Retreading Ground: The Best Coen Brothers Movie

[Iron_chet]

As a Chuck Pahlaniuk fan, I never could have imagined that Fight Club could be made into a decent movie. I think it's one of the rare instances where a great book became an even better movie.

Love the movie but hate the book. Reading Pahlaniuk makes me want to kill myself (which I suppose could be the whole point)

 

[Starman]

I was in a discussion about "The Grapes of Wrath" and the Coen Brothers were brought up as somebody who could do a credible job on a 2010s version (rated hard-R to reflect the original Steinbeck novel).

Talk about climbing Mount Olympus.

That would be a nifty thread all by itself: if you were trying to do over a true classic movie, and trying to do it straight (i.e., not as satire or camp), who would you pick as directors or cast?

 

[Dick Whitman]

I was in a discussion about "The Grapes of Wrath" and the Coen Brothers were brought up as somebody who could do a credible job on a 2010s version (rated hard-R to reflect the original Steinbeck novel).

Talk about climbing Mount Olympus.

That would be a nifty thread all by itself: if you were trying to do over a true classic movie, and trying to do it straight (i.e., not as satire or camp), who would you pick as directors or cast?

This might be a weird choice, but I'd like to see Gus Van Sant try to remake "Sunset Boulevard." His Columbine dramatization "Elephant" got a lot of comparisons to "The Shining" because the high school was filmed a lot like the Overlook Hotel. Drop the storyline about the romance with the D-Girl and make it even more claustrophobic - almost like "Misery." Keep it in that mansion as much as humanly possible. Maybe James Franco as the lead male, Kate Winslet as the lead female, and perhaps someone off the wall - Jackie Earle Haley? - as the weird butler. Martin Scorsese replaces Cecil B. DeMille. Perhaps make her a child star who hit the skids instead of a former silent film star, to make it more contemporary.

 

[Bubbler]

The alternate thread would be what movie classics could be royally forked up by the current crop of directors?

Michael Bay does Casablanca! Now with more CGI, more skin and Sand People!

Play La Marseillaise Tik Tok by Kesha. That's my jam!

 

[rico_the_redneck]

One of my favorite movies, for some weird reason, is The Family Man. I love Cage in it. It's one of the few times I've thought Tea Leoni was hot.

I just really like it.

Well said. Love this movie too - Cage and Leoni were both great ... This movie is special to the Redneck family. Wife and I saw it at the theater a day or two before Xmas 2000. Redneck baby No. 1 was right at full term and would be born ~10 days later. Now she's 11 and thinks she knows it all!

 

[Azrael]

While cataloging those who reach for the Coens, but cannot grasp, Charlie Kaufman deserves a mention for 'Synecdoche, New York.' Others might be Jeunet, Gondry and von Donnersmarck.

The greatest director of the age in which the Coens work was probably Krzysztof Kieslowski.

 

[RickStain]

As a Chuck Pahlaniuk fan, I never could have imagined that Fight Club could be made into a decent movie. I think it's one of the rare instances where a great book became an even better movie.

Love the movie but hate the book. Reading Pahlaniuk makes me want to kill myself (which I suppose could be the whole point)

I haven't read any of his other books, but I agree about that one. The writing was just terrible.

 

[Azrael]

The greatest director of the age in which the Coens work was probably Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Whenever I hear the words "fully realized masterwork," Kieslowski always comes to mind for "The Decalogue."

Kubrick is quoted as calling it the one film masterpiece made in his lifetime.

 

[Starman]

The alternate thread would be what movie classics could be royally forked up by the current crop of directors?

Michael Bay does Casablanca! Now with more CGI, more skin and Sand People!

Play La Marseillaise Tik Tok by Kesha. That's my jam!

Too easy; the answer is just about any classic movie by any current director.

It's actually a challenge to think of combinations that could actually work.

 

[waterytart]

The greatest director of the age in which the Coens work was probably Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Whenever I hear the words "fully realized masterwork," Kieslowski always comes to mind for "The Decalogue."

Scaling back to a mere trilogy, I thought Blue and White were both well-made, but I didn't quite connect with them. Then we saw Red and, when I still hadn't moved several minutes after the credits finished, my husband thought he was going to have to carry me out of the theater. I can't explain it; I was just pole-axed.

 

[Sammi]

1) Fargo
2) Fargo
3) Fargo

 

[Double Down]

David Fincher > Tarintino

Batman Begins > The Dark Knight

The Big Lebowski > Raising Arizona