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Forty years old this year, the neo-noir Blood Simple marked the debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, and remains a captivating example of low-budget filmmaking.

To date, Joel and Ethan Coen haven’t made a pure horror film (though they’ve talked about it). Blood Simple, their 1984 debut, undoubtedly comes close. A neo-noir shot on a low budget, it shows that the writer-director brothers had their style down right from the beginning of their careers. Its script is witty and terse; its photography is fluid and stylish; its characters and tone are somehow both mundane and off-beat. Like so many of their later film, Blood Simple also defies easy categorisation; it’s a neo-noir, it’s a black comedy, and in several visceral scenes, dips gleefully into horror.

Much like Fargo or The Big Lebowski or any other thriller-infused Coen brothers film you could name, there are no criminal masterminds in Blood Simple – just ordinary,...

Perhaps the Coen brothers' most divisive film, 1991's Barton Fink was stuffed with symbolism and its ending left a lot of questions. Hot on the heels of the Coens' earlier successes like 1987's Raising Arizona, Barton Fink was an analysis of art itself, and the divide between highbrow and lowbrow entertainment. Though it was a financial failure, grossing only 6 million (via Box Office Mojo), it was a critical hit and landed the directing duo the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Though the Coens would create more popular and accessible art in the future, Barton Fink was an undeniable representation of their filmmaking style.

Impossible to fully categorize, Barton Fink was almost defiant in its use of multiple genres to tell its story. Mixing elements of noir, horror, comedy, and drama, the movie was a veritable pastiche of Old Hollywood and cinema itself. Now remembered as the celebrated auteur directors' most underrated movie,...

“It’s strange, but some movies present themselves almost entirely in your head.”—Joel Coen

“I’ll show you a life of the mind!”—Charlie Meadows, a.k.a. Karl Mundt, a.k.a. “Madman” Mundt

Everyone knows about the telegram. It’s an apocryphal Hollywood story, with the actual letter lost to time. But its recipient Ben Hecht quotes it in his memoir, A Child of the Century. The famed journalist, novelist and playwright was toiling away in New York when he received a missive straight from Babylon, courtesy...

20. The Godfather (1972)

Scene: The Horse Head

Video: http://youtu.be/VC1_tdnZq1A

It’s the sweeping epic that eventually spanned three films. But, without the sequels, the first still stands as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. The Godfather is a crime drama, a family drama, and a warped version of the American dream. The story focuses on the Corleone family, beginning at the marriage of his daughter, an expansive reception that serves as a wonderful introduction to the characters we would grow to love. Part of this intro is to demonstrate how ruthless the family could be if called to. Vito (Marlon Brando) will grant requests on this day, as it is his daughter’s wedding day. One of those requests comes from Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), Vito’s godson and a professional singer. He wants to land a contested part in a film, so...

Over the past thirty years, the Coen brothers have succeeded in attracting an impressive array of acting talent into their decidedly unorthodox fold. With their offbeat methods and disarming charm, the brothers have been able to coax spectacular and often unexpected performances out of major stars and venerable veterans alike.

Working with the Coens seems to be a liberating experience which can redefine careers and alter perceptions. But for all their success, the Coens have remained steadfastly loyal to the nucleus of acting talent with whom they forged their reputation, maintaining this formidable core whose presence lends a comforting continuity to their work, and without whom no Coen brothers offering would be complete. They are built into the very foundations of the off-kilter and often unsettling universe the brothers have created.

The Coens’ repertory is a distinctive mix of character actors and indie stalwarts whose unconventional looks and versatility lend...

In the Coen brothers' excellent new film Inside Llewyn Davis, John Goodman plays Roland Turner, a jazz musician who travels with Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) to Chicago. Along the way, he berates Davis about his choice in genre, his goofy name and his pet cat. It's another memorable role for the veteran actor, who since the Eighties has become a staple in the Coens' arsenal. Rolling Stone recently spoke with Goodman about his long career working alongside the acclaimed filmmakers and the characters that have stuck with him all these years.

Barton Fink is one of my all-time favourite films. Its subtext is so deep, that it’s impossible to say that it has one overriding meaning. It is, after all, the mark of the Coen’s to produce a story that can’t be defined in a sentence, can’t be pinned down to a single controlling idea. Like the movies infamous Hotel Earle setting, a Coen Bros. film seems to be very much alive, organic and ever shifting. If you haven’t seen Barton Fink, or saw it once years back, then I suggest you hit your back button now; this article treats the reader as though they’ve watched and thought about the film, its story and its myriad of meanings. It’s also so rife with spoilers it reads like a crib sheet, so if you were hoping for a more impartial, review-like feature then I’m sorry to disappoint.

Gale Snoats, Charlie Meadows, Walter Sobchak and Big Dan Teague--these are memorable characters played by John Goodman in “Raising Arizona,” “Barton Fink,” “The Big Lebowski” and “O Brother Where Art Thou?” (he also made a brief cameo in "The Hudsucker Proxy") and he's set to make his first movie with the duo in over a decade. With Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan on board, and an offer out to Justin Timberlake (and if he's smart, he'll take it), Showbiz 411 reports that Goodman is joining the forthcoming "Inside Llewyn Davis." For the 'O Brother' actor it's a return to musical…...

by Jason Lees, MoreHorror.com

Between writing for this site, work, and being a poor college student and single father, I don’t have much time for variety when it comes to my personal entertainment. I love movies, especially my horror movies, so if I’m going to take the time to watch something, it’s almost always in my genre or something that my kid likes. Having said that, I’m also a huge Kevin Smith fan. I was in college (the first attempt) when his Clerks came out and it was the eye opener to indie cinema that changed the way lots of people saw film. Whether he wanted to or not, Smith became the poster boy for indie cinema.

A few years later Smith established a mini-empire with such comedy flicks as Clerks 2 and Dogma. He made movies pretty much for his fans, almost always showcasing...