Week 9 - The Coen Brothers

Ethan (left) & Joel (right)

The Coen brothers are Joel (born 1954) and Ethan (born 1957) Coen. They are a screen writing team and a movie directing duo. When their movies come out, there is always a big media buzz. Their screenplays are often funny and bizarre and occasionally violent. A Coen Brothers' movie is almost certainly a candidate for one or more Academy Awards. "No Country for Old Men" (2007) was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, winning four, including for Best Director and Best Picture. The Western "True Grit" (2010) was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning none. Their early movie "Fargo" (1996) is the one that made their names known to the world. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning two. It is difficult to describe most Coen Brothers' movies, as they don't easily fall into a genre, with the exception of the Western, "True Grit."

* Actress Frances McDormand often appears in Coen Brothers' movies. She is the wife of Joel Coen. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1996 for her role as a pregnant policewoman in "Fargo." She won a second Academy Award for her role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" in 2018.
* Famous actors that often appear in Coen brothers' movies are Steve Buscemi, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, John Goodman, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and John Turturro. When they appear in a Coen brothers' movie, you can be sure the character will be a memorable one.
* The comedy "The Big Lebowski" is a unique and strange movie that grows on you over time. It was not a popular movie when it came out in 1998. However, people who watch it again and again have grown to love it for the strange and enjoyable characters. It is now a cult favorite, and the characters created by Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro have become movie legends and internet memes.
* Joel & Ethan Coen are listed as co-writers of two recent important movies, "Unbroken," a movie directed by Angelina Jolie about a former Olympic athlete who was a prisoner of war in Japan, and "Bridge of Spies," a spy thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and recently released.

Several of the Coen Brothers' movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about the Coen Brothers and their movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]

Coen Brothers Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb - Joel Coen
IMDb - Ethan Coen
Biography.com - Joel Coen
Biography.com - Ethan Coen

Links to trailers and clips from some Coen brothers movies:
Raising Arizona (1987) - trailer; comedy
Fargo (1996) - trailer; drama
The Big Lebowski (1998) - trailer; comedy; now a cult favorite
      The Big Lebowski - clip; "Where's the money?" scene
      The Big Lebowski - clip; "Mark it zero!" insane bowling scene
      The Big Lebowski - clip; Jesus bowling scene
No Country for Old Men (2007) - trailer; thriller
Burn After Reading (2008) - trailer; comedy
True Grit (2010) - trailer; western
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - trailer; drama (with Justin Timberlake)
Hail, Caesar! (2016) - trailer; comedy
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) - trailer; starring James Franco, Liam Neeson

Also ...
Suburbicon (2017) (writing credit only; directed by George Clooney)

Top 10 Coen Brothers Movies - WatchMojo

Handout: True Grit (2010) and No Country for Old Men (2007)

To Do:
Make corrections to your movie review and post it on your blog. Your movie review should be posted and perfect before next week!

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0   The Godfather was released in 1972.  [Notice: The Godfather is the title.]

X   The Jaws was released in 1975.      [This is incorrect! The title is Jaws.]

0   Jaws was released in 1975.   [Use italics to show the title.]