The Coen Brothers Have Directed Other Movies Besides This Movie
A Serious Man trailer, you guys:
This movie should be called Getting Old Is Weird, And Hard, And Lonely Sometimes, Even And Maybe Especially For Jews.
Normally, I expect movie trailers to entice me to see the movie based on the careful selection and editing of footage in a manner that is both surprising and familiar, with an emphasis on the aspects of the movie that will be entertaining and/or thought-provoking. Sometimes, maybe even most of the times, this is such a successful process that the trailer is much more enjoyable than the actual movie that it is advertising. Not so much here. Here it's more of a film student's senior thesis capped off with an excessive examination of the Coen Brothers' IMDB pages. Did you know that they also directed Barton Fink, MIller's Crossing, and The Hudsucker Proxy? True! They could have included those titles in the list at the end and everyone would have had to agree that the list was accurate.
That list was also made up of great movies! With the possible exception of Burn After Reading, which was kind of obvious and had too much yelling and cursing in it! But so maybe this movie will be great! It is incredibly hard to tell!
Posted by Gabe at 9:30 AM in Trailer
Tags: A Serious Man | Coen Brothers | Ethan Coen | Jews | Joel Coen
it looks decent, but yeah, burn before watching, am i right guys?
Score = 2
Agreed! Actually, if Burn After Reading was made by basically anyone but the Coen Brothers, it would have been a great movie. The Coen Bros. are really great, and I'm convinced BAR was made simply because they had a million celebrity, big name actors breathing down their neck to write a part for them and so they decided to cram it all into one movie and get it over with. Or at least thats what I hope, because BAR was a really bloviated, insipid joke on the viewer and a total waste of incredible talent.
Score = 1
I think Burn before Making would be more apt.
That said, I won't see this film right away, but it will show up on pay TV (HBO or whatever) and I'll see what's good then.
Score = -2
I disagree on two points:
1. While I do think the list of credits was excessive, it managed to grab my interest, and I dare say that without this trailer (and knowing it was directed by the Coens) the plot summary would make it sound like a tremendously dull film.
2. Burn After Reading was great.
Score = 16
Word.
Score = 0
Is it weird that I was kinda digging the rhythm of the guy being smashed against the chalkboard? It was kinda cool, the way it kinda created a song with the background noises. [Insert awful using the word beat]
Score = 10
[Insert awful PUN using the word beat]
Score = 4
Everyone likes a little beat behind their words. "Woman/Woe man/Whoa, man/ She was a thief/ You gotta believe/ She stole my heart and my cat." What's better than that?
Anyway, I thought this looked fine. Better than Paper Heart, at least.
Score = 5
Looks better than Paper Heart eh? Well, let's be honest, it's not that hard for a movie to look better than Paper Heart.
Oh man, all the Michael Cera lovers are gonna tear me apart!
Score = 1
I like the Coens a lot and this still strikes me as excessive. A simple "from the Coen Brothers" gets an instant "I'm down", no need to regurgitate IMDB
Score = 5
What's the rumpus?
Score = 3
Whats funny is I first watched this on AV Club and thought it looked awesome. Then I thought, "hmmm, lets check Videogum. I'm sure Gabe has something snarky to say about this." I was right.
Score = 9
This looks lighthearted and whimsytastic!
Score = 0
I like how that guy had his haftorah portion branded into the back of his teeth, just like my friends and I do.
Score = 4
Burn After Reading was my favorite film of 2009. I went to see it again the next day, which I've never done and it was even better the second time. Brad Pitt with the hair, Malkovich with the anger, shorts and the "memoires", Tilda Swinton with the eyebrows... awesomeness.
Score = 7
I'm generally of the opinion that the Coen Brothers are at their best when George Clooney isn't in their movies, so this kind of checks out alright for me even as it seems like an odd cross between Woody Allen and Wes Anderson.
Score = 0
(INCIDENTALLY?????) Smiley Face Teeth figure heavily into a recurring nightmare of mine. Except in my dream, the smiles in the teeth have teeth of their own.
In essence, The Coen Brothers have distilled my nightmares and called it a film trailer.
Score = 3
I liked this trailer; at least it tried a different approach. However, the worry is that there's not much to the movie itself if the trailer is using the same 20 seconds over and over again.
And Burn After Reading would've been awesome if it, you know, had an ending instead of just stopping at the high point of the action.
Score = -1
I wonder if there will ever be a post on Videogum where the phrase "you guys" isn't used.
Score = -3
I'd watch a movie with the Coen brothers taking a crap on Ricky Gervais WHILE taking a crap on Ralph Fiennes.
Score = 1
No one will care about this movie for like 4 more lebowski fests.. then everyone will say how much better it was in the theatre.
Score = 5
I don't understand what people had against Burn After Reading. I guess it was slight for the Coen's in the sense that a lot of it was played for laughs (and funny movies are always not as good as serious movies, right Academy voters?), but I thought it was the funniest movie of 08. And if you didn't like the ending...then definitely don't go see No Country For Old Men.
Score = 4
behold.
also, yes, i'm a nerd now, greetings from the basement
Score = 1
SHITE! that was suppose to be a reply to Mr. Susan's comment, but... you know what? nevermind me, just pretend i'm not here, leave me alone, and i'll eventually go away
Score = 2
I think that character is a jewish version of George Castanza.
Score = 2
Castanza is pretty jewish to begin with.
Score = 2
Burn After Reading was pretty great. This looks weird, but I will see it because the Coen brothers are in general pretty great.
Score = 2
That's what I think everytime I see a Cohen bros. trailer, it's always hard to tell if it will be good from the trailer and almost always turns out to be good.
Score = 1
"Burn After Reading...had too much yelling and cursing in it!"
Clearly you've never seen "Fargo" or "The Big Lebowski". (yes, i did not include the part about the film being "obvious" because what the fuck does that even mean anyway? WRITING!)
Score = 4
I will now prove that this movie will be great:
Every Coen Brothers movie with the exception of Burn After Reading is great.
This movie is not Burn After Reading.
This movie will be great.
Ok seriously, this looks really good. Like a return to the Hudsucker Proxy / Barton Fink days. Which is odd, since those were two of their movies NOT referenced at the end of the trailer.
Score = 0
Burn After Reading was way better than the Ladykillers or Intolerable Cruelty, IMO.
Score = 2
That trailer blew my mind. If that's someone's senior thesis, then graduate them foolz SUMMA CUM AWESOME
Score = 5
Agreed, high fives all around, simply because they took what could be a formulaic trailer for a movie about getting old and cut it together to create a rhythm on the beats, suggesting a story we've heard before, but with some different beats (sorry).
Score = 1
Sweet trailer. Who knew you could put together a good trailer and not give away anything from the 2nd and 3rd acts of a movie? Here's to hoping for an great dark comedy from the Coens.
Score = 2
To me, this looks just like "Fargo" but without the crime, funny accents or Buscemi.
Score = 0
Very good trailer, doesn't give too much away. I'm willing to watch it although the film will remind me of my ex who happens to be jewish.
Score = 0