Sir, I am a true labourer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other men’s good, content with my harm, and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.
It is hard to find much positive to say about this movie. Jennifer Lawrence performed capably — certainly not to the standard of a true A+-lister, but capably — and there were a couple pretty entertaining set pieces. It is hard to believe this was not a Netflix movie with how heavily it skewed towards paint-by-numbers standards. But it was at least satisfactory in terms of letting Haley and I turn our brains off after an extremely hectic wedding weekend.
It is kind of funny to watch this film, six years after its release (and subsequent kerfuffle re: Sam Rockwell's character and what it means to write a redemption arc for a racist cop). Martin McDonagh certainly has a style; I think you can lodge many of the same complaints about this film as you can about The Banshees of Inisherin (the dissonance between black comedy and deep, human tragedy feels more like whiplash than one might hope). A keen analysis of Aaron Sorkin's work is that his dialogue only really works in settings where you expect everyone involved to be ultra-literate dorks with tremendous egos about what they do (c.f. The West Wing, The Social Network) and in much the same way I think McDonagh's tendency towards violence and shock only works to its full effect in something like In Bruges, where you are meant to feel the distance between the characters' relationship to violence and your own.
But there is so much to enjoy in this film: the terrific score and cinema work, McDormand's battleaxe performance, Harrelson's beautiful monologues. I do not think this was a Best Picture; it was still worth my time.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have watched this so quickly after The Spanish Prisoner and No Sudden Move; I think this kind of heist/neo-noir is, as much as I love it, subject to a bit of diminishing returns. To that end, I found myself disappointed with this to the extent that the "ploy" quickly became obvious, and once you know to watch for the trick you get more interested in the mechanics of the work than the work itself. This was ameliorated by an ending that I am sure many hated but I found deeply subversive, and revealing of the true nature of both protagonists.
Would definitely recommend, even if my sheer enjoyment was on the lesser side.
Committed performances and occassionally great direction do not do enough to rescue this series of terribly written plot points and character decisions, the egregiousness of which would have certainly been mitigated by a two-hour runtime instead of a seven-hour one.
Nobody going on a business trip would have been missed if he never arrived.
I really, really, really liked this film, and my only criticism of it is that the cool distance with which it operates makes it hard to love. Steve Martin is terrific, Mamet's dialogue is perfect — arcane and precise and distinct without detracting from your understanding of the events — and the progression of intrigue and revelation is masterful. The only fault I can assign it is that it lacks any sort of emotional resonance, which sounds like a more biting criticism than I mean it to be.
Highlights
Nobody going on a business trip would have been missed if he never arrived.
One of my all-time favorites, and one that I'm excited to rewatch in the years to come. Hackman with a terrific, gripping performance and a subject matter that only grows stronger with time, and a truly terrific closing scene.
This was not great cinema, but it was solidly good. The Coens feel a bit like Murakami when you watch a number of their works in succession: you start to recognize all of their characters as archetype (the cheating femme fatale, the powerless man who turns to crime, the bumbler, and so on) but you can find deep appreciation in the repetition and execution. Here in particular there are two things: the cinematography, stark and excellent (the black and white feels earned and not gimmicky), and Thorton's steely performance, in many ways what feels like an ideological prelude to his work in the first season of Fargo.
In order to achieve our mission, we will conduct our business with the following Code of Ethics in mind:
- Obey the law.
- Take care of our members.
- Take care of our employees.
- Respect our suppliers.
If we do these four things throughout our organization, then we will achieve our ultimate goal, which is to reward our shareholders.
This felt like the Coen brothers trying to do their version of Adam's Rib (and George Clooney doing his version of Spencer Tracy). I certainly liked it more than that film, even if I thought it was weak and diversionary. The script had a requisite number of eccentricities, the cast was pretty and charming, and the whole thing was a lovely time that was neither regrettable not particularly memorable.
To be embarrassingly candid, we didn't think through our initial strategy very well. We were caught completely by surprise. They were takeover professionals. We spend our time figuring out how to sell more handbags.
When I get emails asking for life advice, which I do every day now, I cannot give any beyond: Own something, make lots of decisions that have outcomes, try to be right 51 percent of the time, do that often, and repeat.
“Can you give us the three secrets of happiness?”
I said: “First, there’s no secret. Second, there’s not just three points. Third, it takes a whole life, but it is the most worthy thing you can do."
Wonderful and silly, like a very low-stakes live-action anime: there's a rich and inconsistent (but delightful) world, an emphasis on laughing with over laughing at, and a bunch of weird vampire stuff. It is not High Comedy and it is not perfect but I struggle to think of a single episode that we regretted spending the time to watch.
Well, if it's not biography; and it's not literary criticism; and it's not scholarship... what is it? And the answer appears to be poorly structured, rambling, fandom.
Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
