David Haglund at Slate has the latest in an enjoyable debate on ranking the Coen Brothers movies from good to bad. IFC has a good read on the near impossible task. Haven't done a Coen movie marathon before, and it sounds just the thing to fill the short days with long hours.
The NYT editor guy reckoned Fargo was Death of a Salesman with a chipper, while I thought it was Burn After Reading which was Death of a Salesman with Langley. John Malkovich starred in the movie version of the play with Dustin Hoffman in the lead, so if anyone can channel Arthur Miller, it's Malkovich Malkovich. I hope his performance in Burn After Reading helped get him the role in the Reds movie too.
I haven't seen Hudsucker Proxy or A Simple Man yet, and only seen Miller's Crossing and Blood Simple once. I don't know if I've seen Intolerable Cruelty and I don't care if I never see The Ladykillers (Tom Hanks is not Alec Guinness). With those caveats in place, here goes:
1. "The Big Lebowski"
2. "No Country for Old Men"
3. "Raising Arizona"
4. "Barton Fink"
5. "Fargo"
6. "Burn After Reading"
7. "Miller's Crossing"
8. "Blood Simple"
9. "True Grit"
10. "The Man Who Wasn't There"
11. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
12. "A Serious Man"
13. "The Hudsucker Proxy"
14. "Intolerable Cruelty"
15. "The Ladykillers"
This list will no doubt be subject to flux and revision at a future date.
