I'm not the biggest Coen Brothers fan, but I actually thought this was mostly great. It's pretty compelling and has a great soundtrack, and Oscar Isaac delivers an incredible, soulful lead performance. I've been a fan of his for a while now and I think this is definitely going to be a breakout role for him. The supporting cast is unfortunately mostly underused, though Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman all make impressions and have nice scenes (Garrett Hedlund has maybe five lines in the film total). The cinematography is also top-notch. I had an issue with the ending, as I usually do with movies from this duo - I would have liked a little more closure on some of the overarching plotlines and what could have been a major plot point is kind of thrown into a line of dialogue randomly and never addressed. But overall this is great and definitely worth seeing. A-

The film started off very good, but it lost me during the prolonged road trip. It definitely needed more Carey Mulligan, who is great in her scenes and does some nice singing, but has a maximum of 15 minutes screentime. Oscar Isaac is a good actor, but not great enough to carry this film by himself.

15 minutes? Seriously? That's a bummer . I love her. She's featured quite a bit in the trailer so I expected a decent-sized role.

She has the biggest supporting role in the movie and does leave an impression, but Lecter is basically correct.

Do you think she could score a Best Supporting Actress nomination?

If she had maybe one or two more "big" scenes then yes. As the film currently stands it is possible but probably not.

To my surprise, I really liked it. It flows very well, is much funnier than I expected and Oscar Isaac is great as Davis. It's no oscar worthy performance but he was a very charismatic lead. I had a nice time following him through his week. My favorite supporting performance came from John Goodman who was hilarious any time he was on screen. I also liked Mulligan here, I wouldn't have minded giving here more screen time. Her scenes with Isaac are some of the best of the movie.

Just came back from watching this. I thought it was phenomenal. The Coen Bros' portrait of a struggling artist is both melancholic and bitingly humorous. I was very impressed by Oscar Isaac. His character is a jerk, but Isaac gives the audience reason to sympathize and empathize with Llewyn. Carey Mulligan and John Goodman stand out among the rest of the cast, with short, yet revealing performances.A

odyssean

Currently one of my Top 5 films of the year, and among my Top 5 Coen Brothers films. Really, really good.

One of the weaker Coens, IMO.

One of the better Coens.

Definitely a different Coens film than we usually see even when their usual charm is added in. Oscar Isaac is aces and makes the film his own and has an enjoyable presence, while being stern at the same time. Carey Mulligan is really good here and the funniest she has been in a film, even if she does play total bitch here. Timberlake is also solid in his few scenes. Though I appreciated his return to Coens territory, I found John Goodman to be weak here and I think it has to do more with the use/characteristics of his character moreso than Goodman himself. Hedlund could also have been rid of. Minor negatives aside, I really enjoyed and it's the best Coens film since Burn After Reading.

And LIIIIISSSSTTTTT

1. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2. Barton Fink
3. The Big Lebowski
4. Burn After Reading
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
6. Fargo
7. No Country for Old Men
8. Intolerable Cruelty
9. Miller's Crossing
10. A Serious Man
11. Raising Arizona
12. True Grit

Greenwich Village at the dawn of the 1960s is a place on the verge and, in a certain respect, nearing the end. The community of artists, musicians, and writers populating the lower west side of Manhattan would soon become a subject of global interest, and fact and romantic mythology would blend as society at large co-opted (diluted?) fashions, lifestyles, social views, and sounds. This place at this time is the subject of the new film by Joel and Ethan Coen, perhaps the most celebrated American directors of their generation. The story turns on Llewyn Davis, a fictional singer/songwriter and guitarist who plays at the Gaslight Cafe drawing upon a repertoire including "The Death of Queen Jane" and "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me." He is a solo artist after the abrupt suicide of his former partner. The free-floating and organic film depicts a few desperate days in his life as he reacts to the news he may have impregnated another musician's girlfriend, plays as a session musician on a B-grade political song for Columbia Records for a small wage, loses and finds and again loses an orange house cat, drives to and from Chicago in the snow, and otherwise tries to get by (a bite to eat, a place to rest his head) while considering abandoning the scene altogether and returning to the Merchant Marines.

With a characteristic blend of somber elegance and acerbic humor, the directorial siblings bring the era to detailed life and render the solemn title character's small, strange odyssey mythic and riveting. Talented, but perhaps not a revelation and a self-destructive bastard still capable of soulful charm, Llewyn Davis is an unusual, borderline unsympathetic protagonist, but star Oscar Isaac commits to him and reveals profound shades of longing and spiritual discontent, and it becomes hard not to see oneself in the character's failures and indulgences, even if the resemblance stings. Isaac, a gifted singer, also shines in the film's many musical sequences. More than once the camera is trained on him for three or four minutes as he plays his guitar and spins tales of ancient woe, and the performances are hypnotic in their old-pro beauty and grit, illuminating the draw and potential of Davis the musician despite his numerous flaws as a friend, as a lover, as a sibling, and as a man. Though their roles are more modest in scope, other members of the ensemble cast also prove memorable, including an imposing John Goodman as a pompous traveling musician who complains, pontificates, abuses heroin, jabs people with his cane, and almost registers as a personification of Satan and Carey Mulligan as Jean, the singer who may be pregnant with Llewyn's child and, it is quietly indicated, still cares for him even as she shouts profanities and is certain his involvement in her life will lead only to ruin.

A

Exactly my thought. The Chicago trip is where my interest started to wane and the movie started to feel long. The first half was terrific though.

^

What they said. And the last 15 minutes are the cinematic equivalent to the Coen's blowing themselves.



(C+)

You cannot be considered seriously because you believe an apostrophe is necessary for simple pluralization.

Memento 2: Folk You

...or at least that's what the Coen's rather perverse story structure leads me to believe they had in mind.

Otherwise, like a dancing monkey, it was a funny and entertaining enough way to pass the hours...


8 out of 5.

When I was walking out of the theater a couple was talking and the man said that he felt cheated by the critics and that it was terrible. Idk that made me laugh.

I liked it but it lacks something. I agree that the Chicago road trip kind of took me out of the movie. The surreal aspects of it intrigued me but idk if they worked. Also, the parallel between the beginning and end (the same exact scenes besides the cat going out of the apartment?) was interesting but I'm still puzzled about it.

1. Miller's Crossing
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. No Country for Old Men
5. Raising Arizona
6. True Grit
7. Burn After Reading
8. Fargo
9. Blood Simple
10. The Man Who Wasn't There
11. Barton Fink
12. The Big Lebowski
13. The Ladykillers
14. A Serious Man
15. The Hudsucker Proxy
16. Intolerable Cruelty

no country for old men
miller's crossing
fargo
the big lebowski
a serious man
inside llewyn davis
o brother, where art thou?
barton fink
the man who wasn't there
true grit
the hudsucker proxy
burn after reading
the ladykillers
blood simple
raising arizona
intolerable cruelty

touché

I thought it was very good, borderline great but I do agree that the road trip to Chicago kind of brought me out of it. Isaac and Mulligan were great and it was actually really funny in parts. The ending was kind of terrible. Still, it was a very good flick.

8/10