Entertainment For Lively Minds
Consistently inconsistent
Posted by Charlie Gordon on 29 July 2009 - 10:03am.
Watching the Cohen brothers's brilliant "Miller's Crossing" last night and it occurred to me that you never know what you are going to get with them. One film it's the appalling "Ladykillers", the next one the superb "No Country for Old Men". Same with the genius of "The Big Lebowski" followed by the close-to-unwatchable "O Brother..".
Some have purple patches (e.g. Van Morrison in late 60s-early 70s) but who are the other artists who have the same maddening unpredictability? - Neil Young would seem to be one.
Excuse me if the subject barrel is being well and truly scraped and cleaned.
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I like the way that
with the Cohens one can agree and disagree simultaneously. I, too, love Miller's Crossing - it would be in my top ten, and yet I think Lebowski sucks whilst I enjoyed O Brother.
Yes it's a very strange list
Have you ever tried "The Man Who Wasn't There"? Stultifying but given ill-deserved gravitas by using black and white.
The Man Who Wasn't There
I seem to be one of the few that enjoyed that. Whereas I didn't really 'get' the much-loved Fargo.
I enjoyed that too
I thought Barton Fink sucked pizzaiolo's socks though.
Yup that one left me
thinking that the Cohen brothers do revel in their own cleverness.
Their favourite actor seems to be John Turturro which is a plus.
I think
the only time they've got it truly wrong was with the appalling Ladykillers. The rest are on a line somewhere good and bloody brilliant. Even the much maligned Burn After Reading sneaks into the good category for me.
Neil Young used to be inconsistent, but for a good decade now he's been consistently mediocre.
It's Coen Brothers
isn't it?
Yup
elementary really but still missed it
Elvis Costello ??
I believe EC simply releases too much stuff with the result that the often brilliant material gets swamped by the mediocre/p*ss poor. His concerts are alarmingly erratic too.
Mr. Cole
In the on-again off-again sweepstakes, I'd nominate Lloyd Cole, who had a knack for following the great (Rattlesnakes) with the half-hearted (Easy Pieces) so much so, I began to think it a deliberate career strategy. 1990's self-titled set raised a hearty "meh" between the much better Mainstream and Don't Get Weird on Me Babe, which was in turn followed by the lacklustre Bad Vibes and the, erm, 'return to form' Love Story. No wonder he gave it up for five years afterward; I was ready to join him.
lebowski im going to cut off your johnson
recently watched 'burn after reading' on dvd-great cast clooney, tilda swinton, john malkovich, jk simmons and brad pitt is also in it-utter garbage AVOID
havent seen 'intolerable cruelty'or 'the ladykillers' and nor will i
'raizing arizona' is completely overrated
'millers crossing' and 'no country for old men' are masterpieces
take your flunkee and dangle