Barton Fink review

Barton Fink is sort of the long-lost soul child to Adaptation. Yeah, that seems about right.
For a writer, the worst antagonist, enemy, and foe to do battle with is the blank page. Vast, blank, and intimidating. All those ideas that once bustled and inhabited the busy streets of your conscious mind have long since deserted you. And now you must face the dreaded blank page. The Coen Brother's 1991 film, Barton Fink, is kind of about the fearful blank-page battle. But it's also about so much more. The movie is about a somewhat successful playwright from Brooklyn in 1941, the titular character, Barton Fink (John Turturro). Barton is hired by a big shot producer (Michael Lerner) to write a write a wrestling picture over in Hollywood, despite having never worked on a movie before in his life. He's put up in a shoddy hotel with a nosy but kind neighbor named Charlie (John Goodman), who's "damned interested" in what Barton has to say. When Fink tries to write, he finds he's all blocked up. And that, is when the trouble really begins. I'm a little bit of a huge Coen Brothers fan. I even consider The Big Lebowski and Fargo to be two of my all-time favorite movies. So, it's no surprise to me how much I liked Barton Fink. I've loved practically every thing I've seen by The Coen's, but recently their style has changed ever so slightly. I really liked Inside Llewyn Davis, True Grit, and A Serious Man but they were all departures from the Coen's of Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Burn After Reading was the only one of their newer works to come close to the feel of their older stuff. Their newer films are really good, just different. Barton Fink feels very much like a movie made by Joel and Ethan Coen. I mean that as a sincere compliment. It's stamped with their trademark sharp dialogue (one scene involving private investigators was so funny and well written I practically burst out of my chair laughing) and strange characters, with their usual cool and inventive camera work. It's textbook Coen, yet at the same time it's one of the more original things they've ever done. It feels so much like them, but it's also very fresh and very new. Not that they are ever really stale and old. What I'm saying, is this is so very much a film by Joel and Ethan Coen, but it's not predictable and repetitive of their other works. Barton Fink is a very strange and surreal movie. The ending in particular is up for interpretation. I could go on for hours debating if it's a metaphor for Barton's inner mind or is it a metaphor for hell or what certain things mean, but what would be the point? It's a portrait of a writer, a funny cynical look at Hollywood, and a good old fashioned murder story all wrapped into one. It's like The Coen Brothers got together with Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder and made this movie. And the results are fantastic. In the film, Fink wants to write something from the depths of his soul that will change the way we watch movies and theater. He wants to create a whole new kind of theater for the common man, all while pleasing the critics. The big shot Hollywood producers want him to write a crowd-pleaser filled with all action sequences. The film of Barton Fink isn't exactly either of those, but it is a nice mixture of both. The entire movie is filled with great things. From the whip-smart screenplay to the highly impressive direction. The performances are top-notch too. John Turturro plays Barton Fink quite well and Michael Lerner is hilariously good as the over-the-top movie producer. It's John Goodman who really steals show. He plays a (seemingly) insignificant character by the name of Charlie Meadows, a traveling insurance salesman with stories to tell. Goodman is terrific in his roles and always fun to watch. He's no different here. In fact, I can count his performance in Barton Fink as one of his all-time best. He's that damn good! Michael Lerner was the only actor here who got an Oscar nod, but I think Goodman truly deserved it. Barton Fink is an undisputedly weird movie. It's surrealism and character study wrapped up in a slow burning murder mystery. In no way is it for everyone. The beginning starts off slow, but once it get's going, boy does it go. I really loved Barton Fink. It's not my favorite outing from the Coen's, but it's one I surely won't forget. Because not only is it entertaining and interesting, but it's a really personal film from them and that's partially what makes it so good. If anything, Barton Fink portrays the dreaded battle with the blank page very, very well.
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The Monuments Men review

Old guys going to war. Kind of like The Expendables. Except with classical art and more talented actors.
The Monuments Men is the true story of a bunch of rag tag art historians who went into battle grounds and Nazi salt mines to save and retrieve stolen statues, monuments, and ancient art. The movie revolves around Frank Stokes (George Clooney), who recruits his team to tackle this truly "monumental" job involving Rembrandt, Da Vinci, and Hitler. (See what I did there? Monumental. Monuments Men? Get it?). I have to admit, when I first heard about this movie, I was monumentally excited. It just seemed like such a monumentally awesome film (Okay, I'll stop with the 'monument' puns). I happen to be a pretty big fan of most of George Clooney's directorial efforts. I loved Confessions of A Dangerous Mind. The Ides of March was pretty damn good. I'd heard Good Night, and Good Luck was great also. I admittedly am also a big fan of Clooney in general. I mean, how can you not like the guy? He's smoother than extra smooth peanut butter and he is the essence of suave. The other parts of this movie looked great too. The rest of the cast, for one. Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, and that guy from The Artist. It also had a seemingly exciting premise. I thought it was going to be a major Oscar contender. How could this not be good? It was originally slated for a Christmas Day release date, as were many Oscar hopefuls, like The Wolf of Wall Street for one. Then it was pushed to early February. Often, when a movie is pushed back like that, it is very bad news. This means it probably wasn't good enough for the Christmas slot, so it got pushed to be released next to stuff like I, Frankenstein and the RoboCop remake. I kept my hopes up still. Even when increasingly negative buzz kept rolling in, my blind Clooney loyalty pushed those doubtful thoughts away. Well, I'll tell you that The Monuments Men is nowhere near as bad as some reviews say it is, but it's nowhere near as good as I expected either. The Monuments Men isn't the groundbreaking Oscar bait it was originally marketed as. It's much more of an Indiana Jones-meets Oceans Eleven-meets Valkyrie adventure film. Which is to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not a really good movie, but it has a lot of good things about it and it's enjoyable to watch. The best and most obvious strength the film has is it's impeccable casting. The cast here is nothing short of legendary. Older "classic" greats like Bill Murray and John Goodman going up against new Hollywood talents like Jean Dujardin and Matt Damon. The chemistry with all the actors is terrific. They work together like they've been working together for years, which in the case of Clooney and Damon, I guess is true. Goodman is his usual jokey self. Which I have no problem with. Murray plays his deadpan comedic role like he often does, but adds some real emotion in there. Murray definitely has real talent. It's just a surprise how seldom recognized he is for it. Clooney and Damon seem to coast by on mostly charm, charisma, and dashing good looks. I actually don;t have a problem with that. For this flick, charm and looks are all they need. I think the fault of this film was marketing it as an Oscar contender. It's much more of a fun adventure film in the vein of Indiana Jones and National Treasure. Not a dearth of substance, but a lot of fun. You get to watch all these big stars have fun finding treasured paintings and planning "heists". I ate it up. The film is far from perfect though. It sometimes drags a bit. It isn't a huge problem, but occasionally I found it could have some parts left on the cutting room floor. The movie also felt very fragmented at times. Scenes would jump back and forth very choppily, and the tone felt off. At times it felt like it wanted to be darker and say more, yet then it would revert to a jokier, lighter, and more action-y vibe. The script, written by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, felt stilted and very unnatural at other times. It did bother me some, but it wasn't a wholly bad screenplay. It just really didn't work at times. And it also took very little time to develop some of it's characters. Like Cate Blanchett's character for instance. We know she's some French art worker type, forced to work for the Nazis, with a brother in the resistance, but that's about it. One character, who shall remain nameless as not to spoil anything,  is developed so little that when he dies it seems like little more then to spur on the plot. It's actually fairly tasteless in that aspect. But otherwise I did thoroughly enjoy The Monuments Men. It was very fun, had a terrific cast, and dug up old memories of fun adventure movies and old treasure hunter novels. Clooney has a long ways to go as a director, but I did like this film. Sue me, but compared to some of January's more dismal releases, Monuments Men is thin shaft of hopeful light. It's just not as hopeful as I expected it to be. I will recommend this. Just keep your expectations low and try and enjoy it. I did. I give The Monuments Men 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies! Happy Viewing!          

Inside Llewyn Davis review

Movies like Inside Llewyn Davis are hard to write about.

Like many Coen Brothers films they're simple. Yet also complex on other levels. They definitely have a lot more to them than immediately meets the eye, but I can't figure it out exactly yet. And they're really good. It can be hard to express how you feel about a movie a lot of times without sounding cliche. I'm trying to find what to say about this movie, but to be honest it's pretty hard for me. But I'll try. First off let me tell you what this here film is about. It takes place in 1960's New York. It's centered around a cynical young folk singer named Llewyn Davis (played by Oscar Isaac). Llewyn is what you'd call down on his luck. He doesn't have an actual address. He can't afford an address. He hops from couch to couch, sleeping at one friend's house at one night and another's the next. He lives off of the minimal money he makes off his musical gigs. Mostly playing at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. Llewyn's life seems to be an endless cycle of disappointments and obstacles, each seemingly worse than the next. His partner jumps off the George Washington Bridge. Gets his married friend pregnant. Accidentally lost his other friend's cat. Gets stranded on the highway on the way to Chicago. It seems like Llewyn Davis never catches a break. His whole existence is a pointless Odyssey. A Frodo without a mount Doom. A hero with no destination and no epic battle. Embarking on a journey to nowhere. An exasperated adventurer who just wants to sell his record. Davis isn't your classic hero. To put it in the words of Carey Mulligan's character, Jean, he's an asshole. Although you definitely feel for him most of the time, Llewyn Davis is the kind of guy you want to punch sometimes. Llewyn is a jerk, but his crappy circumstances are partially to blame. He reminds me a little of Larry Gopnik, the protagonist in the very underrated Coen Bros. movie, A Serious Man. They both have a lot of problems that seem to be unceremoniously dumped on their laps that they have to try and deal with. Their endings may not be happy, but they're story is certainly one worth telling. The Coen's are master filmmakers and I absolutely love them. The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Raising Arizona. The Coen Brothers are cinematic geniuses who have birthed an array of awesome films. Inside Llewyn Davis isn't their best, but it's still really good. Even if you had problems with the characters and the story (which I did not), you still can at least appreciate their darkly funny and sometimes somber dialog and their fantastic use of camera and editing. Many directors are great at say, directing actors, but they struggle in many other areas. Joel and Ethan Coen are pretty versatile in their skills. They direct the actors in such a way that they really get the most out of them, but they also create such a vivid world in which their movie takes place. For No Country they made this whole dangerous, dusty western atmosphere that fit the movie just fine. For Inside Llewyn Davis they have captured the whole 60's NYC folk scene perfectly. Not only that, but every emotion and aspect of Llewyn's life seems to be reflected into the film's setting. It all works really well. Granted, it's not a perfect film. It drags in certain spots and there are a few parts that are longer than they should be. Overall though, it was really quite well done. The acting was really terrific too. Oscar Isaac was fantastic as the title character. I remember seeing that guy in some really small roles but all I can say is, where has he been all this time. I suppose it takes the Coen's to really bring the potential out in an actor. Carey Mulligan is superb too as Llewyn's sometimes friend. Justin Timberlake was alright as Carey Mulligan's character's boyfriend, but he' yet to show he can really act. John Goodman shows up for a bit as a washed out jazz musician. He brings some laughs. Although then again, when doesn't John Goodman make you laugh? All that stuff is great, but I have to mention the soundtrack. Inside Llewyn Davis may not be the best movie ever, or even the best of the year. But it certainly has the best soundtrack in any movie I can remember. There are a lot of fantastic folk songs here. The movie is worth seeing for the music alone. Yeah, it's that good. Anyway, Inside Llewyn Davis isn't The Coen Brother's best, but it's still really terrific. I can't help but recommend it. I give Inside Llewyn Davis 4.6 out of 5 stars. Happy Viewing. Remember you can follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and make sure to like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies! 

By the way, I'm going to stop doing #tbt reviews so I can have more freedom to review more movies and not worry about what day to review them on. I'm also getting increasingly annoyed with the hashtag so that's a reason too. Anyway, Happy Viewing1 (Happy Holidays too!)