Joel Coen
Creator archive / 33 posts
Barton Fink
Miller’s Crossing
My first viewing of the 2022 Criterion edition, which trims about two minutes from the theatrical cut. Only nerds who’ve seen Miller’s Crossing a million times will notice any difference, but I am one of those nerds, and while most of the cuts probably tighten up establishing shots and such, I did catch at least four lines of dialogue that were excised, one of which is a real loss (“Jesus, Tom!”). I wish filmmakers would… See more →
No Country for Old Men
The Tragedy of Macbeth
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Raising Arizona
Burn After Reading
Miller's Crossing
RIP Albert Finney. We’re exactly as big as he let us be, and no bigger, and don’t forget it, ever.
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Caspar gets the high hat. twitter.com/TheAcademy/sta…
Blood Simple
Miller's Crossing
Miller’s Crossing is my favorite movie, and somehow I haven’t seen it in years. Gonna fix that toot sweet. Johnny Caspar quotes all weekend.
RIP Jon Polito, one of the Coens’ best secret weapons, another great gone too soon. Let’s imagine his exit thusly: youtu.be/lCEAqSXb5-4
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Hail, Caesar!
Inside Llewyn Davis
Fargo
“Give ’im a penny, boys!” feeds.theonion.com/~r/avclub/dail…
Wish I could have watched True Grit with my dad.
That's a penny you owe him.
Consumption: September 2008
In the Stereo
- Opeth: Watershed
- TV on the Radio: Dear Science
- Metallica: Death Magnetic
- Radiohead: OK Computer
On the Silver Screen
In Print
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Burn After Reading: Good, not great. By-the-numbers Coen fare that felt like it was made in a hurry. Clooney, McDormand, and Pitt carry it.
Just noticed Inspector Sledge Hammer (David Rasche) in the Burn After Reading trailer. I trust his character knows what he's doing.
The US is Leo O'Bannon. Russia is Johnny Caspar. Georgia is Bernie Bernbaum. nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/…
Consumption: November 2007
On the Web
- Fray Returns: The beloved site filled with true stories is reborn as a printed quarterly volume!
- Design Doing: A nice roundup and response to recent conversations regarding the relevance of web design within the greater spectrum of design.
- Charts and Graphs of Rap Song Lyrics: The title says it all. Fall-down funny stuff.
- Curriculum Vitae: The long-awaited followup to The Story of Eh, this fantastic new book of comics from Kevin Cornell… See more →
No Country for Old Men was outstanding; sort of a more mature Blood Simple. Ssoooo glad to see the Coens back in top form.
Four Things
It is a beautiful January morning in Philadelphia. The Pixelworthy office is incandescent, its twentieth story windows unable to find refuge from the sun. Shaded by a pillar, Stan glares at the iMac on his desk.
“Damn Zeldman. Fucking meme shit.”
A few feet away, Rob snickers into his cinnamon roll.
“Keep laughing. You’re getting tagged next.”
“Come now, Stan. I can’t break over three months of editorial silence by participating in some retarded meme.”
“Tough luck.”… See more →
I finally saw Miller’s Crossing this weekend; it was the last of the Coen brothers’ films I hadn’t seen. It is now nearly my favorite (Fargo still refuses to give up the title).