14 Comments

Totally agree about A Serious Man! I loved every minute of it and didn't want it to end. Fred Melamed steals the show. But man, I just could not get into Hail Caesar. Too silly, disjointed, an over-the-top, cartoonish plot I couldn't buy into with the Communists & the Soviet sub and all that. I'd put Inside Llewyn Davis on the list instead.

Expand full comment

Only two, really. Blood Simple and I love love love many times overs The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Expand full comment
Sep 30, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

I agree that "Burn After Reading" is their worst, but I also found "Hail Caesar!" surprisingly flat. (Too insidery.) My top five: "No Country for Old Men" (a perfect film), "Fargo" (it's partly because I grew up in Minnesota), "O Brother" (we watched this with our kids endlessly), "Blood Simple" (one of the great first films), and "Barton Fink" (Turturro and John Goodman at their best). "The Big Lebowski" is a possible sixth if there's room--endlessly quotable.

Expand full comment
Sep 30, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

What a great topic, Hmmm.

1. Oh Brother Where Art Thou: An epic, and extra points for the Preston Sturges reference

2. Big Lebowski: I didn't get the fuss when I watched, then couldn't stop thinking about it for 25 years

3. Raising Arizona: A perfect manic comedy, the likes of which we rarely see anymore. Ok then!

4. Fargo. Another one that underwhelmed me at first, mostly due to outsized expectations, but also grew on me

5. A Serious Man: I couldn't even try to dislike that one.

I don't get the ranking for Hail! Caesar, but I did catch that the movie wasn't really about what I originally thought it would be about, and enjoyed it the more for that. No Country gets consideration, of course. I also loved Barton Fink, but it's not for everyone.

As for worst, I'll have to keep it to ones I have seen (so no Ladykillers as yet), and it has to be Intolerable Cruelty, which was half of a really fun movie, and I felt like everyone went home at the midway point but kept the cameras rolling. Such a disappointment. You might put Hudsucker Proxy there, but it was less a disappointment than a meh, and I can't put any film with Bruce Campbell on a "worst" list.

Expand full comment
Sep 30, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

Fargo and BIG LEBOWSKI (tied for #1) followed by Raising Arizona, No Country then maybe Blood Simple. How in god’s green earth did you leave Lebowski off of the top five??

Expand full comment
Oct 1, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

1. Blood Simple, if for no other reason than it paved the way for future projects and introduced us to Frances McDormand. It was also Emmet Walsh's finest performance. 2. Fargo, nuff said. 3. Raising Arizona was Nicholas' Cage best performance. 4. Oh Brother where art thou. It was "bonafide"!

Expand full comment
Oct 1, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

Hey, I thought Hail, Caesar was cool and refreshing.

Expand full comment
Oct 2, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

Hmm. This is a tough one and likely changed over the years.

1. Fargo - Frances McDormand. The scenes with her are over the top perfection, especially the ones with her husband. They get me every time.

2. Inside Llewyn Davis - Partly because this is my kind of music, but also Oscar Isaac’s best performance I’ve seen. It’s heavy, but I don’t mind. Side-note: Adam Driver on “Please Mr. Kennedy” makes me smile every time.

3. No Country for Old Men - I read this book after seeing the movie and it’s basically all the dialogue without any description. They did it all.

4. Raising Arizona - I haven’t seen this in many, many years, but I do remember it fondly.

5. O Brother Where Art Thou - I had to read The Odyssey in high school and it’s fun to follow along. I don’t think this comes close to 1-4 though.

Expand full comment
Oct 2, 2021Liked by Ty Burr

Whoops - forgot the worst - Hudsucker Proxy. Sooooo dull.

Expand full comment