¡Salve, César!

The Coen Brothers are heroes of mine. They travel from universe to universe remaining true to themselves. Hail, Caesar should have been , I thought, a familiar universe for them but they seem lost. A journey without a clear destination. There are, of course, a few pleasures along the road. The scene between Alden Ehrenreich and Ralph Finnes is a gem. Alden Ehrenreich is a breath of fresh air with vintage breezes that are exciting, compelling and totally disarming. The tap dance routine with Channing Tatum is also a lot of fun even if I can't quite get Channing Tatum. Great body and he can dance but he seems to be somewhere else. Impossible to connect on the screen with him. I hear he gets millions of dollars per movie so maybe it's just me. The opposite of George Clooney who launches himself body and soul to every moment he has on the screen. I will shut up now and wait for the next Coen Brothers movie.

Sure, a lot of people hate this movie, and I get it, it isn't for everyone. Your enjoyment of the film solely depends on your sense of humor, expectations, and background knowledge of Hollywood films of this era.

I had read into this film a bit before I saw it, and therefore my expectations were pretty much surpassed. I already knew that there wasn't going to be much plot and that a lot of the big name actors and actresses in the film were in it very little. But, no matter how negative some of the criticism I heard, I still eagerly wanted to see it. And I did see it, and I loved it!

One of the main reasons why I enjoyed it so much was because of my previous information of classic filmmaking. I knew plenty about classic epic, musical, and western cinema, and there's plenty of nods to various filmmaking techniques of that era that I noticed. A lot of this film kind of feels like it was made back in the 50s, so I have to give credit to the Coen brothers for that.

My biggest complaint was how little screen time various actors got. Many of the people who were top billed are barely in the film at all. I mean, Jonah Hill is literally on the POSTER and yet he was in the film for hardly even a minute! Couldn't his part have been a bit longer? Or maybe he simply shouldn't have been on the movie's poster! Other actors/actresses were in it disappointingly little to, such as Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, etc. However short their appearances may be, all of the performances are extraordinarily well done, which is why I wanted to see more of these actors in the first place!

Other flaws I found were rather minor. Certain gags went on a little too long, although pretty much all of the gags worked very well for a remainder of their existence. There also isn't much of a plot for a lot of the film. While there is SOMETHING resembling a plot, there was very little of it. Of course, normally in a film (unless it is experimental or a documentary), I like a bit of plot and conflict, and in "Hail, Caesar!" there wasn't as much of it as the trailer may want you to believe. But, the film didn't really need much of a plot to keep me hooked and entertained.

There certainly were more positives than negatives from my point of view. When a gag in the film worked, it worked extremely well. And the entire film is shot beautifully as well!

There's plenty of entertainment value to be had. There's a bit of comedy, mystery, music, and even some elements of drama. I enjoyed "Hail, Caesar!" quite a bit, and look forward to seeing it once again in the near future! While there are a few problems, all the positives make up for them really well! This is a great satire that I'd recommend to people who really appreciate older films, have a somewhat dark sense of humor, and don't mind a film with very little plot

Review: I'm usually a fan of these type of quirky movies but this film was all over the place! There was so much stories going on at once, so it was pretty hard to follow and I wasn't that impressed with the different characters that kept on getting introduced throughout the movie. George Clooney's weird face expressions made me laugh in a few of the scenes and Tilda Swinton, who played the twins Thora Thacker/Thessaly Thacker, also was quite funny but I didn't really see the point of some of the characters. Jonah Hill (Joe Silverman) and Ralph Fiennes (Laurence Laurentz) are only in a couple of scenes, and the main character, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) just seems to be running around, trying to keep everyone happy. The movie is based in a movie studio during the 1950's, and it follows Eddie Mannix, who is trying to find a big shot actor, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), who has been kidnapped by a bunch of writers. While he is on the hunt for Whitlock, who is being held for a ransom of $100,000, Mannix has to make sure that the big budget movies that are being filmed, are under control, and he has to handle the press who are constantly on his back for information. The period was portrayed quite well throughout the movie, and Josh Brolin played the lead quite well but it was hard to find a point to the whole project. There wasn't much of an ending to the various stories and no one seemed that bothered about Baird Whitlocks random disappearance. With all of that aside, it's a still a watchable movie, because you don't know what directed the plot is going to take from one scene to the next but I still expected something special, once I saw the cast. Its not the type of film that will go down as a classic but I have to commend it for it's originality and witty script. Watchable!

Round-Up: After watching many of the Coen Brothers work, I was really looking forward to this movie but it didn't live up to its expectations. There first movie came out in 1984, called Blood Simple, which was followed by Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and the Hudsucker Proxy. They then hit the big time with Fargo, in 1996 and then came the brilliant, The Big Lebowski, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After that came O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, Paris, je t'aime, No Country For Old Men, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit and Inside Llewyn Davis, which all made a profit at the box office and established there name in Hollywood. All of the A-list stars want to work with them, mainly because of there unique style and approach to film making. I wouldn't say that this film is there best work but it won't damaged there reputation as great film makers.

Budget: $22million Worldwide Gross: $63million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their mystery/comedies, starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Riennes, Alden Ehrenreich, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill, Veronica Osorio, Alison Pill, Chrisopher Lambert and Clancy Brown. 5/10

It looks so good. Really, the feel of 1950s Hollywood has never been better, the photography is first rate with a stellar cast directed by the popular and very much held in esteem COEN BROTHERS. Trailer made it look like an fun Frank Capra kind of film. And when we walked out of it, given all the above, we missed something. A movie. There is none here. It is a great job made by talented people aplenty. It wants to be that fun film but never finds the movie. A few jokes. Not enough. Quirky fun characters, but not weird enough. Sublots aplenty, but they never run together and never are resolved. Good acting that goes nowhere. This fine film is just a bunch of dead end streets that are way too short with really interesting stuff on the side of the road but no intersection.

Neil Simon was given script advice once that all the characters have to meet in the play AT LEAST ONCE. Here, none meet at all. They have the subplot and that is it. Ending was weak too. Meh.

Caught this at a screening the other night, and wasn't very impressed. The laughs are infrequent, and it's downright boring in stretches. It does have its moments, though: My favorite was Brolin trying to get reassurance from an array of religious leaders that his new biblical epic won't offend anyone. And Ehrenreich, who I'd never heard of, was great as the clueless but sincere rodeo expert who has somehow fallen into serious act-ting... much to Ralph Fiennes' chagrin. Who knew a line like "if only it were so simple?" could generate such hilarity? Such moments are few and far between, though.

Overall, this is a C+ flick - I think it's getting over-rated by critics just cuz of the Coens' name. It's one of their weaker efforts.