Posted on 03/02/2016 9:57:04 AM PST by Rummyfan
On the eve of the Oscars, here's a new film from the Coen brothers that's far droller and more genuinely subversive of Hollywood than the self-serving leaden propagandizing of Trumbo. As producers, directors, writers and pseudonymous editors, Joel and Ethan Coen have spent their careers successfully mining a contemporary seam of old-time studio forms such as screwball and noir. This time they have to be proficient at every genre - from elegant drawing-room comedy to splashy aquatic musicals
Hail, Caesar! is a day in the life of a 1951 studio fixer called "Eddie Mannix". There once was a real-life Eddie Mannix who performed for decades the same services for Louis B Mayer at MGM, deep-sixing such image complications as Greta Garbo's lesbian flings and Joan Crawford's low-budget porno past. The actual Mannix was a tough cookie who, according to persistent rumor, arranged his first wife's fatal car accident and the suicide of his second wife's lover. The Coens' Mannix, despite the dark period physicality of Josh Brolin, is an altogether more benign and indeed moral figure, a straight shooter on the square. What they took from the original is his terrific name and the scope of his job. This particular day in 1951 offers a typical range of problems for Brolin's Mannix: a brassy bathing beauty with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, a sword'n'sandals hunk with a lavender-perfumed past, a singing cowboy having a tough time wrapping his twang around Noël Coward dialogue...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
“”Gasbaggy fathead is his forte,” added Ethan.”
LOL
My wife and I loved the film. It is the only Hollywood production that I have ever seen that portrays Communist Hollywood screen writers as villains and not victims of some horrible injustice.
It must have an enormous plot, or Mark Steyn gave the whole thing away. Still a must-see, though.
I thought this was gonna be a Trump thread!.....................
I loved it too. I smiled and chuckled throughout. Steyn is correct about George Clooney being a wonderful comic actor.
Were there a lot of classic cars in the movie?
It’s a wonderful film - especially if you know and love the old studio system film genres and their conventions.
Reminds me of the Parker/Stone promo tour of "Team America". They said Alec Baldwin kept calling them up to do the voice of their "Alec Baldwin" in the movie. "Alec, you don't get it...we're making fun of you and fellow travelers..."
I'm not surprised -- I got talked into going and fell asleep before the yawnfest was half over.
Yes there were a lot of classic cars. There were a lot of references that fans of old movies will get but not a lot of other people in the audience will.
Not much for subtle literate comedy? Not enough pratfalls?
One has to be clueless to believe what they believe in the first place : )
SMOKE AND MIRRORS .... HOLLYWOOD!
Reminds me of the Parker/Stone promo tour of “Team America”.
“You guys are even dumber than we gave you credit for”
Sounds like one to see.
I’ll add an enthusiastic recommendation, although I should note that in general I am a Coen brothers fan. The main character, while wealthy, is in the end an ordinary middle-class guy devoted to his family. And as someone who has read a lot of Marx, Marxist literature and the non-hagiographic history of Marxist governance to teach about the topic, I also got a kick out of the screenwriter-kidnappers, and the Clooney character’s daft take on class struggle.
I want to use you as a barometer (if you don't mind). What movies do you like?
I agree with him. If George Clooney would stick to comedy and steer the hell away from politics, he’d have a much brighter career.
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