Mark Kermode

filmed in your fathers homeland too :)

So, what's the verdict on 'A Serious Man'? I've loved all the others so hoping I won't be disappointed....

Completely agree with Rob Jagger:

Big Lebowski - good
Fargo - good
No Country For Old Men - brilliant... See More... See More
Burn After Reading - hit and miss
A Serious Man - hit and miss

The self-important scores in many of their films suggest an egocentricism pertaining to Tarantino. I don't know who was responsible for the trailer for A Serious Man, but there were more references to other Cohen Brothers films than there was an introduction to this one. Sickening or boring - I'm not sure.
They are in danger, like Tarantino, of becoming caricatures of themselves. If A Serious Man was directed by a newcomer, it would not have received the same zealous, critical acclaim. Good film? Yes. A masterpiece? No, no, no.

No Country For Old Men was released - around the same time as The Assassination of Jesse James and There Will Be Blood - and remains a comparable but inferior movie. Mark Kermode, himself, reflected this opinion in the reviews for the above films in 2007.

Paul Thomas Anderson remains in a league above the Cohen Brothers. Maybe if there were a pair of "Anderson Brothers" and this, likewise, became a desperately injected catchphrase in moviegoers' conversation ("Have you seen the new Cohen Brothers film? Oh I loved the cinematography even though I'm not sure what that word means"), then the public's understanding of Anderson's cinema would have become as delusional as it has of the Cohens'.

Love The Wicker Man,but i would really like to see Callan again - i enjoyed the repeats Channel 4 ran in the 80's.

Loving the interview with Nick Park on The Culture Show Mark!... (Assuming that you read this :-S).

Surely there's a place for all the above, fashion fads, however, would dictate which technique rises or falls at any given time.
I recently re-watched the old Harryhausen Sindbad and Jason movies. Honestly, they're brilliant with the added bonus that the monsters aren't "real" enough to scare my 6 year old.

Hype sells - end of.

it's a brain out movie. nothing wrong with them as long as you remember they are brain out movies. the filmic equivalent of a kentucky fried chicken. initially filling, enjoyable when you eat, but leaves you nauseous later on.

Have you ever played sandbox apocalypse?
In a sandbox, you spend half a day constructing castles, fortresses and cities. Populate your creation with twigs, toy soldiers, matchbox cars, whatever.

five minutes before mom calls you in for dinner you start the main event: Apocalypse, destruction, annihilation. five minutes of pure havoc-wreaking pleasure on your poor city...
... See More
Same thing with apocalypse movies except you don't get to do the building or the destroying. Just watch someone else having all the fun...

Not fun at all.

not 3D though huh Mark?; bloody 3D who are they kidding !

Shenanigans