Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Country: GB/US/JAP
Technical: col 106m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum
Synopsis:
Hollywood, the 1950s: Head of Production at Capitol Pictures fights with his nicotine addiction and assiduously attends confession, but finds a tough job made even harder when the star of the top picture in production goes awol on the penultimate day of shooting. It turns out he has been kidnapped by a cell of Communist scriptwriters who want their fair share of the fruit of their labours.
Review:
The ghost of Python is never far from this Coen brothers misfire, which is a bad enough sign in itself. The Robe, or other pictures like it, is travestied in the film within the film, while the musical numbers, which emanate from a more frivolous genre, are given adoring tributes; perhaps in mining Christianity, rather than their native Judaism, for insightful laughs, as well as a jokey personal take on the Red Scare, the genius writers have bitten off more than they can chew. Or perhaps they just recycle one two many of their past successes, from Barton Fink to The Big Lebowski, and every other cookie felony gone wrong that has dogged their oeuvre since Blood Simple. Meanwhile, Brolin, as the old time picture showman par excellence, the true architect of everlasting light, as their final flourish has it, is the solid, beating heart at the centre of a cast of cameos in search of a role, and of a tapestry of industry clichés in need of a laugh.
Country: GB/US/JAP
Technical: col 106m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum
Synopsis:
Hollywood, the 1950s: Head of Production at Capitol Pictures fights with his nicotine addiction and assiduously attends confession, but finds a tough job made even harder when the star of the top picture in production goes awol on the penultimate day of shooting. It turns out he has been kidnapped by a cell of Communist scriptwriters who want their fair share of the fruit of their labours.
Review:
The ghost of Python is never far from this Coen brothers misfire, which is a bad enough sign in itself. The Robe, or other pictures like it, is travestied in the film within the film, while the musical numbers, which emanate from a more frivolous genre, are given adoring tributes; perhaps in mining Christianity, rather than their native Judaism, for insightful laughs, as well as a jokey personal take on the Red Scare, the genius writers have bitten off more than they can chew. Or perhaps they just recycle one two many of their past successes, from Barton Fink to The Big Lebowski, and every other cookie felony gone wrong that has dogged their oeuvre since Blood Simple. Meanwhile, Brolin, as the old time picture showman par excellence, the true architect of everlasting light, as their final flourish has it, is the solid, beating heart at the centre of a cast of cameos in search of a role, and of a tapestry of industry clichés in need of a laugh.
Country: GB/US/JAP
Technical: col 106m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum
Synopsis:
Hollywood, the 1950s: Head of Production at Capitol Pictures fights with his nicotine addiction and assiduously attends confession, but finds a tough job made even harder when the star of the top picture in production goes awol on the penultimate day of shooting. It turns out he has been kidnapped by a cell of Communist scriptwriters who want their fair share of the fruit of their labours.
Review:
The ghost of Python is never far from this Coen brothers misfire, which is a bad enough sign in itself. The Robe, or other pictures like it, is travestied in the film within the film, while the musical numbers, which emanate from a more frivolous genre, are given adoring tributes; perhaps in mining Christianity, rather than their native Judaism, for insightful laughs, as well as a jokey personal take on the Red Scare, the genius writers have bitten off more than they can chew. Or perhaps they just recycle one two many of their past successes, from Barton Fink to The Big Lebowski, and every other cookie felony gone wrong that has dogged their oeuvre since Blood Simple. Meanwhile, Brolin, as the old time picture showman par excellence, the true architect of everlasting light, as their final flourish has it, is the solid, beating heart at the centre of a cast of cameos in search of a role, and of a tapestry of industry clichés in need of a laugh.