What better way to ice the cake that has been the Coen Brothers month here at MovieZeal than with a top 10 list of their most memorable scenes? Obviously, the challenge becomes which scenes to include, as the Coens have created nothing if not distinctly memorable characters and scenarios. Some films were easy exclusions (The Ladykillers) while some threatened to take over the entire list (Raising Arizona). After much furious and heated debate amongst ourselves (okay, I exaggerate a tad there), we’ve compiled a list that represents the most iconic images and unforgettable setups from their eclectic canon. Though none of you will likely disagree with the choices we’ve made, many may take umbrage with the scenes that are missing. Top 10 lists are nothing if not easy to disagree with, so let fly in the comments section!

10. Showdown With the Nihilists from The Big Lebowski
Every twisted, convoluted story needs a bizarre, confusing ending (just ask Raymond Chandler, who served as much of the inspiration for this film). On this, The Big Lebowski delivers. This is the scene that left every (sober) person in the audience scratching their heads once and for all. There’s not a lot to be said about this one…just watch it and be amazed.

Most Memorable Line: “No Donny, these men are nihilists. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Fun Fact: Gratuitous ear biting was invented just a year prior to this, by boxer Mike Tyson.

NOTE: The following clip has a lot of naughty language. Certainly NSFW, and certainly not good for the kiddies.

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Our final guest article peeling back the cerebral layers of the Coen’s eccentric gray matter comes from Craig Kennedy, tzar-supreme of the cozy watering-hole of a blog Living in Cinema. Here he tackles the significant differences between Cormac McCarthy’s novel and the Coen’s adaptation. Be sure to check out his blog, which features industry news and reviews distilled through his keen wit and eloquence. He also has some of the best commentators and conversations going on in the blogosphere. Park your browser there for a spell and soak in the cinematic sunshine.

“The book was better than the movie.”

How many times have you heard someone say that? The truth is, books and movies are two very different things and the strengths of one don’t always play into the strengths of the other. There are exceptions of course. Gone With the Wind and The Godfather spring to mind as films that are equal to or better than their source novels. The movie versions might not be as rich or as in depth as the novels upon which they’re based, but they get the important things right and they still manage to work as movies.

To that list we can surely add the novel No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy and the film based upon it by Joel and Ethan Coen. The first thing that stands out in a direct comparison of the two is how faithful the Coens were to their source, yet how they still made a film with a recognizable Coen stamp. No Country is unmistakably a Coen movie, from the basic framework of McCarthy’s noir plot, to the strong regional characters, to the dialogue; it’s at home in the Coen canon, yet they seem to have changed very little. Much of the dialogue was delivered intact and even the structure of the narrative survived the translation. Somehow it’s McCarthyesque and Coenesque all at the same time.
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Perhaps not as stellar a selection as last week, but not too shabby either. The pick this week is obviously The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but those of you not in the mood for high art, you’ve got Hollywood’s sugar-coated flavors of the week to choose from. But why would you choose Bubblegum when you could get Mint Chocolate Chip instead?

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A magnificent, life affirming film that was shamelessly snubbed by the Foreign Academy Awards Committee. It tells the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from “locked in syndrome,” where his mind was fully active but his entire body was paralyzed (with the exception of his right eye). The beginning of the film is told completely from his perspective and the effect is extraordinary. Bauby went on to write (or blink, as it were) a memoir of his experiences, which served as the basis for the film. Bittersweet and touching, this is not one to be missed.

Recommended if you liked The Sea Inside

The Golden Compass
Perhaps what The Golden Compass will best be remembered for is being one of the final nails in New Line’s coffin. The studio that rolled the dice on Lord of the Rings and won big, slowly squandered their wealth on poor cinematic offerings and lawsuits with Peter Jackson, resulting in bankruptcy and subsequent acquisition by Warner Brothers. The adaptation of the first book in Phillip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy had a lot to do with that. In spite of being a visual feast and discovering one of the best child actors in recent years, the film lacks focus and commits the cardinal sin of being tedious. The introduction of the magnificent polar bears nearly an hour into the film is too little, too late, and the ending suffers from crippling sequelitis. A commercial failure, books 2 and 3 aren’t going to see the light of day any time soon, making The Golden Compass a kind of mean trick. Imagine watching The Fellowship of the Ring but never being able to see The Two Towers or The Return of the King and you’ll see what I mean.

Recommended only if you’ve read the book and absolutely have to see what it looks like on the big screen.

Nanking
One of the tragic, untold stories of World War II, the Japanese rape of Nanking took nearly 200,000 lives and matched the Nazi holocaust step for step in evil and brutality. This documentary is an important look but not an easy one. Featuring interviews and rare archival photos and footage, it takes a hard, long look into the face of man’s inhumanity to man as well as the compassion and bravery that can survive in the midst of chaos.

Recommended if it was important for you to see Schindler’s List, even if you knew you wouldn’t enjoy it

27 Dresses
We’ve had wedding themed romantic comedies with wedding planners, best friends, and runaway brides, so why not one about one with a fetish for bridesmaid dresses? (guess how many she wears…just guess) Toss Cyclops into the mix (James Marsden sans totally sweet red lazer visor thingy) as an aspiring writer who decides to make Katherine Heigel (Miss Bridesmaid) his journalistic magnum opus (titled “The Perpetual Bridesmaid”), and you have the perfect recipe for Serious Romantic Complications. Yada yada yada, if chick flicks are your thing, I’m sure you’ll find something to enjoy. I, for one, am just disappointed that Marsden doesn’t fry an entire bridal party with his eyes.

Recommended if you liked The Wedding Planner, Runaway Bride, or My Best Friend’s Wedding

This latest feature article, delving into the spirituality (or lack thereof) in the world of the Coens, comes courtesy of Rick Olson. Once finished, be sure to skip, jump, and hop on over to Coosa Creek Mambo, Rick’s stomping grounds where film and religion intersect.

When Evan asked me to write a piece on spirituality in the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, I said “Huh? What spirituality?” Because as big a fan as I am, the last thing I think of when I think of the Coens is spirituality. But as I began to think about it, some spiritual chinks in the brothers’ cynical armor, and thought why not? I can do that . . .
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This review was originally published February 9th, 2008.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men is a film of many faces. It is a thrilling crime drama about a drug deal gone horribly wrong. It is a chase film. It is a character drama. It is a thinking-man’s meditation. It is a masterpiece.
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This excellent article comes from Minnesotan native Daniel Getahun of Getafilm, detailing the love/hate relationship those lakeside Scandinavians have held with the Coens ever since they immortalized them in Fargo. After partaking, be sure to ride the intertubes over to Daniel’s excellent site.

“Fargo’s naht even in Minnesoda, ya know!”

So has begun many a contentious conversation with Minnesotans about the Oscar-winning film from native sons Joel and Ethan Coen. A word of advice: if you’re visiting, don’t bring it up. Ironically, we obsessively claim the brothers as our own, while at the same time distance ourselves as much as possible from their most famous portrayal of us. Over the course of their filmmaking careers, the relationship between the brothers and their home state has indeed been a delicate one.

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All great directors eventually reach a low point in their careers, no matter how talented they may be. In 1979, Steven Spielberg made a horrendous Pearl Harbor comedy (?) called 1941. Francis Ford Coppola made Jack with Robin Williams playing a man with an aging disorder. Some say Ang Lee will never reach a lower point in his career than when he released The Hulk. A low-point for Joel and Ethan Coen? The answer is The Ladykillers.
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Do you enjoy films? I do. There are some films being released this week.

Baby Mama
I like Tina Fey as much as anyone – Mean Girls bordered on brilliance, and I’d probably really like 30 Rock if I ever decided to watch television. So it is with great sorrow that I report that this movie looks really, really, unfunny. At least from the trailer. I can’t remember a single joke that wasn’t racial or scatological. But whatever. If you want to know the plot, it goes something like this: Fey is a single yuppie who hires a white trash (-ish) girl to have a baby for her. Then they end up living together. I do get the feeling that it could be funnier than its trailer…so if you’re looking for a girls’ night out, this might be it.

Recommended if you liked Juno or Smart People

Deception
Remember all those “erotic thrillers” from the 90’s that all had two-word titles like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct? Well, they’re back – except now they have one-word titles and suck twice as much! Need I say more?

Recommended if you read Playboy “for the articles”

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Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
About a month ago, there was some controversy surrounding the movie 21 because it changed the race of its central characters from Asian to white. This little movie, however, proves that Asians can, in fact, get work in Hollywood – so long as they play dumb stoners. Hooray for Hollywood and its commitment to progressive values. Anyway, as I’m sure you know, this is the sequel to Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and features those two lovable stoners in yet another adventure, yada, yada, yada. I’m sure if you’re in this one’s target audience, you’re already lined up at the theater. Unless you’re staring transfixedly at something shiny.

Recommended if you like Half-Baked; Dude, Where’s My Car? or Up in Smoke

A Plumm Summer
I dare you to read this summary and tell me that this isn’t awesome: Based on a true story, A Plumm Summer tells the tale of the kidnapping of a frog marionette used in a locally produced children’s television program. Yeah, that’s right. A frog marionette. And it was kidnapped. And it’s all true. That’s easily a seven or eight on the awesomeness scale. I might have to drive a couple of states away to see this one, but I am there.

Recommended if you always wanted to combine Finding Neverland with Death to Smoochy

The Visitor
This one’s been out a week now, but it’s finally expanding to a large enough number of screens that you might actually be able to see it. I am not exaggerating at all when I say the trailer makes this one look like an awesome human drama. There aren’t any frog marionettes or baby mamas, but there is some inter-cultural tension and a lot of djembe playing. This indie drama stars Richard Jenkins as a New Yorker who finds a homeless Senegalese couple living in his apartment. Conflict ensues. Friendships are forged. And yes, people come to terms with things. This is the one to see this week, if you can catch it.

Recommended if you like serious indie dramas

Part two of Daniel Cook Johnson’s auditory head trip down Coens Lane commences forthwith. As previously mentioned, be sure to check out the gurgling fountain from which such musings bubble, Daniel’s film babble blog. In case you have need of catching up, be sure to peruse the first part of his verbose article, From the Dark Debut To The Snowblind Breakthrough (1984-1996).

PART II: From A Movie Mix-tape Made By The Dude To A Muted De-Countrified Terrain With Some Soggy Mountain Boys Songs On The Side (1998-2007)

In late 1997, not long it felt after the buzz of the awards and accolades for Fargo died down, a trailer appeared that announced the Coen brother’s next film was going to be a loud colorful comedy about an aging hippie bowler caught in, yep, another kidnapping caper! I know I was not alone when watching the preview in thinking “bring it on!”

The Big Lebowski blew me away when I first saw it on the big screen with the music being no small part of the experience. Especially since the movie is wall to wall music – from the first frame to the end credits over 30 songs are heard in either fragments or filling entire scenes. The issued soundtrack is the first Coens’ recording to consist of songs – not composed tracks – with only one Carter Burwell original – “Technopop (Wie Glauben)”. That’s because there is almost no Burwell in the film – a bit of suspenseful strains to heighten the tension in the ransom drop-off sequence is the only bit I can find. With A-list producer T. Bone Burnett brought in as “musical archivist” it’s apparent that the songs are where it’s at in the world of The Dude. In an interview in Entertainment Weekly at the time of the film’s release Ethan Coen said: “We were trying to find signature songs for each of the characters so the only thing [the songs] share is that nothing is particularly contemporary sounding. They’re all from previous eras, consistent with the characters, who had attitudes shaped by the ’60s, ’70s, or earlier.”
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Note: this is the tenth in a series of chronological reviews of the Coen brothers filmography and is a guest review by Joseph Demme. Joseph can be found blogging at Cinexcellence and indulging his inner fanboy at Expanded Universe.

Intolerable Cruelty is one of the Coens more commercial films and is seemingly underrated. I think this is largely due to the script actually being written by three other writers, not the Coens themselves.
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The Orphanage (known as El Orfanato in its country of origin, Spain) is as unoriginal a horror film as one is likely to find. We’ve seen it all before, dozens of times: the family that moves into a creepy gothic mansion, the child who sees dead people, the woman who has to solve the mystery of some horrid past crime. Horror movies typically trade in clichés like clowns trade in terrifying small children, and you could justifiably re-title this one The Sixth Ring of the Amityville Others, but The Orphanage does something with the tropes of the genre that most other horror flicks could only dream of doing: it does them all really, really, really well. And when I say ‘really,’ I mean “scared the living bejeezus out of me” really. The Orphanage, in spite of its derivative trappings, is one of the best horror films of the past two decades.
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Dylan Fields (aka “Fletch”) is the proprietor of the always-entertaining Blog Cabins, as well as the Grand Vizier of the Large Association of Movie Blogs. I frequent the former and MZ is a proud member of the latter – both are worth your attention. He turns his attention here to the dynamics, the mystical connection, the ’secret sauce’ if you will of brotherly directing teams.

Ethan and Joel Coen

• “If me and my brother had to work together it wouldn’t be happy days. They’ve got an amazing amount of respect for each other and they’re both making the same film. There were never any decisions that had to be made one way or another. It was just easy. Before you actually start a film that’s going to be directed by two people you think, “well that’s going to be weird…” But after about five minutes you forget and you don’t even notice.”
  - Kelly McDonald on her experience working with the Coen brothers.

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Woo-hoo! The choices this week are (again) quite rich for the movie lovers palate. As Hollywood exits its late-winter slump theater wise, DVD shelves and NetFlix queues the country over exit their slumps as well. For drama this week, my pick would be Charlie Wilson’s War, and for creepy horror I would go with The Orphanage. The Motion Sickness Inducing Monster Flick of the week is, surprise surprise, Cloverfield. Dig in!

Charlie Wilson’s War –
Another film with visions of Oscar dancing in its head, it was not quite up to the Academy’s ‘high standards.’ In this instance, it was both an anti-war film that didn’t beat its drum loudly enough and a movie that was not quite the sum of its respectively outstanding parts. Based on a true story, Senator Wilson (Tom Hanks) decides to wage war against communism by outfitting Afghanis with rocket launchers. The result is a compelling drama, but one you kind of shrug your shoulders afterwards and go, “Huh, that was interesting.” Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the loose NSA cannon who brings the lead to the fight is brilliant though, and the film is worth watching just for him.

Recommended if you liked Wag the Dog or TV’s The West Wing.

The Orphanage
Guiellermo del Toro’s name is all over this one, although he only served as a producer. Looking at his upcoming production slate, he’s basically Judd Apatow, except Mexican and into horror instead of gross-out comedy. If you don’t know who he is, he directed the exceptional Pan’s Labyrinth last year, and he’s been tapped to take the LOTR reigns from Peter Jackson on the upcoming Hobbit film. So what is this movie actually about? Oh, a creepy orphanage where murdered children terrorize a woman. Sounds derivative, I know, but with del Toro attached its guaranteed to be worth a peek.

Recommended if you liked The Ring, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, or The Others.

Cloverfield
Boy did this one ride the hype train all the way to box office central. The only shining star to come out of Hollywood this year (which Iron Man is sure to put to shame May 2), J.J. Abrams’ mystery project is equal parts Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project. A friend of mine said it was the only film he had ever seen in the theater that he thought would have been better viewed at home. One can only take so much shaky cam, and Cloverfield puts the Bourne movies to shame in that regard.

Recommended if you like The Blair Witch Project but wished that you had actually seen the witch and that she had been 200 feet tall and had, I dunno, ripped the head off the Statue of Liberty.

The Savages
This film completes the trifecta of amazing performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman last year (the other two being Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Charlie Wilson’s War, the latter of which he was nominated for). He and Laura Linney play an estranged brother-sister pair who have to come together and learn life lessons when their father is diagnosed with Alzheimers. The script, along with Laura Linney, was nominated for an Oscar, and the film is supposed to be equal parts humor and drama. I think Hoffman is one of the three most talented actors working today (the other two being Johnny Depp and Daniel Day-Lewis), and his performance alone is worth checking out the film for (didn’t I already write that once?).

Recommended if you liked You Can Count On Me or About Schmidt

One Missed Call
A sampling of quotes from IMDB, because I’m too lazy to write something for this one: “Had free tickets, but still, I knew better.” “Download that game “snake” for your cellphone, it’s a lot scarier.” “Get the Japanese version and stick to it, in it the actors at least look like teenagers, in the American version they all look over thirty.” “The only compliment I can give this movie is that it’s not the worst ever made.” “For the love of all that is holy someone tell me why Margaret Cho needed a role as a cop in this movie?” “Was almost as disappointing as ‘The Land Before Time 16′.”

Recommended if you have a hole in your head.

Note: This review was originally published February 16th, 2008

Charlie Wilson’s War is like a bowl of excellent vanilla ice cream. All the ingredients are of the highest quality, no expense has been spared, and the culinary talent on display is superb. In the end, though, it’s just plain vanilla.
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When Joel and Ethan Coen’s names pop up in conversation, most people are likely to talk about their dark masterpiece Fargo, their mind-bending comedy The Big Lebowski, or their latest Oscar winner No Country for Old Men. In a canon of films that features such masterpieces as these, a few things are bound to get lost in the shuffle. The Man Who Wasn’t There is one of those films. In fact, as of a few weeks ago, it was the only film of theirs that I hadn’t seen.
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MovieZeal will not typically be a place for personal posts, but this is an exception to the rule.

My second child (but first son), Jacob Emory, was born yesterday morning at 11AM, weighed 7lbs 8oz, and was 20 inches long. He has a grip of steel and latched onto anything he could wrap his tiny fist around. Hopefully he will use his powers for good and not evil. Both he and mom are doing great. As you can imagine, I may be out of pocket over the next few days, but will be back up and running in no time.

O Brother, Where art Thou? is, unfortunately, a film that’s gone the way of Flashdance and Saturday Night Fever—in other words, its own fame has been greatly eclipsed by that of its soundtrack. This is unfortunate, since O Brother is, in and of itself, a fantastic film. It’s arguably one of the Coen’s most universally palatable as well—the shticky comedy can be a matter of taste, but the story—which was adapted from Homer’s Odyssey—is universal, as are its themes of faith vs. skepticism, and its performances are all top-notch. The soundtrack is good, to be sure, but it’s all the more transcendent in its original context.
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Editor’s Note: This is our first guest article in April’s celebration of all things Coen, and it’s a doozy. Daniel Cook Johnson from the eminently readable film babble blog has dissected the musical vernacular of the Coen’s longtime collaborator Carter Burwell to the nth degree. Dig into his fantastic sonic breakdown of their first 6 films, and be sure to ride the innertubes over to his site. It’s worth a hallowed spot in your RSS reader.

PART I: From the Dark Debut To The Snowblind Breakthrough (1984-1996)

Even the most casual Coen brothers fan has to know how pivotal and perversely precise their soundtracks have to be to match their meticulously crafted movies. To this credit – Carter Burwell, composer on all of their films, has consistently provided scores that are purposely powerful or seethingly subtle (or both) in the fashion of the old time masters like Bernard Herrmann (the Mercury Theater radio shows, Citizen Kane, all of Hitchcock’s films, etc.) yet with his own unique and knowingly contemporary edge. Scores aside, the Coens have utilized many famous and obscure songs from all genres in a Scorsesean manor – jukebox or sing-along tunes with familiar voices and beats that set tones, imply back-stories, and get us toe-tappingly into their tall tales. So let’s look back and listen up to the music in the entire Coen’s canon starting with their cheap but brilliant 1984 debut.
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Handful of B-movies and some documentaries. Pasty nerds, your weekend has come.

88 Minutes
He has 88 minutes to solve a murder. His own. (Make sure you read that last non-sentence in a distorted, sinister voice.) So goes the tagline for the latest variation of the clock-is-ticking action thriller. In this one, Al “Shylock” Pacino gets a sinister call about how some guy is going to kill him. Kind of like Speed, minus the bus. Or like 24, only (potentially) not as insulting to your intelligence.

Recommended if you liked Die Hard, Crank, or Phone Booth

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
From the “just because your movie is controversial doesn’t mean it was worth making” department: Intelligent Design proponent Ben Stein takes on the Darwinian establishment. Unfortunately, instead of fostering real, meaningful debate (something that this arguably warrants), he appears to have pulled out the ol’ guerrilla filmmaking shtick, and spends an hour and a half belittling Richard Dawkins. I have to say I’m glad to see the documentary is making a comeback as a genre…but at what cost, kids?

Recommended if you like Michael Moore’s whiny tirades, but wish they were, you know, more red-statey-er

The Forbidden Kingdom
Looks like a cross between The Karate Kid; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Matrix, and maybe that third Ninja Turtles movie that everybody hates? Seriously, I’ve seen the trailer like eight times and I still can’t figure out what this one’s about. Here’s all you need to know, though: It’s got Jackie-freaking-Chan in it. That alone makes it pure gold (let’s just pretend that Around the World in 80 Days never happened).

Recommended if you enjoy Jackie Chan movies or inspiring tales about The Power of Believing in Yourself

And, we scrape the bottom of the barrel after the jump…
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I have a confession to make. You know those Star Wars fanatics, the ones who have shrines full of action figures, act out scenes from the movie in full Jedi regalia, and can tell you the exact shade of red paint used for the call sign on the cockpit of Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing? Well I used to be the Aliens version of that. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say, I was hardcore.

So I was prepared to give the newest installment in Fox’s science fiction horror franchise the greatest benefit of the doubt humanly possible. Sure, the last Aliens vs. Predator flick was a neutered PG-13 mess, but I had heard good things about this one. Good things. I’m not sure who it was who told me those good things, but I need to go find them and slug them in the face.
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