "teaching viewers inaccurate views on medicine" and "spreading misinformation." - The Hollywood Reporter
Neil Young has nabbed Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco as the opening acts for his tour. - Reuters
There's going to be a remake of the 1982 horror movie Poltergeist. - ComingSoon

Source

Movie Preview: The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:35 -0700

OK, now this is a movie trailer! The Coen Bros. latest venture, Burn After Reading, now has a red-band trailer (which in this case means they're using some NSFW language) and it is funny-goofy-weird-dark. Which is to say, awesome. The people in this movie are so fantastically talented, and combined with the Coens' dark and bizarre direction, this movie looks totally promising.

The trailer is a little confusing, but the IMDB plot description puts it like this: "A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it."

I could watch Brad Pitt act like a total goofball all day.

Burn After Reading opens in theaters September 12. To check out the trailer and tell me if you think there are more Oscars in the Coen family future, read more.

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Spike Lee vs. the Coen Bros: Valid Point or Unfair Characterization?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:30:15 -0700

The folks covering Cannes over at Cinematical highlighted some statements made by director Spike Lee about certain directors. I was specifically struck by the comment he made about Joel and Ethan Coen (who just won a batch of Oscars for No Country for Old Men):

I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don't. . . Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It's like, "Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!" I see things different than that.

While it may not be the fairest charge leveled against the Coen Brothers, I do think a discussion about the role of violence in filmmaking (and other forms of entertainment) is one that needs to take place and Lee has a point when he implies that no one is willing to ask the hard questions.

Do you agree with what Spike Lee is saying or do you think it's an unfair bin to toss the Coens into?

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 4/28

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:30:01 -0700

Lori Loughlin is set to play the mother in the CW's 90210 spinoff, TV Guide reports.
And, says Variety, The CW officially wants Hilary Duff on board to play Loughlin's daughter.
NME has the scoop on a new free music streaming website for Sony/BMG artists.
Angela Bassett will check into ER to play a doctor in the drama's final season, Zap2it reports.
Brothers & Sisters and Ugly Betty were repeat winners at the GLAAD Media Awards over the weekend, the Associated Press reports.
Paste reports that the next issue of McSweeney's DVD magazine Wholphin will feature a short film starring Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel and written by Michael Chabon.
The Coen Bros. film Burn After Reading will open the Venice Film Festival in August before premiering in the U.S. on Sept. 12, writes the Hollywood Reporter.

Source

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:30:00 -0700

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, family-friendly flicks Bee Movie and August Rush are available as well.

No Country for Old Men
If you haven't heard about No Country for Old Men, the staggering, Oscar-winning adaptation of Cormic McCarthy's novel, you might well be living under a rock. Not for those looking for warm fuzzies, this is the Coen Brothers at their best: entertaining, dark, and thought-provoking. Javier Bardem (um, how scary is he on that DVD cover?) won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Anton Chigurh, a demented serial killer whose evilness will haunt you for days. The film also stars Josh Brolin as a man on the run from Chigurh and Tommy Lee Jones a local sheriff on both of their trails.

Though the film's ending is obscure and has left many scratching their heads, I really thought it worked and I was completely entranced by the suspenseful cat-and-mouse plot. If you haven't yet seen this darn-near-perfect flick, now is your chance. Special features include a featurette about the making of the movie and one titled "Diary of A Country Sheriff."

One more release starring a beloved comedian if you read more.

Dan in Real Life
I will be the first to admit this wasn't my favorite movie of all time but like most people, I really love Juliette Binoche and Steve Carell, and I figured you may like to know that this one is out on DVD.

Dan in Real Life is about an advice columnist (Carell) raising three daughters on his own. Yet he could use some advice himself when he meets and develops "eyes" (as they say) for the beautiful Marie (Binoche) - who also happens to be Dan's brother's girlfriend. Much soul-searching over this and other life issues goes down when Marie joins a vacation with the entire extended family. One of the best things about the movie is the great music provided almost entirely by Sondre Lerche.

Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:30:00 -0800

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! In honor of the Coen Brothers' big Oscar wins, here's a Buzz Brainteaser related to another Coen favorite, The Big Lebowski.

In The Big Lebowski, name the actress who plays Bunny Lebowski.