Blood Simple's Recent Activity - Spout

Film:Blood Simple

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:15:26 GMT

Title: Blood Simple
Year: 1984
Director: Joel Coen
Plot: In the first film of brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, M. Emmett Walsh plays Visser, an unscrupulous private eye hired by Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) to murder Marty's faithless wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and her paramour, Ray (John Getz), one of Marty's employees. But Visser is no more up-front with Marty than with anyone else; he makes some slight modifications of the original plan so that it better serves his own best interests. After a surprise double-cross and the murder of one of the important players, matters spiral out of control, and the plot gyrates through a complicated string of darkly humorous events. False assumptions, guilt, and fear all lead to a frantic attempt to conceal evidence and the heart-pounding, irony-filled denouement. Blood Simple was re-released in the summer of 2000 with a digitally-remastered soundtrack and -- at the Coens' behest -- a few minutes of dialogue trimmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 7
Number of Lists: 40
Number of blog posts: 8
Number of discussion threads: 11
SpoutRating: 3

Spout Post: Re:Which of these from Tim Out's list of 10 greatest directorial debuts of all time is your favorite?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:11:31 GMT

Post By: Dr_Gor
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 9/13/2009 9:11:31 PM
Body: [quote user="Risselada"] Please reference this thread for the rules of this group. Here is the link for the full list of Time Out's 50 greatest directorial debuts of all time Please vote only once in each poll. Movies referenced in this poll:The 400 BlowsL'AtalanteBadlandsBlood SimpleCitizen KaneThe Maltese FalconThe Night of the HunterNight of the Living DeadPerformanceThey Live By Night [/quote] Obviously I could only vote for one movie out of that list... George Romero is a GOD in the directing world and NOTLD is, quite simply, one of the best movies ever made... < GOR >

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for September 7: Infidelity

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:06:12 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 9/10/2009 2:06:12 PM
Body: [quote user="mercurial"] Awesome topic. Probably my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is Dressed to Kill. The first twenty, thirty minutes of the film is so insane, so mind blowingly intense - a woman in an unhappy marriage is hooked into a quickie with a stranger and . . . I can't say anymore because it's just so awesome you have to watch for yourself. True Lies had fun with the typical affair plot with Jamie Lee Curtis wanting more from her marriage and toying with the idea of having an affair with sleazy Bill Paxton. Of course there is Fatal Attraction which made every man think twice before committing adultery. Dave is a great film about the president of the United States having an affair and his staff having to cover it up in an absurd yet amusing way. Monsoon Wedding dealt with a woman dealing with an arranged marriage and the other man she is madly in love with. American Beauty was another film about a bored suburban marriage falling apart. Rushmore had that great little love triangle with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman duking it out. More when I think of 'em. [/quote] Oh boy. It would seem weird for me to say something like "my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is..." because I realize a lot of times any kind of affair / infidelity / promiscuity in movies turns me off. At least when I am supposed to be sympathetic to the characters. That's just me. And I realize it's a thing that really turns me off to a lot of movies that some peopel otherwise thing are great. But that's why we are all different I guess! Two movies I saw recently that both have "brief" in the title came to mind. David Lean's Brief Encounter and Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation. They are also both similar in that they deal with good women with no so perfect husbands (but who do love them) getting sucked into affairs with much more appealing men, but not going as far as they could have before retracting. I liked them both well enough. They say that Brief Encounter is still the best classis "chick flick" that a lot of guys seem to like as well. The Coen brothers first movie Blood Simple deals with an affair which results in some death and violence like a lot of their subsequent films. And Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut seems to be a warning against even taking the first steps towards the world of infidelity. Emery, I see you mention Romance & Cigarettes so often I don't know why I haven't seen it yet. But I trust you, and I'm curious to see what Turturro did with these great actors too. Hopefully it will rise to the top of my Netflix queue soon.

Spout Post: Which of these from Tim Out's list of 10 greatest directorial debuts of all time is your favorite?

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:25:09 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 9/9/2009 6:25:09 PM
Body: Please reference this thread for the rules of this group. Here is the link for the full list of Time Out's 50 greatest directorial debuts of all time Please vote only once in each poll. Movies referenced in this poll:The 400 BlowsL'AtalanteBadlandsBlood SimpleCitizen KaneThe Maltese FalconThe Night of the HunterNight of the Living DeadPerformanceThey Live By Night

Spout Post: Burn After Reading

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:19:22 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 1/15/2009 1:19:22 PM
Body: Burn After Reading You must first know (if you don't know me well already) that I am a full out Coen brothers fanatic. I have always loved everything they have done to an extreme. I have rated every single movie they have directed a 10 out of 10 except for their first Blood Simple which just about made it there with a 9 out of 10. Yes even the often despised The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty for me are amongst my top tier of most enjoyable cinema. Some may argue that their work was so formative in my love of film altogether and has grown to such hyperbolic proportions that I no longer have a real critical eye for any of their work and would be blind to any real sub-par work they may have or will ever release. Perhaps this is true in a ways, but as long as I truely am enjoying myself watching their movies I have no reason to feel bad. And I LOVE THEM ALL! So obviously I had been looking forward to Burn After Reading. Just to start with, the title is a wonderful thing. I was of course really looking forward to this one, like I always do. Here are some of the Coen staples this time around: -Someone seeking large sums of money (is there any of their movies that doesn't feature this?) -A very American culture or setting (fitness club chain). -A clashing of personalities -Inept people with their own agendas -Lots of swearing and sudden violence mixed with absurd humor -George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins After their much praised Oscar winner No Country For Men, seen as probably their darkest and humorless (although there still is a lot in there)yet, the Coens I think have followed up with a lot of the same themes but having oh so much more fun with it. *spoilers* They are able to take a genre and play with the conventions. They put in such original and distinct characters. And you know they had a lot of fun with top A-List celebrities, turning George Cloony into such a quirky pervert, and killing off Brad Pitt, who plays the most lovable character suddenly halfway through the movie. I think your reaction to that scene where Brad Pitt's character is shot is a kind of indicator of your attitudes towards Hollywood as a culture and certain conventions in Hollywood movies. For instance there was a guy in the movie theater who could not stop laughing very long and loud after he was shot, and his girlfriend kept hitting him and saying "Stop it! What's the matter with you? Why are you laughing?!" It made everyone else in the theatre laugh even more. I think the people who are laughing are the people who get that the Coens do not make much of the celebrity worship in this culture where A-List actors must always look good in their movies and be the center of attention until the end. They recognize that Brad Pitt has talent, let's make him act real goofy, people will be surprised they like it, but then we will kill him off halfway through the movie, because you'd never expect that to happen to Brad in a normal Hollywood movie where he is top billed like that. Maybe I'm off, but that's kind of how I sensed it. Thanks to my friend Noah for pointing this out. A lot of Coen brothers movies have some kind of retribution to characters for bad behaviors or attitudes. Some of them end with wonderful little phrases that try to give some kind of hope or victory for the good guy. The "There's more to life than a little money, you know" speech that Marge gives at the end of Fargo that for instance. That part really gets me emotional after all that happened, brings a tear to my eye. Whereas I pulled this excerpt from the very end of Burn After Reading from the Internet Movie Script Database. GARDNER CHUBB (CONT'D) ... What did we learn, Palmer. PALMER I don't know, sir. GARDNER CHUBB I don't fucking know either. I guess we learned not to do it again. PALMER Yes sir. GARDNER CHUBB Although I'm fucked if I know what we did. PALMER Yes sir. Hard to say.In this movie the madness and depravity really has no explanation. And you know, sometimes life is like that. There's a beautiful, happy and sad truth to the final summary in all of the Coen brothers films I'd say. I can't wait for their next one! Rating: 10/10

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for January 12: What Went Wrong??

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:42:31 GMT

Post By: Smooth_J
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 1/13/2009 6:42:31 PM
Body: [quote user="leeroy711"] Sam Raimi used this in his very aptly titled A Simple Plan. And my favorite filmmakers, the Brothers Coen have used this beautifully in Blood Simple and Fargo. [/quote] I feel like most of the Coen's movies fit into this category...you got The Man Who Wasn't There, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, and even No Country for Old Men. Bottle Rocket is a pretty good heist-gone-wrong movie, and it's about as simplistic as movies can get. It's one of my personal favorites. Another one that may work is Dog Day Afternoon...a routine bank robbery turns into a televised sideshow starring a gay Al Pacino.

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for January 12: What Went Wrong??

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:12:16 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 1/13/2009 2:12:16 PM
Body: [quote user="leeroy711"] I wasn't really sure what you call this theme. But basically, I'm talking about those great films that start out with a simple plan, that slowly and surely gets more and more screwed up as the story goes along. Many time (but not always) these are 'heist gone wrong' films, such as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Or John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle Sam Raimi used this in his very aptly titled A Simple Plan. And my favorite filmmakers, the Brothers Coen have used this beautifully in Blood Simple and Fargo. Whatch'all think?? I love watching films like this. They are usually a bit more formulaic than what I typically like but there's just something about it that I really like. More importantly, do you have a name for it? [/quote] I'm not EXACTLY sure why, but Quentin Tarantino and P.T. Anderson come to mind here.

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for January 12: What Went Wrong??

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:49:12 GMT

Post By: csprague
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 1/13/2009 10:49:12 AM
Body: [quote user="leeroy711"] I wasn't really sure what you call this theme. But basically, I'm talking about those great films that start out with a simple plan, that slowly and surely gets more and more screwed up as the story goes along. Many time (but not always) these are 'heist gone wrong' films, such as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Or John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle Sam Raimi used this in his very aptly titled A Simple Plan. And my favorite filmmakers, the Brothers Coen have used this beautifully in Blood Simple and Fargo. Whatch'all think?? I love watching films like this. They are usually a bit more formulaic than what I typically like but there's just something about it that I really like. More importantly, do you have a name for it? [/quote] This one's completely different than the ones you listed, but Smiley Face was pretty crazy like that. All she had to do was pay a bill and it turned into a very long and twisted journey. Awesome:) Lesson Learned: Don't smoke pot and try to pay your bills.

Spout Post: Weekly Theme for January 12: What Went Wrong??

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:41:49 GMT

Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 1/12/2009 8:41:49 PM
Body: I wasn't really sure what you call this theme. But basically, I'm talking about those great films that start out with a simple plan, that slowly and surely gets more and more screwed up as the story goes along. Many time (but not always) these are 'heist gone wrong' films, such as Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Or John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle Sam Raimi used this in his very aptly titled A Simple Plan. And my favorite filmmakers, the Brothers Coen have used this beautifully in Blood Simple and Fargo. Whatch'all think?? I love watching films like this. They are usually a bit more formulaic than what I typically like but there's just something about it that I really like. More importantly, do you have a name for it?

Spout Post: Re:Out 2008's nominees for the Best Achievement in Directing Academy Award, whose debut feature film was your favorite?

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:15:36 GMT

Post By: Smooth_J
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 12/20/2008 7:15:36 PM
Body: My choice is Blood Simple, no contest. The Coens are my favorite film-makers ever, and their debut shows the most maturity and poise of any of the films listed (although I have not seen Basquiat, but from what I've heard, it's quite uneven). Not only is Blood Simple a great debut feature, it's an amazing film in itself. That said, it's pretty impressive that Michael Clayton was Gilroy's first directorial effort.

Spout Post: Re:Out 2008's nominees for the Best Achievement in Directing Academy Award, whose debut feature film was your favorite?

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:31:30 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 12/19/2008 11:31:30 AM
Body: Well this poll seems to have petered out already. I am glad that most of the entries have gotten votes, that usually indicates an interesting poll. I personally have not seen Michael Clayton or Basquiat, but I had a friend who liked Basquiat a lot. No one has voted for it and no one has mentioned even liking it really, so maybe that's the weakest debut for all of these directors. My favorite of the other three would be Blood Simple, even though it's still actually my least favorite Coen brothers film. Hard Eight is also good, and reveals PT Anderson's recognizable style in it's infancy. I feel like both of these were these artists weakest films, but these are also both amongst my favorite directors so I still think their weakest films are fantastic! As for Thank You For Smoking, I also found it to be a good movie, but not a favorite. The worst part was probably that precocious kid. I hate precocious kids in movies!

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Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:57:25 GMT

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Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT

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Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:31:00 GMT

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