For Coen Brothers fans: Is This A Good Set? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Let me start by saying I own this set:




I saw that A SERIOUS MAN was on sale for under $8. Never saw this film. Some good reviews on it.

Then I saw THIS SET....



https://www.amazon.com/Coen-Brother...&sr=8-1&keywords=the+Coen+brothers+collection

It's an import, under $20, has A SERIOUS MAN, and a bunch of other titles I have not seen (sans THE BIG LEBOWSKI).

How are these titles in the Coen Brothers universe?

 

[Robert Crawford]

The dark humor in those Coen films might be funny to you or maybe not. For under $20 take a chance. If it was me, there are four titles that I liked from that box set.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The dark humor in those Coen films might be funny to you or maybe not. For under $20 take a chance. If it was me, there are four titles that I liked from that box set.

Which four in particular, Robert? In order of preference, please.

I am going to order this. Why not. $20 bucks for all these films is a steal.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Big Lebowski
Burn After Reading
Intolerable Cruelty
Barton Fink

I've never seen A Serious Man in its entirety so I can't recommend it because of that fact.

Caution, again, the black comedy in these films might be funny to you or they might not be.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Ron,

By the way, I only had one of those titles on BD so I bought that box set, but I bought it from Amazon UK because it was only $15.83 there with no sales tax and shipping included.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I love The Big Lebowski and really like Burn After Reading, but have not seen the other films in that set. For the price, it's worth the gamble, IMO - - especially if you enjoyed the films from the other set.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I love The Big Lebowski and really like Burn After Reading, but have not seen the other films in that set. For the price, it's worth the gamble, IMO.

Again, if you're not in a hurry to have them in the next couple of days. It's more than $5.00 cheaper if you buy it from Amazon's UK site.

 

[Matt Hough]

Barton Fink won the big prize at Cannes and its lead actor won for his performance as well. It's a cockeyed kind of movie that may or may not be your cup of tea, and even I, who loved it on first viewing, have different reactions to it (sometimes negative) when I rewatch it.

The star power of Intolerable Cruelty is undeniable, but I didn't enjoy watching the back-and-forth treachery. Again, though, it's a movie very dependent on YOUR mood when watching it.

Anxious to hear Ron's takes on these films.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have to admit looking at Zeta-Jones made watching Intolerable Cruelty a lot easier.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The Coen Brothers films definitely can be divisive in the opinions they create. Even those of us who consider ourselves fans of their work probably do not like every film they have made. In my case, I did not care for Inside Llewyn Davis and was lukewarm on Hail! Caesar, while my wife did not care for The Big Lebowski.

At the price of the films in the link Robert provided, though (a little over $3 per movie), even if there are one or two you do not like, it's still worth exploring the films at that price if you enjoyed all or most of the movies from the other set. I may order the set from Robert's link to try out the three films I have not seen -- I can always sell my existing copies of Burn After Reading and The Big Lebowski to make the set even more attractive price-wise.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I will keep the order from Amazon. I am paying $5 more, but getting it quicker. Still a bargain.

Looking forward to watching some of these films.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I just placed an order from Amazon.uk for the set, as I am not in a hurry to get these so would rather save the $5. Thanks for mentioning the set, Ron, and thanks to Robert for the suggestion of the alternate purchasing source.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Wow. So glad I started this thread. It looked like a great set, and apparently, many of you thought the same, too.

I am only keeping my order with Amazon because I don't mind spending $5 more on it, and, if there are any shipping issues (aka damage) I can easily deal with Amazon domestically.

However, by all means, I think going with purchasing via the U.K. is a great choice.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

 

[CraigF]

What is "remarkable" about that UK set is it has been available for $7.50 (plus shipping), I think it's around the BF/Christmas period for several years that it's around that price. Crazy!, like a lot of UK sets compared to here (e.g. the Bourne and M:I 4 movie sets). I too still haven't watched A Serious Man, and already had Burn After Reading and at least two copies of The Big Lebowski; it was the other two movies that were quite expensive here at the time that I was really getting the set for.

 

[David Norman]

It's so hard to recommend Coen Brothers to people you don't know their tastes.

Personally I'd get both boxes esp if you can find a $10-12 deal on the UK set, but IMO the US has the better films with 4 out of 4 being being excellent. I prefer Raising Arizona to Big Lebowski. The only real downside to the US set is whether you'll want to bump the Blood Simple to the Criterion release though if you're not sure the boxset version might be the easier point to decide on a double dip or not.

The UK set is more of a mixed bag with 2 excellent (Barton Fink and A Serious Man), 1 highly thought of comedy though less my tastes than others, and 2 very mixed bag fillers. I like Int. Cruelty better than most people apparently though it's certainly not War of the Roses and Burn After Reading is OK in my book. I do know a lot of people don't like the odd darkness of the 1st two and many really dislike the last two, but think Big Lebowski is the best comedy of the decade.

 

[battlebeast]

A Serious Man Is a good film. Weird, but good. And very Jewish. Not meant in a bad way, it's just... that's how the film was written. Jewish themes abound.

I didn't like or hate it; just very... weird.

 

[bujaki]

A Serious Man is inspired by The Book of Job.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

A Serious Man is inspired by The Book of Job.

And also their personal experiences growing up Jewish in the middle of the country. It is a film that may be much funnier to a person that has shared a similar experience...to me it sort of seems a much more personal film than you normally get from the Coens but I seem to find all of their work very entertaining. I'm not Jewish but still found it very funny.

This is why I feel like commenting on if somebody should pick-up a Coen brothers set is something I just can't really do. I love their films and find them to be two of the best people making motion pictures today. So, I have a rather large bias in this case.

I do think that from Burn After Reading going forward there is a bit of a shift in their style that some people have found more hit or miss...I guess I would describe it as a bit more detachment and things become even more droll which maybe some people feel is more cold. They do seem to sort of become a little more cruel to their characters as well in that they all seem a bit more tortured by their lives and world.

 

[Lord Dalek]

The thing about the Coen brothers is they never make the same movie twice in a row so its really hard to get a general grip on their style. "Basically make up your own mind" is the only advice I can give as a result.