A

A Coen masterpiece. Was the $2000 answer on Jeopardy! today. Nobody knew it. Tsk, Tsk.

A serious and total masterpiece. One of the best screenplay's ever written in my book. The Coen's infamous over the top and super stylized direction is more restrained here, and it fits the more serious nature of the film. A pitch perfect cast, masterful DP work by Sonnenfeld, amazing score, and a handful of some of the most memorable sequences in modern film history make this truly one of my favorite films of all time.

This movie is one of the main reasons the Coen brothers are so great.

Simply amazing. The most underrated gangster epic ever. Gabriel Byrne is amazing as is Turturro. Great camera work, great score, exciting story (and a nice cameo by Sam Raimi). A

B+

Very good gangster and morals film. The scenes at Miller's Crossing itself are the highlight, I felt the Coens reached a perfect height of suspense and fear in those moments and their expertise shines through there. The rest, good, not perfect, but strung together well.

Byrne, Turturro, and Freeman are all absolutely top notch here. I wasn't too impressed with Polito, seemed a bit one-noted, and Harden was pretty much typical noir femme, but anyways.

I felt the screenplay and dialogue at times muddled up the plot a bit, really the story isn't that complicated, but I'd be lieing if I caught all the particular details about what happened with Mink/The Dane/Rogue.

The screenplay's dialogues are very good and very very meaty, you can eat into it. Cinematography is excellent and the tone of the film is set well.

I'm not too sold on Tom's final decision, but I'll accept he made it and leave it at that.

I really, really dug it. Everything just worked for me. The meshing of gangster with film-noir just seems right, and the fantastic dialogue combined with the twisty (but not too twisty) story makes for one helluva screenplay. Byrne is terrific here, making his protagonist both likeable and unlikeable, switching from charming and witty to morally questionable to downright evil and back without a problem. I loved the way he played every character in the film, and basically drove all the events of the story; the fact that we connect with him, and then feel his terror when he thinks he's been caught, but then revolt him when he spins his webs, is just brilliant. I also liked the undercurrent of really dark comedy that runs throughout the film. Technically, it's superb, and for pure entertainment, you can't do much better. A real treat.

AAAMAZING. I liked No Country for Old Men and was deserving of its accolades but Miller's Crossing is up with Fargo and the best movies that the Coen's have made. Miller's Crossing does what the Coen's do so well, they take a genre and while staying true to it, put their own spin on in it, thus making it feel refreshing and great. Everything is top notch, acting, visuals, just everything.

Is anyone else surprised to two of the nerdest white guys alive, haven't
1. Made a comic book movie...i know its not their style, but look at them, they are NERDS
2. Are so good at writing witty cool dialoque.

The best mafia movie ever.

Yes, I'm including Godfathers in that sentence.

****

Hmm I guess I'm going to slightly oppose and say this isn't one of their best. It has some great moments and Turturro is the standout, but there were other areas that didn't quite work for me.

Miller’s Crossing

Not bad, but not great either. I suppose it fits in well with most other Coen movies. I’m never ecstatic over any of them, though I do like Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty, and No Country for Old Men. So Miller’s Crossing is average. I do like films set in that gangster-with-trilby era, I guess it’s the prohibition era? They’re usually always good, like Public Enemies. The dialogue in this was interesting. Almost poetic in its creation and delivery. “What’s the rumpus?” is a cool, often-used greeting, and it stands out (along with other terms) to set the film apart in the genre. Also the way its shot, very much reminded me of a 1970s production. But also a bit of a television movie feel. My problem, I guess, is the cast. I think Gabriel Byrne is well cast, I’m just not really a fan of watching him. He kind of bores me. His appearance, his voice, everything about him is a bit beige for me. Same with John Turturro, never liked him. But Marcia Gay Harden is good, and it’s great to see Coen favourites Steve Buscemi and Frances McDormand in early roles.

B-

One of the last films to be checked off my Coen's checklist, Miller's Crossing turned out to be on their best. Sets the absolute right tone for a gangsta movie. A dog eat dog world where your allies are sitting in your enemies office and then back to yours on a whim. Power is where people believe it is. Gabriel Byrne gives a fantastic character a fantastic performance. He's not exactly a bad guy with a heart of gold, but he is the only character in the movie who thinks about their actions both before and after they've done them. There is remorse and mercy, but only if they don't get in the way of what is necessary.

The movie looks great and has a strong score as you would expect, but it's spending time in this somewhat absurdist version of something we've seen a hundred times which never betrays its characters or story that sets it above their usual, already high, bar. A