I grew up near Louisville, Ky, and for years there The Big Lebowski lived on through Lebowski fest, an annual bowling-filled event for fans to celebrate the Ethan and Joel Coen movie. Despite not being a big hit upon release, it’s been around in the cultural consciousness for practically my entire life, yet I still occasionally learn a BTS fact or two about the Jeff Bridges movie I'd never known before.

That’s exactly what happened this week, when I learned like half of The Dude’s wardrobe was actually “scored” from Jeff Bridges’ own closet after he joined The Big Lebowski cast. It's probably one of the wilder celebrity fashion facts I've accrued over the years. The actor confirmed the stories in an interview with Larry King a while back, noting:

His costume designer, Mary Zophres, said separately that Bridges is very involved in the costuming for his characters, which checks out with the rest of the story and is intent on using wardrobe to help build the personalities we see onscreen. That may be just like, his opinion, man, but it pays off in spades.

Zophres has been open about the other inspirations for the Dude’s wardrobe before, and I had known the iconic bathrobe The Dude wears was sourced at a literal grocery store, Ralph's. (A move that subsequently then inspired Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another.) She told the story to Another Man Mag a few years ago:

I do think about The Dude a lot in regards to vintage. He famously wears that vintage Westerly Sweater from Pendleton in many scenes when he’s not rocking the bathrobe, and Pendleton has even confirmed it was his personal piece. I’ve always been fascinated with the mismatches and muted tones in that movie, but to know a lot of it came from Jeff Bridges’ ‘90s closet is particularly cool.

It’s a real testament to how great the Coen Brothers are when their lowest-scoring movie on Rotten Tomatoes is a movie like The Ladykillers. I get it, it’s maybe not as strong as their other comedies like Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, or Fargo, and I certainly don’t think that, but it’s not a bad movie at all. In fact, there are some really funny moments, and after rewatching it lately, I needed to talk about how it's really underrated.

First Of All, The Cast Is Wonderful

The cast, led by Tom Hanks, is fantastic. J.K. Simmons is hilarious as the IBS-afflicted explosives expert. Marlon Wayans is perfectly cast. Tzi Ma, of The Man in the High Castle fame, is amazing as the chainsmoking “general,” and Irma P. Hall steals every scene she is in as the church-going widow of the house the “ladykillers” use to break into the casino and pull off their heist. Or try to, anyway. There are also great side characters played by the likes of Coen Brothers vet Stephen Root and the great Bruce Campbell.

Hanks can be one of the funniest actors in Hollywood when he wants to be. While he doesn’t play as many funny characters as he did early in his career in movies like Splash, Bachelor Party, and Big, when he does, as here in The Ladykillers, he’s still amazing. The same can be said for Simmons. His deadpan delivery of all his lines in this movie is, honestly, perfect. By far the most surprising for me, though, was Ryan Hurst. I had completely forgotten that the same guy who played Opie in Sons of Anarchy played the dim-witted football player Lump here. He’s great.

The Movie Is Uneven, But When It’s Great, It’s Great

I will grant you that The Ladykillers isn’t the most consistent movie that Joel and Ethan Coen have ever written and directed. However, the funniest scenes are pure Coen Brothers. Take, for example, the opening scene in the movie when Marva (Hall) goes to the police station to “swear out her complaint” to Sheriff Wyner (George Wallace) about her neighbor playing “that hippity hop” music. I could watch that scene over and over.

The other scene that I simply love is when the whole crew goes to the Waffle Hut. Garth (Simmons) brings his girlfriend, Mountain Girl (Diane Delano). Gawain (Wayans) takes strong exception to the guest and goes off on Garth (whose last name is Pancake), and it’s simply hilarious. I also love that it follows a great tradition of scenes about waffles or pancakes in Coen Brothers movies, as seen in Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

As I said, I’m not putting this up on the Mount Rushmore of Coen Brothers films. In fact, I probably agree that it's the weakest of their output, and at 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, most people believe it to be. That said, it still has some wonderful performances and great moments, and it makes me hungry for another movie from Joel and Ethan together.

There are great Coen Brothers’ movies, and then there's their greatest movie, which is, in my opinion, 1991's Barton Fink.

Yes, I know. Who the hell picks Barton Fink as their favorite Coen Brothers movie? Most people would probably pick No Country for Old Men, or The Big Lebowski, but I've always just loved Barton Fink the most out of all of their work.

So why, pray tell, is it so overlooked then? I mean, while I wouldn't call it “underrated” like some other Coen Brothers’ movies (it won the freaking Palme d'Or, after all, making it the only film of theirs to do so), I would say that it doesn't get nearly as much love as it should, and I'm here to tell you why it must.

It Truly Is A Nightmarish Experience Watching This Film...In A Good Way

Barton Fink is probably the Coen Brothers at their most oblique. It's about a New York playwright (John Turturro) who is commissioned to write scripts in Hollywood, and he’s tasked with writing a story about wrestling, which he is completely out of his depth doing.

This leads to crippling writer's block, which I'll get into later, and he'd probably just sit in his room all day if not for some noises on the other side of his wall, which are coming from the one and only John Goodman, who plays an insurance salesman named Charlie Meadows…or so he says.

You see, from there, everything goes downhill to the point of becoming nightmarish (there's a reason why some people compare this story to Dante's Inferno). In fact, even though the film is often labeled as a dark comedy, some people even compare it to a horror movie, sort of like how Mulholland Drive is sometimes considered as such.

Goodman's character turns out to be a serial killer, and Turturro's character becomes an accessory to murder (which is ridiculous, but also why this film is considered a dark comedy, as well as a thriller). All throughout, there's a ticking clock of whether Fink can deliver his script on time, and when he does, it's considered too artsy (I believe the politically incorrect term used in this film is “fruity”). This is really unlike any other film in the Coen Brothers’ catalog, and I mean that in the best way.

John Goodman Has Never Been More Terrifying Or Unhinged

John Goodman is one of my favorite actors, and Barton Fink is one of his movies that doesn't get talked about nearly enough.

As mentioned earlier, he introduces himself as Charlie Meadows, and he apologizes for the noise he's making in the other room. He seems like a nice enough fellow…however, later in the film, Fink sleeps with a woman, and when he wakes up, he finds that she’s been viciously murdered. Now, the normal course of action would be to call the police, but Fink instead contacts Meadows, who disposes of the body and tells Fink not to contact the police.

We later learn from the police that Meadows is actually a serial killer, and that he really goes by Karl “Madman” Mundt. Not only that, but he himself killed the woman, and Fink is looking at jail time for not reporting it. That is, until Goodman has probably the most insane performance of his career as a hallway gets engulfed in flames, and he wants to show the police officers THE LIFE OF THE MIND!

It's a bonkers performance, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's A Film About Writer's Block, Which Speaks To Me

Do you want to know my top three favorite movies? Number 1 is Apocalypse Now, which is one of the best war movies of all time. Number 2 is Big Trouble in Little China, which I've rewatched on countless occasions. And Number 3 is Adaptation, which I think is Charlie Kaufman’s finest film.

Now, I want to stick with that last one, since out of the three, Adaptation is the one that I can relate to the most. That’s because it’s about writer’s block, which, let me tell you, I’ve gone through on multiple occasions. When you sit with something for a long time and can’t get any words out, it truly is maddening, and I feel like Barton Fink gets that down to a tee. Because, I’ve been there, man. Staring at the page, starting, then stopping, then starting again, then backspacing, and then just giving up for the day.

It's soul crushing, and I feel like this film captures that better than any other movie. Even more so than Adaptation, which I mostly love for the dual Nicolas Cage performances. But, Fink encapsulates that feeling of not making any progress, and feeling utterly drained because of it.

It’s a weird sensation, having ideas but not knowing how to express them in words, and the story nails it. Maybe too much, even.

They Also Really Nailed The Time Period

One thing that I didn’t mention in the last entry was that the Coen Brothers were sort of into period pieces back in the early ‘90s. In fact, the inspiration for Fink, which takes place in 1941, was that they were struggling to write 1990’s Miller’s Crossing, which takes place in 1929.

I mean, just think. The Coen Brothers created what I consider their masterpiece after struggling to create another masterpiece. The mind works in mysterious ways sometimes. Anyway, even though a lot of Fink takes place in a grungy, LA hotel, you really get a sense of this being on the outskirts of 1940s Hollywood.

Perhaps it’s the clothes, as they all feel authentic to the time period. Or maybe it’s the clack, clack, clack of the typewriter that really sets you in the mood of this era. Or, maybe it’s the historical references, such as John Mahoney playing an obvious stand-in for William Faulkner (even though his character’s name in this is W.P. “Bill” Mayhew). Or, maybe it’s just the casual anti-semitism uttered from some of the characters.

Whatever it is, it makes it all feel like we’re in that time period, which stays consistent to the very end. Oh, speaking of which…

And I Will Always Love That Ending

Throughout the film, Barton really has only one thing in his hotel room to look at, and that’s a picture of a woman on the beach. The picture represents a mental break for him, who would rather be anywhere else besides this tiny room with this crummy script that he’s working on.

Well, by the end of the film, after all of the calamity and him turning in his soon-to-be-rejected script - he actually goes to the beach, and who should we find there but the woman from the picture that he’d been staring at the entire film. When he talks to her, he asks her if she’s ever been in pictures, to which she says that she hasn’t, and that’s it. That’s the end of the movie.

And, man. I LOVE that ending. Probably just as much as the inclusive ending of No Country for Old Men. It’s because it’s just so surreal, and so…so silly! Have you ever been in pictures? I mean, really? Besides it being a pun, it really calls into question Barton’s mental state by the end of the film, which is why I love it so much.

Have you ever watched Barton Fink? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

For decades, Joel and Ethan Coen operated like one brain split between two people, and were synonymous with razor-sharp dialogue and dark comedy, creating some of the best characters in the most memorable American films of the last half-century, like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men. When the brothers stopped making movies as a duo after 2018’s untraditional western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, fans assumed something big must have happened behind the scenes. But according to Ethan Coen, the real reason for the brothers’ split is far less dramatic.

Promoting his 2025 movie release, the hardboiled detective riff Honey Don’t, in an interview with Collider alongside his wife and collaborator Tricia Cooke, Ethan Coen set the record straight, admitting the “split” wasn’t really a decision at all, and was rather just timing and circumstance:

That detour led Ethan to rediscover his interest in filmmaking, while Joel pursued his passion project in The Tragedy of Macbeth. The result, Ethan says, was simply a matter of the two “getting out of sync.” As he put it:

Ethan confessed that after years of back-to-back projects, he was burned out. Taking a break not only gave him space but also helped him rekindle his curiosity. During lockdown, he and Cooke pivoted to archival documentaries before diving into scripted features like last year’s sexy but flawed Drive-Away Dolls and now Honey Don’t, which they describe as a spiritual cousin to The Big Sleep and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye.

In the new flick, which has been met with mixed reviews critically, Margaret Qualley stars as Honey O’Donahue, a sharp detective whose banter channels Humphrey Bogart (with a dash of Lauren Bacall). Aubrey Plaza co-stars as a cop, while Chris Evans leans hard into sleaze as a corrupt reverend. It’s the kind of genre experiment that feels very Coen-esque, even without Joel’s name in the credits.

Joel, the other half of the Coen Brothers, has carved out his own solo lane, starting with Macbeth and reportedly developing a still-untitled horror project. Ethan acknowledged that the brothers still share unfinished scripts and even have ideas they once outlined together. It’s not so much a conscious parting as it is two artists working at their own rhythms.

So, are the Coen Brothers finished for good? Don’t count on it. Ethan emphasized there’s no rift, no creative divorce, and no finality. As for Honey Don’t, it just landed in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings. And while fans may miss the Coens’ signature joint credit, Ethan’s explanation makes it pretty clear that their partnership isn’t over, it’s just on pause.

The Coen Brothers have been writing some of the very best dialogue in Hollywood for decades. Joel and Ethan Coen's comedies have some truly outrageous lines and that's what this list is dedicated to. These are just a few of the most hilarious lines in the Coen Brothers canon.  

Obviously You're Not A Golfer - The Big Lebowski

When Jackie Treehorn's thugs break into The Dude's house, one picks up a bowling ball and asks what it is. The Dude (Jeff Bridges) looks at him and wonders aloud what sport the ball belongs to. 

Say, Lou, didya hear the one about the guy who couldn't afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L2404? - Fargo

One of the things that makes Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) so great is how wholesome she is. She even loves to tell dad jokes! For a future mother, that's going to come in handy. 

What Evelle here is trying to say is that we felt that the institution no longer had anything to offer us. - Raising Arizona

Gale Snoats (John Goodman) and his brother Evelle (William Forsythe) are recently escaped convicts when they burst into the door to H.I. (Nicolas Cage) and Ed's (Holly Hunter) trailer. Although, if you listen to Gale tell it, they aren't escaped so much as liberated. 

I like the smell of my hair treatment; the pleasing odor is half the point. - O Brother Where Art Thou?

A Dapper Dan man, as Everett (George Clooney) is, won't except just any brand of pomade. It's important for a man like Everett to smell as good as he looks and anything other than Dapper Dan just won't work.

So you went and married old Norm son of a Gunderson. - Fargo

Mike Yanagita (Steve Park) is one of the best side characters in any Coen Brothers movie. His nickname for Marge's wife is amazing. 

Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing. - The Big Lebowski

This is a list we could make up using only quotes from The Big Lebowski, and this one is among the best. Especially if you're not into the whole brevity, which The Dude clearly is not. 

...and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand. - Raising Arizona

H.I.'s cellmate in prison doesn't have many lines, but the few he does have are aces. Like the time he was explaining to H.I. what it was like to grow up poor. They lived on a diet of... sand. 

No. No, I'm sorry, I don't know the number to, uh, my savings account because believe it or not I don't spend my entire day sitting around trying to memorize the numbers to my bank accounts! Moron! - Burn After Reading

John Malkovich's character in Burn After Reading is very angry, pretty much all of the time. This isn't more clear than when he runs out of patience with a co-worker at CIA. He doesn't have a lot of patience for anyone else, either. 

He was just funny looking. More than most people even. - Fargo

The two girls that Marge meets at the bar in the course of her investigation in Fargo are priceless. They are full of hilarious dialogue, but when one of them talks about how "funny looking" Steve Buscemi's character is, the scene hits its crescendo. 

You can't display a toad in a fine restaurant like this! Why, the good folks here would go right off the feed! - O Brother Where Art Thou?

After mistakenly believing John Turturro's character has been turned into a toad, Everett takes offense to their compadre taking the amphibian into a restaurant while they eat. And you know what? He's not wrong. Leave the toad outside, or at least in the box. 

Walter, I love you, but sooner or later, you're going to have to face the fact you're a moron. - The Big Lebowski

The Dude puts up with a lot of nonsense from Walter (John Goodman). At several points, he seems like he can't put up with the Vietnam vet anymore, and the scene in the car as they go to deliver the ransom money is one of them. Walter is a moron, most of the time. This affects all of us, man. 

6787049A/6. That is your employee number. It will not be repeated! Without your employee number you cannot get your paycheck. - The Hudsucker Proxy

In a lot of ways, The Hudsucker Proxy is the peak of the Coens' absurdist side. This is seen clearly when Tim Robbin's character starts working in the mail room and has to dodge incoming letters and people while his new boss screams out the rules and regulations. It's about the worst place on the earth to work. 

Objection, Your Honor: strangling the witness. - Intolerable Cruelty

The courtroom scene in Intolerable Cruelty is so over-the-top it pushes the envelope even by Coen Brothers standards. When one of the parties in the divorce has had enough and explodes over the witness stand to get out a hostile witness, the opposing council is helpless to do anything but object. 

I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man. - The Big Lebowski

One of the most iconic lines in The Big Lebowski comes as The Dude is arguing with the millionaire Jeffery Lebowski and spits out a line he'd learned earlier in the movie when President George H.W. Bush said the same thing on TV about Saddam's invasion into Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

I'll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash ya got. - Raising Arizona

H.I. just can't escape his criminal background in Raising Arizona and when he gets desperate he falls back on his old bad habits. It's one of the funniest scenes in the movie, too. 

We had a deal here for nineteen-five. You sat there and darned if you didn't tell me you'd get me this car, these options, without the sealant for nineteen-five. - Fargo

Jerry Lundergaard (William H. Macy) is swarming and hapless all at the same time and one scene that really brings that home is when he's getting yelled out by a customer to whom he is trying to sell a car. Everyone can empathize with the upset man. 

Appearances can be... deceptive. - Burn After Reading

Brad Pitt isn't a regular in Coen Brothers movies, but he is hilarious in Burn After Reading. The scene in the car as he is trying to blackmail John Malkovich's character is the best. The way keeps narrowing his eyes to deliver his threats is just perfect for the character. 

Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax... - The Big Lebowski

John Goodman's character Walter is serious about his Jewish faith and in one scene in his van, as he is breaking the Sabbath, he explains to The Dude exactly why he is living in the past and how is "as Jewish as Tevye" from Fiddler On The Roof.

We thought you was a toad! - O Brother Where Art Thou?

No one is more relieved than Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) when it turns out Pete (John Turturro) hasn't been transformed at all, and that he is not, in fact, a toad. 

Say, buddy, what takes fifty years to get up to the top floor, and thirty seconds to get down? Waring Hudsucker! Ya get it, buddy? - The Hudsucker Proxy

Buzz, the elevator operator, is the most annoying kind of person, one with terrible jokes that come out of his mouth in an endless stream. Still, he's pretty hilarious for those of us who are just watching The Hudsucker Proxy.

Is this your homework, Larry? - The Big Lebowski

Larry Sellers stonewalls Walter but good in The Big Lebowski when Walter is trying to investigate just what happened to The Dude's car. He knows it's Larry's homework, but he doesn't know anything else. 

And then he calls me a jerk, and says that the last guy who thought he was a jerk is dead now. So I don't say nothin' and he says, "What do ya think about that?" So I says, "Well, that don't sound like too good a deal for him, then." - Fargo

A big part of the charm of Fargo is the wholesome goodness of the characters we meet over the course of Marge's investigation. Like the guy who had a run-in with the two kidnappers, but just couldn't bring himself to use the swear words the bad guys used. 

Those boys desecrated a burning cross! - O Brother Where Art Thou?

You can't set a movie in the South during the Depression without a few racists, and the Coens sure were deft at making them both cartoonish and despicable, exactly what people like are should be made to look like. Like the man trying to slam the Soggy Bottom Boys, but only sounds like a fool doing it. 

I don't know - they were jammies! They had Yodas 'n' stuff on 'em! - Raising Arizona

Dads don't always notice what decorates their kids' pajamas and Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) is no exception. The way he describes the jammies is wonderful. Because, you know, it's stuff kids have on their jammies! 

Oh, for Pete's sake! For Pete's sake, he's fleeing the interview. He's fleeing the interview! - Fargo

In Fargo, not only is Marge just the sweetest woman to her friends and family, but she is also an extremely capable cop. Sure, it comes across as innocence to some, but she doesn't miss anything, especially the obvious like Jerry trying to make a run for it from the dealership. 

What would Ed and little angel do if a truck came along and splattered your brains all over the interstate? Or got carried off with a twister? - Raising Arizona

Ed's best friend in Raising Arizona, Dot, played by Frances McDormand, is just full of hard questions for Ed and H.I. including asking the ridiculous one of what would happen if H.I. went out like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. 

Sure you could and yet many writers do everything in their power to insulate themselves from the common man, from where they live, from where they trade, from where they fight and love and converse and... and... So naturally their work suffers and regresses into empty formalism and... well, I'm spouting off again, but to put it in your language, the theatre becomes as phony as a three-dollar bill. - Barton Fink

Barton Fink was the first foray for the Coens into more serious stuff, but they never really escape their absurdist nature. This line from the movie, delivered by Fink himself, isn't funny-haha as much as it is funny-sad. Just like Fink.

Two thousand years after Jesus, thirty years after Martin Luther King, the age of Montel; sweet Lord of mercy is that where we at? - The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers gets a bad rap, but it's a better movie than most people give it credit for. Well, at least the opening scene is when Marva files her complaint about the neighbors being too loud and playing that "hippity hop" music. It's even disturbing her dead husband. 

Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don't intend to dignify with comment. But I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism. Consider the lilies of the field or... hell! Take at look at Delmar here as your paradigm of hope. - O Brother Where Art Thou?

What makes this line delivered by George Clooney in O Brother Where Are Thou? so great is how quickly it shows just how loquacious his character is. It's really the key to the whole movie.   

Manolo, you DIDN'T find this. - Burn After Reading

Poor Manolo. No matter how many times Brad Pitt's character explains to him what he's supposed to say about the CD he found, Manolo just doesn't understand. 

Say that reminds me. - Raising Arizona

Dot's husband Glen (Sam McMurray) is one of most obnoxious characters in the whole Coen canon, and that is really saying something. Say, that reminds me, why does he need to start every question and comment and bad joke by saying that??

I've always found that writing comes from a great inner pain. - Barton Fink

This might not be funny to everyone, but for those of who are writers, well...we get it. 

For decades Joel and Ethan Coen have been bringing some of the best and most interesting characters to life on the big screen. They are masters at what they do and one of their secret weapons is how brilliant their side characters are. In every movie they make - especially the comedies - those characters often steal the show. In honor of that, here is our list of some of the Coen Brothers' side characters.

Jesus Quintana (The Big Lebowski)

You can't have this list without Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski, played by a Coen Brothers' regular, John Turturro. Though he only has a couple of scenes in the cult classic, they are two of the most memorable scenes in the whole movie - a movie filled with unforgettable scenes and cast members. We'll see you next Wednesday instead! Woo! 

Leonard Smalls (Raising Arizona)

One of the weirdest characters in Raising Arizona is Leonard Smalls, played by the legendary '80s character actor Randall "Tex" Cobb. For most of the movie, he's a bounty hunter on the prowl for H.I. (Nicolas Cage), destroying everything whether it's in his way or not. He's a man who doesn't have much to say, but his actions speak louder than words. 

Mike Yanagita (Fargo)

You can't help but feel sorry for poor Mike Yanagita (Steve Park) in Fargo. He's clearly very lonely, so lonely, when he meets up for a drink with Marge (Frances McDormand) and it plays out as one of the most awkward scenes in any Coen Brothers movie. His strong Minnesota accident is so comical and his plight so sad that it makes him an unforgettable character even if he's only in one scene. 

Mr. Lund (O Brother Where Art Thou?)

Stephen Root is one of the best comedic character actors on the planet and he brings all his talents to the role of Mr. Lund, the radio station owner who first records the Soggy Bottom Boys in O Brother Where Art Thou?. Root plays the blind character in a way that \only he could with a high-pitched voice who is often shaking like a leaf. 

Smitty (The Hudsucker Proxy)

One of the truly great things about The Hudsucker Proxy is the old-timey nature of the accents and speech cadences in the movie. All of the actors do such an amazing job, including the great Bruce Campbell. He just oozes 1950s newspaper man. Campbell's back-and-forth conversations with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Amy Archer are some of the best dialog deliveries in the movie. 

Weezy Joe (Intolerable Cruelty)

A great actor doesn't need much to make a big impact. One of the most unforgettable characters of the somewhat forgettable Intolerable Cruelty has to be "Wheezy" Joe played by Irwin Keyes. George Clooney's character's awkward encounter with the would-be assassin is one of the best scenes in the movie. 

Teller (The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs)

The Coen Brothers often stick with actors they know and trust with their unique dialog. Such is the case with the role of Teller in The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs one of their more underrated movies, played by Stephen Root. It's one of the whackiest characters in their whole catalog, a bank teller who gets into a shootout with Cowboy (James Franco), and armors himself with pots and pans. PAN SHOT!

Dot (Raising Arizona)

Frances McDormand, who happens to be married to Joel Coen, is brilliant at playing characters in her husband's movies. One of her briefest roles is as Dot, the crazy friend of Ed (Holly Hunter) in Raising Arizona. The mother of... who knows, a dozen? children, who just loves babies, including HI and Ed's newly adopted one. She's also just full of helpful advice. 

Shep Proudfoot (Fargo)

Shep Proudfoot (Steve Reevis) is a man of few words. He's a mechanic at the car dealership where Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) sells cars and he sets Jerry up with the would-be kidnappers of his wife. But he only knows and vouches for one of them. 

C.C. Calhoun (Hail, Caesar!)

One of the best things about a Coen Brothers movie is when Frances McDormand pops in for a quick visit. Take her role as  C.C. Calhoun in Hail Caesar. The chain-smoking film editor who cuts a role of film so deftly and quickly, you can't help but be widely impressed. Just make sure she's not wearing a scarf. 

Da Fino (The Big Lebowski)

There are so many great side characters in The Big Lebowski that The Dude (Jeff Bridges) is in bed with, playing one side against the other, it's brilliant work. So is the work of Coen Brothers' veteran Jon Polito in his role as Da Fino, The Dude's brother Shamus, or private eye. He's trying to track down Bunny too, but mostly he just seems to be following around The Dude until he finds her. 

Mail Room Orienter (The Hudsucker Proxy)

One thing about the Coen Brothers' dialog is that as an actor you better be ready to deliver complicated lines at a breakneck pace. Actor Christopher Darga is amazing in that respect as the Mail Room Orienter. They probably wouldn't have "docked" him for missing a line, but it's a moot point because he didn't miss one in that memorable scene of Norville Barnes' (Tim Robbins) first day on the job. 

Thora Thacker and Thessaly Thacker (Hail, Caesar!)

Leave it to the great Tilda Swinton to play not one, but two memorable characters in Hail Caesar! In a list of the Coen Brothers movies ranked from the top, Hail, Caesar would probably fall somewhere in the bottom third, which is too bad because it has some of the best side characters, like Thora Thacker and Thessaly Thacker. The twin reporters, both played by Tilda Swinton as just different enough that no one can tell them apart. 

Ben Geisler (Barton Fink)

Tony Shalhoub is another Coen Brothers regular and in Barton Fink, he plays the impossibly loquacious movie producer Ben Geisler. He's too happy, too weird, and too awesome to be in any other movie, but he's perfect for this one. It's another example of the perfect actor meeting the perfect role. 

Bear Man (True Grit)

True Grit isn't a comedy, per se, but it still has some memorable characters, none more so than Bear Man played by Ed Corbin. It's the kind of over-the-top character that would be ridiculous in any other movie but fits perfectly in the world of the Coen Brothers. He's a man who's overstayed his welcome in the woods but doesn't stay in the picture long enough for moviegoers. 

Freddy Reidenschneider (The Man Who Wasn't There)

The Man Who Wasn't There is among the most underappreciated films the Coen Brothers have made, maybe because it's in black and white. Whatever the reason, it's too bad because as always the characters are great. Take, for example, Tony Shalhoub as Freddy Reidenschneider. He's a man with a seemingly bottomless stomach and it's so fun to watch. 

Ted (Burn After Reading)

Burn After Reading has one of the more unique casts in the Coen Brothers' library. In addition to regular Frances McDormand, the cast includes Brad Pitt and John Malkovich, who are not in any other Coen Brothers films. They are both perfect in their roles, as is Richard Jenkins, the owner of the gym where Pitt and McDormand work. 

"Big Dan" Teague (O Brother Where Art Thou?)

John Goodman is in a lot of Coen Brothers movies, and with good reason. He's one of the best at delivering their lines and this is never more evident than in O Brother Where Art Thou? where he plays "Big Dan" Teague (or The Cyclops analog from Homer's Odyssey). His gift for gab, which he so eloquently shows in conversation with Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) is a high watermark in the movie. 

Chet (Barton Fink)

Barton Fink isn't the first Coen Brothers movie to feature Steve Buscemi, but it is his most memorable entrance, climbing through a trap door in the floor and silencing an ever-ringing bell at the front desk of a hotel. He plays a bellhop, and while it's not as meaty of a role as some of his other turns in Coen Brothers flicks, it's still fantastic. 

H.I.'s Cellmate (Raising Arizona)

Though it's one of the smallest roles in Raising Arizona, H.I.'s cellmate in prison is completely unforgettable. If do don't have his line about eating sand in your head right now, you should immediately go rewatch the movie. 

Buzz (The Hudsucker Proxy)

Do you like a good joke? Because that's what Buzz (Jim True) has and boy does he have a lot of them. They aren't that funny, mind you, but that's what makes them so funny. 

The Girls In The Bar (Fargo)

Fargo is filled with so many great characters it's hard to narrow it down to just a few for this list, but we can't leave off the two women Marge meets at the bar. Two women who had a bit of fun with the two bad guys in the movie. If you've ever spent any time in Minnesota, you know just how well they nail that accent and make it hilarious. 

Knox Harrington (The Big Lebowski)

Knox Harrington, the visual artist, is only in one scene in The Big Lebowski, but David Thewlis is so good, that he ended up being a fan-favorite. He follows in the great tradition of Coen Brother side characters in that he's somehow both understated and over-the-top at the same time. 

Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel (O Brother Where Art Thou?)

Like Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou? is full of crazy accents, only Southern. You can't have a movie like that without a crazy, somewhat racist, somewhat corrupt governor, and Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel, played by Charles Durning is just ridiculous enough to actually be believable. 

Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy (Intolerable Cruelty)

It's as if actor John Hadary read only the name "Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy" and knew exactly how ridiculous he had to play the part. In an ocean of kooky side characters Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy in Intolerable Cruelty might just be the most insane of all of them. He's only in the movie briefly but he and his dog end out stealing the show in his courtroom scene. 

Solomon Schlutz (A Serious Man)

One thing that can make a side character memorable, and something the Coens and their actors are great at, is giving them a distinctive prop. Solomon Schlutz (Michael Lerner) in A Serious Man, for example, has a unique pipe. That pipe drops from his mouth just as he dies in an over-the-top manner, leaving the audience stunned and... laughing. A Serious Man is easily the directing duo's darkest comedy. 

Manolo (Burn After Reading)

Once again, in Burn After Reading, the Coens create a character who only has a few lines but is totally unforgettable. Actor Raul Aranas plays the role of the janitor who finds the CD "right there, on the floor" in the ladies' locker room of the gym. Right there, on the floor. 

Marty, The Dude's Landlord (The Big Lebowski)

There are a ton of hilarious quotes in The Big Lebowski, but actor Jack Kehler, who plays The Dude's landlord, doesn't need to deliver any of them to be one of the funniest characters in the movie. First in the clothes and mannerisms on display when he tries to collect The Dude's rent and later, most importantly, when he performs his dance quintet that The Dude attends with Walter (John Goodman) and Donnie (Steve Buscemi) 

Norm Gunderson (Fargo)

If Fargo is based on a true story, which the Coens insist it is, then I want to meet Old Norm's son-of-a-Gunderson, played by John Carroll Lynch. He's just the chillest dude you've ever wanted to meet and he treats his pregnant wife with a level of respect we should all learn from. 

Co-Worker (Raising Arizona)

The late M. Emmet Walsh was a master of character actors, especially in comedies. Though his role as H.I.'s co-worker in the machine shop is brief his story about Bill "mother scratching" Walker is amazing. 

Wash Hogwallup (O Brother Where Art Thou)

Just the name Wash Hogwallup warrants inclusion on any list of ridiculous characters. There really isn't much else to argue about, except to add that the character, played by Frank Collison has the full name of Washington Bartholomew Hogwallop. That's a mouthful, even without a pile of stew in it. 

The Communist Writers (Hail, Caesar!)

It's part comedy and part tribute when the Coens included a cabal of communist writers who were blacklisted from Hollywood in Hail, Caesar! While they aren't as whacky as some of the other characters on this list, they deserve to be recognized! 

I know what you're thinking. Barton Fink, right? Well, whereas that's one of my favorite Coen brothers movies (and if I were to rank their films, it would end up near the top) I don't think any movie that won the Palme d'Or could be considered "underrated." Mostly unwatched, sure. But underrated? Naw.  

How about The Hudsucker Proxy? Well, while I do enjoy that picture, and feel that it's underappreciated, I wouldn't call it underrated, either. With a 60% Rotten Tomatoes critical score, I think it's perfectly rated.    

No, the underrated Coen brothers movie that I'm referring to is 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which our very own Sean 'O Connell even gave a middling review. But, no matter, because I still think it’s one of the best, most underrated Coen brothers’ movies out there, and I have four reasons why.    

Each Segment Could Be A Movie All By Itself 

Now, let me just start this off by saying that critically, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was not underrated at all. It has an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an audience approval rating of 78%, so it seems that most people liked the movie, but I don’t really hear anybody saying that it’s one of the top tier Coen bros’ pictures. Most people would likely say, "It's pretty good," and just call it a day. 

That said, whenever I hear anybody talking about their filmography, I'll always hear the same movies brought up in conversation time and time again: Fargo, Raising Arizona, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, and of course the Oscar-winning, No Country for Old Men, as people are still mulling over the ending to that one.  

People will likely continue to discuss that last film, especially since it's probably the best Cormac McCarthy adaptation, but you know what movie people likely won't be discussing all that much in the future? Buster Scruggs, and I think that's a damn shame, because I'd definitely put it up there with their best work (and wish that others would, too). I mean, how can I not? It's like six Coen brothers movies in one!  

That's right! For those who don't know or have been ignoring Tim Blake Nelson's Netflix singing cowboy film since 2018, it's an anthology western. Each segment shows a different side of the American west, and distinctly feels like its own separate movie. 

In fact, after watching it, I kind of wish that some of their other films, like Hail, Caesar! (which I actually think is overrated) or even Burn After Reading, were shortened, and put into one anthology film. Because some of their flicks just seem like they'd be better off if they were bite-sized. Thankfully, each segment here is a banger. And, about that… 

The Film Hits All Of The Trademark Coen Brothers' Touches  

As I mentioned earlier, the movie was reviewed highly, but it wasn’t up for Best Picture like Fargo, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, or True Grit, the latter of which, by the way, I thought was nowhere near as good as Buster Scruggs. Critics seemed to like it, but their comments usually veered toward the movie being interesting, but also a bit lopsided, with the consensus being that some vignettes were much better than others. 

I, however, think every vignette is fantastic, as each represents different facets of the brothers’ style. You have the darkly comedic side of their repertoire, with segments like "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," "Near Algodones," starring a pre-misconduct allegations James Franco, and "All Gold Canyon."   

And then, you have the really dark ones, like “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” “The Mortal Remains,” and the all hope is lost segment, “Meal Ticket.” Plus, in typical Coen brothers fashion, a lot of the vignettes mix humor and drama. Because as humorous as the segment, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is, it also has a really dark ending that makes you reflect on all of the goofiness that comes before it (being a bit of a musical doesn’t hurt, either). 

For all the darkness of “The Mortal Remains,” there’s also a touch of levity in there. I’d say that only “Meal Ticket” (which is possibly the best segment of the bunch) feels mean-spirited, and the closest to having a No Country for Old Men sort of bleakness to it.  

The Acting In It Is Impeccable And Diverse  

So, it didn't get nominated for Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. Fine. Even so, I thought it should have at least been nominated in one of the acting categories, since everyone's incredible across the board! (to the Academy's credit, at least the movie got nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, and Best Original Song, for “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch). 

Tim Blake Nelson's warbling cowboy reminds me of Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish-fame, singing about the Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch (but, you know, with underlying gravitas). Zoe Kazan plays a woman completely out of her depth who makes the best out of a bad situation…until she can't any longer. James Franco plays a man who's set to be hanged. Multiple times. Tom Waits plays a prospector who deserves his money, dammit.  

But, the best performances probably come from "Meal Ticket," where Harry Melling plays a limbless actor, and Liam Neeson plays the person who brings him around to performances. In my mind, Melling definitely should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and it's a crime that he wasn't. It's some of the best acting that I've ever seen in my entire life!  

It Subverts, But Also Appreciates The Western Genre  

Finally, I truly think Buster Scruggs is underrated for just how unique it is to the western genre in general. In my article on great westerns that aren't traditional at all, I went into it which, again, I think is superior to the Coens' more traditional western, True Grit.  

This is because Buster Scruggs both subverts the western genre, but also cherishes it. For example, the six stories presented here don’t idolize the characters, as the stories feature themes of greed, the inevitability of fate, and that every action has consequences. But, each story also shows a love and affection for the western genre as a whole.

Each vignette is centered around a bygone era, and each one showcases how treacherous, and dangerous the west was, but in Coen brothers style. For that reason alone, and with all the different stories we're getting here, I feel like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs should be much more beloved than it is. It's not just a good Coen brothers movie. It's a great one, and I think it deserves all the love in the world. 

But, those are just my thoughts. Do you also view it as a modern classic like I do? For more news on all things westerns, make sure to swing by here often!    

For decades, brothers Ethan and Joel Coen went together like peanut butter and chocolate in the filmmaking world, churning out movies as a duo like Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski and No Country for Old Men. But that era has come to an end, as they’ve now embarked on separate professional paths. Late last year, Joel Coen delivered the Apple TV+ movie The Tragedy of Macbeth to the masses, and now Ethan Coen is lining up a great cast for his first movie without Joel’s involvement.

Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan have been tapped to lead the untitled movie that Ethan Coen is putting together at Working Title and Focus Features. No details were shared about either of the actress’ roles, but according to Deadline, these roles have become “some of the more coveted parts in the biz for up-and-coming actresses” as Coen’s been meeting with talent over the last several months. Qualley and Viswanathan were ultimately selected when they made it onto the shortlist and knocked it out of the park with their screen tests.

Margaret Qualley has accumulated film credits like The Nice Guys, Death Note, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and My Salinger Year. She’s also impressed on TV through shows like The Leftovers, Fosse/Verdon and Maid, with the latter Netflix show (which Qualley co-starred in with her mother, Andie MacDowell) netting the actress an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, among other accolades. Pivoting to Geraldine Viswanathan, she made her first big cinematic splash in the 2018 comedy Blockers, and has since appeared in movies like Bad Education The Broken Hearts Gallery and 7 Days, which explored Indian arranged marriages and immigrant experiences. She’s also known for her numerous roles in the comedy series Miracle Workers. 

Since there’s no plot information to work with about this Ethan Coen movie, there’s no way to predict what kind of dynamic Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan’s characters will have, although chemistry readings were held as part of their auditions, so we can at least count on the two of them being entertaining together. Coen co-wrote this mysterious movie with his wife Tricia Cooke, and they’re also producing alongside Robert Graf and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Filming is expected to begin in this fall.

While we wait for more information on Ethan Coen’s movie, including the title and who will join Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan in the cast, the actresses have plenty of other upcoming projects on the way. Qualley’s future movies include Stars at Noon (which premiered at Cannes this past May), Sanctuary (which premieres at TIFF next month) and Poor Things, and Viswanathan is starring in Cat Person and The Beanie Bubble. Look through our 2022 release schedule and 2023 release schedule to learn what’s been officially slotted for the near future.

Mild spoilers below for Loki's first two episodes, so be warned if you don't want to know anything before watching.

Much like Marvel's first big TV series WandaVision was an inspired amalgamation of a multitude of classic TV sitcoms, Tom Hiddleston's Loki features lots of lovingly crafted homages to the world of science fiction. Considering the main storyline involves time travel aberrations and a mysterious organization of timekeepers, the genre self-awareness is right on point throughout the episodes released so far. But as Loki director Kate Herron revealed exclusively to CinemaBlend, the Coen Brothers cult classic The Hudsucker Proxy also played a big non-sci-fi influence on how the TVA was conceived.

Loki's Time Variance Authority initially seems like an all-powerful, no-nonsense faction that guards the "sacred" timeline with an iron fist, it quickly becomes aware that the shadowy organization and its physical-esque headquarters are really just gussied-up extensions of office building drudgery. (To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if the TVA bought out the tech company Initech from Office Space.) Kate Herron mentioned how film noir and detective stories played into influencing the aesthetic, which is a subgenre Ethan and Joel Coen know extremely well. So it made perfect sense when she later namechecked the Tim Robbins-starring Hudsucker Proxy as another influence. In her words:

Though Owen Wilson's Mobius seems professional and capable enough of getting shit done when need be (unless the shit in question is telling Loki the truth about Phil Coulson), the TVA in and of itself quickly exudes a sense of endless middle-management representatives going all the way up the supervisor ladder. And while there are clearly many differences between Loki's outside-of-reality bureaucracy and the Hudsucker Industries in the Coen brothers' film, the connective tissue is definitely on display.

On the same side of the satirical office-oriented coin is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, which also served as an inspiration for Loki's Kate Herron. As seen in the video above, she definitely namechecked that classic satire alongside others, also explaining that she also wanted the TVA to have all the mundanity of a real-world office.

I think all Coen brothers' fans will know what's coming if one of Loki's many variants winds up having a wood chipper on hand, especially if it's William H. Macy playing the variant. (Speaking of, Kate Herron, Tom Hiddleston and more talked to CinemaBlend about that real variant reveal in Episode 2, and there are definitely big spoilers involved.) But if you'll excuse me, I'm now going to imagine various MCU characters embroiled in a Blood Simple-level storyline.

Loki drops new episodes on Disney+ each and every Wednesday morning at 3:00 a.m. ET, so while you're already awake and waiting for those eps to go online, be sure and keep up with all the other streaming and linear shows coming soon to the 2021 Summer TV schedule.

Fargo is turning 25 years old in 2021, don’t ya know. The classic Coen Brothers movie that stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and more is beloved by many for its memorable characters and mix of dark humor set against the snowy white backdrop of Minnesota. That love has been extended to include four seasons of the popular FX series Fargo. But here, we’re going back to the 1996 original for some behind-the-scenes facts about how Fargo became the crime classic it is today.

Fargo Was Shot During One Of Minnesota’s Warmest Winters

One of the most iconic things about Fargo is its setting - the snow-covered terrain of Minnesota. With filming scheduled to take place in the heart of winter, I’m sure snow was something that Joel and Ethan Coen thought that they would have plenty of to work with. Mother Nature, however, was not ready for her close-up.

Many of the film’s stars and crew, including William H. Macy and frequent Coen Brothers cinematographer Roger Deakins, said in interviews that snow often eluded the shoot, as Minnesota was experiencing one of its warmest winters on record. The production kept traveling further and further north to find some snow, trucking some in or using snow-making equipment, according to Macy. Macy also said that in one scene he had to drink hot tea so that his breath would be seen.

However they did it, the white landscape covering most of the film is striking and one of its best calling cards.

Fargo Was Almost Called Brainerd

Fans love to dig deep into many of the hidden meanings in Coen Brothers movies, from Barton Fink to The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou to A Serious Man. Fargo is no exception, with one particular interest being the film’s title.

Fargo is a city in North Dakota, which during the opening scene of the movie William H. Macy’s Jerry Lundegaard goes to meet Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare’s criminals to set his kidnapping scheme into motion. That is the only sequence that actually takes place in Fargo the entire movie.

Many fans have posited theories, including one Redditor who offers a very philosophical possibility that the title is a metaphor for a place outside your normal existence that changes your life.

The answer may be simpler than that. During an interview with Charlie Rose in promoting Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen essentially say that the title choice was between Fargo and Brainerd, the two most important locations in the film in their opinion. They thought Fargo sounded better.

The Coens Insisted That The Film Was Indeed Based On A True Story

Fargo opens with the text “This is a true story” of events that took place in Minnesota in 1987, with names changed but the events occurring as they happened “out of respect for the dead.” The Coen Brothers were sticking to that story all the way through filming and promoting the movie.

In the Charlie Rose interview mentioned above, the Coens confirmed that they did base the film on real events, and they would do the same in a number of different interviews.

In actuality, while the film does take bits and pieces that are similar to actual murder cases, the events of the film and the characters have long been confirmed as fictional. But the creative choice, and possibly their commitment to the bit for an extended period, gives the film its uniqueness, something that has been continued in the FX TV series. It also inspired the independent film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.

Carter Burwell’s Score Was Inspired By A Norwegian Folk Song

Carter Burwell is one of the most prolific film composers working today and has long been a staple of Coen Brothers films - he has scored every one of their films except O Brother, Where Art Thou and Inside Llewyn Davis. For Fargo, he opted to find inspiration in another snow-filled land from which many in Minnesota have roots.

In a Vulture article looking back at his most iconic scores, Burwell recalled what inspired him for Fargo:

Surprisingly, despite all of his work with the Coens, neither of Burwell’s two Oscar nominations come from any of their collaborations.

Bruce Campbell Makes A Cameo Via An Old Soap Opera

Bruce Campbell, best known as the star of cult classics The Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, is not unfamiliar with the Fargo franchise. He had a cameo in the show’s second season as Ronald Reagan while he was campaigning for president. However, to eagle-eyed viewers, he actually shows up in the movie Fargo thanks to an old TV set.

After kidnapping Jean Lundegaard and transporting her to their cabin hideaway, Carl and Gaear attempt to pass the time by watching some TV. But the only thing that appears to work is an old soap opera. Gaear becomes hooked to the soap, or perhaps to its charismatic leading man, who happens to be none other than Bruce Campbell in Generations.

According to The Atlantic, Campbell hoped to be in Fargo, but the only way was by donating some “bad footage,” which he was happy to do.

Prince Nearly Had A Cameo In The Movie

Another interesting cameo story surrounds one of the Coen’s contemporary Minnesota legends, Prince.

The symbol that Prince often used as his logo appears in the credits as one of the victims in the field in the triple homicide that occurs early in the movie. The body is not Prince, however, but rather storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson.

However, Peter Stormare told Huffington Post that Prince was angling to show up in a small part for Fargo:

Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare Got Pulled Over In Real Life During Filming

The triple murder that starts the whole bundling of the kidnapping central to Fargo’s plot is set off when Buscemi and Stormare’s characters Carl and Gaear get pulled over by the police with Jean tied up. According to Stormare, life would imitate art for the two actors that very night.

Detailing it for Huffington Post, Stormare says that after shooting the cop killing scene, the crew decided to get some early morning pancakes. Buscemi drove his costar, but Stormare says he wasn’t the best driver. Buscemi apparently missed the turn for the restaurant, performed an illegal U-turn and then went down a one-way street. Cops saw this and pulled them over.

Just like in the movie, Buscemi is not able to provide the officer the car’s registration because it is a rental. Thankfully the similarities end there.

Stormare says that somehow Buscemi managed to get out of the situation without a ticket, though they were baffled by it all, wondering if it was a prank by the Coens. It was not.

William H. Macy Threatened To Shoot Ethan Coen’s Dog To Get His Part

Actors will often go to great lengths to get a part. William H. Macy was no different as he pursued the role of Jerry Lundegaard, even going so far as to (jokingly) threaten Ethan Coen’s puppy.

Macy has detailed his audition process for Fargo multiple times. It essentially breaks down like this: At first he was reading for a small part as an officer interviewing Jerry, though he was immediately drawn to the character of Jerry. The Coens liked what he did and asked if he wanted to read for Jerry. Macy said “yeah,” read the part and got a call back for the next day. He impressed the brothers again in the call back, but found out that they were going to New York to audition more actors. So Macy hops on a plane and crashes the audition, telling the brothers essentially they will screw up their movie if they don’t give him the part of Jerry. Then he took it a step further:

Perhaps the play to the Coen’s dark sense of humor was what won them over, but Macy proved inspired casting. He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and it was the part that really got his career rolling to what it is today.

The Reason Joel Coen Is The Only Credited Director

The Coen brothers are a duo. However, until they made The Ladykillers in 2004, Joel Coen was the only credited director on all of their films; they would share writing and producing credits, though. But everyone who worked with them knew that the directing of their movies was a partnership, so why did it take so long for Ethan to get his due? Thank the Directors Guild for that.

In 1978, the DGA put in a provision into its collective bargaining agreement with studios that there be only one director assigned to direct a motion picture at any given time. Directing duos could apply for a waiver of this rule, however, the DGA says the Coens never did until The Ladykillers, instead opting to let older brother Joel take top billing.

They’ve been using the co-directing credit since 2004, and the DGA rule is now defunct. We are however, getting a solo Joel Coen-directed film in the near future, an adaptation of Macbeth.

Edie Falco Starred In A '90s Fargo TV Pilot

I’ve mentioned FX’s Fargo TV series a few times in this post already, but that was not the first time that an adaptation of the movie made its way to the small screen.

In 1997, Edie Falco was cast to lead a Fargo pilot that would follow Marge Gunderson (Falco replaced Frances McDormand), still pregnant as the story picks up about a month after the events of the movie. The Coen brothers had nothing to do with the show.

Ultimately, nothing came out of the pilot. It didn’t even air on TV until 2003 as a TV movie. The more recent Fargo TV series did get the approval of the Coens - they serve as executive producers - and has aired for four seasons.

Fargo officially turns 25 on April 25. Celebrate with a rewatch or see where it ranks in my fellow CinemaBlend writer's ranking of their entire filmography (minus The Ballad of Buster Scruggs).

To be a talented actor is one thing, but to be a talented actor and singer is something else entirely. It’s less common these days for actors to be expected to sing in addition to act, with rare exceptions, of course. Despite having access to technology that allows actors to have their characters' singing voice be recorded by professional singers, some still like to take a crack at it the old-fashioned way. Sometimes it works; just look at Bradley Cooper's performance in A Star Is Born. Conversely, not everyone can be as lucky, or talented, in the singing department as Cooper. George Clooney found out as much when working on the Coen Brothers’ O' Brother Where Art Thou, where he bombed his singing audition.

In the film, George Clooney’s character, Ulysses Everett McGill, takes advantage of a blind radio station manager to sing into a can for money, (the inner workings of the recording studio remained an arcane mystery to some of McGill’s companions). Thus, the Soggy Bottom Boys had their first record deal. Clooney took this opportunity to try and use his actual voice for the scene, in which the band of convicts sing "Man of Constant Sorrow." He quickly found out that sometimes singing, like many other talents, don’t always run in the family. As the actor told Variety:

In his interview, George Clooney hilariously noted that the sound of his own voice sounded like a cat caught between a rock and a hard place. At least he was able to take it in stride after listening to his voice.

The Coen Brothers eventually went with folk artist Dan Tyminski for McGil’s singing scenes. "Man of Constant Sorrow," along with the majority of the music in O Brother, Where Art Thou, is based on Depression-era folk tunes and Americana. The song actually generated some awards buzz, as it won Single of The Year at the 35th annual Country Music Awards, and even spent some time on the Hot Country & Singles Billboard music chart.

All of this is to say, I doubt George Clooney’s cat-like vocals would have had as significant of an impact as Dan Tyminski’s performance. Clooney did nail it in the acting department, though, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. O Brother, Where Art Thou went on to receive two Academy Award nominations to boot.

George Clooney has since collaborated with the Coen Brothers on 2008's Burn After Reading and 2016’s Hail Caesar, with the latter seeing him play Baird Whitlock, a depressed and drug-addled leading man out of old Hollywood. Notably, Clooney’s character did not have a singing scene this time around.

George Clooney recently starred in Netflix’s The Midnight Sky, a sci-fi drama that relies on his acting over his singing. As for the Coen Brothers, Joel’s next project is a Macbeth adaptation starring Denzel Washington expected for later this year. For the full list of upcoming movies, check out CinemaBlend’s 2021 release schedule for the latest on this year's slate.

During the Halloween season, movie fans love to perpetually revisit their favorite horror films – be it A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Scream, or Hocus Pocus – but it’s also a wonderful time to broaden one’s horizons and think a bit differently about one’s watching habits. Cinematic history is filled with not only a diverse assembly of amazing yet under-the-radar films that deeply embrace their genre roots, but also more subtle explorations that don’t outwardly appear to be of the horror variety but most definitely are. A perfect example of the latter? Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man.

Released in 2009, the film is widely embraced by Coen fans and critics as a sinister, hilarious dark comedy heavily influenced by its writer/directors’ Jewish upbringing – and there is certainly no intention in this piece to downplay just how remarkably funny it is. What should be additionally recognized, however, is that the source of that comedy is a kind of sick schadenfreude that comes with watching the life of an innocent man unravel for absolutely no reason. From the perspective of Michael Stuhlbarg’s Larry Gopnik, he’s a guy trapped in a monster movie, and the monster stalking and tormenting him is the Old Testament God.

It Starts With A Literal Ghost Story

Before we further discuss the plight of Larry Gopnik, let’s first address this blatant fact: A Serious Man’s opening scene is a straight-up ghost story. Pulling from Jewish mythology, the vignette tells the tale of a 19th-century Eastern European husband and wife who one night find themselves beset upon a dybbuk – the walking spirit of a man named Reb Groshkover, whom the wife recognizes has been dead for three years. Her husband protests and Groshkover denies the claim, but she is steadfast in her belief that her home has been cursed, and she plunges an ice pick into the guest’s heart to prove her point.

But is he really a dybbuk? Groshkover laughs off the stabbing at first, but then he begins to bleed and hurriedly leaves. The husband bemoans that they are ruined, and that once the body is found “all is lost.” The question is left open ended.

The answer doesn’t really matter. Either Groshkover was a malicious spirit whose presence cursed the couple, or the act of murder was committed; either way, fate has made a malevolent choice for them. Another way of saying that is God made a malevolent choice for them – which is what makes it an apt prologue for A Serious Man’s main story.

The Story Of Job Without God As A Character Is A Nightmare

A Serious Man is, in all practical purposes, a loose adaptation of the Book of Job from the Hebrew Bible. The story begins as Satan has a conversation with God about one of God’s devout followers, a man named Job, stating his belief that Job only praises the Lord’s name because he has received so much in life – including a beautiful family and great wealth. God permits Satan to kill the man’s children, servants and livestock to prove Satan wrong, believing that Job’s faith will hold strong, and he is ultimately proven correct. Despite losing almost everything in his life, Job continues to praise God’s name.

Analyzed religiously, the story of Job is one about the power of faith – but the whole thing takes on a much different energy when you consider the narrative directly through Job’s perspective. Not having any awareness of godly machinations, he is just an innocent, pious guy who sees everything good in his life rapidly destroyed due to no action of his own. That’s a fucking horror story, and the story of Larry Gopnik.

When we first meet Larry in A Serious Man, he is introduced as a decent and good person – an honest family man with strong morals and a love of physics – but then everything in his world starts to crumble. His wife Judith (Sari Lennick) has fallen in love with a family friend, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), and is demanding a ritual divorce. A failing student (David Kang) tries to bribe him, and then the student’s father (Steve Park) tries to sue him for defamation for accusing him of bribery. The decision to grant him tenure is threatened by a series of anonymous letters. His goy neighbor (Peter Breitmayer) is constantly encroaching on his property. The Colombia Record Club just won’t stop calling. Larry hasn’t done anything to deserve these plagues in his life, and yet he is being plagued. And nothing gets better.

Larry’s search for answers takes him to the leaders of his faith, but their answers do nothing to comfort him or fix things. He is told that he needs to achieve a new perspective on his own life. He is told that “you can’t know everything.” And his temple’s main rabbi is too busy “thinking” to provide council. He’s left spinning in consequence for no act he’s committed and is provided with no consolation or reason. It’s a waking nightmare interspersed with literal nightmares.

Fear Of Uncertainty And The Unknown

A Serious Man is heavily immersed in elements of Jewish culture, both religious and social, but also key to understanding the film is the influence of existentialism – a philosophy rooted in the nature of existence and the unknown. Existential dread is defined as the fear that life is meaningless and random, and it’s what’s behind Larry’s breakdown as he tries to figure out why his life is piled around his ankles.

The (intentioned) irony is that, as a physicist, Larry’s field of study is in part examining uncertainty – and yet as much as he understands the concepts, it doesn’t stop him from being a victim of it. In the circumstance with the student’s bribe, for example, his uncertainty regarding the origin of the envelope of cash on his desk leaves him facing one of two consequences by following his moral code: either he reports that his student tried to bribe him, which results in the student’s father suing for defamation, or he pretends that the money doesn’t exist, and the student’s father sues him for taking a bribe. To borrow a phrase from Jean Paul Sartre’s famous story of hell, there’s no exit, and his recourse is to “accept the mystery” – an ever more maddening endeavor.

At The End, God Proves He Can Be Not Just Randomly Cruel, But Also Vengeful

To take an optimists perspective of uncertainty and chaos, there is also a comfort that can be found in the recognition that nothing matters. Accepting the randomness of life has its own kind of peace in it because it’s an understanding of the way things work. There is no reason, but at least you know that.

But to repeat: A Serious Man is a horror movie. So just when everything seems figured out… whoops, there goes the rug.

After spending the whole film proving himself a moral and serious man, Larry receives his bill from attorney Ron Meshbesher, and not being able to afford the cost, he capitulates by changing the grade of the student who bribed him from an “F” to a “C-.” What’s the harm, right? If the universe is random, then actions don’t always have consequences.

But Larry is wrong. It turns out that God can not only punish people randomly, but also with vengeance. In the span of a few seconds, it’s suggested both that Larry has some kind of fatal illness and that his son is going to be killed by a tornado. In classic horror tradition, the movie ends with the deadly antagonist getting the last laugh.

A Serious Man only has one jump scare, and its tone is certainly atypical for the horror genre, but the categorization is still appropriate, and only serves to make the film more fascinating. So as we get closer to Halloween, consider heading over to Netflix and hitting play, because with the right angle on it you’ll find that it is more than appropriate for the season.

No Country For Old Men will forever go down as one of my favorite films and one of the best movies of the 2000s. From the first time I went in blind to a screening on Thanksgiving Eve in 2007 (and about four or five additional viewings in theaters) I was hooked by the Coen Brothers mastery of the tone and narrative of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. Since that fateful night, I've been obsessed with everything about the modern day western with hints of film noir. From interviews with the filmmakers and cast to just about every review I could find, I wanted to know every single detail and all of the behind the scenes facts of how it all came together.

So, just imagine how excited I was when given the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the making of one of my favorite movies of all time. Through this project, I was able to dig up information on everything from the casting to the shooting, and figure out what all went behind the character of Anton Chigurh, one of the most ruthless characters in cinematic history.

Quentin Tarantino And Robert Rodriguez Helped Josh Brolin Film His Audition Tape

Josh Brolin was a star in his own right in the '80s with hits like The Goonies and Thrashin', but the one-day Marvel star was in a bit of a career downturn by the time he was cast as Llewelyn Moss in No Country For Old Men. How the former heartthrob turned his career around is quite the funny story, especially when you consider the two big named filmmakers who helped him get cast in the Coen Brothers classic.

While sitting down with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the release of Hail, Caesar!, Josh Brolin explained that he was on the set of Grindhouse when he found out about the project and wanted to audition when Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez heard about it, stating:

I guess you can thank two of the most prolific American filmmakers for Josh Brolin's mid-2000s career resurgence.

Josh Brolin Broke His Collarbone Before Production Started, But It Actually Worked Out For The Plot

After Josh Brolin went through the whole process of getting the part of Llewelyn Moss, he had a freak motorcycle accident on the way to a wardrobe fitting that resulted in the actor breaking his collarbone. Brolin revealed this little tidbit of information during a 2007 round-table interview (via Collider), where he also explained that he attempted to minimize the severity of the injury so that he didn't lose the role, stating:

Despite not losing his gig, Brolin explained that the whole process was a pain, especially the scene where he has to float down a river while being chased by a dog.

Garret Dillahunt Auditioned For The Llewelyn Moss Role A Total Of Five Times

Garret Dillahunt ended up with a small role as Wendell in No Country For Old Men, but he was up for the role of Llewelyn Moss before Josh Brolin was ultimately cast in the role. But it wasn't a one audition type situation as the future Fear The Walking Dead star revealed in a 2011 interview with AV Club, stating:

It seems that it worked out for Garret Dillahunt as the actor has gone on to have starring roles in Raising Hope, The Mindy Project, and dozens of other television and film projects.

The Coen Brothers Felt That Tommy Lee Jones, A Texas Native, Brought Authenticity To The Film

In addition to the stellar casting of Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss and Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh (don't worry, much more on him later), No Country For Old Men is anchored by a riveting performance by Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. This quiet, yet profound performance by the elder actor ties much of the movie together and brings a level of the believability to movie, which is something that Ethan Coen thought the role needed, as he and his brother Joel told The Guardian in 2007:

With qualities like that, it should come as no surprise that Tommy Lee Jones gave one of the best performances of his career in No Country For Old Men, even if his ending monologue was a little ambiguous.

No Country For Old Men And There Will Be Blood Shared A West Texas Town During Production

Leading up to the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008 there was a great deal of the buzz surrounding the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood to see which of the big two movies would take home the most gold. The Coen Brothers film took home awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (I promise, we'll get to Javier Bardem), with PTA's epic tale of a crazed oil tycoon taking home Best Actor and best Cinematography. But the two films' paths didn't cross at the Oscars for the first time.

While the lion's share of No Country For Old Men was shot in Las Vegas, New Mexico, several weeks of the production were spent in the small West Texas town of Marfa, which also happened to be the shooting location for much of There Will Be Blood. A 2008 article in the Times Herald-Record profiling the small town's role in a number of Hollywood productions revealed that at times, both shoots were no more than a few miles apart from one another. Here they were, two of the most beloved films of the past 20 years, being created just miles from each other.

Javier Bardem Told The Coen Brothers He Hated Violence And Was Uncomfortable Speaking English

Javier Bardem was already an established actor in his own right before being cast as the emotionless and ruthless Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men, but the Spanish actor became a superstar for the role that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. But by watching his performance time and time again, the thought that Bardem didn't like violence and didn't have a mastery of the English language never would have crossed your mind. Well, about that.

During a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Bardem revealed that the role was quite a departure from those he was used to taking up to that point and that he told the Coen Brothers that he didn't have experience with firearms, didn't drive, and was uncomfortable speaking English:

Javier Bardem Felt Anton Chigurh’s Iconic Haircut Added Another Dimension To The Character

Besides the cattle bolt and icy cold demeanor that this character carries around throughout No Country For Old Men, the key characterstic of Anton Chigurh is his trademark haircut. Upon the release of the film it was all anyone could say about the hitman on a mission. Even Javier Bardem was initially taken aback by the cut, but the actor would go on to feel that it added another dimension to the character, as he told Collider in 2007:

A Psychological Study Named Anton Chigurh The Most Realistic Movie Psychopath

Javier Bardem was so convincing at playing the methodical Anton Chigurh that the character ended up becoming the poster-child for movie psychopaths. In 2018, Business Insider reported that Samuel Leistedt, a Belgian psychiatry professor wanted to find out which movie characters best embodied the characteristics of a psychopath.

Starting in 2014, Leistedt and a group of 10 friends watched a total of 400 movies and studied more than 120 characters before they came to the conclusion that Javier Bardem's portrayal of Anton Chigurh was the most realistic depiction of a psychopath in a movie released between 1915 and 2010. Citing his invulnerability and resistance to emotion or basic humanity, Chigurh beat out a list of some of the most deranged in cinematic history.

The Role Of Anton Chigurh Almost Went To Mark Strong

With any movie as well-known as No Country For Old Men, there are going to be plenty of what-ifs in the casting department. The role of Anton Chigurh is no different as Mark Strong revealed in a 2008 interview with Digital Spy that he was one of the final choices for the role that ultimately went to Javier Bardem, stating:

Strong, who would go on to show up in movies like Sherlock Holmes, The Kingsman, and 1917, but it seems like he was this close to showing up in No Country For Old Men, especially when a scheduling conflict almost forced Javier Bardem out of the picture.

Cinematographer Roger Deakins Shot The Film In A Way That Didn't Sensationalize Or Downplay The Violence

Roger Deakins is no stranger to effectively balancing beauty and violence in the films where he has served as the cinematographer, just look at the fantastic 1917 (which earned him another Academy Award in 2020). Finding that balance is crucial to all of his pictures, including No Country For Old Men, where the acclaimed director of photography worked with Joel and Ethan Coen to create the look and feel the directors were shooting for, as he told Rotten Tomatoes in 2008:

Even though No Country For Old Men is an extremely violent movie, the matter-of-fact presentation of that violence does not come off as over-the-top and unnecessary as other pictures released in recent memory. I guess we have a group of masters of their respective crafts to thank for that.

There you have it, 10 facts about the making of No Country For Old Men. It's amazing to see how much care and consideration was put into creating one of the most well-received films of the past 20 years. If this piece has you all geared up for Josh Brolin, check out what we've written about the actor's involvement in the upcoming Dune remake.

The 2007 modern day western No Country From Old Men is one of the most highly regarded films to come from not only the Coen Brothers, but also from all cinema in the last 20 years. With an attention grabbing and atmospheric narrative ripped from the pages of Cormac McCarthy's award-winning 2005 novel of the same name, this instant-classic riveted fans and critics alike. But nearly 13 years later, there's still a great deal of mystery surrounding the No Country For Old Men ending.

In case this wasn't already obvious, spoilers from No Country For Old Men ahead!

In terms of getting into the ending, I'm not talking about the scene where Josh Brolin's Llewelyn Moss is gunned down in an El Paso motel or when his wife, Carla Jean Moss, played by the talented Kelly Macdonald, is seemingly murdered by the relentless hitman with a terrible haircut Anton Chigurh (a performance which netted Javier Bardem an Oscar for Best Actor). I'm talking about the divisive ending scene in which Tommy Lee Jones' Ed Tom Bell briefly describes two dreams before the screen cuts to black. That scene has been mystifying people, myself included, since the movie first hit theaters in the fall of 2007.

So, what was Sheriff Ed Tom Bell actually talking about with his wife over breakfast?

How No Country For Old Men Ends

Up until the final moments of No Country For Old Men, the plot is pretty much a straight forward affair that plays like a traditional western, which makes the ambiguous and vague final two minutes so hard for people to wrap their minds around. Things really start off after Llewelyn Moss stumbles across a drug deal gone bad in the hills of West Texas. After finding a briefcase containing roughly $2 million in cash (and a hidden tracking device), Moss goes on the run from the lethal, ruthless, and emotionless hitman Anton Chigurh.

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who's nearing retirement, is left to make sense of it all and finds himself on the heels of both Moss and Chigurh. Unfortunately for all parties (maybe not Chigurh), Bell is not successful in locating the missing funds or Moss before it's too late, and he finds himself looking at the lifeless body of the main he swore to protect. Already having decided to turn in his gun and badge, Bell decides it's no use in making sense of the modern world and its criminal elements and calls it a day. But not before giving us one of the most cryptic endings of the 21st Century when the retired sheriff recounts two dreams he had the night before.

What's The Meaning Behind Sheriff Bell's First Dream?

Instead of ending with a big chase scene, shootout, or other instances of violence, No Country For Old Men concludes with a quiet, two-and-a-half-minute scene in which Ed Tom Bell tells his wife Lorreta (Tess Harper) about two dreams he had about his father. When pressed on the first, Ed Tom says:

This is Ed Tom coming to terms with the pain and grief he feels for not being able to retrieve the drug money or prevent the unnecessary death of Llewelyn Moss earlier in the movie. A few scenes earlier, Ed Tom visits his uncle Ellis after finding Moss' body in the El Paso motel. The soon-to-be-retired sheriff is overcome with failure until his uncle basically tells him that while you're trying to get back what's already gone, there's more being taken from you. Following the conversation, and the dream, Ed Tom seems to be relieved of his pain, at least on that front.

What's The Meaning Behind His Second Dream?

The second dream, much longer than the first, involves Ed Tom and his father riding in the dark of night on horseback through a mountain pass. In a soft voice, the recently retired sheriff states:

While the first dream seems to be Ed Tom's way of coming to terms with his past (losing the money), this second and more detailed dream is the retired sheriff's way of letting go on and accepting his future. Watching his father ride past him holding fire, Ed Tom finds comfort in knowing that he will soon be with his father once again. You could argue that this is a rather bleak outlook on his future, but Ed Tom takes comfort in the dream. The tone of his voice and expressions on his face don't come off as pained and conflicted as they did during his conversation with Ellis. He no longer has to make sense of the senselessness of the world as this world is no longer for men like him.

What Does Tommy Lee Jones Think About The Ending?

Some might view the ending of No Country For Old Men as being overtly pessimistic, and with all of the death and violence that transpires in the moments leading up to the Ed Tom Bell's quiet retelling of his dreams where he comes to terms with both his past and what the future holds, it's actually quite hopeful. And Tommy Lee Jones, the actor behind the performance, feels the same way.

During an interview with Uncut in 2008, the Academy Award-winning actor explained that he saw the unconventional ending as anything but pessimistic, stating:

Going off what Tommy Lee Jones was saying in that interview, it seems like the character had undergone a great change from earlier in the film and had learned to the find hope for the future, especially after talking with his uncle and then the two dreams about his father.

Well, those are my thoughts on the ending of No Country For Old Men. With an ending as vague as the one we saw in the critically acclaimed thriller, I'm sure that just about everyone has an interpretation of their own. With that being said, why not sound off in the comments and let me know if you agree with my theory or if you have one of your own. And come back for the latest on Joel and Ethan Coen here at CinemaBlend.

After spending years in development hell, the long-awaited Scarface remake seems to have finally found its footing. The project has found its new Tony Montana in Rogue One star Diego Luna, and the Coen Brothers have already signed on to work on the screenplay. Now, all we need is a director to bring the entire thing home. As it turns out, the highly anticipated remake seems to have found two stellar choices in the form of David Mackenzie and Peter Berg, and either of these two potential picks has us endlessly excited for what the Scarface update has in store for the iconic gangster tale.

A recent report from THR confirms that the Scarface remake has leveled its sights on two talented filmmakers to helm the story. After a lengthy development process, it appears that the project has finally narrowed its search to Hell Or High Water's David Mackenzie, and Patriots Day's Peter Berg as the two frontrunners. Try to contain your excitement; this is happening, people.

It's hard to accurately discern which of these filmmakers would make the better choice for the Scarface remake. On the one hand, David Mackenzie's work on Hell Or High Water pretty much definitively proves that the guy knows how to helm a beautifully dark crime story with strong thematic ties to economic despair. By contrast, Peter Berg (in many ways a student of Michael Mann's style of gritty filmmaking) has become one of Hollywood's go-to guys for hard-hitting action in recent years.

They're both solid choice, and either one of them would make a perfect replacement for Antoine Fuqua -- who departed the project after a series of scheduling conflicts interfered with his ability to work on the Scarface remake. This project has attracted nothing less than A-list talent, so we remain incredibly optimistic about its potential.

Based on what we know about the Scarface remake, it sounds like the film will try to take the classic tale from the 1980s and give it a much more contemporary feel. Rather than focus on a Cuban immigrant building a criminal empire in Miami during the 1980s, the film will center on a Mexican immigrant in Los Angeles who follows a similar path in the modern era. The Scarface update is expected to follow the basic framework of Brian De Palma's original 1983 crime classic, so fans should prepare themselves to get very, very excited for what's on the horizon.

The Scarface remake is currently slated to shoot, snort, and blast its way into theaters next summer on August 10, 2018.

The Coen Brothers are widely considered two of our foremost filmmakers today, so if they set out to make a commercial, you know it's going to be something special. Well, the duo made a Super Bowl commercial, and it's pretty damn cool. Check it out.

Ah, that's pretty damn quirky, cool and still classy enough to be a Mercedes commercial, isn't it? The Coen Brothers did, as one could expect by now, a fantastic job creating an ad that would get us interested and keep us watching to see just what was being advertised and how it would fit in with a rowdy biker bar. And, really, how often have you seen a better looking commercial than this? I hope the other Super Bowl commercials have really stepped up their game this year, because there's a chance that this ad will end up being one of the most talked about just on looks alone.

The commercial, titled "Easy Driver," showed up on the Mercedes-Benz YouTube page and was shot to promote the Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster, a car so cool that even a group of drunk and probably easy to anger bikers wouldn't dare touch it if it had blocked them all in in the parking lot. It starts off simply enough, with a somewhat vision challenged member of the motorcycling community deciding to play "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf on the bar's jukebox, not that he actually had much choice in that.

The relatively sedate activities of the patrons then kick into high gear, with arm wrestling matches, head-butts and an intense face pushing match getting interrupted by word that all their bikes are blocked in. Of course, all the building anger in the bar turns on the assumed jackass who ignored those bikes and a large group of men and women rush outside, only to be confronted by one of the coolest convertibles they've probably ever seen. And, who's the lunatic that blocked them in? Well, it's none other than Mr. Easy Rider himself, Peter Fonda. Seeing as how a poster of him from the movie is up in the bar, and one of the bikers who's now standing outside has a tattoo of him on his bicep, they let him roll on down Route 66 and flash a peace sign to the world.

The Coen Brothers made sure this ad really had everything you'd want in a Super Bowl commercial: it's a little bit weird, it's funny, there's a cool product being sold and it's got a nice surprise ending. Who would have thought, going in, that we'd get to see Peter Fonda in this commercial? With these commercials now almost as big of a deal as the game itself, companies have been known to bring in big names to get ads that will get people talking about their products. The Coens have just joined the group of well-known directors who've also helmed Super Bowl ads, which includes talents like Ridley Scott, Zack Snyder, Jon Favreau, Clint Eastwood and David Fincher.

You can, obviously, catch the commercial again when it airs sometime during Super Bowl LI on February 5. And, if you're wondering about the Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster, it's scheduled to hit showrooms this fall.

Now that television has become the new form of Hollywood, with an increasing number of big screen stars and creative minds making the jump to episodic storytelling in recent years, it's almost easier to point out which film favorites have not done it. Joel and Ethan Coen have been on the "not" side for a long time now, but that all reportedly changes with the The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an in-development limited series within a genre the brothers know quite well: the Western. As if "Buster Scruggs" could exist in anything else.

While early details on the project aren't plentiful, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs sounds like it'll be more True Grit than No Country for Old Men, with the project set to center in the Old West. Joel and Ethan Coen apparently already wrote the western drama from an original idea they created, according to Variety, and they will direct the entire project for Annapurna Television, lest anyone start to worry that this was a pilot-only endeavor for the Oscar-winning duo, or an executive producer cred, as it goes with FX's Fargo.

It will also be an anthology piece, if this early report is accurate, with six different storylines being intertwined. It's possible/probable the idea was initially considered for a feature, but then sprawled out and got too big and complicated for just one movie. I assume each episode would center on a specific character or characters, with elements from other episodes being introduced. Otherwise, I don't know how the intertwined-ness of the anthology aspect would work. Not that it matters, as all trust is in the Coens to deliver the goods.

Interestingly, this new project for the Coen brothers might not solely exist as part of the TV medium. The storyline is apparently such that Annapurna is interested in potentially making it both televised and theatrical in some form, with the long-in-the-making Dark Tower's adaptation process serving as a point of comparison. Without knowing what the story looks like, it's hard to guess how such a plan would play out, but if there's a way to fix the universe so that we can watch a new Coens-directed film in theaters and then go home to watch a new episode of their TV show, that would be way cooler than the Eagles, man.

Since everything is just getting going for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, no network has been locked down just yet, but I have to imagine a bidding war is imminent. Joel and Ethan Coen's last film, Hail Caesar!, was a big and glorious musical comedy honoring the glory days of Hollywood, so it makes sense that they'd want to get their hands dirty for the follow-up project. And dark dramas are where the critics and awards organizations heap their praise on the siblings, so expect HBO, Netflix, Starz and more to stand in line to negotiate.

All that, and we didn't even talk about what kind of cast this show will have, but that's because we would be here for weeks. So while we wait to hear more about this exciting new show, head to our midseason premiere schedule to see everything that is confirmed to appear in the coming months.

Of all of the bizarre creations that the Coen Brothers have wrought on this world, none may be more loved than The Big Lebowski. And, while the Coens have never done a sequel before, there's still a change a Big Lebowski follow-up could happen. John Turturro really wants to make a spinoff film about his character, Jesus. And while the Coen Brothers would be involved in a new film, they won't be behind the camera.

It's been a couple of years since John Turturro first mentioned his interest in making a film that would follow from The Big Lebowski but focus on Jesus, the briefly seen character he played in the first film. While we haven't heard anything definitive in that time, which would normally lead one to believe the idea wasn't going anywhere, the actor tells The Hollywood Reporter that the challenges in the way are legal ones. The fact that the Coen Brothers have notoriously avoided sequels isn't a problem, because they won't be directing the film if it ever happens and Turturro appears to have their blessing.

The legal issue in question appears to be over who owns the rights to the Jesus character. The rights to the film itself were owned by Polygram, which wouldn't necessarily be a problem. Only Polygram no longer exists, so there's nobody there to negotiate with. However, John Turturro doesn't see that as the issue, because according to him, Jesus is a character that he created. He invented the character for a Spanish play he had done several years before the movie, and then the Coen's "borrowed" him for The Big Lebowski.

While there appear to be some fairly significant issues to iron out, John Turturro's language seems to imply that these issues are being dealt with. Turturro says that his lawyer is getting angry with him for discussing the matter because "until things are all signed" it's bad to talk about it. Of course, that statement implies that getting things all signed is on the table, which means that the Jesus movie may be closer to being a reality than we thought.

For as brief a time as Jesus spent on screen, he instantly became one of the most memorable parts of The Big Lebowski. We're certainly excited at the possibility of seeing him again. Now, the only question is, can we get Jeff Bridges and John Goodman to make brief cameos in his movie as well?

FX’s Fargo has earned plenty of acclaim during its first two seasons on the air. Fargo’s second season, in fact, earned Golden Globes nods in the Best Limited Series category, not to mention nods at Patrick Wilson and Kirsten Dunst's performances. But that doesn’t mean everyone is interested in the FX drama. In fact, the Coen Brothers, who directed the film version of Fargo the TV series is based on, recently indicated that they aren’t remotely excited about how the TV series pans out. Here’s what Joel Coen had to say:

Joel and Ethan Coen are pretty busy guys in the film world, and just put out their new movie Hail Caesar! in recent weeks. Although they do enjoy executive producing credits on FX’s Fargo, it’s clear that they aren’t really involved with the TV series. However, it’s also stated that the two men feel the show is really nothing like the movie they conceived and directed way back in 1996.

Part of this seems to have to do with the fact the Coen Brothers’ movies are a certain length and the Fargo TV series is a certain length and there’s not much common ground between the two types of narratives. In fact, Joel also told the Radio Times they are interested in making films, not spending 10 hours with a set of characters at any given time. 

That disinterest would probably be a little hurtful if spoken to the creative team that works extremely hard to create Fargo, but honestly, at least the Coen Brothers aren’t lambasting the fact that Fargo has become a TV series, as some creators do. It's not uncommon for creators to be involved to varying degrees when a film becomes a TV franchise. If Joel and Ethan Coen are content to work on the big screen and not on the TV show that's probably easier on creator Noah Hawley anyway.

Still, if they did watch the drama, they’d probably be hard-pressed to find much to complain about. The show is about as close to a cinematic experience as TV gets each week, with Noah Hawley bringing crisp dialogue and costumes, fun split screens and more to his narrative arcs. The show is sometimes a love letter to the movie that spawned it, but it’s also telling a much lengthier and in-depth story and it’s very much its own thing. Especially during Season 2, when the storyline got a whole lot more absurd than in the original film.  

Fargo has already been renewed for a third season on FX. However, the drama generally takes its time getting new episodes together, so we currently have only a vague idea regarding when the show will be back for round 3. In the meantime, we do know a bit about Season 3. You can find out more here. 

This list is wrong. We’re just going to put that out there at the beginning. Only picking 10 great characters from Coen Brothers movies is like picking your favorite child, which is to say, you have one, but it changes often, mostly depending on your own mood. There were some tough choices made here, and honestly if we had made this list yesterday, or tomorrow, or under the influence of slightly more wine, it would have likely been very different.

We have limited our list to one character per film so as to give everybody a clear shot and prevent the list from turning into Our 10 Favorite Characters From The Big Lebowski, because seriously, that nearly happened. Here are our 10 favorite characters of the moment from the history of the Coen Brothers on screen.

10. Amy Archer - The Hudsucker Proxy

While most of the rest of the country is only now remembering what a badass Jennifer Jason Leigh is thanks to The Hateful Eight, a few of us who watched too many movies in high school never actually forgot this fact. In The Hudsucker Proxy, Leigh plays Amy Archer, a note perfect 1930’s fast talking dame who looks like she just walked out of Bringing up Baby or The Lady Eve. Her dialogue is nearly musical in it’s perfection. She hits every beat. She’s also, quite possibly, the most on-the-ball and competent person on this entire list.

9. Llewyn Davis - Inside Llewyn Davis

Music often plays an important role in the Coen Brothers’ movies, but probably nowhere is it more important than the life of Llewyn Davis. Again, here we are dealing with an actor who has become a household name today, but who was not as widely known when he brought the character to life. There’s something about the film’s structure, showing us only a week in the middle of a man’s life, that Oscar Isaac is really able to make you feel. Most movies make you feel like everything you see is all there is worth seeing, while here we get the impression that every week in Llewyn Davis’ life could be its own movie.

8. Chad Feldheimer - Burn After Reading

While Burn After Reading is not generally viewed as one of the Coen’s greatest films, Brad Pitt’s performance cannot be underrated. The layers of the performance are many. He’s not playing a dumb jock, nor is he playing somebody who thinks they’re intelligent when they’re actually a moron. No, Chad Feldheimer has even more going on than that. He’s a dumb jock, who knows he’s an idiot, and is trying desperately to hide this fact from the world. It’s a role unlike anything Pitt has done before or since, and that's part of what makes it perfect.

7. Barton Fink - Barton Fink

John Turturro is one of the Coen Brothers go-to performers, and picking only one of his roles was tough, but ultimately you have to go with the one where he was the star. Barton Fink is still one of the most beautifully bizarre movies I’ve ever seen, and the character himself is all that and more. It’s a comedy, and a drama, and a movie about Hollywood, and a psychological thriller. We’re still not entirely sure what it’s about. What we know is that Barton Fink is terrified and insecure and we love him for it.

6. Larry Gopnik - A Serious Man

Larry Gopnik has one question. "What’s going on?" His life has fallen apart and he doesn’t understand why. As this has shown, and will continue to show, many of the Coens’ great characters are people who seem to be completely lost in life, but Larry is one of the few who actively goes looking for answers. He deals externally with many of the same questions that the rest of us struggle with internally every day. We can relate to Larry a little bit, which is something of a terrifying thought, but it’s also what makes his character so memorable.

5. H.I. McDunnough - Raising Arizona

For many, Raising Arizona was our introduction to the bonkers world that the Coen Brothers have inhabited for 30 years. While "Hi" McDunnough may seem to be your garden variety recidivist criminal, he’s actually a deeply philosophical sort. It’s just that sort of thinking that leads him to the obvious conclusion that if one family has five babies, well surely they can spare one for a family that can have none. While Nicholas Cage movies are a dime a dozen (literally), the times when he is truly doing something special are few and far between. This is one of them.

4. Ulysses Everett McGill - O Brother, Where Art Thou

The tale of The Odyssey as set in Depression-era Mississippi is one of the Coens’ great masterworks in this writer’s opinion, and George Clooney’s Ulysses Everett McGill is the primary reason. His dialogue is some of the best the Coen’s have put to paper, and Clooney, ever the suave and debonair leading man, is given a chance to play that same role to great comedic effect. Add to that the lead in the best musical moment in the Coen catalog, and you have a top performance.

3. Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men

For all of the violence and death that tends to occur in Coen Brothers films, there are remarkably few outright villains. This is only part of why Anton Chigurh stands out among the Coens’ great characters. Javier Bardem is absolutely chilling in his role of the emotionless hitman. Never has witnessing a simple coin toss been such a terrifying cinematic event to behold. Chigurh isn’t simply the Coens’ greatest villain, he’s simply one of the greatest film villains ever.

2. Marge Gunderson - Fargo

Maybe it’s because she’s seven months pregnant that everybody seems to underestimate Marge Gunderson, but make no mistake, she is a force to be reckoned with. While coming across as something of an oddball, she is quite possibly the most human character the Brothers Coen have ever written. She’s patient and understanding and just trying to make the world just a little bit better for her soon to be born child. And through all of it she successfully brings killers to justice. The role that won Frances McDormand an Academy Award is nothing short of perfect.

1. The Dude - The Big Lebowski

We said this list was tough, but there was one choice that really wasn’t. If there’s a film even more absurd than the rest of the movies on this list, it’s The Big Lebowski, and if there’s a character even more absurd than any other, it’s The Dude. The Dude has transcended simply being a character in a much-loved film and has become a true cultural icon. To us The Dude is many things, but to himself he’s just a bowler. Whatever man, The Dude abides.

This poll is no longer available.

Channing Tatum is no stranger to dancing on screen. He began his journey to stardom 2006’s Step Up. He’s even given us choreography without most of his clothes in the Magic Mike movies. His newest film, the Coen Brothers tribute to the golden age of Hollywood Hail, Caesar!, required something entirely different. Turns out there’s one kind of dancing that Tatum was not familiar with: tap. Also, he doesn’t sing.

Tatum’s lack of tap dancing experience was a pretty big issue for his role in Hail, Caesar! where the actor has to lead a full Busby Berkeley style musical number. Tatum tells Vulture that’s been trying to work with Joel and Ethan Coen for years. He actually auditioned for the role of Llewelyn Moss in No Country for Old Men, which eventually went to his Caesar co-star Josh Brolin, as he was much too young for the part. Of course, he jumped at the Caesar role when the brothers came to him, possibly not realizing what he was in for.

What it turned into was "ten years of tap training" crammed into a three month period. Channing Tatum credits his choreographer, Chris Gattelli, as well as the trained Broadway dancers he worked with in the scene for getting him through.

The singing, for better or worse took a back seat to the dancing. Channing Tatum says that he fell back on the idea that if he truly couldn’t pull off the singing, his voice could be dubbed, so he didn’t worry quite as much about being terrible at it. However, it doesn’t look like he was terrible as his voice has been used, though the actor expects that with various digital tools he’ll probably sound acceptable. The scene did give the actor a chance to live out an old dream, however.

The three months of training resulted in a six minute long scene, in the movie-within-a movie, with a song entitled "No Dames." We’ll get a chance to see how all the hard work paid off when Hair, Caesar! arrives in theaters February 5.

It has been proven multiple times that George Clooney is a great fit for material produced by genius filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Their relationship began with the wonderful O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, was followed by the vastly underrated Intolerable Cruelty in 2003, and then came the hilarious Burn After Reading in 2008. The three men recently completed their most recently collaboration, the upcoming Hollywood-set comedy Hail, Caesar!, but it looks like they're already planning yet another project - this time with Clooney helming one of the brothers' scripts.

Clooney has spent more than a decade trying to make the film Suburbicon - the initial plan being for the Coens to direct from their own script - but now Deadline is reporting that Clooney is back in talks to take the wheel of the project himself. At this time, not much is known about the film's plot - or its very strange title - but the trade report describes it as a noir drama that's tonally similar to the Coen brothers' breakout feature, Blood Simple. It's said to be a "small crime drama" and will be a period piece set in the 1950s.

While that description paints the project as being a dark film, movie-goers probably shouldn't go in thinking that it will be completely devoid of laughs. When George Clooney was originally attached to make Suburbicon back in 2005, he told Empire Magazine,

Instead of making Suburbicon, Joel and Ethan Coen decided to make an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men - which would up being a pretty brilliant choice considering it went on to be a huge hit and win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was a year after the release of that film that the Coens reteamed with Clooney for Burn After Reading, and Suburbicon wound up being put back on the shelf.

Had plans gone through for Clooney to take the helm of Suburbicon back in 2005, it would have been set up to be the follow-up to his breakthrough hit as a director, Good Night, And Good Luck. Instead, he decided to make the forgettable football comedy Leatherheads, and since then has directed the political thriller The Ides of March and the World War II-set dramedy The Monuments Men. If all goes according to plan, Suburbicon will be his sixth feature effort.

In addition to George Clooney and Joel and Ethan Coen, the new feature also has the power of producer Joel Silver behind it, so that should potentially help grease the wheels in getting the film through production. Obviously things are still in the early stages now, so there's no release date announced, but hopefully we'll get to hear more about Suburbicon soon.

Upon viewing the trailer for Hail, Caesar! last week, the world instantly shone a little brighter, safe in the knowledge that a new Coen Brothers film is on the horizon. Throughout their 16 films, which includes Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, and Inside Llewyn Davis, the brothers have provided genre-bending films that mix comedy, crime, thriller, drama, and noir in an irreverent but poetic style. 

But, film audiences are greedy, and 16 Coen Brothers films just aren’t enough. That’s why, even with a 17th just around the corner, movie aficionados are gagging to know what’s after Hail, Ceaser!  Rather than looking to the future, though, how about gazing into the past, and considering the projects that the brothers almost made. Well, here at Cinema Blend, we’ve done just that. So here are six Coen Brothers films that we still hope and pray will make it to cinemas, even though we know that they’re almost certainly not going to. 

To The White Sea

Probably the most famous Coen Brothers film to almost make it to production, the pair were believed to have been working on an adaptation of James Dickey's book for several years. They even got Brad Pitt to sign on as the American pilot who is stranded in China and unable to communicate. Coen Brothers fans were particularly excited because of its lack of dialogue. However, its $80 million budget soon scared studios off, and it has been shelved indefinitely with no return date in sight. 

62 Skidoo

The Coen Brothers have painted a rich portrait of American history in many of their films. From the late 1800s with True Grit up to folk music scene in Greenwich Village, New York in the 1960s with Inside Llewyn Davis, with stopovers in the Prohibition and depression eras with Miller’s Crossing and O Brother Where Art Thou?, respectively. They never truly tackled the Cold War era, though, but Joel Coen admitted to IGN back in 2001, "We have a [Cold War comedy] called 62 Skiddo that I’d love to do someday." And since the brothers are die-hard Stanley Kubrick fans, all that makes me think is that this would have been their Dr. Strangelove. 

Musical Comedy Set In The World Of Opera

While the Coen Brothers have always used music to accentuate their films, most notably in O Brother Where Art Thou? and Inside Llewyn Davis, the pair are yet to do a full-blown musical. The closest we’ve come is the homage to Busby Berkley in The Big Lebowski, but while promoting Davis back in 2013, both Brothers teased that they were working on a script with something that Joel insisted consisted of "more traditional music numbers." However, Ethan made sure to add, "It’s a musical comedy." Other than that, all that was revealed was that it was set in the world of opera. I’m already sold.

The Contemplations

The least likely of the six to be made, which really means nothing because none of them will probably ever be produced, Joel and Ethan Coen first teased that they were working on The Contemplations all the way back in 1998. In what sounds as though it would have been their most daring piece to date, the Brothers were collecting short stories to make up a feature film. Ethan explained to The Hollywood Interview, "Over the years we've written a bunch of shorts to be used in an anthology, The Contemplations. It starts with a guy going through this dusty old library and he finds this old leather-bound book called The Contemplations. Each contemplation is then a chapter of the movie." 

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

A detective story set in an alternative history that supposes Jewish refugees set up a settlement in Sitka, Alaska during the Second World War, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union revolves around alcoholic detective Meyer Landsman, who investigates the murder of Mendel Spilman. Dark, peculiar, but packed with comic relief and Yiddish humor, it was perfect fodder for the Coens. Which is why, according to the Guardian, Scott Rudin bought the book in 2007 and got the Brothers to work on an adaptation in 2008. However, after just one draft, the pair seemingly moved on, and writer Michael Chabon admitted that the rights have now returned back to him. 

Old Fink

Over the years there have been various rumors that the Coen Brothers were working on a Big Lebowski spin-off that focused on John Turturro’s character, Jesus Quintana. This speculation was mostly started by Turturro himself, who insists that he’d love to reprise the odd bowling die hard with a sketchy past. What’s more likely is the Barton Fink sequel, which the actor has admitted the directors have actually talked about doing. Tuturro told Playlist that they’re just waiting for him to get a little bit older. In fact, the Coens admitted to Slash FIlm that they’ve already planned out when and where the sequel will take place, insisting that it will see Barton Fink teaching at Berkeley in 1967, and that he’d "ratted on a lot of his friends to the House Un-American Activities committee."

Every cinema freak in the world is eagerly anticipating the next Coen Brothers effort, Hail Caesar. Unfortunately for us, information regarding the siblings’ latest tale is still at a premium, except for the fact that we vaguely know what the comedy is about and that it has a stellar cast. In fact, one of the actors popping up in the flick, Dolph Lundgren (Yep, that Dolph Lundgren), has provided us with a few extra tidbits. He basically explained that Channing Tatum’s character is deliciously outlandish, and in the Coens’ hands that's something we should all look forward too.

Dolph Lundgren made his remarks to Creative Screenwriting, and after being asked about his involvement with Hail Caesar, the muscle-bound actor gave us our biggest revelation yet about Channing Tatum's involvement in 1950s set comedy, which revolves around the Hollywood studio system. He said:

Sounds perfect. The Coens delightful canon of work is littered with outlandish and perfectly cast parts that help illuminate the surreal world where their films are set. From M. Emmet Walsh’s Visser in Blood Simple to John Goodman’s Gale Snoats in Raising Arizona, and you can’t forget Miller’s Crossing’s Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), Barton Fink’s W.P. Mayhew (John Mahoney), Big Lebowski’s Walter Sobchak (Goodman again), and literally dozens of others.

On the face of it, Channing Tatum as a Soviet-loving American actor in the heat of the Blacklist as overseen by the Coen Brothers is the stuff of movie dreams. While I’m still insistent that everything that the Coens touch deserves to be fawned over and adored simply because it comes from the pair, let’s hope that Hail Caeser is more like their dark comedies Raising Arizona, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and the ghastly underrated Intolerable Cruelty than The Ladykillers and Burn After Reading. While both of those are better than that the usual Hollywood comedic ouput, they're more garish and over-the-top than genuinely funny.

What else did Dolph Lundgren have to say about Hail Caesar? Well, unsurprisingly, he was a tad shocked when he was originally asked to appear in a Coen Brothers film, and he revealed that his character is a Russian submarine commander. Lundgren admitted that he believes that Coens asked him to feature as a stunt casting, so that when audiences see him they'll scream, "Holy shit!"

Lundgren will feature alongside Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Frances McDormand, Christopher Lambert, Scarlett Johansson, and Alex Karprovsky in Hail Caeser, which revolves around a day in the life of Eddie Mannix (Brolin), a fixer in Hollywood who has a great many problems to deal with. It’s due out on February 5, 2016, and everyone should be incredibly excited.

If you just can't get enough folk music, you'll eat up the trailer for the latest Showtime documentary, Another Day Another Time, which takes viewers into the a sold out concert that paid tribute to the music of the Coen Bros' Inside Llewyn Davis.

Nestling their latest drama Inside Llewyn Davis in the folk music scene of New York City's 1960s Greenwich Village, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen had to get the songs for the soundtrack just right. So, they hired the great T-Bone Burnett who's won repeated acclaim as well as an Oscar nomination for his songwriting skills. Burnett came up with a soundtrack that had those who saw the drama at its US debut in the New York Film Festival ravenous for a copy. For them, the filmmakers organized a concert the following day at The Town Hall called "Another Day Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis."

Several members of the feature's ensemble cast came out to lend their lovely voices, like John Goodman, Stark Sands, Carey Mulligan, and Oscar Isaac. (Sadly, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver were not in attendance.) But the main slate of performers boasted such big names as Gillian Welch, Jack White, Joan Baez, Marcus Mumford, Conor Oberst, and Patti Smith, just to name few. If you missed it, dry your eyes. Showtime will be revealing the glory of this one-night only event in the upcoming documentary Another Day Another Time.

Here's a clip from the concert of Joan Baez and Marcus Mumford performing "Corn Bread, Corn Whiskey:"

The soundtrack of Inside Llewyn Davis is one of the film's strongest assets, and that's saying something considering the outstanding cast and captivating performances it contains. In my NYFF review, I wrote of its songs, " I suspect it will do for this brand of folk what O Brother Where Art Thou did for bluegrass. After hearing these numbers, it’s impossible to not want to hear them again and again, to wrap yourself in their lovely melodies and the bittersweet stories they tell."

Inside Llewyn Davis will open in limited release on December 6th, expanding on the 20th. Another Day Another Time will premiere on Showtime on will air on Showtime, Friday, December 13 at 10 PM. ET/PT.

Here's some news that ought to take the sting out of the negative reviews Justin Timberlake's latest movie, In Time is racking up. Variety is reporting that the Coen Bros. have offered Timberlake a lead role in their next movie, Inside Llewyn Davis. Centered around the folk music scene in Greenwich Village during the 1960s, the movie is loosely based on the life of folk singer Dave Van Ronk.

Timberlake wouldn't be playing the Van Ronk-alike Llewyn Davis -- that role has already gone to Oscar Isaac (he played Prince John in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood). Instead, Timberlake has been offered the role of Jim, another folk musician. Carey Mulligan is already cast to play Jean, Jim's wife. We don't know much more about the character than that at this point.

The Coen Bros. wrote the script partially based on Van Ronk's memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. Van Ronk was a centerpiece of coffeehouse culture and the folk revival of the '60s, and he was friends with iconic names such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. His own musical style incorporated blues, jazz, and ragtime, amongst others.

I'll be astonished if Timberlake turns this one down. The Coen Bros. are one of those talents that pretty much everybody wants to work with. And good for him. I've grown to like Timberlake in spite of myself over the years -- he's proven to have genuine acting chops in movies like The Social Network and Black Snake Moan, and he never seems to take himself too seriously. Plus, it's impossible to hate anyone involved with "Dick in a Box." Take the job, Timberlake!

Carey Mulligan’s riding one of the hottest streaks we’ve seen in some time. She regularly works with challenging directors, from Oliver Stone (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) to Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go). This year, she’s co-starring in two instant classics in Drive and Shame. And she’s currently hard at work on Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby opposite Leonard DiCaprio.

Wow.

But don’t think Mulligan’s content to rest on her laurels. Variety reports that the actress has secured two high-profile gigs that would make any talent salivate. The fact that she's in both almost isn’t fair. According to the trade, Mulligan will be the female lead in Joel and Ethan Coen’s folk-music drama Inside Llewyn Davis. Following that, she’ll appear in an as-yet-untitled feature to be directed by Spike Jonze.

Both projects sound great. The Coens already have cast Oscar Isaac as a musician breaking into New York’s scene in the 1960s. As the trade notes, if Mulligan needs to sing, Shame proves the actress has the pipes. As for Jonze’s feature, it reportedly reunites him with screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann (Adaptation) for a film about global leaders having to meet to discuss what Variety calls “cataclysmic events.” Joaquin Phoenix has already been cast in the picture, which would begin shooting next spring.

About the only other actress touching Mulligan’s streak right now is Anne Hathaway, who also continues to add one major project after the next. Actors rarely go wrong collaborating with storytellers like the Coens and Jonze, and we’re happy that a legitimate talent like Mulligan is getting these outstanding chances to flex her muscle and make what we hope are great films.

The Coen brothers have always had a knack for finding the perfect lead actors for their films. From Jeff Bridges in both The Big Lebowski and True Grit to Francis MacDormand in Fargo to John Tuturro in Barton Fink, their selections may sometimes seem weird, but they are always dead on. Even The Ladykillers, which is considered by most to be the duo's weakest film, is strong up front with Tom Hanks as the southern gentleman prone to criminal acts. The point that I'm driving at is that we should expect impressive things from Oscar Isaac in the near future.

Deadline has learned that the Coens have hired Isaac to play the lead role in the upcoming Inside Llewyn Davis. The film is about the folk music scene that exploded in New York during the 1960s. The script is loosely based on the life and times of Dave Van Ronk, who witnessed the rise of incredible talents like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Phil Ochs. Isaac has had quite the busy year in 2011, having played roles in both Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive. Later this year the actor will be seen in Madonna's W.E. and alongside Channing Tatum in Jamie Linden's Ten Year.

While I didn't enjoy the movie that much, I can attest to Isaac's musical skills as he has a duet with Carla Gugino on the Sucker Punch soundtrack. As I mentioned before, we should know better than to question the Coens, but I'm not sure why anyone would in this case. Isaac is a bona fide upcoming talent and it will be great to see what the Coens can do with him.

Kiefer Sutherland recently did an interview, in which he said, “Some of the best work I am seeing right now is on television. TV is where it’s going.” It would appear that the Coen Brothers would agree with that statement. Or, at the very least, TV is where they’re going as the duo is set to executive produce a TV comedy.

According to Deadline brothers Ethan and Joel Coen, who penned Fargo, No Country For Old Men and Burn After Reading, are set to pen a comedy series for Fox, along with writer Phil Johnston. Word is, the network has given the project a script commitment with a significant penalty.

Johnston will write the pilot, titled HarveKarbo. It centers on “an ill-tempered LA private investigator whose cases frequently involve the depraved doings of the Hollywood elite, and his deadbeat friends in Los Angeles’ El Segundo.” That alone sounds interesting, but what’s also interesting is that it’s set to be an hour-long comedy. I’m wondering if it’ll be more of a dramedy, or if the Coen Brothers are set to prove comedies can be longer than thirty minutes and still work.

Having just rewatched Fargo the other day, this news certainly puts a smile on my face. There’s nothing quite like the Coen Brothers. It’ll be interesting to hear more updates on this project, including who will star in the pilot. If Steve Buscemi weren't already taken, I'd throw his name out there! "I'm not gonna debate you, Jerry. I'm not gonna sit here and debate!"

The Dude is going high-def (as opposed to merely high) with a new limited-edition Blu-ray this August. Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released full details for the August 16th release, which will package the remastered flick with a 28-page companion book and new bonus features. Even the nihilists will love it.

The booklet will include all manner of Lebowski-approved goodies, including an interview with Jeff Dowd, the real-life inspiration for The Dude, plus photos taken by Jeff Bridges, a film timeline, trivia, and more. And we haven't even gotten to the disc yet, man. Check out the specs and a beauty shot below; they're throwing everything short of a toe. (If you want a toe, I can get you one by 3 o'clock, with nail polish.)

Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Features

• Scene Companion: Watch cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and more during key scenes with this picture-in-picture companion.
• Mark it Dude: This onscreen counter really ties the film together. Keep track of all the “F-Bombs,” “Dudes,” and “Dude-isms” in the film with this ultimate fan guide.
• The Music of The Big Lebowski: Instantly identify the songs heard while watching the film, create a custom playlist of your favorites and even purchase them from iTunes!
• WORTHY ADVERSARIES: WHAT’S MY LINE TRIVIA: Test your Lebowski knowledge by finishing lines of dialogue during the film. Play as Walter or The Dude or in two-player mode against friends.
• BD-LIVE: Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player to watch the latest trailers and more.
• Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live functions with ease.
• Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the film.
• Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
• Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray Hi-Def. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
• Keyboard: Entering data is fast and easy with your device’s intuitive keyboard.
• uHEAR: Never miss another line of dialogue with this innovative feature that instantly skips back a few seconds on your Blu-ray disc and turns on the subtitles to highlight what you missed.

Additional Bonus Features

• JEFF BRIDGES PHOTO BOOK: For more than 30 years, Jeff Bridges has been snapping pictures on movie sets. The accomplished photographer presents exclusive shots taken on the set of The Big Lebowski providing personal commentary on each photo.
• THE DUDE’S LIFE: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, and John Turturro take a look back at their performances and their delivery of the Coen Brothers’ dialogue that became classic movie lines.
• THE DUDE ABIDES: THE BIG LEBOWSKI TEN YEARS LATER: A freewheeling conversation with the cast about the film’s decade-long reign as a cult classic, including a discussion about what ever happened to the “little Lebowski” that the Dude and Maude made that fateful night!
• THE LEBOWSKI FEST: AN ACHIEVER’S STORY: An in-depth look at the popular Lebowski Festival, formed by the legion of fans in honor of the film.
• FLYING CARPETS & BOWLING PIN DREAMS: THE DREAM SEQUENCES OF THE DUDE: From aerial flights over Los Angeles with his bowling ball chasing Maude on a flying carpet, to the large scale “Busby Berkley” dance sequences as The Dude goes flying through the legs of all the bowling pin headed dancers, this piece examines how these “ahead of their time” scenes were constructed.
• THE MAKING OF THE BIG LEBOWSKI: A behind-the-scenes look featuring interviews with the Coen Brothers.
• PHOTO GALLERY: Slideshow of Jeff Bridges’ on-set photography.
• INTERACTIVE MAP: Take a tour of the locations of The Big Lebowski, then and now.
• AN INTRODUCTION: Featuring Mortimer Young, a practitioner of “non-uptight” film preservation. His restoration of the famous “toe scene” will blow your mind.

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

The Pillars of the Earth

(2010, TV-MA)

For those of you without Starz, here's your chance to check out one of the summer's biggest TV events. Starz has been promoting the hell out of this miniseries, which Ken Follett co-wrote with John Pielmeier (Agnes of God), based on Follett's best-selling 1989 historical novel. Centered around the decades-long building of a gothic cathedral in the fictional 12th-century English village of Kingsbridge, The Pillars of the Earth uses the focal point of the cathedral's construction to weave together a tapestry of civil war, religious strife, and the struggle to determine the future of Britain. The outstanding cast includes such talents as Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, and Rufus Sewell as Tom Builder, the architect whose passion shepherds the cathedral through every challenge. With Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Starz has established itself as a major player, and The Pillars of the Earth further cements that reputation. If you're a fan of elaborate costume dramas or Shakespearean machinations, you'll find plenty to love in The Pillars of the Earth. The show is halfway through its eight-episode run, so you've still got plenty of time to catch up. You can read Kelly's review of the miniseries right here.

Double-Feature It With:

The Tudors

(2007, Not Rated, Two seasons available)

In many ways, The Tudors paved the way for The Pillars of the Earth, along with other elaborate historical dramas such as HBO's excellent Rome and Deadwood. Jonathan Rhys Meyers gives us an appropriately lecherous young King Henry VIII, long before he ballooned into a portly and bearded icon. The Tudors mixes political intrigue with a generous dose of soap opera, and the results are addictive. Only the first two seasons are streaming, but hopefully seasons 3 and 4 will be added at some point.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

(2009, Rated R, 94 min.)

The Men Who Stare at Goats finds George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? mode, playing a role that deftly undercuts his leading-man looks and charm. In O Brother, he played the leader of a trio of well-meaning doofuses bumbling their way through a Depression-era retelling of Homer's Odyssey. In Goats, he plays Lyn Cassady, an eccentric who claims to have been trained by the United States government to be a psychic "warrior monk"...or, in the common shorthand, a Jedi warrior. After a chance encounter in Iraq introduces Lyn to journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan MacGregor), the two set out on a trip to track down Lyn's mentor (Jeff Bridges), whom Lyn believes needs his help. Along the way, Lyn tells Bob the history of the government's attempts to create an army of soldiers capable of remote viewing, walking through walls, and, of course, killing goats with their minds. Believe it or not, the movie purports to be based on real events, specifically events chronicled in the book of the same name by journalist Jon Ronson. Goats is uneven, but it's surreal, silly, and gains a lot of mileage out of its too-crazy-to-be-true concept.

Double-Feature It With...

The Hudsucker Proxy

(1994, Rated PG, 111 min.)

Not the Coen Brothers' most acclaimed outing, The Hudsucker Proxy has nevertheless attracted a cult following over the years -- and rightly so. Tim Robbins stars as well-meaning but naive mail clerk Norville Barnes, who stumbles into the CEO's chair of Hudsucker Industries after the corporation's patriarch leaps 45 floors to his death (counting the mezzanine). Screwball comedy of the finest sort unfolds, during which Norville invents the hula hoop and hotshot reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) fast-patters with the best of them.

Stargate Universe

(2009, Not Rated, One season available, HD)

I've tried. Over the course of 13 years and multiple spin-offs, I have tried and tried again to get into Stargate. I missed SG-1's original premiere back in the Showtime days, owing to a lack of cable, but I tried it on DVD. I tried it when they attempted to entice us Farscape fans in by casting Ben Browder and Claudia Black. And yes, I tried again when SGU premiered last year. I've finally given up. Much as I like the original Stargate movie, whatever alchemy attracts me to that production just hasn't carried over to any of the series for whatever the reason. Maybe it's the lack of Kurt Freakin' Russell. Nevertheless, I've come to peace with the fact that the multifarious Stargate spin-offs just aren't for me...but they are for quite a few fans, given how the franchise continues to flourish. This latest incarnation aims for more of a Trek/BSG vibe, featuring a crew trapped aboard an ancient, runaway starship and having adventures along the way. Hmm, maybe it's more Lost in Space/Space: 1999 than Trek/BSG...

Double-Feature It With:

Stargate: Atlantis

(2004, Rated TV-PG, All five seasons available, HD)

If SGU appeals to you, you can also watch all five seasons of its predecessor series, Stargate Atlantis. If you want to get the full Stargate experience, you'll actually have to pop some DVDs into your player, because, with the exception of a few standalone movies, none of parent series SG1 is available streaming.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(1975, Rated R, 100 min.)

Needless to say, watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show in your living room is going to lose a certain something. Unless, of course, you invite over a pack of costumed friends who know all the cues and appropriate things to shout/throw at the screen. On the other hand, you're much less likely to be pulled onstage and humiliated like the lowly "virgin" you are. Rocky featuring an insanely catchy soundtrack and a gleefully twisted storyline involving alien transvestites, cannibalism, and boot-knocking in nearly every conceivable combination. Tim Curry is at his Tim Curry-iest as the cross-dressing Dr. Frank N. Furter, chewing every bit of scenery in his most iconic role. Also along for the ride are Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors (ASSHOLE!) and Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss (SLUT!). Look, you really ought to just track down a midnight showing of this thing if you've never had the full Rocky Horror experience, but if you're just looking for an excuse to sing along with the soundtrack, this is an acceptable substitute. Barely.

Double-Feature It With:

Cannibal! The Musical

(1996, Rated R, 90 min.)

Speaking of musical cannibalism, why not follow Rocky up with a musical about cannibalism called Cannibal! The Musical? Based on the tale of notorious 19th-century long-pig enthusiast Alfred Packer (played by South Park's Trey Parker), Cannibal! explores the lighter side of killing and eating your fellow man.

Swamp Thing

(1982, Rated PG, 92 min., HD)

We take our current comic-book renaissance for granted these days, what with our Iron Mans and our Dark Knights. We sometimes forget how many forgettable or outright horrible attempts were made during the last few decades to bring various comic-book characters to the screen. From Dolph Lundgren's unfortunate outing as The Punisher to The Hof's blasphemous attempt to channel Nick Fury, the track record prior to X-Men hitting was not a good one. (Although you should totally watch the god-awful '90s Justice League pilot if you can find it.) One of the many dubious entries on this long walk to respectability was Swamp Thing, horror maven Wes Craven's campy adaptation of DC Comics' shambling, eco-friendly plant man. Ray Wise stars as an unfortunate scientist who becomes Swamp Thing after an experiment gone awry, and who then finds himself facing off against rival scientist Anton Arcane (Louis Jordan). Adrienne Barbeau plays an inappropriately cleavage-y government operative so Swamp Thing will have somebody attractive to carry on the movie poster. In the right hands -- Alan Moore, Joshua Dysart -- Swamp Thing can be heady, compelling stuff. Wes Craven was perhaps not the right hands.

Double-Feature It With...

The Toxic Avenger

(1985, Rated R, 82 min.)

One goopy, green mutant deserves another. The Toxic Avenger introduced low-budget experts Troma's best-known character, a hapless janitor who gets dropped into a dump truck filled with toxic waste and then decides to fight crime. With a mop.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

When it was first announced that Jeff Bridges would be playing the role of Rooster Cogburn in the Coen brothers' remake of True Grit, it perplexed many people. After all, they had just cast The Dude to play the role that won his only Oscar. But if you were thinking that the Coens would just try and dress Bridges like The Duke, prepare to be surprised.

Joe M. O'Connell has posted five images of Bridges in costume on set, and between the goatee, the bowler hat and the three piece suit, is is evident that Joel and Ethan are going for a different approach. The images also give us our first look at 13-year old Hailey Steinfeld, who will play Mattie Ross in the film. Even if you are upset by the lack of tan coats, handkerchiefs and cowboy hats, at least take solace in the fact that he is donning the character's signature eye-patch.

Check out the images full size over at Joe M. O'Connell's website. Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

Party Down: Season 1

(2009, Not Rated, 10 episodes)

From Veronica Mars mastermind Rob Thomas, the Starz series Party Down is a half-hour comedy about a Los Angeles catering company. The show plays on the notion that everyone you meet in L.A., regardless of profession, is actually trying to break into showbiz. The Party Down catering crew is a motley assortment of one-hit wonders (Adam Scott), part-time actors (Ryan Hansen), disgruntled writers (Martin Starr), and aspiring stand-up comics (Lizzy Caplan). For all of them, this whole catering thing is just “something to pay the bills” until they hit the big-time, and Party Down gets a lot of mileage out of the notion of wannabe artists realizing that every paycheck puts that much more distance between them and their dreams. Each episode is set against the backdrop of a different event, from bar mitzvahs to high-dollar celebrity soirees, and the season finds an arc of sorts in the budding non-romance between Henry Pollard (Scott) and Casey Klein (Caplan). Rob Thomas fans will find plenty of the same snappy dialogue and sharp characters that made Veronica Mars so much fun, lashed to a liberal dose of stinging Hollywood satire. It’s not to be missed.

Double-Feature It With...

Party Down: Season 2

(2010, TV-MA, 1 episode available so far)

The second season premiered on Starz last week, so now is the perfect time to race through the freshman year and catch up. Netflix uploads the new episodes in short order, so if you don’t have a Starz subscription, this is a great way to catch one of the funniest shows around. This year has seen the loss of series regular Jane Lynch, who’s busy getting her Glee on these days, but Will & Grace's Megan Mullally has stepped forward to fill the gap capably.

It Might Get Loud

(2008, Rated PG, 97 min.)

Our own Nick Venable gave It Might Get Loud four stars when he reviewed this film on DVD a while back, so I recommend checking out what he had to say right here. An Inconvenient Truth director David Guggenheim turns his attentions from glaciers to guitar gods, profiling Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's The Edge, and The White Stripes' Jack White. Musicians will probably dig the insights they'll get into each performer's style and techniques, while fans will just appreciate getting to see these three jam, although apparently they don't do as much actual playing as you might expect. As Nick puts it, "I consider this almost a must-see. It's not annual holiday viewing or anything, but if you play guitar, you're going to have one in your hands by the time the credits are rolling."

Double-Feature It With...

Buena Vista Social Club

(1999, Rated G, 105 min.)

Why not pair It Might Get Loud up with another acclaimed music documentary -- an Oscar-nominated one, no less? Director Wim Wenders' 1999's Buena Vista Social Club follows American guitarist Ry Cooder and a group of Cuban folk musicians who team up to record a Grammy-winning CD down in Havana.

Fargo

(1996, Rated R, 98 min.)

I realize this column has been rather Coen-heavy of late, but that’s only because so many of the Brothers’ films are available on demand. Given the choice between a movie where Steve Buscemi is fed through a wood chipper or, say, one of The Asylum’s thinly veiled knock-offs such as Paranormal Entity, this ain’t exactly Sophie’s Choice. Plus, despite my recommendations skewing Coen these past few weeks, it seems a damn shame not to spend a little time in Fargo. Frances McDormand stars as mild-mannered, heavily pregnant North Dakota police chief Marge Gunderson, who finds her way right into the middle of a criminal scheme involving several crooks (Buscemi and Peter Stormare), a nervous car salesman (William H. Macy), and a fake kidnapping scheme that becomes all too real. And did I mention Buscemi and the wood chipper?

Double-Feature It With:

Monsters, Inc.

(2001, Rated G, 93 min.)

An odd pairing at first, I know. But why not shake up the tone a bit and six-degree yourself over to Buscemi’s performance as slithery villain Randall Boggs, alongside fellow Coen alum John Goodman and Billy Crystal. With a 2012 Monsters sequel recently confirmed, that’s as good an excuse as any to take another look at Pixar’s exploration of the world of monsters on the other side every child’s closet door. It’s one of Pixar’s more brilliant concepts, and it’s available to stream right now.

Archer: Season 1

(2010, Not Rated, 10 episodes)

FX dips a toe into the animated world with this spy satire from Adult Swim alumni Adam Reed and Matt Thompson (Sealab 2021, Space Ghost Coast to Coast). The pair bring the same twisted sense of humor to the adventures of suave superspy Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and his fellow agents of the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS). Episodes revolve around field missions as well as bickering back in the home office, with Archer and his compatriots often more concerned with petty personal squabbles than with rooting out moles or assassinating enemies of the state. Aisha Tyler voices Archer's ex, fellow spy Lana Kane, who's now involved with compulsively insecure desk jockey Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell). Archer's mother (Arrested Development's Jessica Walter) is in charge of the outfit, and divides her time between cleaning up Archer's messes and engaging in phone sex with her counterpart in Russian intelligence. It's twisted, hilarious, and often deeply, deeply wrong.

Double-Feature It With:

Casino Royale

(1967, Not Rated, 137 min.)

No, not the gritty Daniel Craig reboot. I mean the inexplicable 1967 satirical version starring David Niven as Bond, James Bond. This is a movie with a cast including Ursula Andress, Woody Allen, Peter Sellers, and Orson Freakin' Welles as the villainous Le Chiffre, all wrapped up in a Burt Bacharach score. Watch this and try to imagine a world where Dr. No never happened and this movie became the template for the four decades of Bond films that followed...

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

(2008, Rated PG-13, 101 min.)

Regardless where you fall on the spectrum between fundamentalism and secularism, there's no question that this conflict is integral to the world we're living in right now. Not a day goes by in our 24/7 news cycle where we aren't barraged with stories detailing the so-called "culture war" in America, to say nothing of more violent variations unfolding around the globe. Thankfully, filmmaker Dan Merchant's documentary isn't looking to be as heavy or as vitriolic as, say, Bill Maher's Religulous. Instead, this documentary speaks to folks on all sides of faith (or lack thereof) with the simple mission to try and determine why we can't be civil to each other, regardless of our beliefs. Faith being what it is, don't expect this one to change your mind on any of the big issues, but it might just make you give more thought to whichever side you consider "the opposition."

Double-Feature It With:

Hell House

(2001, Not Rated, 85 min.)

I considered suggesting the Oscar-nominated Jesus Camp, but that film is enormously tough to watch, and might make for a real downer after LSUFYF. Instead we'll keep things ever so slightly more light-hearted with this look at the so-called "Hell House" phenomenon -- Halloween events run by evangelical churches with the goal of scaring the Hell out of you via dramatic presentations of wayward sinners paying the price for premarital sex, being gay, wearing skirts above the knee, etc.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

Moon

(2009, Rated R, 97 min.)

If you missed one of the best movies of last year and have a Netflix account, now you are without excuse. Moon is a simple genre concept realized with intelligence and humanity thanks to an amazing performance by Sam Rockwell. He plays astronaut Sam Bell, the sole human crew member of a lonely lunar mining station. Excited about approaching the end of his three-year contract and ready to return home to his wife and child, Bell soon makes a discovery that throws his whole world into question. Like last year's District 9, Moon gets an amazing amount of production value and mood out of its limited budget, and with this film writer-director Duncan Jones established himself as a talent to watch. He's since gone on to take the helm of Source Code, set to arrive in 2011 starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It's based on an excellent high-concept script, so trust me when I say you should be excited about that one. I recommend seeing Moon with as little foreknowledge as possible, but if you want a bit more info, you can check out Tim Gomez's review here.

Double-Feature It With...

Solaris

Any time anyone is throwing together a list of smart, mind-bending science fiction films, Solaris is almost always near the top. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and based on Stanislaw Lem's novel, Solaris sends scientist Kris Kelvin to the titular planet to investigate what happened to an earlier mission. Once there, he begins seeing visions of his dead wife and starts to unravel the truth about the mysterious planet. I've got a soft spot for the flawed Steven Soderbergh/George Clooney remake, but I've been meaning to see the original for years. Now I just need to set aside 169 minutes...

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

(1982, Rated PG, 112 min.)

The pinnacle of big-screen Trek, a movie so good that when the franchise finally ran completely out of ideas, they just tried to remake Khan and hoped nobody would notice. This movie has damn near everything: Kirk at his most daring and clever, yet still faced with the one problem he doesn't know how to solve. One of the greatest screen villains not just in Trek history, but in the history of moviemaking. Gripping action sequences, heartbreaking sacrifices, crackling dialogue, and a closing monologue that still gives me chills. As much fun as J.J. Abram's resurrection of the franchise was, he's got a long way to go before Khan is in any danger of being dethroned as the definitive Star Trek movie. Although in my opinion this is still the best thing to come out of Trek as a whole.

Double Triple-Feature It With...

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

For some reason only Treks II, III, and IV are available streaming, but that actually works well since they form a trilogy of sorts. Sure, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home can't match Wrath of Khan for sheer unbridled awesomeness, but I've always loved that space-whale probe, and our own Josh Tyler made a compelling case last year that Search for Spock gets an unfairly bad rap. It might not pack quite the same emotional wallop as Spock's death, but I mark the scene of Kirk and Bones watching the Enterprise burn and break apart as one of the franchise's finest moments.

Dragonslayer

(1981, Rated PG, 109 min.)

There was a time during the 1980s when Hollywood was on a serious sword-and-sorcery kick, a run of fantasy films that pretty much marked the last gasp of the genre until The Lord of the Rings resurrected it a few decades later. You had your Conans, your Sword and the Sorcerers, your Krulls (sure, that one has sci-fi trappings, but call The Beast a demon instead of an alien and nothing much changes). One of the few that has stuck in my mind all these years, despite my not having seen it since before puberty, is Dragonslayer. Surprisingly dark and realistic for a Disney co-production, Dragonslayer is best known for its visual-effects achievements in creating one of the most impressive dragons ever to grace the silver screen, a gold standard for films that followed such as Dragonheart. You might be put off by the realization that the film's hero is played by a young Peter MacNichol, but if a couple of hobbits can save the world, why shouldn't The Biscuit? Also, the dragon is named Vermithrax Pejorative. That badassery merits a viewing in and of itself.

Double-Feature It With...

Clash of the Titans

Really, I would stick with the dragon theme and recommend Dragonheart if it was available streaming, or even Reign of Fire if I hadn't already recommended that one a few weeks ago. So instead we'll just go with another relic of my youth. Sure, this original version doesn't have the 3D effects of the new remake, but...actually, that's a huge selling point.

The Man Who Wasn't There

(2001, Rated R, 116 min.)

The Man Who Wasn't There seems to have fallen between the cracks of Coen Brothers history. It's neither respectable enough to take home a shelf full of Oscars (No Country for Old Men), nor quirky enough to merit t-shirt slogans and regular midnight showings (The Big Lebowski). It rarely gets mentioned amongst their best works (Fargo), but neither is it dismissed as an unfortunate footnote (The Ladykillers). To be honest, I don't think I even would have remembered to include it if asked to list the Brothers' films. And that's a shame, because TMWWT is stylish and entertaining enough to merit a trip through your home theater now and then. Shot in stark black and white, The Man Who Wasn't There finds the Coens deep in noir territory with the tale of an emotionally distant barber (Billy Bob Thornton) who falls into the midst of a convoluted series of events involving blackmail, adultery, murder, UFOs, and dry cleaning (not necessarily in that order).

Double-Feature It With...

Miller's Crossing

I'm going to break my own self-imposed rules here. The double-feature recommendation I'm listing here is Miller's Crossing. It's one of the Coens' best films. You really can't go wrong with Miller's Crossing. However, what I would prefer to recommend is The Hudsucker Proxy, because supposedly The Man Who Wasn't There was originally inspired by a poster the Coens saw while filming Hudsucker. Unfortunately, Hudsucker isn't available streaming. But if you've got it on DVD, seriously, watch that instead.

Ken Burns: The Civil War

(1990, Not Rated)

If you've never seen Ken Burns' seminal, Emmy-winning Civil War documentary, you've missed out on two things: 1) An excellent and entertaining look back at the struggle that divided our nation, and 2) Literally hundreds of pop-culture references. All those moments in TV shows and movies and sketch comedy over the past 20 years where somebody is narrating a letter over period photographs, likely while using a questionable southern accent? Yeah, they were totally referring to this. All nine parts of the series are here, and while that might sound daunting at first, each segment clocks in between an hour and an hour and a half, so it's easily digestible even if you're not in the mood for an ass-numbing yet educational marathon. See, kids, learning can be fun!

Double-Feature It With...

Ken Burns: Jazz

If you're a Burns fan with a Netflix account, you're in good shape. The documentarian's 10-episode look at the history of jazz is a perfect pick if you're craving more, but if another full-length series is too much right on the heels of Civil War, Netflix has a dozen other standalone films from Burns. Sadly, neither The War nor Baseball are available on demand yet. But by the time you get through both The Civil War and Jazz, they just might.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Sorry we skipped a week, but yours truly was off gallivanting around Austin to help Josh cover SXSW. We're back one again, bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply have to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

Angels & Demons

(2009, Rated PG-13, 146 min.)

I've managed to avoid all things Dan Brown, whether on the page or on the screen. Sure, when The Da Vinci Code came out, I was curious -- mainly about what the hell was going on with Tom Hanks' hair. But not curious enough to sit through a film nearly everyone I know who saw it described as tedious and plodding. If the reviews are to be believed, Angels & Demons is better than its predecessor, if only slightly. It's actually based on an earlier Brown book than Da Vinci Code, but it yet again pits Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon against arcane mysteries involving the Catholic church. This time around, he's called in to figure out who's snuffing cardinals. He soon uncovers a plot by those pesky Illuminati, who aim to wipe Vatican City off the map. It certainly didn't lack for box office, but if you're one of the few who didn't see it and you'd still like to, this is the way to go.

Double-Feature It With...

The Interpreter

(2005, Rated PG-13, 129 min.)

I'm all about thrillers starring unlikely action heroes. Why should the cops who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time have all the fun? Let's pair Hanks' Harvard symbologist with Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman), a U.N. interpreter who, you guessed it, finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and hears something she shouldn't. She's put under the care of a Secret Service agent (Sean Penn) tasked with preventing the assassination plot she unwittingly overheard. Kidman certainly has better hair than Hanks, and let's face it: director Sydney Pollack > director Ron Howard any way you slice it.

Raising Arizona

(1987, Rated PG-13, 94 min.)

I'm still recovering from the aggressive oddity of Nic Cage's performance as Big Daddy in Kick-Ass. Maybe it shouldn't have caught me by surprise, though: Cage's best moments have always been when he was playing weird, and there's weird to spare in this classic early Coen Bros. outing. While getting his mugshot taken, small-time crook Herbert "Hi" McDunnough falls for policewoman Ed (Holly Hunter), and the two eventually hook up once Hi is released from prison. After learning that Ed is infertile, they conjure up an ill-conceived plan to kidnap the infant son of local furniture kingpin Nathan Arizona. That simple plan becomes a lot less simple once two of Hi's criminal buddies (John Goodman and William Forsythe) enter the picture, and soon things have exploded into a complicated snarl of stolen diapers, bank robberies, and big bounty hunters named Smalls (Randall "Tex" Cobb). Raising Arizona is one the Coen Bros.' funniest movies, chockablock with dialogue my friends and I still quote to this day: "Son, you got a panty on your head."

Double-Feature It With...

The Big Lebowski

(1987, Rated PG, 107 min., HD)

Speaking of quotable, does it get any more quotable than The Big Lebowski? I contend that it does not. The Coens combine crime, humor, and idiots like nobody else, and pairing Lebowski with Raising Arizona? It'll really bring the room together.

Dune

(1984, Rated PG-13, 136 min.)

Dune. Arakis. Desert planet. David Lynch's big-screen version of Frank Herbert's science fiction classic may not be the most faithful, but it has earned a cult following over the years. Is it actually a good movie? I'd have to lean toward "no," but it is visually stunning and has its share of memorable moments. It's been years since I've actually seen the film, but I'm surprised how many elements from the movie have stuck with me. That portentous opening narration. The first appearance of the gargantuan sand worms. The Guild Navigator in its cage of spice gas. Those kick-ass Weirding Modules. And, of course, an oiled up Sting strutting about in what my friend Jason described as an "art deco codpiece." The Sci-Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries version may have been more faithful, but it didn't make nearly the lasting impression on pop culture that Lynch's version did. With another big-screen attempt at cracking Herbert's brick of a book due sometime in the next few years, this is a perfect time to revisit Arakis. After all, a beginning is a very delicate time.

Double-Feature It With:

Inland Empire

(2006, Rated R, 172 min.)

Why not pair some early Lynch with something more recent? Inland is Lynch playing in his own sandbox rather than Frank Herbert's (worms and all), so expect more surreality and head-fuckery. Laura Dern plays a married actress having an affair with a co-star (Justin Theroux). This is Lynch, though, so it gets weirder. Soon the line between the fiction of the movie they're shooting and the reality they're supposedly living begins to blur. Your enjoyment of the film will probably depend largely on whether Lynch's earlier films, such as Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive, blew your mind or just pissed you off.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

(1985, Rated PG, 90 min., HD)

I'll be honest, I don't remember much about Pee Wee's Big Adventure. But what I do remember is this. If you look in my therapist's files, you'll find plenty of references to Large Marge, mixed in with phrases like "recurrent night terrors" and "continuing trauma." Along with the boat ride from Willy Wonka, the Wheelers from Return to Oz, and the lady getting turned into a robot in Superman III, Pee Wee's encounter with Marge ranks amongst the most pants-wetting of my cinematic childhood memories. If you're too young to know what any of that means, just trust me: you're missing out by growing up in a sanitized environment sorely lacking in family films designed to ensure that you don't sleep for weeks thereafter. CGI ain't got nothing on Large Marge. Queue it up and watch hyperactive man-child Pee Wee (Paul Reubens, back before that unfortunate episode of public onanism) set out on a cross-country adventure to find his beloved stolen bicycle.

Double-Feature It With:

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

(1971, Rated G, 100 min., HD)

All due respect to Johnny Depp, but the Wonka mold was officially broken with Gene Wilder's performance. Wilder's Wonka is genuinely disturbing, playfully condescending one minute and bordering on homicidal insanity the next. Never is that better exemplified than during the ferry ride, a glorious and mind-altering scene that would never, ever, ever make it to screen these days. I mean, seriously, would you leave your children with this man?

The Stoning of Soraya M.

(2008, Rated R, 116 min., HD)

I haven't seen The Stoning of Soraya M. yet, but after reading Nick Venable rave about it, I might just have to. Based on real events chronicled in a book by journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, Stoning follows a reporter who becomes stranded in an Iranian village and is approached by a local woman with a horrific story to tell. Her niece, Soraya (Mozhan Marno), was stoned to death by the townsfolk after being falsely accused of adultery by her husband, who wanted a divorce so he could take a new 14-year-old wife. Clearly a contender for the feel-good movie of the decade. Pair it with Leaving Las Vegas and you'll likely conclude the evening with a shotgun in your mouth.

Double-Feature It With:

The Shawshank Redemption

(1994, Rated R, 142 min.)

Don't even watch the whole movie. Just skip to the ending. If you make it through Stoning's bleak subject matter, you'll need two things: a hug and exposure to arguably the most uplifting movie finale in history.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

Well, pilgrim, you've got yourself just under a year to find yourself an eye patch, a cowboy hat and a six-shooter so you can roll up to the theater in full Rooster Cogburn gear and scare the shit out of anyone headed to see Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit remake.

Variety put this year's first present under the tree today by letting us know that Paramount will be releasing the John Wayne re-imagining on Christmas Day, 2010. It's a bit of a strange day to be releasing a straight up, unadulterated western, but they'll certainly benefit from vacationers and people looking to escape from their families after a long day. According to our own fearless leader Josh Tyler, the script from the Coens is exactly what it should be-- a streamlined, much improved version of the 1969 classic. Read his script reaction HERE.

In other news, Paramount has unsurprisingly taken their Footloose remake off the schedule thanks to director Kenny Ortega giving them the finger the same way Zac Efron did. Good news all around this morning in the world of Paramount.