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Hail, Caesar! (2016)

DollEyes

By DollEyes
in Movies

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DollEyes

DollEyes

(edited)

  Here's the thread for Hail, Caesar! the upcoming Coen Brothers epic due out next year about a fictional old-school movie studio whose leading man gets kidnapped and hilarity ensues. The all-star cast includes George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton & Frances McDormand, aka Mrs. Joel Coen. Here's the trailer:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqeoW3XRa0

Edited by DollEyes
AimingforYoko

AimingforYoko

Look, just because a man has another man's crotch in his face does not mean he's gay. Sometimes situations just come up at work.

Quoting myself here, to say: OK, he actually did turn out to be gay. And a commie.

I couldn't tell if this was a love letter to the old studio system or they were making fun of it. It was quite funny, however.

ZoqFotPik

ZoqFotPik

(edited)

 

Where was it revealed that Burt was gay?

 

He may not have been gay, but he was in a sexual relationship with Laurence Laurentz( Ralph Fiennes). Thora was going to publish a story about Baird Whitlock stating that he got his first role by sleeping with Laurentz. She knew that through Burt, who Mannix knew was Laurentz's current fling. I can't remember the name of the movie something about eagles I think, but that was the story that Mannix kept saying had been going around for years and was untrue.

Edited by ZoqFotPik
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GreekGeek

GreekGeek

 

I couldn't tell if this was a love letter to the old studio system or they were making fun of it. It was quite funny, however.

Both, I think. I saw it Friday night and really enjoyed it; I only lost interest a bit when the Communists were rambling on. The spoofs of all the different types of movies were brilliant for an old movie buff like me. Hail, Caesar! (the Romans-and-Christians epic in the movie) was spot on. The upcoming Risen looks and sounds very much like it. The discussion with the assorted clerics was hilarious. Alden Ehrenreich was a revelation. I loved his elocution lessons from Ralph Fiennes. I would have loved to see more of Merrily We Dance--surely Hobie couldn't have gotten through the whole thing never saying more than a couple of words at a time! And it was good to see Josh Brolin in such a meaty role; he's usually played one-dimensional buffoons. Also liked the gay undertones in No Dames. It was the best use of double entendres since "Let's Duet" in Walk Hard (a nice under-appreciated spoof of troubled-musician biopics).

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Jan Spears

Jan Spears

(edited)

I saw it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. It's a send up of a 50s-era movie studio (M-G-M in particular) but an affectionate one. I think a person's enjoyment of it may depend in part on how familiar you are with certain stars from that era. I broke down the characters as follows:

George Clooney = Robert Taylor or any other actor from that era who played leads in over-the-top Biblical movies.

Alden Ehrenreich = Audie Murphy

Scarlet Johansson = Esther Williams but with the personality of Betty Grable or Betty Hutton grafted on to her.

Tilda Swinton = Variations on Hedda Hopper

Channing Tatum = Gene Kelly

The Scarlet Johansson aquacal number and the Channing Tatum sailors number were both great.

I loved the Scarlet Johansson character's predicament in the movie because that was 100% drawn from something that happened in real life in old Hollywood. (Won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil it for people.)

Edited by Jan Spears
SeanC

SeanC

When I went to Fandango to get show times, there were a lot of really negative reviews.  The advertising played up the broadest humor and left some people expecting more of a jokefest.  I think it's short-sighted to attract an audience that winds up being disappointed.

I expect their marketing told them that a more honest presentation of the movie was not going to attract more people.  Can you think of a film similar to this that had a better result?

Milburn Stone

Milburn Stone

(edited)

I can't think of a film similar to this, full stop.

 

I agree, which of course is what made it marvelous. I also agree the trailer was deceptive, and probably accounts for what negative reaction the film has received.

 

I found myself curious about one thing. Perhaps there's been an article about it. One fascinating thing about the movie is that the "real" scenes--the ones involving the house on the ocean, the submarine, etc.--were just as full of old Hollywood artifice as the films that Capitol Pictures was making. I.e., miniatures, matte paintings, old-style backdrops, etc. So here's the question. Did the Coen Bros. achieve their old Hollywood look using actual old Hollywood techniques, i.e. miniatures and matte paintings and painted backdrops, even though all this could be achieved more easily and cheaply today with digital graphics? Or did they very artfully use modern digital graphics to simulate the indelible look of miniatures and matte paintings?

Edited by Milburn Stone
methodwriter85

methodwriter85

(edited)

I liked Hobie and his little romantic date with the nice Italian woman. That was basically it.

 

I get that Cohen brother humor tends to be dry, but they really could have tried getting more of the tone they had in the No Dames scene. They played this entirely too straight, and there were just too many plots going on.

Edited by methodwriter85
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Milburn Stone

Milburn Stone

(edited)

I liked Hobie and his little romantic date with the nice Italian woman. That was basically it.

 

I get that Cohen brother humor tends to be dry, but they really could have tried getting more of the tone they had in the No Dames scene. They played this entirely too straight, and there were just too man plots going on.

 

I feel strongly that the part of the movie the Coens cared the most about was everything to do with the aggrieved millionaire Communists. And since that's the part  that was most interesting to me as well, I was fine with that. The whole idea of (formerly) talented writers working a couple hours a day at most, before knocking off for their martini lunches, all while making ungodly amounts of money and complaining that they're being exploited by the "capitalist bosses," is just so dripping with contemptuous Coenesque irony that I found the movie an utter delight. Everything else was just window dressing.

 

Unfortunately the preview served the movie poorly by making the window dressing look like it was the essence of the movie. The essence was elsewhere.

Edited by Milburn Stone
Milburn Stone

Milburn Stone

I didn't get the sense that the writers were millionaires.  The swank pad they were using belonged to an actor, after all.

 

I was exaggerating a bit to make the point. The point being, these writers are very very well paid. Their Communist ideology, for all its intellectual underpinnings, is clearly being driven by their sense of "grievance" that their bosses are making an even more unconscionable amount of money. Which is hilarious.

  • Love 1
Traveller519

Traveller519

I just got to watch "Hail, Caesar!" on the plane, and I loved it!

I identified with Mannix, as my job involves a lot of putting out fires on a daily basis and questioning if there's something better out there. I think the Coen's write characters that are questioning their plot in life, whether they realize it or not, so well.

I also liked how each of the actors was played as ultimately competent but lacking in some way. The Trailer makes it look like the laughs will come from, "look at all these dummies do dumb things." but that's not what actually plays out. They are all supremely talented in their own craft, and smart enough to be aware of their surroundings, but have their Achilles heal. Hobie (who steals the show for me), does his own stunts, and is genuinely talented, but he's not a thespian. Burt and DeeAnna are incredible at their choreographed performances, but their personal lives threaten their celebrity. Baird is incredibly affable and charismatic (so, basically Clooney) and smarter than he lets on, but easily won over by external forces. But each is determined both in their performance and in real life.

The speaking lesson, DeeAnna's recap of her personal life, No Dames, Baird and the Communists all play for great laughs too.

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