TGDT - Round 2 - Clint Eastwood vs Joel & Ethan Coen

Eastwood: Mystic River or Letters From Iwo Jima
Coens: No Country For Old Men...I really want to see Fargo. <3 Frances McDormand.

Eastwood - Mystic River

Coens - Fargo.

Okay, I've procrastinated long enough.

I had to go with the Coen brothers. My love for The Big Lebowski is just too large to ignore.

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Originally Posted by turtlex

I think part of it for me was, though Eastwood is very good - he's yet to direct an uplifting or "positive" film yet and I wonder if he can. ( though, I guess, in some ways, Gran Torino could be considered uplifting ... but I'd be stretching to call it that ).

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How about Breezy (1973) ? That's kind of uplifting, though the positive is set against a very dark background. A film needs to have that to be inspiring, for me.
Like, I prefer Eastwood's patriotism over Spielberg's, if that makes sense.

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Gordie: I'm not sure it should be a good time.
Chris: You saying you wanna go back?
Gordie: No. We're going to see a dead kid... maybe it shouldn't be a party.

-- Stand By Me

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Out of curiosity, what do you consider to be the most uplifting film from the Coens?

I love just about everything from both of these contenders, (which makes this poll a super-tough one for me) but for the record The Hudsucker Proxy remains my favorite film, period. Look at that film, though. It's partly an homage to Brazil, though the gloominess of that film is not visible. It's a virtual model of the satisfying Hollywood film. At the ending

Hudsucker

there's a clear example of "the god in the machine." The happy ending comes out of a complete bending of reality.

At the other extreme, consider Unforgiven, which I still have to call my favorite Eastwood picture. That, too, is a movie about movies. It serves to dispell the "white hat" moral order of the early western and all of our comfortable notions on the meaning of justice.

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Originally Posted by Jean

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Originally Posted by Brice

I'm saving my vote for the last minute on this one.

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::hint hint::

O Brother, Where Art Thou

what can be better?

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*psst*
Pale Rider.

Seriously, I really enjoyed O Brother, Where Art Thou, but I enjoyed Pale Rider more.

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Originally Posted by turtlex

I think part of it for me was, though Eastwood is very good - he's yet to direct an uplifting or "positive" film yet and I wonder if he can. ( though, I guess, in some ways, Gran Torino could be considered uplifting ... but I'd be stretching to call it that ).

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Pam, I thought Heartbreak Ridge was actually a pretty positive film. Do you have any thoughts on that particular one?

The Rookie starring Eastwood and Charlie Sheen was another that was pretty good, and had a good ending to boot.

Sam - I love Pale Rider. Very underrated film.

Clint Eastwood: Pale Rider

Coens: The Ladykillers

I love the Coen brothers, but they've had some misses for me too.

Burn After Reading comes to mind. I also didn't really like O Brother Where Art Thou.

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Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle

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Originally Posted by turtlex

I think part of it for me was, though Eastwood is very good - he's yet to direct an uplifting or "positive" film yet and I wonder if he can. ( though, I guess, in some ways, Gran Torino could be considered uplifting ... but I'd be stretching to call it that ).

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How about Breezy (1973) ? That's kind of uplifting, though the positive is set against a very dark background. A film needs to have that to be inspiring, for me.
Like, I prefer Eastwood's patriotism over Spielberg's, if that makes sense..

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re: Breezy. Sorry, I've never seen it. And, dare I add, never even heard of it.

re: Eastwood/Spielberg's patriotism. I love that way of stating it.

Sam ... Heartbreak Ridge? With Mario Van Peebles? Where he plays like Gunny Highway or something like that? With Marsha Mason?

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Originally Posted by Still Servant

I love the Coen brothers, but they've had some misses for me too.

Burn After Reading comes to mind. I also didn't really like O Brother Where Art Thou.

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I've noticed that a couple of the Coen films fail to impress me upon my initial viewing, but I come to appreciate them much more with each subsequent viewing. OBWAT is one such film. It also boasts my favorite Clooney performance.

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Originally Posted by turtlex

re: Breezy. Sorry, I've never seen it. And, dare I add, never even heard of it.

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Oh, there's nothing wrong with that; it's old and obscure, definitely a period piece, hardly acclaimed... but I like it. I really only brought it up, though, because of what it shows about Eastwood's personality and the course of his evolution as a director.

Still, please try to let me know what you think, if you should ever happen to come across it. :)

I love the Coen brothers for Raising Arizona. It's not got the gravitas of some/most of their other films, but it's comedy genius and I think that's very hard to achieve. American comedies are a penny a dozen, but so much crap gets through the net that to be genuinely funny and clever is rare, imo.

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Originally Posted by feverishparade

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Originally Posted by Still Servant

I love the Coen brothers, but they've had some misses for me too.

Burn After Reading comes to mind. I also didn't really like O Brother Where Art Thou.

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I've noticed that a couple of the Coen films fail to impress me upon my initial viewing, but I come to appreciate them much more with each subsequent viewing. OBWAT is one such film. It also boasts my favorite Clooney performance.

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I agree with that. I remember watching Braveheart with my Dad when it came out. I was 15 and I remember being bored to death. Once I got older, I learned to appreciate different aspects of film. Now, Braveheart is one of my favorite movies.

I saw OBWAT when I was 20. My movie pallet was just developing to the point where it's at now, but it wasn't quite fully developed. Maybe I should go back and watch it again.

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Originally Posted by Still Servant

Now, Braveheart is one of my favorite movies.

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You know this scene:

Robert the Bruce: Lands, titles, men, power, nothing.
Robert's Father: Nothing?
Robert the Bruce: I have nothing. Men fight for me because if they do not, I throw them off my land and I starve their wives and their children. Those men who bled the ground red at Falkirk, they fought for William Wallace, and he fights for something that I never had. And I took it from him, when I betrayed him. I saw it in his face on the battlefield and it's tearing me apart.
Robert's Father: All men betray. All lose heart.
Robert the Bruce: I don't wanna lose heart. I wanna believe as he does.

I used to have that whole thing memorized and I would often recite it at parties and family gatherings. Mainly just to piss my sister off. She hates when I do stuff like that.

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:clap: "I love that film too". :) I love too that you recite it here for us. thank you! :fairy:

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Originally Posted by Darkthoughts

I love the Coen brothers for Raising Arizona. It's not got the gravitas of some/most of their other films, but it's comedy genius and I think that's very hard to achieve. American comedies are a penny a dozen, but so much crap gets through the net that to be genuinely funny and clever is rare, imo.

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Very well put , Lisa. What I love about Raising Arizona is that it's a comedy with heart and soul. The occurrences in the film are not just there to move the characters from one fart joke to the next, but it helps us to see the transformation of H.I from inmate to husband and loving father figure. I also loved that the Coens decided to personify HI's past / former self in the form of a bike riding, dynamite throwing bad ass :lol: He literally had to overcome his past self. It's just a great, great film.

My dad used to go to the same bar as the badass biker guy.

Joel & Ethan Coen advance !

good