Hail Caesar - Coen Bros., February 5th

[AndyDursin]

Even as a Coen admirer this doesn't look promising. Intriguing concept but nothing remotely funny in the trailer at all.

More worrisome to me: early February release date, almost certainly a possible harbinger of doom as well.

[Monterey Jack]

More worrisome to me: early February release date, almost certainly a possible harbinger of doom as well.

Yeah, like that piece of crap Fargo.

The Coens have never made a movie I've disliked entirely (although the bizarre Barton Fink comes close), and all of their films get better with multiple viewings. I've learned never to trust trailers, especially for comedy films (21 Jump Street had a PAINFULLY unfunny trailer, and yet turned out to be surprisingly good), and I trust the Coens implicitly.

[AndyDursin]

FARGO came out in March, it wasn't the doldrums of early February.

The trailer notwithstanding -- I see a cast like that and they're dumping it out on Super Bowl weekend? Has 'misfire' written all over it...or at least a definite lack of confidence on the studio's part that nobody outside of Coen devotees is going to see it.

The Coens have never made a movie I've disliked entirely (although the bizarre Barton Fink comes close), and all of their films get better with multiple viewings. I've learned never to trust trailers, especially for comedy films (21 Jump Street had a PAINFULLY unfunny trailer, and yet turned out to be surprisingly good), and I trust the Coens implicitly.

They've produced their share of misfires IMO. I love some of their work -- not all of it.

[Paul MacLean]

I've only ever seen one of their films -- Oh Brother, Where Art Thou...and I fell asleep towards the end!

[mkaroly]

FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI are their two best films, IMO. With the latter film I could not stop laughing. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN was good too. I have seen a good majority of their films but those three I mentioned are their best from what I have seen.

[AndyDursin]

Love FARGO and BIG LEBOWSKI also. Would also add in HUDSUCKER PROXY and TRUE GRIT too on the next level. NO COUNTRY was terrific too.

[AndyDursin]

Amazing -- Universal put this under a review embargo, just like JURASSIC WORLD.

[AndyDursin]

Reviews are generally pretty good. Variety's line "as strange and singular an offering as anything the Coens have ever done" is likely why they withheld it from early reviews and chose to open it this weekend.

[Monterey Jack]

Seeing this with my Dad tomorrow...he loves O Brother, Where Art Thou?, so the Coen name was more than enough to get him interested.

[AndyDursin]

Saw a couple of good reviews from people who don't love every one of their movies (like me). Sounds fun!

[BobaMike]

I hope to see this soon- Scarlet Johanssen in a swimsuit was enough to interest me. I loved Hudsucker Proxy, so I hope this is at least as good.

[Monterey Jack]

7/10

One of the Coens' "Way Homer" movies ('cause you only get 'em on the way home [pops open beer]), Hail Caesar has plenty of stuff to recommend it (I'm sure that "Squint against the grandeur!" will join my personal collection of go-to Coen Quotes, and Channing Tatum's big musical dance number is marvelous), and yet, like most of their movies, seems like it'll take a few viewings to fully "click". Great cast, though, and it looks as gorgeous as you'd expect with Roger Deakins behind the camera. A minor Coen effort, but even their minor films have much to savor.

[AndyDursin]

MJ, as a Coen fan, you giving this a 7/10 means this is like a 4/10 for everyone else. No wonder why the audience marks are so low

[Monterey Jack]

Movies about old-timey Hollywood are never popular with the masses. As soon as a movie starts showing 40's or 50's studio backlots, the majority of moviegoers will automatically tune out. There aren't many people who give a damn about cinema made before the 80's at the latest, sad to say, and they care even less about movies about movies. Ed Wood is one of Tim Burton's best films, yet it made pennies at the box office.

[AndyDursin]

The problem here though is less that the movie isn't finding an audience (like Ed Wood) -- it's that the people who ARE going to see it hate it. I believe the oldest demographic score among viewers over 35 on Cinemascore was a D or D- which is a disaster. You don't typically see that, much less on a film that isn't a horror movie.

Not sure what it is about the film that turned off viewers but it's certain doom for word of mouth.