Trailers From Hell's Coen Brothers Week!

Last week over at Trailers From Hell it was Coen Brothers Week.  Since I just completed my Reverse Coen Brothers Marathon I find it necessary to share with you the thoughts of Josh Olson & John Badham on three of my favorites.

Art by Brian Taylor

--Brad

Brad's Week In Dork! (9/2/12-9/8/12)

Oh yeah.  This week was all kinds of fun.  Sure, despite climaxing at the most fantastic comics-comics Comic Book Convention, I didn't read a single issue (however, I did start Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and it's crazy good) and I only consumed a handful of flicks, but I had an absolute blast during the last leg of my Reverse Coen Brothers marathon and the Big Screen Double feature I did on Wednesday was incredibly enjoyable.  Something that's been quite the challenge during this disappointing Summer season.

TV OF THE WEEK!

Walking Dead - Season 2:  Yeeeeaaaaaaaaah.  So, I like Walking Dead.  But I like it only okay.  However, I plowed through the second season in just a couple of days.  I really like Andrew Lincoln.  And Jon Bernthal turns Shane into an interesting and even (sometimes) likable character which never had a chance to occur in the book.  But the female characters are terrible.  With the exception of Maggie, all the women on this show are weak, hysterical, wishy-washy, and just plain boring.  Lori!  Just die already!  Andrea, lay off the tough macho suicidal blather.  And then there's Dale.  Pathetic, hopeless, self-rightous ass.  It's not complete garbage.  I find myself compelled each episode to see what happens next, but it just is not as fun as it should be on the re-watch.  And it's nowhere near as brutal or as shocking with the plot twists as Kirkman's far superior comic book.  Which reminds me, I really want to restart the comic from the beginning--suffer Kirkman's character torture.  But don't worry, I'm still really curious to see AMC's Michone & The Governor next season but I'm going in a cautious observer.

MOVIES OF THE WEEK!

Miller's Crossing:  "When I've raised hell you'll know it." My favorite Coen Brothers film. My favorite gangster film. And my fourth favorite film of all time. Miller's Crossing is a crushingly somber story of a man who doesn't want to chase his hat, but does so anyway. Gabriel Byrne is a cold, calculating mob enforcer struggling to navigate the violent mob war between the Tommy Gun artistry of Albert Finney and the ethically obsessed Jon Polito. And it's not just simply endlessly-quotable like every other Coen Brothers flick, it's deliciously pornographically obsessed with hard heavy jazzy gangland language and the result is an aural landscape similar to the purple prose of HBO's Deadwood. Watch out for the high hat, listen for the rumpus, and beware the gory hate of J.E. Freeman's The Dane. It should also be noted that this is the last collaboration with cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld; he may not be as painterly as future collaborator Roger Deakins, but man, he perfectly captures that Rashomon forest and those handsome men in hats.

Premium Rush:  "The Whole City Hates You!" A seemingly nostalgic update of the totally radical bicycle movies of the 1980s like Quicksilver, Rad, BMX Bandits, and Breaking Away with the added hipster zen philosophy of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "The Bike Wants To Go Fast." "Brakes Are Death." Premium Rush is a silly, quick 90 minutes in which JGL uses his slow-motion cycler vision to navigate the myriad paths to inevitable New York City road kill. Michael Shannon is the corrupt Detective Monday, gnashing his way through the bike messenger pest problem so clearly overrunning the city. Probably not the film 2012 is going to be remembered for, but Premium Rush still has a chance to go down as a cult classic thanks to its ridiculous earnest and Free Tibet, Anti-China mcguffin.

Lawless:  Three violent bootlegger brothers ignite a moonshine war in Prohibition era Virginia when the youngest takes inspiration from Gary Oldman's tommy gunner and the Chicago Way gets greedy for that Southern money. Shia LaBeouf takes some serious bloody beatings before taking the reigns from his lawless kin, and it only took a couple of gurgling smackdowns before I accepted him as the protagonist. Really appreciated how, with the exception of Shia & Jessica Chastain, everyone in the cast (including all the hideous extras) seemed ripped from the Dick Tracy freakshow comic strip. Tom Hardy continues his trend of grunting, wide shouldered brutes and Guy Pearce looks like a demon fled from hell with his eyebrow sneers and black gel hair. Both actors are hilarious when they're not being complete grotesques, and the film might suffer a little from their scene stealing. Lawless (hate that title) is full of brutality and death, but it's fun with the family and it never gets as dark as it probably should. But I'm still waiting for director John Hillcoat & writer Nick Cave to equal the brilliant horror of their Australian Western, The Proposition.  Lawless is not quite there fellas.

Raising Arizona:  Technically the first Coen Brothers film I ever saw. I was about 8 or 9. My cousin Chris was a fan. But I didn't get it. Now, at 33 and a die hard Coen Brothers obsessive, I love this weirdo, surrealist Romantic Comedy. The maniac method of Nicolas Cage is perfectly suited for the horrifyingly potent weeping of Holly Hunter. Then there's that haunting yodeling score, the birth of John Goodman's endless screaming, Sam Raimi's Ram-O-Cam dog chase, and the demonic biker bounty hunter. Raising Arizona is classic Coen, odd & adorable.

The Slammin' Salmon:  Another solid entry from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe; it falls somewhere between Club Dread and Beerfest, but nowhere near as fantastic as Super Troopers. The boys are all excellent, especially Erik Stolhanske's uber-tanned Guy and Jay Chandrasekhar's aptly named Nuts. But the real star of the show is Michael Clarke Duncan. His foul-mouthed, quick tempered Rope-a-dope entrepreneur is bodily shakingly hilarious, and just when I thought I could catch a breath he spurts another ridiculously aggressive "WHATEVER MOTHER FUCKER!" The gentle giant might always be remembered for his supernatural turn in The Green Mile, but it's his Cleon Salmon that sits at the top of his performances.  Plus, you've got Dick Lobo himself, Lance Henriksen grinning all over the place.

Blood Simple:  "The world is full of complainers." The first film from Joel & Ethan Coen is a nostalgic noir layered in the demented humor we would come to demand from their later films, but Blood Simple has a feverish nightmare quality not found in their other works. As characters react to unseen forces and the comedy of errors builds to climactic horror you feel trapped in the fog of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld's slow dollies and smokey lighting. Frances McDormand & John Getz are perfectly fine as the untrusting love birds, but it's M Emmet Walsh's monstrous Texan and Dan Hedaya's dribbling cuckold that scar the audience--their villainy is deliciously ripe and the terror they bring upon the couple is hilarious for those troubled members in the crowd.

So, now having completed my run of The Coens, what film comes out on top?  I struggled with the below list, ranking their films from best to worst.  But "worst" is a silly word to throw around with The Coens.  Their only film I could classify as bad is #15, Intolerable Cruelty.  And it's not a complete suckfest.  It's just a tremendous disappointment when comparing it to the others.  And #s 1-14 are pretty freaking fantastic; depending on my mood I could rearrange #s 5-14 in any manner of ways.  Sometimes I might be feeling more the noir light show of Blood Simple and on another day I might be celebrating the comic biblical horror of A Serious Man.

The top spots however, I don't see changing any time soon.  Miller's Crossing remains one of my all time favorite films.  It's lyrical gangster poetry with not-so-subtle splashes of weirdo humor, but it's definitely not a comedy and it's definitely not just a film about men who wear hats.  The Big Lebowski is an epic Raymond Chandler tale twisted through the slacker wisdom of The Dude.  Surreal and just damn funny.  No Country For Old Men shot to the top this month.  I remember liking it in the theater and on my first blu ray rewatch, but now, gosh--I love it so much.  It's the one film that really stands out from the other Coen Brother flicks.  There are slight touches that remind you just who is behind the camera, but for the most part it plays devoid of that outsider humor.  It's a brutal beast of a film that grabs you by the throat, squeezes, chokes you to the point of utter despair and then tosses your gasping body to the curb. No easy answer...in fact, no answers at all.  Barton Fink.  It's the ultimate Coen film.  A celebration of The Torture in Writing.  The Mind might be a uniform worth wearing, but its a snooty bastard ready to put you through all kinds of Hollywood Hell.

1.  Miller's Crossing

2.  The Big Lebowski

3.  No Country For Old Men

4.  Barton Fink

5.  The Man Who Wasn't There

6.  True Grit

7.  Fargo

8.  O Brother, Where Art Thou?

9.  A Serious Man

10.  Burn After Reading

11.  The Ladykillers

12.  Blood Simple

13.  Raising Arizona

14.  The Hudsucker Proxy

15.  Intolerable Cruelty

DORK FIELD TRIP OF THE WEEK!

Baltimore Comic Con 2012:  Ended the week at the Baltimore Convention Center for the 13th Annual Comic Con.  I've stated this elsewhere, but it bears repeating, the Baltimore Comic Con is the best Con for genuine comic book fans.  San Diego is a paradise of general pop culture but you'd be kidding yourself if you didn't recognize the Hollywood industry takeover.  The various Wizard World events across the country (like the Philly show I attended earlier in the year) suffer from a similar celebrity infection.  Don't get me wrong, I love those shows - they're heaven on earth for movie hounds - but if what you want are the funny books than you go to Baltimore to sate that hunger.

Sure, there are some panels you can attend.  We sat in on both the New 52 DC panel with Dan Didio and Tom Brevoort's Marvel NOW panel, but both of the big two companies really didn't bring anything new to the table and even Marvel's slideshow was just a bunch of old info they revealed a few weeks back at Toronto's Fan Expo.  Hopefully one day Baltimore will make more of a splash on the news sites and force the companies to take notice of the fans, but as is right now, Baltimore Comic Con is mainly just a massive warehouse where you can buy toys & comics as well as get a few books signed by your favorite creators.

What that means is that you have to bring some serious cash to enjoy the full experience.  Comic Dealers from all over the East Coast bring their goods - Selling forgotten trader paperbacks for five bucks as well as the good stuff at 50%.  I bought more books this year than I have at any other convention.  I went DC crazy - snagging Grant Morrison's JLA run as well as his Seven Soldiers of Victory hardcovers.  I found his first two Animal Man trades, Darwyn Cooke's Batman: Ego, and I even purchased (at dirt cheap prices) Kevin Smith's latest Batman books.  The only toys I bought were a few Hot Wheels - the Arkham Asylum Batmobile, The A Team van, and K.I.T.T.

I've never seen the con floor so crowded.  The only problem this posed was that since we dragged our asses a little getting down there both days, I was unable to score all the signatures I would have liked.  The line for Garth Ennis (of Preacher fame) was gargantuan.  I stood in it for a little bit, but then panicked as I was a afraid I wasn't going to get time for the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo session.  I jumped over to them and got my Court of Owls book autographed by both writer & artist as well as The Black Mirror signed by Snyder and Francesco Francavilla.  From Francavilla I also got his latest Chiaroscuro sketchbook and the artist was kind enough to doodle a Black Beetle in the back of the book.  Very cool.

Now taking all that comic lusting into account, Baltimore seemed more crowded with Cosplayers than it ever has been before.  The Sunday Costume Contest brought in more people than both the DC & Marvel panels combined - a sight I find fascinating and a little bit of a bummer.  I'm not hating on the Cosplay.  I've grown to love the creative displays of affection for these comic book icons but I also find it strange that the content of the medium seems to be less important than the craft of these creations.  In some ways this is just an extension of the art obsession of the 90s.  But I don't know...maybe I'm just being and old man a-hole.

 All in all, it was another great con.  And it's probably going to be the last one for the year.  My wallet just can't handle it anymore.  Gonna have to bail on a few of these upcoming horror shows....well, we'll see.  These things are a serious addiction.  Coming together with the Dork Community - it's a rush.  We live in a wonderful time for pop culture love.  People get it now.  An obsession with He Man is not uncommon.  In fact, there are a few folks out there who love it harder than you possibly could.  And that's just awesome.

--Brad

Two Fistfuls Of Favorites! (Brad's Picks)

Where Matt might not have been a List Guy until I forced him to put his favorite films together, I've always obsessed over what films are better than the other.  What are the best horror films?  What are the best crocodile movies?  What's the best use of a cigarette in cinema?  (Answer, Dan Aykroyd's butt in Ghostbusters).  When I was a kid my favorite movie was The Empire Strikes Back.  And then for a little while it was Predator.  The Top Ten I have now has not changed much in the last ten years or so.  But recently, after seeing a couple of these flicks on the big screen at AFI Silver and E Street Cinema, I've had to do quite a bit of rearranging.

10.  Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979):  Late last year I finally rewatched the Alien saga on blu ray (thanks to the Wife and her Egg purchase) and I came away thinking that 1) Ridley Scott's Alien is the scariest damn slasher movie ever made and 2) the reason this film kicks so much unholy ass is the crew of The Nostromo.  These Space Truckers are real.  They know each other.  They love each other.  They hate each other.  And they are gonna get home once they get their credit.  Too bad about that whole HR Giger beastie stalking about the gothic corridors.

9.  Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957):  Never has a film been filled with so much rank and hate and it's both hilarious and terrifying.  Burt Lancaster is a monster as JJ and Tony Curtis is the best little weasel...poor sucker.  There really isn't a nice character in the movie and that's what is so damn wonderful about the whole experience.  If you haven't picked up the Criterion Blu from last year than do yourself a favor and bask in its horror.

8.  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (W.D. Richter, 1984):  Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai is the coolest, most badass Rock 'n' Roll Scientist on the planet.  Thank God we have him on our side to battle John Whorfin's red aliens freed from The 8the Dimension.  And like the crew of the Nostromo, his Regulators are a bunch of cool cats you need to party with.

7.  Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967):  Lee Marvin's Walker wants one thing, his money.  Do not get in his way.  If you're his wife, forget it.  If you're his lover, forget it.  If you're revenge, forget it.  Just give him his money.  And John Boorman directs the Hell outta Richard Stark's The Hunter splashing his insanity all over the script in bright psychedelic colors.

6.  Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (Nicholas Meyer, 1982):  I don't even know what to say.  I love Star Trek.  I love Shatner.  And I love them so much I can't even talk about them with the slightest bit of rationality.  Wrath of Khan is the ultimate statement on these characters, it's a great reverse revenge film and, the ending...no matter how much the later film's negate its greatness, still packs a heavy emotional wallop.  "I feel young." I can cry just thinking about Kirk looking at the Genesis planet.

5.  Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975):  The First A Budget B Movie Summer Blockbuster and it rocked (destroyed?) cinema.  But it's a damn fine time out at the movies.  However, for all its creepy John Williams score and Hitchcockian shark attacks, Jaws is all about the relationship between Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw--singing "Show Me The Way To Go Home/I'm Tired And I Want To Go To Bed." Plus, it doesn't get much better than Shaw's monologue on the USS Indianapolis.

4.  Miller's Crossing (The Coen Brothers, 1990):  I love the Coen Brothers.  And I love their pornographic lusting for gangster lingo.  What's it all mean?  Something about a hat.  Sure, okay.  Gabrielle Byrne is a cold mutha, and really just loves Albert Finney more than his moll.  He'd go to war with anybody and everybody to keep Leo on top.

3.  The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982):  Put simply, the greatest monster movie ever made.  Everything works.  The cast.  The direction.  The effects.  The Score.  The climax.  I could watch this movie every month for the rest of my life and never get bored...okay, that might be hyperbole but I watch it at least four times a year.

2.  An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981):  Beware The Moors.  John Landis' love letter to the hirsute Universal Monster is darn funny...but it's mostly scary and sad.  Honestly, it doesn't get more tragic than the relationship between David & Nurse Price (va va va voom, Jenny Agutter...excuse the Tex Avery wolf tongue) and even though I chuckle throughout at the naked American man stealing balloons and Griffin Dunne's zombie I finish the film feeling pretty damn melancholic.

1.  Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992):  Is there a better Western?  Sure.  Is there a better Clint Eastwood Western?  Maybe.  But this was the first Western I ever saw in the theater and it was one of the first "Grown Up" movies to rock my tiny 13 year old mind.  Eastwood is just a good guy who was once bad...uh, no.  He's a horrible human being hiding from his nature and Unforgiven takes two hours to reawaken the beast within.  An amazing bit of scripting from Blade Runner's David Webb Peoples and Clint Eastwood has never been better as director, even though he keeps trying.  Oh, and Gene Hackman at his monstery best.

--Brad

A Fistful of Heavies! (Brad's Picks)

Saw Drive Friday night.  An absolutely stunning movie for a lot of reasons, but one of them was Ron Perlman's Jewish Pizzareia owner Nino, The Heavy to Albert Brooks' psychotic big bad Boss.  Perlman manages to be hilariously pathetic and terrifyingly mean.  The best traits when it comes to Noir (or Neo-Noir) Heavies.  To celebrate this cinematic achievement ITMOD is smacking you with its Fistful of Heavies.


5.  Flattop (Dick Tracy):  William Forsythe's deformed Tommy Gun artist was the first Heavy I really ever encountered...or at least, the first Heavy that grabbed my attention, stealing the show whenever he was on screen.  He was gross, snively, vile, and mean as hell.

4.  Donald Grant (From Russia With Love):  Soviet Super Spy Donald Grant to me is the closest guy to ever kill James Bond, heck he even killed a Bond double in the opening minutes of From Russia With Love.  After the second entry in the series, Bond becomes the Superman we know and love today.  But here, Shaw is tall enough, scary enough, brutal enough that you actually believe that Grant is capable of bringing Bond to his doom via a watch garrote.  Best Train Fight in Cinema.  Sorry Under Siege 2.

3.  Man With Knife (Chinatown):  "You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? Wanna guess? Huh? No? Okay. They lose their noses."  Roman Polanski might not be the best director/actor but his rat faced goon is creepy scary in his one scene.  And he leaves quite an impression.

2.  Eddie Dane (Miller's Crossing):  JE Freeman's The Dane is a monster.  A brute with an axe to grind, preferably in the face of Gabriel Byrne's Tom Reagan.  He's quiet.  He grumbles and probably grinds his teeth through the film's entire run time.  He's not sure how he's gonna get Tom, but he's gonna get him.  The man is boiling.  He's going to explode.  Pray yer not around when he points the finger on you.

1.  Vince Stone (The Big Heat):  He deserves the top spot for that pot of coffee alone, but the real reason he reigns above all Heavies is that he's The Heavy who becomes The Boss, or at least the central threat.  Guess some clenched fists is all you need sometimes.  Too bad for the Two-Faced monster he created.

--Brad